CASE STUDIES

AMC

Aug 2021

Click on image to zoom

AMC Networks required an optimal on-air promotional strategy and a clear set of actionable guidelines advising how to best support different types of content and maximise ROI.

Objectives

To analyse and evaluate promo campaign performance and quantify the proportion of programme audience attributable to the support received. To provide actionable recommendations and specific planning guidelines for future promotional activity to maximise return on promo airtime.

Reporting

We combined AMC’s own promo logs, detailing when and where a campaign aired, with Nielsen AMRLD files for all campaigns across a 9-month period. Respondent-level data enabled us to identify the viewers that were exposed to promos and then track how many also watched the target programme, thus creating a basic measure of conversion (or viewer overlap). Further benchmarking techniques separated the natural conversion of viewers who would have watched the programme even if they hadn’t seen a promo. This created a campaign uplift measure: the true measurable effect of the promo campaign.

Consultancy

We segmented AMC’s audience into groups (by volume and frequency of channel viewing) and summarised the size and amount of network viewing by each group. This allowed us to identify the set of viewers who are the best potential for network growth. We then analysed each promo campaign separately for each group and content type (series, movie, special) and age (new vs. returning seasons).

Analysing campaigns in quantity allowed us to group similar content together and isolate trends in promo effect. By comparing factors such as weight of campaign, reach, frequency, conversion and effect of promos, we recommended optimum parameters for conversion by content type. Similarly, by creating reach and frequency curves split by viewer group we could identify the optimum weight of campaign required to target key viewer groups.

Outcomes

Analysis of over 250 pieces of promoted content was distilled into a single page of clear guidelines outlining the optimum promotion for each different campaign type. This included weight of campaign, campaign length (both optimum start date and length of support), promo distribution, as well as a priority order for when promo inventory is limited.

Our analysis identified where increasing campaign weight can drive more viewers to content, and where campaigns can be pulled back – or programmes can be unsupported – and maintain their audience through natural viewership. This allows AMC to maximise viewing return on the promo airtime available.
image-1Click on image to zoom