BARB Begins Roll-Out Of Sponsorship Tracking System
BARB has finally launched a new reporting system capable of measuring the sponsorship of television programmes following ongoing requests from advertisers and agencies.
The new tracking system, which has been in development since last year, will commence on a test basis from today, with the intention of going fully operational in the autumn.
The service will see participating broadcasters provide details of their sponsored programmes to BARB. These details will then be matched with official ratings to provide a record of the viewing achieved by the sponsorship.
During the second half of 2004, BARB will also invite commercial broadcasters to develop their existing television reporting systems to enable the details of their sponsored output to be included.
Television sponsorship and promotion has become increasingly popular over the last few years and the UK’s commercial broadcasters have been quick to exploit the revenue earning potential of the rising demand for brand association.
Last year ITV secured Nestlé as the £6 million sponsor of the third series of Pop Idol, in the richest ever co-promotion for one series on British television. The deal included all on-air and off-air activity, as well as a series of wide-ranging promotional initiatives (see ITV Secures Nestlé As Record £6m Sponsor Of Pop Idol).
More recently, Cadbury Trebor Bassett renewed its £10 million sponsorship of ITV’s Coronation Street and Channel 4 secured TalkTalk, the new home phone company from the Carphone warehouse, as the multi-million pound broadcast sponsor of this year’s Big Brother (see Channel 4 Talks Up Big Brother Sponsorship).
BARB is also looking to introduce a new reporting system capable of measuring interactive advertising and red-button programmes following increasingly ‘urgent’ calls from agencies and broadcasters.
Media agencies are understood to be growing increasingly concerned that the growth of interactive applications such as voting and competitions are causing viewers to miss the advertising breaks entirely, despite being recorded as having seen them under the current BARB system (see BARB Responds To Calls For Interactive Measurement).
BARB: 020 7529 5531 www.barb.co.uk
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