Less is more: the impact of clutter on effectiveness
ZenithOptimedia’s Richard Shotton shares the results of a new survey which assesses the impact of different ad break lengths.
Video and audio advertising opportunities have changed immeasurably in the last few years. However, amongst all the turmoil one change has passed with little commentary. Clutter.
The length of ad breaks has become markedly more varied as new entrants have offered shorter breaks in an attempt to attract advertisers. Spotify’s solus breaks and YouTube’s pre-rolls are just two prominent examples. Yet, whilst it seems logical that shorter breaks should be more effective there’s little evidence, and even less quantification, of their superior impact.
ZenithOptimedia, therefore, surveyed a nationally representative group of 750 to redress this knowledge gap. At the beginning of our survey we played an audio ad from a major car advertiser. About five minutes later, at the end of the questionnaire, we asked the respondents about details from the audio ad and the likeability of the brand in question.
The twist was that unbeknownst to the respondents they were split into three groups each hearing the ad in a break of different lengths. They either heard a solus ad or a break of three or six ads. We chose six ads as this replicated the average length of a commercial radio break.
The impact of break length on the correct recollection of ad details was marked. Respondents were 33% more likely to recall details, such as the price, when the ad ran alone rather than in a break of six ads.
The effect on likeabilty was more muted though, with solus ads scoring 10% better than when they were in the most cluttered breaks. This may be due to the use of a well-known brand which had existing associations.
Our results on clutter are supported by evidence from other sources. Millward Brown has published average Awareness Index (AI) scores by country for TV copy. There’s a strong inverse correlation between the volume of ads aired and the average AI score.
It may come as a surprise to anyone familiar with daytime TV but the UK has a relatively low level of clutter. The US has three times as many ads and the Philippines, perhaps the most cluttered market, has four times as many.
The impact on AI scores is dramatic: in the UK the average AI is six whereas it drops to four in the US and to a meagre one in the Philippines. A little clutter may be a dangerous thing but a lot is lethal.
The reason for the decline in recall and effectiveness can be attributed to two reasons. Firstly, the longer an ad break is the more likely it becomes that people will do something else during the breaks.
If you’re not physically present it’s hard to be moved by an ad no matter how good it is. The second reason is that our capacity to retain information is limited, so when our car ad had to jostle with ads for tinned soups and comparison sites something had to give.
Whatever the exact reason for the decline in effectiveness of advertising in cluttered environments there are interesting implications for advertisers. Brands should avoid the longest ad breaks where possible and ideally run solus.
Since we have been able to quantify the negative impact of clutter it is also justifiable to pay a small premium to secure a superior environment.
Twitter: @rshotton