New technologies in third party media monitoring are poised to change the DRTV industry in profound ways. Over the years, Nielsen’s model has enabled a robust marketplace for general television advertising. Similarly, new emerging models from companies such as DRMetrix are promising to create a new robust marketplace for the DRTV industry.
DRMetrix has built technology capable of tracking all DRTV advertising including short form, 5 minute, and 28.5 minute creatives. DRMetrix is leveraging pattern- and optical-character recognition technologies in a novel way to detect and register new DRTV creatives the minute they debut across a universe of national cable networks. Automated content-recognition technology, somewhat similar to apps like Shazam, is then used to identify and track every time a registered DRTV creative airs. In just 28 months, DRMetrix has amassed an enormous database of over 18 million airings across 24,000 unique DRTV creatives. AdSphere, DRMetrix’s competitive media research system, has recently come to market and is making real-time data available to marketers, retailers, agencies, and networks.
ADSPHERE IS HELPING RETAILERS
In 2016, DRMetrix accelerated its growth within the U.S. retail industry by providing retailers with weekly Spend Index rankings from AdSphere. Leading retailers have been quick to embrace AdSphere as a new industry platform and reporting standard. For the first time, an accurate DRTV data set is empowering retailers with actionable insights and a new way to understand the correlation between DRTV media spending and retail sales.
ADSPHERE IS HELPING NETWORKS
Starting in 2017, DRMetrix will begin inviting additional networks, including unrated networks that heavily rely on DRTV business, to participate in its platform. DRTV marketers and agencies buying schedules on networks monitored by DRMetrix, are able to contribute to a brand’s Spend Index while allowing U.S. retailers to track these buys. For ‘As Seen On TV’ brands, their reported Spend Index is a meaningful metric that allows retailers to understand the level of media being purchased which closely correlates with viewership and brand awareness. Understandably, networks monitored by DRMetrix are experiencing increased demand for their DRTV inventory while attracting a greater number of qualified DRTV advertisers.
THE MANY BENEFITS OF THIRD PARTY MONITORING
DRMetrix’s technology can also be used to assist agencies with auditing of network billing since every commercial airing is recorded and segmented between national and local ad breaks. In a recent example, an agency thought it was running national spots on a network and the post-logs confirmed the same. However, due to a network oversight, all of these “national” spots were found to be running solely in local breaks. This particular example was discovered during recent testing of a new post-log auditing system that DRMetrix has been piloting with several agency clients.
To assist the DRTV and web-service industries struggling to solve media attribution challenges, DRMetrix supports the passing of real-time airings data via API. Now it is possible for DRTV advertisers to track both national and local spot clearances across a universe of national cable networks.
Third party monitoring companies can play a crucial role in helping media companies gain greater visibility to both the DRTV and retail industries. Workflow automation, auditing of airing/billing, media attribution solutions, and competitive media research all help attract and streamline business between DRTV advertisers, agencies, networks, and retailers. With new currencies, such as AdSphere’s Spend Index, third-party monitoring companies are helping to bridge the gap and bring all stakeholders closer together.
