Second screening is now a firmly established behaviour of the living room, yet syncing the ads between the TV and mobile or tablet screens is still in its infancy. Has it simply not yet made its case as an advertising strategy?
Millward Brown’s Jane Ostler doesn’t think so – and says that while TV ad-syncing has a lot of potential, it also faces a number of obstacles before it hits the mainstream.
“The case for TV syncing is quite an interesting one and it’s to do with intelligent use of data and information – whether it’s competitive, or going into more depth from a TV ad whilst consumers are looking at other devices,” Ostler says.
“But I think ultimately it’s at a very early stage and advertisers aren’t really sure yet whether it’s working for brands.”
Ostler’s comments came during a debate hosted by Mediatel and 4C on Thursday, which set out to address some of the challenges advertisers face as they try to better engage consumers as they multi-task across different devices.
While some industry experts agree that ad syncing as a new format has potential, Ostler argues that the real focus should be on going “back to basics” – especially during a time where most people, given a choice, would reject advertising altogether.
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One solution to break through negative attitudes towards advertising, Ostler says, is giving consumers what they really want: control and reward.
Citing research her team had produced in 42 markets, Ostler revealed that the ultimate reward consumers want from an ad is humour – except for in Japan, where information is considered more important.
In terms of control, Ostler said brands need to make sure they choose the right format to advertise on, or else they risk annoying consumers.
“[Consumers] don’t like ads that auto-play or where the sound comes up automatically…they like being able to skip ads and they like to be able to click them away,” she said.
“They want to be able to look at [an ad] within their newsfeed in real-time, as opposed to a pop-up that they have to click to close.”
Good news for Facebook then, which recently said it wants to become a “non-stop video platform” by 2018 so users never have to leave the newsfeed.
