Breakfast Time Best For Ads, Says Report
An advertising recall survey commissioned by GMTV has dispelled the myth that breakfast time is a bad time to run a campaign. The study, conducted by Continental Research, reported the highest levels of recall of advertising during the breakfast period.
Almost 2000 participants were interviewed for the report immediately after viewing television. Of all commercials seen by the participants, 55% of those broadcast during the breakfast period were recalled, compared to just 44% during the evening slot. The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 was the best performer during the breakfast period; a total 59% of all ads shown during this daypart were recalled.
GMTV also fared well with 54% of ads broadcast during the show recalled. This was compared to the peak evening daypart which saw just 42% of ads on ITV recalled and 46% on Channel 4.
The youth bias of The Big Breakfast pushed the high levels of recall during this programme; the 25-34 year age group were found to be the best recallers of ads. Men watching the show were also more likely to remember ads than women, while during GMTV the reverse was true.
Daytime was discovered to be the worst time for advertising with only 30% recall reported for ads shown during this period. Low levels of attention were recorded and television was viewed passively: almost a third of people said they were watching a particular programme during this period because “nothing better was on”. This compares to the breakfast period when 78% of people had specifically chosen the programme they were watching.
The report also showed that TV viewing is becoming a solitary activity with 60% of viewers watching alone, even during the evening peak period.
Commenting on the research, Caroline Bell, head of research at GMTV, said: “Following on from previous work in this area, this study continued GMTV’s commitment to proving to advertisers just how effective the breakfast daypart is. We believe some of the results from this study have implications for all advertisers, for example how creative work should now take into account the demise of the family watching TV as a group.”
Continental Research: 020 7490 5944