The app, called the “USA Today-Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter,” will reside on Facebook and USA Today’s online properties, and be accessible on mobile platforms. It will allow users to view, rate and share Super Bowl ads.
This marks the first time that online consumers will have a say in the winner of USA Today’s long-running Ad Meter.
The Facebook app rankings will become the main measure of ad performance, USA Today tells Mashable. The regular USA Today Ad Meter live focus group will supplement results of the application.
“The USA Today-Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter is going to give millions of people the ability to not only interact with the various Super Bowl commercials, but to rate the ads and share with their friends on Facebook,” says Mike Hoefflinger, director of global business marketing at Facebook. “Making the Ad Meter social brings it to an entirely new level and we’re proud to be a part of it.”
The companies are planning to shop around Super Bowl XLVI ad packages and sponsorship opportunities for the app at next week’s Advertising Week event in New York, according to sources familiar with the matter. A USA Today spokesperson confirmed that the companies will be selling joint packages for advertisers who are interested in both platforms. Both companies see the potential for big-name sponsorships to an app based around the biggest advertising event of the year.
USA Today, a Gannett property, is motivated by the desire to make its Super Bowl Ad Meter, now in its 24th year, more relevant. Each year, USA Today assembles volunteers and electronically charts their second-by-second reactions to ads shown during the Super Bowl to determine overall rankings.
“Social media is changing the face of consumer engagement and this partnership more than ever, puts the consumer at the center of the conversation around advertising’s biggest annual event,” says David Payne, senior vice president and chief digital officer of Gannett.
Facebook attempted to capture the attention of would-be ad viewers in 2011, but it was late to the line of scrimmage and did not appear to secure rights to all of the Super Bowl advertisements.
via: Jennifer Van Grove Mashable Associate Editor
