The Media Efficiency Ratio, or MER, is the number that is a snapshot of an infomercial’s overall success or failure during a media buy period. The higher a MER is achieved, the more successful the media buy performance was.
This ratio is derived by dividing total sales (resulting from a particular telecast or telecasts) by the media cost. For example, if a half-hour infomercial media buy generates $3,000 in sales and its cost was $1,000, the MER is a 3.0.
The MER of a campaign can be affected by many factors: the cost of media buys, time slots, creativity, and the product itself. Careful alterations to a campaign can be made to test the campaign to achieve the highest possible MER.
