Online platforms viewed as “positive” experiences by consumers amplify advertising performance, according to a new study from Pinterest and IPG Mediabrands’ media investment arm Magna.
The Positivity Performs: Ad Environments’ Critical Role in Media Planning report found that ads adjacent to content on “positive platforms” resulted in increased purchase intent (+35%), brand favourability (+49%) and brand preference (+44%).
Research subjects were also twice as likely to trust the exact same ad when they felt positively about its contextual environment than when they didn’t, and nearly twice as likely (+94%) to buy the product or service during future shopping.
Beth Horn, Pinterest’s UK managing director, commented: “Brands no longer have to choose between a positive platform and one that performs — they can be one and the same.”
“Positivity” can be a subjective phenomenon. The Media Leader understands that research subjects were not only asked via a survey whether they perceived their time on a given platform as positive, but the study also utilised facial-, eye- and brain-tracking to discern subjects’ emotional responses and attention to different online environments.
Individuals surveyed were found to be 20% more emotionally engaged with content they saw on platforms they perceived to be positive. They also spent 15% more time looking at ads in such environments.
Kara Manatt, executive vice-president, intelligence solutions, at Magna, suggested that the research could give advertisers a “competitive edge”, adding the study “shows what audiences may experience whenever they log on to positive social media, how that impacts brands and why prioritising this could benefit both”.
Through running media mix modelling (MMM) simulations, the report estimated that the same creative and finite budget would lead to a 24% increase in sales when brands incorporated positivity, alongside viewability, into their media buys.
Horn added that the research shows “consumers don’t just prefer platforms that drive a positive experience like Pinterest, but they’re more likely to take action and engage with ads they see in these environments”.
Anger is not a long-term social strategy
Pinterest has long sought to prove that positive social platforms drive as good, if not better, business results as incumbent social media platforms owned by the likes of Meta and ByteDance.
At last year’s Pinterest Presents event, vice-president of performance Matt Crystal explained the platform wants to be a “refuge from the toxicity of social media”. CEO Bill Ready has also publicly staked the success of the business on helping solve the mental health crisis associated with social media. He previously told advertisers that if Pinterest does not succeed in its pledge to inspire a more positive and inclusive online experience with its design choices, brands should stop advertising on it.
In February, Pinterest’s EMEA sales lead argued in an op-ed in The Media Leader that, although distrust and division can drive “engagement via enragement”, ultimately “anger is a not a long-term strategy” because it eventually drives users away and provides a poor environment for advertisers.
The report is released on the same day that cinema sales house Digital Cinema Media released its own study finding advertising in certain media environments also impacts brands’ pricing power.
