ThinkTV has formed Smart Lab, to research and report on the performance of TV advertising.

ThinkTV has announced the formation of an independent ‘laboratory’ to carry out cutting-edge research into the performance of TV advertising, in partnership with leading international media academic Professor Karen Nelson-Field and Media Intelligence Co.

The laboratory’s two-year research program aims to help advertisers and media agencies get the best out of TV advertising with robust measurement and clarity about business results of TV Advertising.

It examines TV’s impact on brand and advertiser performance and will use artificial intelligence technologies to remove human error and bias.

“There has never been a more important time for the media industry to take the measurement and effectiveness of video advertising seriously and our partnership with MIC shows just how serious Australia’s TV industry is about it,” says ThinkTV chief executive Kim Portrate.

“Karen is a world-renowned media academic with impeccable credentials for her work and independence. The lab’s findings will play an important role in evaluating TV’s credentials for advertisers who are under more pressure than ever to spend their dollars efficiently and effectively,” she says.

Nelson-Field has carried out with clients such as Mars, Unilever, Google and Unruly/NewsCorp. She previously worked for University of South Australia’s Ehrenberg-Bass institute for 10 years.

“We decided to call it a ‘Smart’ Lab due to the fact that, ‘smart’ technology, and in particular artificially intelligeng measures, will operate as the foundation of all research methodologies,” she says.

“”Where existing knowledge is dated, or where knowledge does not already exist, the Smart Lab will undertake research that includes using machine learning and new computer vision technology. It reduces human error, subjectivity and bias, and data is collected passively and in real-time. It is certainly  more future-ready than old school biometrics,” added Professor Nelson-Field.

The Smart Lab follows ThinkTV’s announcement that it has commissioned a $1 million researc project, ‘Payback Australia’ to show the value and ROI for advertisers, as well as its campaign to redefine television as 2016 marks 60 years since Australian TV’s first broadcast.

In 1956, TV was a single, linear broadcast technology. Today, ThinkTV recognises TV is “connected, collaborative, interactive and immersive,” as Portrate says in a September release.

“The way TV is delivered to consumers is now as diverse as the people themselves… the advent of multi-screening has enhanced the viewing experience and provides more opportunities to view. It really is the era of TV everywhere.”

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