Nielsen Media Research announced last week that it will launch a service to measure the television exposure of stadium and arena signs, live broadcast promotions and audio mentions.
The service, to be called Sponsorship Scorecard, will launch with a limited client base July 1 and roll out nationwide in the fall, competing with companies like Joyce Julius & Associates and Sponsorship Research International.
Barbara Zidovsky, Nielsen’s senior vice president of sports marketing, said Nielsen clients have requested that Nielsen launch such a service.
“The networks, the agencies, the leagues and teams have said they would really like to have some sort of metric to find out how they can evaluate billboards or signs,” she said. “A lot of the teams are saying they’re not even sure what type of value to put on the signs behind home plate.”
Nielsen will measure length of exposure and total household impressions. Zidovsky said she is unsure if the company will try to place a dollar value on those exposures.
The tracking will be handled by employees of Nielsen’s existing tracking service, Monitor Plus, which measures commercial and non-commercial media exposure for clients, based in Shelton, Conn.
The Sponsorship Scorecard system was tested during the April 16 prime-time broadcast of the Yankees-Red Sox game on Fox. Fleet Bank led with 7:22 of exposure for its outfield, dugout and third-base ads, generating 418 million total impressions.
