GroupM signs 1 billion dollar deal with NBCU

Orchestrated by Rino Scanzoni, GroupM Chief Investment Officer, GroupM, via Mindshare, MEC and MediaCom, has signed with NBC Universal in for an estimated 1 billion TV ad deal-the first big deal in the 2007-2008 upfront.

The agreement is based on Live +3 Commercial Minute Ratings, the new currency launched recently by Nielsen. The deal covers NBC-TV, NBCU cable properties, Telemundo and digital. Branded content and product integration are also included. While many thought this was Rino's biggest deal, he tells TVBR, "I have done bigger."
Scanzoni was one of the biggest believers in commercial minute ratings, co-hosting a meeting with NBC President/Research and Media Development Alan Wurtzel for agencies and networks on hammering out the currency last summer (8/15/06 TVBR #157).

Scanzoni tells TVBR about using Commercial Minute Ratings: "This system addresses a problem that is going to become huge for this industry.  As DVRs are rolled out on set top boxes, delayed viewing will grow exponentially.  I have a vested interest in keeping television viable.  Television for most of my clients is a key medium that actually delivers some of the best ROI. 

Moving to an average commercial minute currency allows us to capture viewing to our client advertising message and exclude viewers who have just forwarded over the commercials.  We can't pretend that we are reaching an audience that we are not because ultimately then our ROI models will go out the window and we will see the effectiveness decrease.

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