Advertisers are accustomed to getting quick info on how many people their commercials reach on TV day after day. Now Fox hopes to give them speedy data about something that many marketers consider even more important.
Fox and iSpot, one of a group of measurement-technology upstarts, are expanding their partnership to include data that tells sponsors whether their commercials resulted in meaningful business “outcomes,” such as the purchase of a movie ticket or a visit to a car showroom.
“Outcomes are incredibly important to brands beyond just measuring an impression,” says Kym Frank, senior vice president of research for Fox Corp., during a recent interview, adding: “We want to provide our clients with what they really need, which is, ‘Did what I buy work?’ Having this measurement at scale allows us to get smarter about optimizing plans, about what to expect in a specific category.”
Trying to link ads to consumer outcomes is a quest that has occupied many on Madison Avenue for years. But in the age of streaming, when video subscribers can actively interact with the content they see on screen, there is more pressure from advertisers to pay new attention to such elements. Fox in May unveiled a new data report for clients that offers evaluations of how commercials perform, looking at such things as whether commercials made consumers more aware of what was being promoted, whether the ads changed the amount of consideration consumers give to making a purchase, how much they kept viewer engaged, among other “outcomes.”
