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How to Keep Ad Skippers From FastForwarding Your Ad
TiVo/Innerscope Study Tracks Which Commercials Keep Viewers
Watching
by Brian Steinberg
Published: March 31, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Most TV ads give a marketer half a minute to make
a pitch, but a new study suggests advertisers barely have three or four seconds
to get it right.
Viewers with digital video recorders are 25% more likely to fast-forward past
ads that don't interest them immediately, and 25% of viewers are likely not to
watch an entire ad that fails to draw them in right away, no matter how great
the commercial is overall, according to the study.
Hyundai's 2009 Super Bowl ad held viewers' attention.
Viewers were monitored
DVR manufacturer TiVo and Boston's Innerscope, a company that measures
viewers' biometric responses to watching TV, studied 40 viewers in groups of 20
during a 2008 study. Each group watched an hour of TV in real time and with
commercials. Viewers wore lightweight, wireless vests developed by Innerscope
that monitor heart rate, breathing, skin sweat and motion. Their reactions were
correlated with TiVo viewership measures of the same programs and ads.
Researchers found that creative work must rate "high right out of the blocks,"
said Carl Marci, CEO and co-founder of Innerscope.
Mr. Marci pointed to a Burger King ad developed by Miami's Crispin Porter &
Bogusky that showed declining viewer engagement the longer it went on. In the
commercial, a woodsman comes across the burger chain's popular and
inanimate King character, and then is handed the restaurant's enormous omelet
sandwich. Because the product being pitched was introduced relatively late in
the ad, viewers began to tune out, Mr. Marci told an assemblage at a
conference held by the Advertising Research Foundation today.
A recent Hyundai Motor ad that appeared in this year's Super Bowl fared much
better. In the commercial, created by Omnicom Group's Goodby Silverstein &
Partners, a number of executives read reports about Hyundai winning an
industry award and begin screaming the company's name. Later, an announcer
dryly notes that it's funny how everyone says a company's name right after it
wins an important honor. More viewers stayed to watch the whole ad, Mr. Marci
said, because it quickly told a story and hewed closely to it.
More tinkering of ads
While the findings aren't the most eyebrow-raising, they could fuel more
creative tinkering with TV commercials. If a focus group is forced to watch an
entire ad, they may well rate it highly, Innerscope and TiVo suggested, even if
the beginning is weak. And yet, this traditional research method often doesn't
take into account how viewers might react if they have the fast-forwarding
option readily available to them.
About 30.5% of households with TVs will have DVRs by the end of this year,
according to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Magna, and that figure could rise to
nearly 44% by the end of 2014. Even TV executives say they believe that about
60% of DVR owners use them to speed past the ads -- in the process wiping out
a fundamental economic pillar that makes the industry hum. If viewers won't
watch ads, marketers are apt to put their money into media venues where they
will, potentially throwing a wrench into ad support for the media venue that
attracts the most viewers and highest amount of U.S. ad dollars. Already, some
broadcast TV networks are starting to scale back production costs for their
shows.
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April 01, 2009
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How to Keep Ad Skippers From
Fast-Forwarding Your Ad
TiVo/Innerscope Study Tracks Which Commercials Keep
Viewers Watching
by Brian Steinberg
Published: March 31, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Most TV ads give a marketer half a
minute to make a pitch, but a new study suggests advertisers
barely have three or four seconds to get it right.
Viewers with digital video recorders are 25% more likely to fastforward past ads that don't interest them immediately, and 25%
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of viewers are likely not to watch an entire ad that fails to draw
them in right away, no matter how great the commercial is
overall, according to the study.
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Innerscope, a
company that
measures viewers'
biometric responses
to watching TV,
studied 40 viewers
Hyundai's 2009 Super Bowl ad held viewers'
attention.
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Orleans
in groups of 20
during a 2008
study. Each group
watched an hour of TV in real time and with commercials.
Viewers wore lightweight, wireless vests developed by
Innerscope that monitor heart rate, breathing, skin sweat and
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motion. Their reactions were correlated with TiVo viewership
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=135690
4/1/2009
How to Keep Ad Skippers From Fast-Forwarding Your Ad - Advertising Age - MediaWo... Page 2 of 4
measures of the same programs and ads.
Researchers found that creative work must rate "high right out
of the blocks," said Carl Marci, CEO and co-founder of
Innerscope.
Mr. Marci pointed to a Burger King ad developed by Miami's
Crispin Porter & Bogusky that showed declining viewer
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engagement the longer it went on. In the commercial, a
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woodsman comes across the burger chain's popular and
Kids' Upfront 2009
inanimate King character, and then is handed the restaurant's
enormous omelet sandwich. Because the product being pitched
was introduced relatively late in the ad, viewers began to tune
out, Mr. Marci told an assemblage at a conference held by the
Advertising Research Foundation today.
A recent Hyundai Motor ad that appeared in this year's Super
Bowl fared much better. In the commercial, created by Omnicom
Group's Goodby Silverstein & Partners, a number of executives
read reports about Hyundai winning an industry award and begin
screaming the company's name. Later, an announcer dryly notes
that it's funny how everyone says a company's name right after
it wins an important honor. More viewers stayed to watch the
whole ad, Mr. Marci said, because it quickly told a story and
hewed closely to it.
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More tinkering of ads
While the findings aren't the most eyebrow-raising, they could
fuel more creative tinkering with TV commercials. If a focus
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group is forced to watch an entire ad, they may well rate it
highly, Innerscope and TiVo suggested, even if the beginning is
weak. And yet, this traditional research method often doesn't
take into account how viewers might react if they have the fastforwarding option readily available to them.
About 30.5% of households with TVs will have DVRs by the end
of this year, according to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Magna, and
that figure could rise to nearly 44% by the end of 2014. Even TV
executives say they believe that about 60% of DVR owners use
them to speed past the ads -- in the process wiping out a
fundamental economic pillar that makes the industry hum. If
viewers won't watch ads, marketers are apt to put their money
into media venues where they will, potentially throwing a wrench
into ad support for the media venue that attracts the most
viewers and highest amount of U.S. ad dollars. Already, some
broadcast TV networks are starting to scale back production
costs for their shows.
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4 Comments
By don | Houston, TX April 1, 2009 10:23:20 am:
P&G discovered way back in the 60's that if the brand logo
did not appear in first few seconds memorability plunged ..
and that was in the days when a :60 was the norm .. it's not
what goes round comes round it never left!
donbrown [email protected]
While U.S. Media Revenue Grew 4.6% to $299
Billion in 2007, Overall Media Growth Was
Lowest Since 2001
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Ad Age's Annual Ranking of the 100 Leading
Media Companies, by net U.S. Media Revenue.
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By mediablogdotcom | Singapore April 1, 2009 09:58:49 am:
Is this observation for the entire commercial break, or just
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the first ad of a break?
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4/1/2009
How to Keep Ad Skippers From Fast-Forwarding Your Ad - Advertising Age - MediaWo... Page 3 of 4
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If its only for the first ad before a channel switch is triggered,
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Innerscope) a free premium position?
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By Now | New York, NY April 1, 2009 08:46:17 am:
Actually, no tv commercial can be "great overall"if it isn't
riveting in the first QUARTER of second---because that's how
long it takes the human eye to register ANYTHING new it
looks at---even this comment.Larry Brown,Adsimple,East
Hampton,NY
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By bitpakkit | Ottawa, ON March 31, 2009 08:53:57 pm:
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Tinkering is good on all screens.
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