Brain Scans Show Relevance Is Key To TV Ads
New research from Viacom Brand Solutions has used brain scans to measure viewers’ response to TV advertising, revealing an increase in effectiveness of 24% for those commercials placed around relevant programming.
The study, one of the first of its kind within television, examined nine key areas of brain activity affecting viewers’ analysis, absorption, effort, long-term memory, short-term memory and semantic abilities.
The research results will be unveiled to media agencies in a series of meetings this week, demonstrating that advertising content relevant to the programme environment in which it appears is on average 24% more likely to generate brain activity associated with advertising effectiveness.
The research also shows that, for the 8 of the 9 areas measured, advertising on average generates more brain activity than the programming in which it appears, an interesting counterpoint for those that claim viewers “switch off” during ad breaks.
The study was commissioned by VBS and carried out by one of the UK’s leading specialist consultancies in neuroscience, Neurosense.
24 subjects were shown a variety of TV programmes and ads at the Maudsley Hospital in South London, while an MRI scanner was used to examine their corresponding mental reactions.
Explaining the significance of the high-tech research, Nick Bampton, managing director of VBS, said: “Advertisers demand return on investment. But there is much more to this than price: real returns will come from fully understanding where viewers are most receptive to communications. We can now demonstrate how making ads that fit the tone and style of the programmes around them result in a dramatic increase in brain activity and therefore advertising effectiveness.”
He added: “At VBS we are trying to act as ‘agents of change’ in the TV advertising business. We feel the business needs to move on, but needs a catalyst. We are all too concerned with relative price rather than focussing on advertising effectiveness, which is the key driver for ROI.”
Viacom Brand Solutions: www.viacombrandsolutions.co.uk