VIDEO: Fox's Matt Harty on measuring awareness, share of voice online

According to Harty, much has changed since he came on board late 2009.

"At that time the digital division was very much focusing on digital-only clients, chasing those on a local level." He says it soon became apparent that the company and its clients would be better served with a more integrated approach. Since then, he says they've seen hundreds of per cent growth in ad revenues, from a reasonable base.

“The television business is not just about television anymore,” says Harty. He goes on to talk about how the business has expanded beyond television, adding “its only natural for us to add the digital and the social media aspect to it as well.”

Asked about measuring online success, Harty refers to the meaning of a click or an impression.

"Yes, it is more measurable than television," he says, "but looking at impact on awareness and share of voice should be the focus."

When looking at the success of a media campaign, Harty says he is not so interested in Twitter or Facebook, but he’s really interested is more substantive content people have put together, including how people behave in forums where they exchange information pre-and post purchase and blog posts with large amounts of detailed information.

“If we are going to get down to really measure things, we have to look at the more deep impact, and that’s also going to mean there is going to be a greater lead time between the time the advertising runs and time the people’s awareness is actually becoming measurable.”

Harty goes on to say that to create a successful campaign, you have to create awareness and desire and online display advertising does that “on target, on market and very at a very low cost.

He refers to search as being just the thing in the middle, “when people look for you, you have to make sure you are findable”. He adds social media builds up grassroots, building up social awareness, but goes on to warn that marketers have to be bear in mind it happens in pockes and not in the mass media. “Because it’s the first non-broadcast medium we’ve ever worked with, the rules are still emerging.”

He ends his interview by saying that “marketing is marketing” and the tricks will never change. “When we’re going out to sell to people, what we’ve got to do is adapt what works well in the traditional world and introduce that into online."

As for the other way around, Harty advises that traditional media needs to learn as much as they can about the speed of the business and the accountability that comes from digital. "These are the things that traditional media has to take away from the experiment that's been online advertising so far."