Viveat Susan Pinto
Media

Catching 'interested viewers' on TV gains currency at Lintas Media

The group's research arm Intellect has launched a new tool called Inteli-grip that focuses on delivering 'intelligent GRPs' and not just 'quality GRPs'

Most media plans, whether for television or for print, are designed to reach relevant audiences. However, if the currency of delivery, especially on TV, is not relevance but interest, then the shift is worth taking note of.

Lintas Media, which has agency brands such as Initiative, Insight and Interactions, has attempted to factor in this new variable in its media plans with the introduction of a new research tool called Inteli-grip.

Short for ‘Intelligent GRPs’, the tool aims to capture not the just the highest gross rating points (or GRPs, which is the sum total of rating points for a given period, calculated generally for a channel and not a show), but looks, in fact, to establish the viewer’s interest in product categories through a history of his or her exposure/experiences with brands.

This is done by establishing the “ad-world” that the brand occupies, that is, competitors within the category as well as in allied categories. “For instance”, says Lynn de Souza, director, Lintas Media Services, “The ad-world for Samsonite, the luggage brand, will obviously be VIP. But also included in the consideration set are tourist destinations (advertised by tourism boards) such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia or Kerala. This is because Samsonite is targeted at people at the upper-end of the segment, who travel to exotic locations such as the above.”

Another example, she cites, is that of Maruti Alto, whose ad-world would comprise sister brand WagonR or Hyundai Santro, but also included are high-end motor bikes such as Hero Honda Karizma, Bajaj Pulsar, LML Freedom or TVS Centra.

Idea, on the other hand, has Airtel, Orange, Reliance and Tata Indicom within its ad-world, but also included are pizza brands such as McDonald’s, Domino’s or Pizza Hut and even motor bikes such as Hero Honda, Bajaj Pulsar etc. “This is because the target audience of Idea is primarily the youth who could be hanging-out at pizza joints or ride motor bikes and so on,” adds de Souza.

The software on which the Inteli-grip model runs is called Viewer Graphics (from TAM), which defines audiences on the basis of a Viewing Audience Definition Capability or VADC, whereby viewers are classified on their viewing habits, as in, light, heavy, medium or sticky, loyal and so on. “This definition goes beyond the traditional definition based on age-group, gender, SEC profile etc,” says Premjeet Sodhi, head of Intellect, the research arm of Lintas Media that devised the tool.

Inteli-grip, interestingly, came about following the ad avoidance study by Lintas Media in November 2004, where clutter levels on TV were found to be to the extent of 70.3 per cent resulting in a high-level of ad avoidance by viewers.

The study pointed out that only 31 per cent of the population surveyed wanted to see ads, implying that the challenge for media planners & buyers in terms of getting people to view their clients’ commercials were huge.

"In such a scenario reaching interested viewers as opposed to relevant viewers becomes critical, and what sets the tool apart is the fact that users can easily manoeuvre the software through various TAM systems including ADEX, Xpert, Xpress etc,” adds de Souza.

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