MRG Evening Meeting – Switch On Or Switch Off?
It seems that television viewers have never had so much choice. It also seems that they are being faced with longer and more cluttered TV junctions. So what steps should we take to address this for the benefit of viewers and advertisers? Can we keep viewers switched on to our ads or will they increasingly take the chance to switch over?
Research carried out by IDS and UKTV, in conjunction with Billett’s, Blinc and Carat, looked at the behaviour patterns of viewers during commercial breaks. The study set about finding: the optimum break length; judging the importance of break components; evaluating junction effectiveness, including commercials & promotional spot recall, audience retention and attention and gauging viewer tolerance.
The study showed that despite the UK having third highest daily viewing in Europe (behind Greece and Italy), UK viewers had the highest tolerance of advertising compared to our European neighbours. UK viewers had a neutral attitude to commercial breaks, accepting that they were part of the TV landscape. Despite claims that they avoided them, by switching channel or leaving room, respondents had a high recall of specific ads shown. The findings also showed that ads can be a useful escape, sometimes breaks were considered an inappropriate interruption (within short programmes, badly timed, sports events) other times welcomed (within films).
Ad awareness increased within shorter commercial breaks, spontaneous recall increased by 10%. Comparisons between short and long breaks showed 45% of ads were recalled in short breaks, with 41% recalling ads within long breaks. The greatest gains were amongst 16-34 year olds (up 30%), closely followed by women (up 20%). Shorter ad breaks enhanced recall of commercials shown further into ad breaks. Recall increased 19% for any of the last three ads, compared to a 4% increase for any of the first three ads.
Generally screen-promotional activity was seen as helpful to the viewer, due the fact that it was helpful, saved viewers time going through television guides, provided a reason to stay on channel, it was seen as relevant to viewer, the information given was seen as inoffensive comment and not as a hard sell. The slight negatives were: timings, too much or too little notice; over promotion of sister channels (particularly amongst terrestrial only viewers); promos were unsophisticated and loud.
Given the chance to construct their own commercial breaks, the respondents wanted to challenge expected content. This was achieved by the inclusion of an additional promo midway through breaks, which would invoke surprise and revive viewer interest.
In conclusion the research found that:
- Viewers have become highly adept at navigating/avoiding junction content.
- Shortening junctions has had significant positive impact on ad recall
- Structure AND content are key to effectiveness in junctions
- Viewers respond to variety and challenging break formats
- Promotional & advertising elements are perceived separately by viewers
- Relevant/appropriate activity is appreciated (ad & promos)
- Increasing amount of messages on multichannel tv results in negative perceptions of their output
- Viewers welcome the initiative to improve junctions BUT are wary how/where broadcaster will recoup minutage loses.
MRG: www.mrg.org.uk
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