NewMediaMetrics Signs BET Networks for 2013 African-American Brand-Alignment Cross-Platform Study

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Apr 3, 2013) - NewMediaMetrics, a content investment and brand alignment company, announced today that it has signed cable network BET as one of its key sponsors of the 2013 LEAP™ African-American Content Alignment Study. NMM also recently added Essence Magazine to its roster.

This syndicated study follows up and expands upon a charter study by NewMediaMetrics that launched in 2012. NMM's database will aggregate more than 3,000 African Americans aged 13-64 and quantify their Emotional Attachment™ to more than 350 consumer brands and 400 media properties across 14 Platforms -- including TV, internet, print, mobile, social and out-of-home.

NewMediaMetrics uses a proprietary methodology, known as Emotional Attachment (EA™), which quantitatively measures consumers' EA to brands and media properties. The process uses a patent-protected 11-point scale to measure Emotional Attachment. (The approach is based on a body of widely respected academic research from the 1930's by John Bowlby on attachment and the bonding process). As applied by NewMediaMetrics, the process enables marketers to understand and identify high-value customers, and more important, how to align their brands with the content that will drive increased ROI.

"As the leading media and entertainment brand for consumers of black culture globally, we recognize the importance of connecting with and understanding our audience," said Matthew Barnhill, EVP of Corporate Market Research at BET Networks. "This new partnership with NewMediaMetrics deepens our strength of insights into our audience and the African-American community as a whole. We look forward to working together so that BET Networks can better serve our viewers, partners and other stakeholders."

BET is the leading provider of music, entertainment and lifestyle information for the African American and urban audience, reaching 90 million households and known for programs such as, "Real Husbands," "The Game" and "Rip the Runway."

The NMM study will also include Emotional Attachment among African Americans and brand alignment to a number of key entertainment and sports sponsorships -- everything from the Academy Awards, the BET Honors, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and sports properties such as, NBA Basketball, March Madness, the summer and winter Olympic games and more.

"We couldn't be happier than to have BET on board as our latest client for 2013," said NMM co-founder Gary Reisman. "Aligning content with brands is a critical factor in today's market, and those who apply it can increase market share. Leveraging Emotional Attachment to brands and media means that marketers can deploy their messages on the media that matter most for their most important marketing segments."

Reisman explained that viewers who are highly attached to a media property such as a program, network or website, will view content on that property more intently and follow that content in whatever format or platform it may be available.

For example, those who are highly attached to a show are more than 46 percent more likely to view the show more often. They are also 40 percent more likely to engage with the program in some way and 57 percent more likely to follow the show after its initial air date (i.e., via DVR, On Demand or streaming).

Marketers should also be aware that those who are highly attached to a brand are 2.5 times more likely to pay attention to ads from that brand -- a critical factor in today's zip-through-commercials environment.

"Brand-to-media alignment creates significant ROI value," Reisman added. "When brands align with the right content it causes a 3x factor -- that is, they find viewers 3x as likely to buy or use their brands because they are being advertised in the right environment at the right time."

NMM's study is available to marketers, agencies and media companies. Besides BET, the company recently signed Essence Magazine, in part, because of NMM's demonstrated ability to significantly boost growth for brands that use its approach to activate on the right media.

About New Media Metrics
NewMediaMetrics is a content-investment, activation and alignment company that works with content developers to predict the marketplace value (or audience draw) in the early stages of development via the LEAP™ Content Investment Marketplace. Using LEAP™, developers can determine whether content is worthy of production investment. NMM also works with brand marketers to quantify the value of aligning their brands with specific TV, digital video and cross-platform media to aid their strategic media allocations.

About BET Networks
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA) (NASDAQ: VIAB), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.