Interactive Ads Flop With Digital Viewers

Only 12% of digital viewers have ever interacted with an advert, according to the latest Digital Viewers Survey carried out by BMRB.

The survey, which examined the viewing habits of almost 1000 digital subscribers, shows that of those that had interacted with adverts, over 50% found that the information they had accessed was “very uninteresting.”

The younger age groups were found to be the most likely to “go interactive'” with an ad, with 28% of 15-24 year olds having done so. The most frequently given reason for interacting with an advert was curiosity. 11% of respondents cited a give-away as the main reason for interacting and 9% said they they had been attracted by a prize draw. One in six respondents said that they didn’t know why they had chosen to go interactive.

Of those yet to experience interactive adverts only 36% said that they would be likely to do so in the future. The majority of respondents said that they were unlikely to ever interact with an ad as they felt that the concept was unappealing.

According to the survey, interactive programmes proved more popular than interactive adverts, with 50% of digital viewers choosing to use an interactive programming option. Sky Digital tempted 58% of its viewers to interact and ITV Digital 32%. Only 18% of cable digital viewers had ever been attracted to interactive programmes.

The two big interactive events of the summer, Big Brother and Wimbledon (see Interactive TV Is On The Up), attracted a significant number of interactive viewers. 38% of Sky Digital viewers were found to have interacted with the Big Brother coverage, slightly higher than the 33% who made use of Wimbledon’s interactive options.

Overall viewers were found to have reacted positively to the interactive elements of the programmes with almost all respondents saying that the interactive coverage was either very or fairly good.

BMRB: 020 8566 5000 www.bmrb.co.uk