CORNER OFFICE INTERVIEW WITH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CBC SPORTS AND GM MEDIA SALES AND MARKETING, SCOTT MOORE: THE NEW CURRENCY
I hated the euro when it first was introduced. As a frequent traveller to Europe, I felt there was something romantic about having millions of lire in my pocket and having to convert it to drachmas, francs or pesetas.
I wasn’t alone in opposing the euro. A number of economists in Europe felt there would be an unbalanced set of winners and losers in the introduction of a standard currency. It may have actually done that, but the convenience of a single currency has certainly outweighed the challenges, at least (eventually) for this traveller.
Well, there’s a new standard currency of media ratings in Canada, and no doubt there will be some initial resistance, as well as some winners and losers. Portable People Meters, being introduced by BBM Canada this month, finally take a step toward counting out-of-home viewers. One of the clear winners will be live sports and special events. For years, those of us in the sports business felt cheated by a ratings system that did not include out-of-home viewing. We all knew that bars were packed on Saturday nights during Hockey Night in Canada, and for major events such as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, World Cup, Grey Cup and the Olympics.
Selfishly, I’m excited about the impact this will have on Hockey Night in Canada. Saturday nights are a tradition for hockey viewing in this country. Our internal research has told us for years that out-of-home viewing, including sports bars and other social settings, makes up a significant portion of our audience. But these audiences have never made it into the ratings, and therefore have not been able to be monetized with advertisers.
In fact, one of the major advantages to Hockey Night in Canada is the number of families that watch together. The old system reported co-viewing, but required a button to be pushed every time a new viewer entered (or left) the room. The PPM, worn like a pager and automatically listening for audio codes, will passively measure every viewer in the household. The only drawback will be not knowing if they are actually in the room. However, we believe this will more accurately reflect multiple viewers in the same family (although it’s possible they are watching on separate sets).
Moreover, it will likely capture a growing female audience watching sports. We already know that Hockey Night had a stronger female skew than most sports programming. I think the ratio is going to be more and more balanced as we sift through the data, and will lead to a broader mix of advertisers that will want to be in Hockey Night as well as other higher-profile sports programming.
There are a number of other advantages to the new PPM system. It will report viewing separately for high definition and standard definition. We will finally get a feel for how many viewers are watching in HD. This may increase the demand for HD commercial integration. It will also measure multi-media viewing for the first time. As it works on audio signals, it will measure live streaming as well as television viewing. This should start to capture the changing media consumption habits of young adults–and we already know from Internet measurements that 20,000 to 30,000 are watching online every Saturday night.
Going forward, the viewing habits of young adults may also start to be better captured overall. Instead of actively pressing buttons on the old system, wearing a pager device should be more effective in capturing their viewing habits. This may also lead to some reconsideration of long-held beliefs about the demographics of certain shows. We may find certain audiences skew younger than previously thought–and sports may also fall in that category.
I believe as the first months of PPM data are digested, the value of live sports will become even more evident to advertisers. The overall numbers will go up, and the female percentages will be stronger. This will underscore the value of a programming genre that is uniquely able to imbed sponsorship messages in the programming itself.
There will be some arguing between broadcasters, agencies and clients as to how to deal with the new numbers. One agency head told me recently “it’s just a new measurement tool, the audiences aren’t changing.” Actually, I agree. They are not changing. But we may finally be able to capture value for audiences that have always been there.
Like the euro, this new currency will be more efficient and more accepted as it becomes more familiar. The old boxes will seem in hindsight to be somewhat quaint. Just like the old million lire note.
Scott Moore is executive director of CBC Sports and general manager, media sales and marketing in Toronto