Nielsen Media Research is testing a new service to gauge the impact of in-game ads and promos on TV sports watchers.
The first pitches it tracked were in Fenway Park, where Nielsen Sports, a division of Nielsen Media Research, tried out the Sponsorship Scorecard system at the April 16 Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game.
The new web-delivered service measures in-stadium occurrences, duration, and location of all sponsorship media, including visuals and audio inside the sports venue, in- game audio, and promotions.
For the Fenway test, locations for ads included bases, dugouts, scoreboards, billboards and on-screen graphics including computer-generated ads often featured behind home plate. Also included were in-stadium and national broadcast promos.
In-stadium sponsors Fleet Bank, Ford, Volvo, Bob’s Store and McDonald’s made the strongest impressions on adult viewers (18-plus).
On July 1, the service will get a limited roll-out with a select group of advertisers and teams. Nielsen Sports will then tweak the service and make it available to all clients in the fall 2004 sports season.
