The Nielsen Company reported Arena Media Networks (AMN) delivered over 173 million video ad exposures through its AMNtv “Live In-Game” platform to fans attending Major League Baseball games during the 2008 season. These results were revealed in a survey of the 21 Major League ballparks partnered with AMN.
“Location-based media like the screens placed inside U.S. stadiums by AMN are proving to be an effective platform for advertisers,” said Paul Lindstrom, Senior Vice President for Nielsen On Location Media. “Tens of millions of Americans attend sports events each year, so it’s important that we now have a standard measurement for the massive audience exposed to these ads.”
The study conducted with AMN uncovered successful results with the company’s network located throughout MLB ballparks across the country. Survey participants spent on average 37 minutes in those areas where AMN is present and over 50% of respondents recalled being exposed the content to those screens. Measurements were taken from surveys performed by Nielsen in July and August of the 2008 MLB season and consisted of on-site, in-person interviews about dwell time in the stadium concourse areas, media engagement, frequency of visits and demographics.
The methodology used in the AMN study by Nielsen is consistent with the recently published metric guidelines by the Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB). Future studies with Nielsen and AMN will include a quarterly measurement of all AMN locations in arenas across the country as well as another MLB study in 2009.
“It is important for the industry as a whole to develop metrics that make location-based media an integral part of advertisers’ marketing mix, and Arena Media Networks is excited to be working with Nielsen to establish benchmarks for this growing industry,” said Corey Silverman, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for AMN. “We are reaching sports fans at their point of passion, in an environment where they are extremely open to brand messages that are relevant to the sports and teams they love.”
Nielsen on Location Media reports are distributed to all interested Nielsen agency clients for use in planning, buying and evaluating the medium. These reports will:
· Establish report formats that will be common to all Nielsen measured networks
· Bring dynamic measurement with updated reporting
· Provide accountability to support planning, buying and post-buy evaluation of location-specific video networks
· Be consistent with recently released guidelines from the OVAB.
"It’s a significant event for our industry that major media research companies like The Nielsen Company are committed to providing the data needed to buy and sell advertising on place-based networks." according to Suzanne Alecia, President of OVAB. "Providing quality, consistent, third party audience research is the #1 request made of our member networks by the advertising community. We’re pleased that our recently released Audience Metrics Guidelines provide that framework for research providers to use."
