Channel 4: Measuring Engagement for Bow Street Runner

Research revealed Channel 4's (C4) 14 — 18 year old audience for educational programs had all but deserted TV to spend their time online. It commissioned a £6m portfolio of multi-platform and digital-only content and services to engage its target audiences online.

C4 needed new measurement models that would inform its future strategies and quantify the impact of their online efforts. It hired search and social-led digital agency iCrossing to develop a prototype concept for measuring online engagement for its new, six-episode online game, Bow Street Runner.

iCrossing's Engagement Measurement Framework was influenced by Forrester's ‘Marketing's New Key Metric: Engagement' report. iCrossing's Framework scorecard broke down into four key areas: involvement, interaction, intimacy and influence.

The "Listening campaign" exceeded key objectives by not only measuring online behavior, but by quantifying user engagement and providing critical insight towards future online gaming projects delivered within a social media framework.

C4 benchmarked what success looked like in online engagement and learned valuable lessons about how agile development/marketing are key to this kind of program.

iCrossing's pioneering Engagement Measurement Framework helped the broadcaster better appreciate and understand their audience's online behavior, informing future online content and campaign development.

Key findings revealed:

• Overall engagement increased, with users continuing to engage as new episodes were released;
• 30 percent of user-generated content was positive;
• 35 percent of all traffic came from Web sites that were seeded by C4, indicating the success of the seeding strategy
• Return visits from social bookmarking sites increased over time, providing useful insights for future games
• Dissatisfaction expressed by users concerning usability and bugs helped identify and resolve technical issues