13/06/2008TouchPoints Site: Using the TouchPoints Channel Planner

Using the TouchPoints Channel Planner (TCP)

1.  The Definition of Coverage and Frequency via the TouchPoints Channel Planner
Before using the TCP it is important to understand how coverage and frequency is derived from the Channel Planning Database.  A brief explanation follows:

Media vehicle by media vehicle coverage and frequency results are calculated from the Channel Planning Database as follows:

• Currency level personal contact probabilities have been created for each individual in the Channel Planning Database from the official industry media research currencies of BARB, NRS, JICREG, RAJAR, POSTAR and FAME.  In effect the Hub Survey media usage data has been replaced by the currency level equivalent.
  The TGI product & brand databases have also been integrated onto the Hub Survey.
  Datasets Used for the TouchPoints integration process are:

• For each individual in the Channel Planner, personal contact probabilities (from within TouchPoints itself) have been created for those media that do not have industry  currency status i.e. Online, Search, SMS Text, Direct Mail and (selected) Broadcast and Event Sponsorship.
• Finally, the cross-media coverage inter-relationships were carried across from the Hub Survey to each individual in the Integrated Database.

In combination, all of these data allow ‘currency level’ coverage and frequencies for individual and combined media channels to be established through the Channel Planning Database for user defined target markets.

2.  General Considerations

Planning inputs
Currently each medium is planned using its own rules and conventions.  For example television is often planned by allocating TVR’s to individual dayparts by channel, whereas press is planned by adding insertions to individual titles.  Outdoor is planned through packages of panels by outdoor contractor and radio is planned by allocating spots to time bands by radio station.  Cinema on the other hand is planned by admissions by cinema contractor.  All in all, a confusing array of inputs if one is not currently a cross-media planning expert.

However it is important to remember that although the planning inputs may be different by media (i.e. numbers of — insertions/panels/TVRs/spots/admissions) each input type can be outputted as common measurements of GRPs and coverage and frequency for each medium. These results can then be combined to show total GRP’s and coverage and frequency across all media channels.

3.  The Application of Media Weights

It is important to remember when planning that each currency has evolved its own measurement of contact that is relevant to that particular medium and it is these that make an appearance in the TouchPoints Channel Planning database. 

For example: 

For Television it is present in the room with the set switched on. 
For Press it is ‘read or looked at’ (the publication) for two or more minutes. 
For Radio it is ‘listening to’ for at least five minutes during a fifteen minute period.
For Cinema it is presence in the auditorium. 
For Posters it is ‘eyes on panel’.

The value of an individual contact in each media in relation to the defined communications task is another issue to consider.  For instance, for a specific campaign, a planner may decide that a contact in one medium may be worth 0.8 the value of a contact in another medium.  The planner must then weight each medium accordingly in order to produce his/her equivalent of ‘effective’ OTS and ‘effective’ coverage and frequency.

All of the above should be considered when evolving a cross-media communications strategy.  Fortunately the TouchPoints bureaux (IMS, KMR and Telmar) have included a variety of functionality to deliver the flexibility required by their users in these areas.  What this means in practice is that the bureaux will allow adjustment weights to be entered for each medium.  This will have the effect of reducing the contact probabilities by media type and in turn, reducing reported coverage for that medium.  The result could be seen as a users controlled ‘effective’ coverage.

4.  Planning inputs by medium

4a. Geography/regional breakdowns
The IPA TouchPoints covers Adults aged 15+ living in Great Britain.  It allows regional analyses in the form of non-overlapping ITV areas ie ISBA areas.  These are as follows:

Northern Scotland
Central Scotland
Border
North East
Lancashire
Yorkshire
Wales and West
Midlands
East of England
South West
Southern
London

4b. Television:

(i) For terrestrial channels the inputs are TVR’s by channel by day-part.  There are two separate sets of day-part inputs — they should not be mixed.

(ii) For digital channels the inputs are TVR’s by media owner by genre.

Genres are:
Children
Documentaries
Entertainment
Leisure & Hobbies
Movies
Music
News
Sport

4c. National Press — The inputs are the number of insertions per title using the NRS Publication list

4d. Regional press — the inputs are insertions by title by group using the JICREG publication list (please note, multiple titles should be used)

Groups are:
Paid for morning
Paid for evenings
Paid for weeklies
Free weeklies

Groupings: By sales house

4e. Radio — the inputs are GRP’S by radio station group by day-part.

Dayparts: These are two sets of day-part inputs — these should not be mixed

4f. Outdoor — the inputs are GRP’S by poster size.

Note when calculating outdoor schedule estimates in the TouchPoints Channel Planner.

The integration process for POSTAR onto the TouchPoints Hub involves a final calibration stage to ensure that the schedule results from the TouchPoints Integrated Database matches those from the individual currency results as closely as possible. The calibration takes place on three points; 1+ coverage, 4+ coverage and total GRP’s.

Due to differences in the construction of the TouchPoints and POSTAR databases, the calibration process on the outdoor data has only been able to match on the 1+ and total GRP’s. Compared to POSTAR, schedules run on the TouchPoints Integrated Database will tend to produce lower coverage estimates at the 2+to 6+ levels and higher estimates further down the frequency scale.  We are working with POSTAR on a solution to enhance this fit in the future.

4g. Cinema — the inputs are admissions

Note when calculating Cinema schedules estimates in the TouchPoints Integrated Planning System.

Due to differences in the construction of the TouchPoints and Cinema Planning System (using CAVIAR data), the calibration process on the cinema data has been able to match on total GRP’s and 1+coverage for the majority of campaigns. However, compared to CAVIAR, schedules run on the TouchPoints Integrated Database will tend to produce progressively higher coverage estimates (but lower average admissions) as campaign size increases. So whilst matching closely for low to medium weight campaigns, very large campaigns can show a much greater variation.  This has the effect of overstating Cinema coverage and understating average frequency on the TouchPoints Integrated Database vs. CAVIAR for very heavy-weight Cinema campaigns.

We are working with the Cinema Advertising Association on a solution to enhance this fit in the future.

4h. Online — the inputs are schedule GRP’s by website type or named websites.  These GRP levels can be taken from other systems eg Neilsen Net Ratings, comScore etc

4i. Direct Mail — the inputs are percentage of households in the target market expected to receive Direct Mailing.

A user defined audience if specific individuals in the household are targeted e.g. ‘Head of Households’

4j. SMS — the inputs are percentage of adults in the target market that were sent SMS messages.
A user defined audience if specific individuals in the household are targeted e.g. ‘Head of Households’.

4k. Broadcast Sponsorship — the inputs are named events (where people have ‘watched on TV’)

4l. Event Sponsorship — named events (which people have attended)

4m. Planning costs — these broad planning costs are produced by WARC

2008 Cost per thousand
(GB£)