The holy grail of advertising these days is trying to find exactly what customers are looking for, when they are looking for it and when they are most likely to convert into buyers. In radio and TV advertising, special phone numbers and websites can serve a tracking purpose that allows statisticians to pull out data like this. Online web searching installs a whole new level of data collection that lets sellers really know their buyers (and customize marketing as appropriate). But just how do those customers actually respond to certain forms of advertising? Why are only a fraction of advertising viewers doing anything in reaction to an ad -- why not all 100%?
Biological experiments that take stock of physiological monitoring are nothing new in the advertising arena, and at NBC, advertisers want to know more about consumer reactions as the television medium continues to be under assault from ad dollars moving online (along with advertisers themselves). In order to bring ads back to television, the medium has to evolve beyond passive and impressions-based advertising to one of actually engaging customers and measuring the experience. But what makes up such an experience? Watching KFC (NYSE: YUM)'s absurd ads with a bastardized version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" being screamed in the background, I think, actually drives customers away from the fast-food chain. Perhaps I am wrong.
NBC's research, though, has a new twist: It measures customer engagement to commercial advertisements viewed in fast-forward mode. With more folks in the U.S. using TiVo and other digital video recorders that allow fast-forwarding through commercials, TV networks are losing ad dollars to advertisers that don't want to pay for viewers that zap right through commercials. But, if those viewers have some kind of meaningful engagement to the commercial, even when fast forwarded, then the networks regain some ammunition to negotiate ad rates.
Last updated: February 13, 2012: 12:50 PM
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-03-2007 @ 6:18PM
Jane said...
Personally, I don't give a rat's behind about commercials. There's too many on now as it is. I'm sick and tired of a show that's supposed to be an hour but ends up at 45 minutes because 15 minutes are taken up with stupid, idiotic ads. And when they do come on, they're louder than the show I was watching. Thank God for TiVo.
7-03-2007 @ 8:08PM
Allnitewatchman said...
I love a good creative commercial. Sometimes it's a mini drama rolled up into 60, 30, and 15 second advertisements. Goofy commercials are good for side splitting entertainment but not much else. I like the ones that are done for maximum effect. McDonald's Hamburgers does a good job in getting the most out of their commercials.
7-03-2007 @ 8:11PM
Dave said...
I often wondered why TV manufactures and the broadcast industry never agreed to put a sub audio tone along with the advertising commercials audio that would mute a TV set whenever a commercial was playing. Such a easy thing to do! It could even put the VCR in the standby mode for the duration of the ads! But lets not speculate! Let's see, who did'nt get paid off at the FCC?
7-05-2007 @ 1:05PM
holben said...
The best commercials are short and spend all of the time focusing on the product; Not like the drug ads for example that seem to always show some idiot dancing through flowers for most of the ad, then show the product briefly, then spend a week with all the disclosures, then show the product briefly at the end. You'll notice all the network news is all drug ads. Hell, the news has changed by the time these ads are done! Where's Clara Peller when we need her!??
9-13-2007 @ 5:09PM
Mel said...
Why are the commercials SO much louder than the programs? I have surround sound, so I have to mute them. It kind of defeats the purpose of advertising in this household. Someone needs to invent a device that levels out all the volume on the TV.