Branded Entertainment Increases, Measurement Difficult

A recent Association of National Advertisers survey found 66 percent of advertisers involve themselves in some form of branded entertainment. Eighty percent use television as the channel through which to launch branded entertainment initiatives and 76 percent plan to include those initiative in their upfront dealings with broadcasters.

While marketers acknowledge impact on sales is of great importance and are measuring their efforts, 62 percent say it is not easy to do and 87 percent say existing measurement tools can't do the job. Sixty two percent say the money to fund branded entertainment initiatives comes from television budgets, up from 52 percent last year and more (35 percent) are funding initiatives incrementally, up from 18 percent last year. More than half (60 percent) do not rely on their agencies for branded entertainment and initiate projects themselves.