Now that media agency Digitas has established itself as major player in branded Web videos, it's aiming to measure the engagement of such videos.
That's what John McCarus, VP and group director Digitas/The Third Act, told us when we caught up with him at the recent New Front event in New York.
"Now that we are stealing those [TV ad] dollars, we use them to intelligently experiment and track, and by that we mean get involved in original content creations and other highly engaging content partnerships and measure them," he said. Specifically, he's referring to the ability to place a value on a community, for instance, the engagement behind it and the activity of consumers all the way through the purchase funnel.
McCarus was recently selected for The Hollywood Reporter's "Digital Power 50" list that recognizes people who are influential in digital deal-making. His work on the recent Paula Deen "Real Women of Philadelphia" digital venture has been cited as particularly noteworthy. That project was created with Digitas client Kraft and generated more than 2 million video views for the campaign in eight weeks.
McCarus added that social media has become a critical factor in the success of Web series over the last 12 months and has given brands more ownership in the buzz. "The power of social has re-framed how brands think about their business," he said.
He will be a panelist on Tuesday's Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable at MSBNC.com. More details here.
Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer
