MUMBAI: It's been 13 months in the development and now is about to be launched. Adex India (the new name for TAM India's advertising monitoring service TAM AdEx) is just about ready to unveil Adex Vector - its new, much improved data-entry backend system for ad monitoring.

Vector, which launches next month, claims to offer faster data, heightened accuracy and a system that is completely accountable to the quality of its output.

Online Creative monitoring services 'e-RMS' launched

'e-RMS' is one of the front end delivery systems that Vector will facilitate. The launch of e-RMS (e-Rapid Monitoring System) will enable Adex India to monitor close to a thousand media vehicles (including terrestrial, regional, satellite TV channels as well as newspapers, magazines) offering a service that tracks the brands that a company wants keep an eye on. e-RMS ensures that the moment a rival brand launches a new TVC, it can be monitored. According to Adex India, using e-RMS, a copy of a particular commercial can be despatched through the communication mode of choice including e-mails, ditto for press, immediately. The complete press plan of the competition along with the visuals of the ads that rivals put on press will be delivered at the desktop, is what Adex says it will be able to offer.

Indiantelevision.com met up with Adex India head Atul Phadnis and Tim Fulton, director of Nielsen Media Research's director of Global AIS (Advertising Information Services) Systems Tim Fulton, to get a first hand account of Vector meant to the business of advertising monitoring in India.


According to Phadnis, in purely efficiency terms the quality of software that constitutes Vector would provide a savings in terms of man hours of 3,500 per month. In terms of timelines of data delivery, that's a 20 per cent improvement over what was currently in use, Phadnis says. "Vector offers perfect data and gives clients the mechanism to verify that," he asserts.

As far as backend operations platforms go though, Vector is just a bridge service to what is ultimately going to come to India - the AIS 2004 platform. It is a service that is unmatched in terms of quality and speed of delivery and is unique in that allows for the linking of creatives with expenditures, the data for which is provided within two to three hours of transmission, says Fulton. AIS 2004 not only provides clients with data on ad expenditure, but also the capacity to actually view the ads and their placement, he points out. Already onstream in the UK, in the Asia Pacific region, ASS 2004 has been activated only in Hong Kong as of now.

Queried as to what were the systems that had been developed in India, that would be of use an other markets across the globe, Fulton said the Indian team had developed a system that measured product placement effectiveness for television programmes (of all sorts -sports, game shows, soaps) that could be taken to other markets as well. The system allows for product placement monitoring. The monitoring data is merged with the viewing data (TRPs) and an effectiveness quotient is derived, says Phadnis.

Elaborating on the concept, Phadnis says the TV screen is broken down into various grids and depending on where on the grid the product falls as well as time of exposure, a effectiveness measure is derived.

Fulton, who left India over the weekend, is visiting different markets to see how backend operations in the different markets across the globe could be better streamlined. It's all about quality and speed of delivery of data, he said.

The Adex division of TAM Media Research, which monitors more than 600 press and TV brands, is being rechristened as Adex India; it will launch new products and services, and perhaps begin monitoring radio and outdoor. Its new services include the e-Rapid Monitoring Service (e-RMS) for monitoring of competitive creatives on TV and press, and a more sophisticated back-end software called Vector. Also, Press Adex will cover more publications and monitor non-display ads, and a TV innovations encyclopaedia will be launched soon.

"This is really an upgradation of the back-end system - we're making it faster, more accurate, and more user-friendly," said Mr L.V. Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research.

"There is an inherent need for faster information, and the systems will also enable MNC agencies to track and update information across the same system, whether it is here or in Singapore. So there will be greater flexibility."

Since TAM took over ORG-MARG's Adex business last year, TAM has invested in modelling it along international media monitoring standards, improving the speed and quality of data delivery and the accuracy of its database, Mr Krishnan said. It has also launched new services such as monitoring of print innovations, programme promotions, product placements and in-stadia placements.

Some of these services represent a high level of innovation and may be implemented in other markets that TAM operates in, according to Mr Tim Fulton, Director - Global AIS Systems, Nielsen Media Research, who was in Mumbai to participate in the launch.

"I've been very impressed with the productivity and level of innovation here, and we are looking at bringing in other existing platforms to enhance the speed and quality of delivery," Mr Fulton said.

