NAB: Bluefin Labs launches ?Signals Brand Edition? to track social TV data around commercials

Posted by on April 16, 2012

Social TV analytics keep getting smarter and smarter. Bluefin Labs CEO Deb Roy recently told the audience at the NBCU Social TV Symposium that ?as soon as you have one advertiser that cares about a like or tweet, you are setting currency exchanges,? and that, ?we?ll see standards being set.? His company has just made a big announcement to offer brands a chance to start pushing these standards with their new ?Bluefin Signals Brand Edition.? It launches with several initial clients including PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Mars, Humana and Quicken Loans, together with agency partners Starcom MediaVest Group, Hill Holliday, Horizon Media, Initiative, MediaCom, Optimedia and Zenith Media.

?The field of social TV analytics has emerged very quickly,? Tom Thai VP of Marketing for Bluefin told Lost Remote. ?But until today, the data had always been incomplete: there was data about TV shows, but no data about the commercials that drive the $70B TV advertising industry.? He then added that ?with the launch of Signals Brand Edition, we give brands and their agencies a full view of the social TV landscape.? We asked Thai to elaborate further on the new product.

Lost Remote: How does the technology differ from what Bluefin Labs already offers?

Tom Thai: Bluefin?s existing product, Signals Network Edition, is primarily social TV data about TV shows. There?s also an element of brand affinity and audience lifestyle affinity built into Signals Network Edition. (As a reminder, Brand affinity is ?People who Tweeted about Pepsi also Tweeted about these shows?? and Lifestyle affinity is ?Automotive enthusiasts tend to tweet about these shows??.) In Signals Brand Edition, we introduce an entirely new technology, which involves detection and recognition of commercials that air on TV. We use the knowledge of commercial airings, combined with social media commentary, to analyze how TV commercial campaigns move the consumer�conversation�in social.

LR: Is this a tool just for brands? Or will network clients be able to use it too?

TT: Signals Brand Edition is intended primarily for brands. But as mentioned in our press release, we also have a number of Agency partners, so we?ve worked closely with both the Brand and Agency community to develop this product. Additionally, TV networks can use this product too, primary for TV Ad Sales.

Bluefin says over 40 of the largest U.S. broadcast and cable television networks use Signals Network Edition.

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