TV.com, Weather.com, TVGuide.com and Turner Lead TV Online Sales Efforts. Google Video Among Market Leaders

Jack MyersThink Tank

In the annual Myers Survey of Advertising Executives on Client Satisfaction with Online Media Value & Online Sales Organization Performancethe television and video category included 26 sites ranging from traditional television networks, video entrants from portals, including Google Video and YouTube and standalone video websites like Videoegg and Brightcove. Although Brightcove is a less known brand and licensed sales to Tremor Media in May (this study was fielded in June/July), among those who are familiar with them, they received the highest Overall Performance Power Score. TV.com and Weather.com had nearly identical scores and were ranked second and third in this category, with TVGuide.com and Turner Interactive ranked 4th and 5th. Across all sites analyzed in 2006, Weather.com was ranked first. Among all 125 sites ranked in this year's survey, Weather.com is ranked five. Television and video sites fared well overall – three of the top ten rated web sites across all sites in the survey are in this category. Additional details are available at jackmyers.com.

Prior to asking about specific websites, we asked respondents for their unaided recall of "online media sales organizations that provide the best overall support for your marketing and media buying needs." Overall, there was low unaided mention of the TV and video sites. Weather.com had 14% unaided recall (which was ranked 5 behind the portals). Scripps was mentioned by 7% of our respondent, NBC by 6% and CBS by 4%.

• USAGE BY ADVERTISERS: Usage of TV and video sites has increased dramatically since 2006. Only 27% of our respondents claimed to use CBS.com for their media buys in 2006, while 58% used them in 2007. ABC Digital Media and YouTube.com were not measured in 2006. Over half of our respondents used each of these sites in the past twelve months. Weather.com was the only top site in this category that received slightly less usage in '07 than '06 (potentially explaining their decreased ranking).

• MEETING WITH SALES REP: Similarly, a much larger proportion of our respondents met with a rep in the past twelve months than in our 2006 study. CBS.com doubled their penetration in the advertising community; 60% of our respondents met with a rep in '07 versus only 30% in '06. Along with the Google acquisition came instant visibility of YouTube.com in the marketplace. Over half of our respondents met with a YouTube.com rep in the past year, and 40% met with a Google Video rep. ABC Digital has also made a much larger footprint in the marketplace. The two major TV and video sites that did not significantly increase their presence with sales reps year over year were Weather.com (still the second highest reach among reps), and Discovery Communications. These in-person meetings can have a huge impact on perceptions of the web sites. For Weather.com, those who did not meet with a sales rep gave it an average power score of 20% versus 64% among those who did meet with a rep.

• POWER SCORE: Respondents evaluated each sales organization on five attributes, using a one to seven scale, with one representing extremely poor performance and seven representing excellent performance. The performance rankings incorporated into this report are based on the percent of respondents who rated each organization "6" or "7" on the seven point scale, also referred to as top 2 box percentage.

Myers Power Scores provide a unique view of the overall performance of each site across all attributes, with attributes weighted according to their importanceand influenceon the media planning and buying process. These scores were used to determine the sales organizations that have the highest quality relationships with advertisers and media decision makers.

Among the top 12 ranked web sites, each had significant increases in their Overall Performance Power Score over 2006* with the exception of Weather.com (directional decrease) and Scripps Interactive (directional increase). Brightcove, Videoegg and Kaboose are less known web sites currently, but worth watching over time due to their relatively high perceptions in the marketplace.

• AVERAGE ATTRIBUTE RATINGS: The average ratings for each attribute was higher for TV and video sites than the average for portals and search engines. Across the five attributes rated for each website, knowledge of products, content and competitionand responsiveness of sales repsrated higher on average across the 25 sites included in this category than the other attributes (43% and 42% top two box respectively).35% gave a top two box rating for overall value of the relationship to you, while 34% had a top two box rating for the organization delivering on promises. The average top two box rating for organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunitieswas 38%. Perhaps it is easier to provide out of the box opportunities on TV and video sites. For portals and search engines (which may be less flexible in their offering), the average top two box for this attribute was only 22%.

• ATTRIBUTE RANKINGS: There was some variability in terms of the top ranked sites for each attribute. Both Weather.com and TV.com ranked in the top five across all attributes except for offering non-traditional opportunities. Among their smaller but satisfied user base Brightcove ranked in the top five on all attributes except for keeps promises. TVGuide.com ranked in the top five for non-traditional opportunities, keeps promises and responsiveness. It is interesting to note that TVGuide.com is the only traditional media company that is ranked in the top five for non-traditional opportunities in the TV and video category. Videoegg was ranked number one for knowledge of products. This is an opportunity for traditional media companies to improve their marketplace perceptions.

• OVERALL VALUE: Turner Interactive had the highest rating on this attribute at 53%, increasing significantly from 2006. TVGuide.com had a dramatic increase in the percentage of respondents who gave them a top two box rating on overall value of the relationship to you, nearly quadrupling their percentage from 11% to 43% in 2007. Comcast had a nearly as impressive increase from 10% in 2006 to 35% in 2007.

• ONLINE SPECIALISTS: Not surprisingly, those who spend less than 75% of their time focused on online media had higher power scores for most of the TV and Video websites. For example, the Overall Performance Power Score for Weather.com among our respondents who spend less than 75% of their time with online media was 61% compared to 49% among those who spend more than 75% of their time with online media. For Turner Interactive the split was 60% versus 44% among online specialists, and for Scripps Interactive the Overall Performance Power Score were 58% versus 35% for online specialists. TV and Video is a category where clients, media planners and buyers may have relationships with television reps that create a halo effect in the online space. For online pure plays, those relationships don't exist. Online specialists rated Google Video higher (53% Overall Performance Power Score) than those who spend less than 75% of their time focused on online media (43% Overall Performance Power Score).

The Overall Performance Power Score attributes evaluated include:

• Sales Reps are responsive to my needs and interests
• Sales Reps have knowledge of product, content & competition
• Organization delivers on promises
• Organization offers valuable non-traditional opportunities
• Overall value of the relationship to you

The complete set of results can be found in the full report.

Additional details are available at jackmyers.com.