Harris Interactive Links Multi-Platform Engagement to Brand Equity with MediaAmpSM

Harris Interactive® (Nasdaq: HPOL), a leading global custom market research firm, today announced its new insight tool, MediaAmp, which augments traditional media buying and selling with brand equity and program engagement. This is engagement 2.0, which connects two externally validated Harris Interactive developed and tested metrics -- brand equity and emotional connection -- within a single, comprehensive vehicle, providing a window into the relationship between what viewers watch and the brands they love.

Historically, program engagement and brand equity have been measured independently through separate surveys; however, combined, these metrics are validated predictors of future purchase behavior. "Those who are the most engaged with a given television program across multiple screens are also much more likely to be engaged with the commercials that sponsor that program. Since we know that people who are most likely to purchase a product are those who are the most positively disposed toward the brand, identifying program opportunities that yield high engagement activities and behaviors is key to advertisers benefiting from these multi-screen halos,” stated Jeni Chapman, Executive Vice President, Global Brand & Communications Consulting at Harris Interactive. "Currently, most media-buying decisions are based primarily on audience size and standard demographics, not on brand affinity. Yet current research clearly suggests that engagement with brands and programs is a media buying and selling utility that takes size and simple demographic makeup to the next level. That’s the level that differentiates, not just the program, but also the brand experience.”

MediaAmp has demonstrated how programs and networks provide exceptional value to their advertising partners and sponsors through advertising, product placement, websites, mobile applications and social networking. "Such partnerships are setting the standard as content providers and advertisers seek to provide meaningful branded experiences for the consumer in the rapidly changing digital media landscape,” continued Chapman, "and MediaAmp uniquely offers a strategic tool to measure such value to advertisers’ brands.”

A unique feature of MediaAmp is the linking of brand and program engagement data into one single source from two of Harris’ syndicated studies: EquiTrend and Multi-Screen Engagement (MSE). The foundation is a consumer/viewer who completed surveys in both studies, thus linking together brands and programs from active primary research experiences.

• EquiTrend is a 21-year old annual audit of brand health among 1,200 brands in 42 industry categories, rated by 20,000 American consumers, comparing a brand’s power along four key measures – Equity, Connection, Commitment and Energy.
• Multi-Screen Engagement (MSE) is a cross-platform survey measuring audience engagement with more than 220 prime time television programs, across 65+ networks and 70+ websites. It comprises 25,000 U.S. viewers and reports on the extent to which viewers are involved with both television programs and their websites, thus identifying the most engaged viewers and those most likely to be Generators, or people who tend to advocate for brands and whose influence goes far beyond their sheer numbers. Reaching Generators allows programmers and advertisers to vastly increase their chances of reaching the broadest, most receptive audience possible.

"MediaAmp is not only able to help advertisers locate the television programs that captivate brand loyalists, but is also able to identify those programs that are viewed by those with various degrees of loyalty to competitors’ products – thus informing creative decision-making in addition to media planning,” stated Chapman, "That is, if an advertiser knows that one program is attracting a sizable group of consumers who are disaffected by a competitive product, then the advertiser can gear the advertising creative to address those weaknesses – and capitalize on them.”

Advertisers who uncover the programs that their loyal consumers are the most passionate about discover an entirely new world of targeting. Those who utilize the power of engagement can speak directly to their most engaged audience – and strategically target their less engaged consumers or even their competitors’ wavering consumers as MediaAmp will find those consumers.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for The Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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