Alternative Media Measurement Tools with Jim Multari of PBS Kids Sprout

At left: Jim Multari of PBS Kids Sprout

By Dana Stanley, Vice President, iCharts

This morning Jim Multari, Director of Research at PBS Kids Sprout presented a talk entitled 'Quantity and Quality: Using Alternative Media Measurement Tools to Demonstrate Advertising ROI.' Here were some of the key points and take-aways.

PBS Kids Sprout provides programming for 2-4 year olds. Sprout considers the tastes and preferences of not only its preschool audience, but also parents and caregivers.

As a relatively newer and smaller cable network, PBS Kids Sprout has had the challenge of demonstrating return on investment to advertisers without the luxury of relying on traditional, more expensive metrics.

Sprout has had to use creative methods to estimate not only audience numbers but also engagement across its three platforms: television, video-on-demand (VOD) and online.

Sprout uses second-to-second set top box analytics by partnering with DVR and cable companies. They pair that information with feedback from intercept surveys conducted on their website, sproutonline.com. By adding custom questions to their web intercept surveys, they were able to demonstrate to advertisers that 90% of website users had watched the television channel that same day, and they exhibited strong recall of various advertising brands and messages.

They also use the following methods:

• - In-home ethnographies
• - In-person and virtual focus groups
• - Online surveys
• - Observational research
• - Research conducted by partnering with children's museums nationwide
• - Sprout Viewer Circle Panel (consisting of 1,300+ Sprout viewers)

Case Example: Fireman Sam

Fireman Sam is a character that originally appeared only via Video On Demand. This character was experiencing strong VOD performance, notwithstanding the lack of reinforcement on Sprout's television channel.

Sprout then tested the concept of putting Fireman Sam on the television channel. Now the show appears on television three times per day and continues to perform well in the VOD context. Had Sprout relied on the traditional metric of viewership on the television platform, they may have missed the opportunity to develop this strong-performing new property.

Case Example: Berenstain Bears

The Berenstain Bears has been a strong property across all three platforms. It was the second highest performing show on the television channel, third on VOD and sixth on the website. Yet the show was placed in the company's 'C' group, or third tier of programming, which is the tier that is considered for change or removal. Why? One mom in one focus group proclaimed loudly that she 'hates' the program, and that was what one executive remembered. Because the research team was tracking and could readily demonstrate the show's strong performance, a potentially detrimental decision was averted.

As the company has grown, it has integrated more traditional audience metrics, but it has a continued commitment to innovative multi-platform measurement approaches.