The above video interview is from the Advertising Research Foundation Audience Measurement conference.
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There is a school of thought that ad effectiveness increases when TV viewers are more highly engaged in the programming they watch. According to data collected by Ace Metrix, however, there is a low correlation between the two, with ad creativity the essential variable in ad engagement.
CEO Peter Daboll says the findings conclude that viewing intensity, loyalty to the particular TV program and multiple other program engagement attributes do not affect how ads are processed. Relevance and purchase intent are core, with watchability and persuasion contributed by ads’ creativity leading to effectiveness. Daboll, citing his bias towards creative, suggests implications for online and social TV, along with over-the-air.
To be persuasive, an ad needs to hold viewers’ attention and have content that is valuable and relevant. Illustrating another strategic tact, Daboll observes that many successful beer ads benefit from broad appeal by testing to be sure they don’t offend viewers not specifically targeted. He also cautions that an eruption of negative comments on social media does not necessarily mean that an ad is ineffective — public relations and advertising effectiveness issues are to be addressed separately.