"In India, we monitor 50,000 TV spots a day, while in markets like the UK and US we monitor many more, and deliver the data faster - in the case of newspapers, by 9 a.m. the next morning."

Vector, which is being described as the equivalent of a "heart transplant" or a "complete new engine makeover" for Adex India, is a sophisticated data-entry software which is fast and almost error-proof, ensuring heightened accuracy and greater accountability, Mr Krishnan said. With the upgradation, Adex India will look at entering new areas such as monitoring of radio and outdoor. "In the UK, we also monitor cinema, DM, Internet and exhibition - because everyone is competing for the same dollar, so the more tools you use, the more efficient you can be," said Mr Fulton, who was a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy. "And we monitor them down to the creatives, so we look at not just how much is being spent, but also what message is being delivered."

In terms of the number of media brands that are monitored, India resembles Taiwan most closely - in the US for instance, 700,000 TV spots are monitored each day - although there is a greater degree of sophistication in the services here, he added.

The challenge is the complexity: there are hundreds of TV channels and thousands of publications spread across a very diverse region, which present both, a challenge and an opportunity, Mr Fulton said. Indeed, there is a demand for these services from Indian brands that are going overseas: "Two-wheeler and auto brands going abroad want to know what kind of communication their competition is using in these markets," Mr Krishnan said. "So we have to upgrade and improve our systems and services consistently to meet the new needs of our clients."

THE Adex division of TAM Media Research, which monitors more than 600 press and TV brands, is being rechristened as Adex India; it will launch new products and services, and perhaps begin monitoring radio and outdoor. Its new services include the e-Rapid Monitoring Service (e-RMS) for monitoring of competitive creatives on TV and press, and a more sophisticated back-end software called Vector. Also, Press Adex will cover more publications and monitor non-display ads, and a TV innovations encyclopaedia will be launched soon.

"This is really an upgradation of the back-end system - we're making it faster, more accurate, and more user-friendly," said Mr L.V. Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research.

"There is an inherent need for faster information, and the systems will also enable MNC agencies to track and update information across the same system, whether it is here or in Singapore. So there will be greater flexibility."

Since TAM took over ORG-MARG's Adex business last year, TAM has invested in modelling it along international media monitoring standards, improving the speed and quality of data delivery and the accuracy of its database, Mr Krishnan said. It has also launched new services such as monitoring of print innovations, programme promotions, product placements and in-stadia placements.

Some of these services represent a high level of innovation and may be implemented in other markets that TAM operates in, according to Mr Tim Fulton, Director - Global AIS Systems, Nielsen Media Research, who was in Mumbai to participate in the launch.

"I've been very impressed with the productivity and level of innovation here, and we are looking at bringing in other existing platforms to enhance the speed and quality of delivery," Mr Fulton said.

"In India, we monitor 50,000 TV spots a day, while in markets like the UK and US we monitor many more, and deliver the data faster - in the case of newspapers, by 9 a.m. the next morning."

Vector, which is being described as the equivalent of a "heart transplant" or a "complete new engine makeover" for Adex India, is a sophisticated data-entry software which is fast and almost error-proof, ensuring heightened accuracy and greater accountability, Mr Krishnan said. With the upgradation, Adex India will look at entering new areas such as monitoring of radio and outdoor. "In the UK, we also monitor cinema, DM, Internet and exhibition - because everyone is competing for the same dollar, so the more tools you use, the more efficient you can be," said Mr Fulton, who was a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy. "And we monitor them down to the creatives, so we look at not just how much is being spent, but also what message is being delivered."

In terms of the number of media brands that are monitored, India resembles Taiwan most closely - in the US for instance, 700,000 TV spots are monitored each day - although there is a greater degree of sophistication in the services here, he added.

The challenge is the complexity: there are hundreds of TV channels and thousands of publications spread across a very diverse region, which present both, a challenge and an opportunity, Mr Fulton said. Indeed, there is a demand for these services from Indian brands that are going overseas: "Two-wheeler and auto brands going abroad want to know what kind of communication their competition is using in these markets," Mr Krishnan said. "So we have to upgrade and improve our systems and services consistently to meet the new needs of our clients."