Millward Brown unveils viral ad potential metric

The new Creative Viral Potential (CVP) metric – incorporated into Millward Brown’s Link pre-testing tool – was developed by analysing behavioural viewing data from YouTube for 102 adverts alongside survey-based measures. Once the process was complete Millward Brown uncovered four “essential” components for viral success.

These were: the awareness index (a measure of brand engagement used by advertisers to predict the success of TV advertising), buzz (the likelihood of the ad being passed along), celebrity (the profile of any celebrity used in the ad) and distinctiveness (a measure of originality).

Duncan Southgate, Millward Brown’s global innovations director, said: “As an advertiser, your chances of a major viral success are relatively low, but it’s a prize worth aiming for and our new validated pre-test metric makes it an easier target to hit.”