TV viewing study probes online ad watching

Millward Brown has studied the effectiveness of ads on prime-time TV, DVR and the web and found that online video advertising can deliver high levels of brand engagement.

Market research company Millward Brown's 2007 CTV-1 Study, conducted in the US, shows that marketers have a good opportunity to fully engage their target audience in a "captive" viewing environment by supplementing their television ad spend by placing ads during full-length TV shows viewed online.

CTV is a term coined by Millward Brown to describe consumer-controlled television/video viewing.

The CTV-1 Study is the first in a series of digital media research studies designed by the Millward Brown Futures Group (a task force of experts from Millward Brown and Dynamic Logic) that focuses on longer-term digital implications for brand building.

"We are following the video across multiple platforms, and research like this will help our clients determine how to advertise their brand most effectively using video content", said Mike Ripka, vice president, Millward Brown.

CTV-1 Study was conducted in the US using ads from leading brands in the Quick Service Restaurant, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Financial Services categories.

Millward Brown explored the effects of one 30-second ad from each category viewed across alternative platforms for a prime-time network TV show at air time, time-shifted via DVR, and at the networks' web sites.

The study showed that the advertising performed positively across all three platforms.

All platforms tested had positive impact, but the results show a higher level of engagement among the online viewers - leading to increased communications awareness, brand favorability and consideration.

This is supported by the fact that online viewers were 53 per cent more likely to pay attention to the ads during commercial breaks versus live TV viewers.

Time-shifted viewers were 30 per cent less likely to pay attention to the ads than live TV viewers.

The study also shows that ad recall was four times higher among viewers of the online format versus recall of live or time-shifted viewers.

This in large part reflects that the online ad format shows the same ad (and only that ad) three to six times during the course of a programme.

Ads on network TV are shown once, within a pod of several commercials, and there are several commercial pods during a single programme.

Duncan Southgate, UK-based director of global innovation at Millward Brownsaid: "These are exciting times for online video advertising, which is still in its infancy in the UK - this research from Millward Brown's Futures Group proves that online video advertising can be highly effective for advertisers.

"Advertisers are keen, but there are still not enough advertising opportunities online at the moment: British broadcasters and online content providers have been slower to develop their online video advertising models than their US counterparts.

"Just compare the home pages of abc.com and itv.com and you see the difference straight away".

However, Southgate believes things are changing: you can now see online video ads on the home pages of mirror.co.uk and telegraph.co.uk.

"This is sure to be a major growth trend over the coming year.

"Right now, media owners should be working hard to build and refine models which are both acceptable to their site users and which can also provide an engaging and impactful communication medium for brands".

"Advertisers should also be looking to explore and fully understand the new opportunities which online video represents.

"They need to understand if they can simply extend the reach of their existing TV adverts or whether another style of creative is required in this different viewing environment".

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