Optimedia Releases Content Power Ratings 2.0

Optimedia Releases Content Power Ratings 2.0

Proprietary Metrics System Evaluates TV Program Values Across Three Tiers - Audience Delivery, Involvement and Advocacy

Media Buying and Strategy Agency Finds American Idol Still King of All Media; Comedies, Politics, Sci-Fi Gain Mojo

NEW YORK, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- As the TV industry reacts to a seismic shift in people's viewing behavior ahead of next week's broadcast Upfronts, media buying and strategy agency Optimedia US (www.optimedia-us.com) today released Content Power Ratings 2.0, its proprietary media metrics system that goes beyond traditional audience ratings and evaluates TV program values using three criteria - total cross-platform audience (across television, the Web and mobile), involvement and advocacy.

"The industry's metrics system has not kept pace with consumers' rapidly changing viewing habits, preferences and the technology that enables it. Heading into the Upfronts, Content Power Ratings 2.0 allows us to better understand the total value that a program represents for advertisers and unearth surprise hits that deliver better value than their audience ratings would imply," said Greg Kahn, Senior Vice President/head of Strategic Insights for Optimedia US.

Key findings of CPR 2.0 include:
-- Fox's American Idol continues to reign supreme as the top show across
all three screens
-- Sci-Fi shows, led by ABC's Lost (#2), have a strong showing in this
year's rankings due to robust online streaming and appointment viewing
-- Comedies, including NBC's The Office (#3), make a comeback -
comprising six of the top 20 CPR-ranked shows
-- Politically-themed material around the election boosted CBS's 60
Minutes (#15), NBC's Saturday Night Live (#1 in late night), and
Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (#2 in late night)
-- AMC's Mad Men was the highest primetime show on cable
-- New 2008 shows, Fringe (Fox) and The Mentalist (CBS), perform well
across all platforms

-- CW's Gossip Girl (#19) and One Tree Hill (#37) rank nearly 100 places
higher than their respective television ratings

"Given the changes in viewer habits, it is important that we continue to evolve the metrics we use to evaluate content. No longer is reach - or audience delivery - the only criterion that is relevant," added Optimedia US CEO Antony Young. "Programs like American Idol are much more than a ratings phenomenon, and have huge brand equity that is unaccounted for in traditional audience delivery metrics. Similarly, programs like The Office deliver a more engaged, higher quality audience than its traditional audience rating implies," Young said.

Methodology

Using data culled from the agency's own primary research, as well as from Nielsen Media Research's NTI database, Nielsen Online Video Census, Nielsen Mobile, comScore's Media Metrix, E-Poll's FastTrack(TM) Television, Google Trends, and Dow Jones Factiva, Optimedia's Content Power Ratings value programs using three key criteria:

-- Audience Delivery - including average audience impressions, visits to
a program's Web site, watching the program online and/or via mobile
device
-- Involvement - including index of Google search volume; awareness of
program, and effort made to watch the show

-- Advocacy - including press mentions, recommendations and general
"buzz"

Top 25 Shows by CPR Ranking:

PROGRAM NETWORK CPR 2.0 Rank 2008 TV Rank
AMERICAN IDOL FOX 1 1
LOST ABC 2 22
OFFICE, THE NBC 3 69
DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 4 2
GREY'S ANATOMY ABC 5 38
HEROES NBC 6 47
FAMILY GUY FOX 7 75
CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION CBS 8 4
SURVIVOR CBS 9 11
HOUSE FOX 10 27
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 11 20
BONES FOX 12 52
FRINGE FOX 13 43
30 ROCK NBC 14 62
60 MINUTES CBS 15 6
SIMPSONS FOX 16 89
NCIS CBS 17 5
UGLY BETTY ABC 18 65
GOSSIP GIRL CW 19 118
SCRUBS NBC 20 71
MENTALIST, THE CBS 21 3
BIG BROTHER CBS 22 76
BIGGEST LOSER NBC 23 36
PRISON BREAK FOX 24 81
JERICHO CBS 25 64

About Optimedia US

Optimedia US (http://www.optimedia-us.com/) is a media agency that specializes in strategy. Its proposition is summed up in the expression "Never Settle, Never Stop..." Optimedia is an agency that loves to challenge. With offices in New York, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Francisco and Seattle, Optimedia works on such clients as T-Mobile, Nestle, L'Oreal, Whirlpool, sanofi-aventis, Payless Shoes, and British Airways. Optimedia is owned by Publicis Groupe, the largest media agency services group in the US. It is part of the ZO Worldwide Network.

Source: Optimedia US

CONTACT: Belle Lenz of DiGennaro Communications, LLC, for Optimedia US,
+1-212-966-9525, x203, belle@digennaroNY.com.

Web Site: http://www.optimedia-us.com/

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