MTV Networks, which has been balking at using commercial ratings as the basis for advertising sales deals this upfront, said it signed a deal to measure viewer engagement with its shows, commercials and product placement.
The deal with IAG Research covers MTV and VH1 and is designed to measure not just how many people watched commercials on the channels, but to determine viewer response to those ads.
Advertisers have been pushing for commercial ratings to get a better sense of what they are getting for their ad spending, but MTV is arguing that engagement numbers may be just as good.
“With IAG’s engagement research, we’re now able to get our marketing partners closer to the true R.O.I. on their television ad spend than ever before, with more information, more data points and more accountability for MTV and VH1,” said Hank Close, president, U.S. Ad Sales, MTVN.
MTV’s viewers tune out during commercial breaks more than viewers of most other TV channels. That would cost the network if it did ad deals based on the commercial ratings, rather than program ratings, the old ad-sales standard.
After resisting, other cable networks, including Lifetime and Discovery, are starting to do upfront deals based on commercial ratings.