In advertising, the web has spending certainty, but TV has scale. Now German consumer research firm GfK is trying to bring something like the net’s trump card to the telly – by using mobile phones to listen to which ads viewers really watch.
Members of its Web Efficiency Panel – whose internet usage is monitored to help advertisers understand the impact of their online advertising – are being handed “modified mobile phones, which record exposure to TV advertising through sound recognition”, GfK says.
From the announcement: “Individuals activate the GfK-modified mobile phone when they are watching television, and the phone is able to recognise from the sound which advertisement is being viewed. The recorded data is then transmitted via the phone’s network. Using extremely precise statistical transmission information from Thomson Media Control, GfK is able to determine the television programme during which the panel member was exposed to a specific advertisement.”
The method is a far cry from monitors like UK radio monitor Rajar, whose panelists must fill in diaries chronicling their listening habits. GfK’s system doesn’t measure viewings of actual programming, but using mobile is interesting, since many people already have their mobiles beside them when watching.
GfK says the system, because it profiles users TV and online habits, helps advertisers track campaigns effectiveness from one medium to the other, potentially right through to purchase conversion.