AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Advertising Age

Teams with Australian Professor to Explore ITV Options

Duane Varan is really starting to get around. After launching a research group at an Australian university that has been working with Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods, among others, this professor who specializes in interactive TV is about to conduct experiments on ad viewership for Walt Disney’s ABC and ESPN.

The networks said they would launch an “emerging media and advertising research lab” in conjunction with Mr. Varan, who has spent the last several years testing how TV viewers react to interactive TV, split screens, sponsorships, product placements and the like. Disney intends to open several facilities for tests, including a lab in Austin, Texas.

Quest for data
Like many other media concerns, Disney is on a quest to determine what kinds of commercials and promotions viewers will stick around to watch when they have so much technology at hand that allows them to skip past things that interrupt their entertainment. In Perth, Australia, Mr. Varan recently completed a three-year test of how viewers react to various ads, and used techniques such as measuring biometric responses to determine whether ads and other elements on the TV screen were enticing enough.

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