The enduring power of TV

In this first TV egtabite after the summer break, we take a look at Professor Karen Nelson-Field’s recent study conducted for Screenforce DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Nelson-Field and her team at Amplified Intelligence found that across multiple platforms, TV delivers the greatest number of attentive seconds and offers the greatest sales impact.

The results of the study were presented in a five-part video-series by Screenforce entitled Screenforce What’s On? Nelson-Field has previously researched the effectiveness of video advertising across multiple platforms with ThinkTV in Australia and Dentsu Aegis Network in the UK and USA. This time the AI-supported research approach of Amplified Intelligence focused on the DACH region. "One of the most interesting findings from this complex series of studies is the striking similarity of results across platforms and countries" says Nelson-Field.

TV and Broadcaster VoD are more effective than other platforms

Not all Reach is Equal is an appropriate headline for the DACH study. Its key findings deliver ground breaking insights exhibiting and explaining the power of TV content. For the first time, Instagram was included in this research along with linear TV, YouTube, Facebook and Broadcaster Video-on-Demand (BVOD). Nelson-Field's innovative research method is based on an experimental in-home setting, using a research app. This app played the same 12 test ads on each of the different platforms to more than 2,500 test subjects in the three DACH countries. Furthermore, this app measures viewability and other metrics indicating the advertising strengths of each platform.

TV and BVOD, regardless of device, drives more sales uplift than any other platform. The STAS index indicates the Short-Term Advertising Strength on sales by analysing whether viewers were exposed to an ad and if they would buy the product. An index over 100 means the ad has performed better than normal.

In fact, among the generalisable findings is the fact that TV delivers more sales uplift (STAS) than any other platform. The duration that a TV ad impacts sales is also shown to far exceed that of YouTube and Facebook. Examination of the long-term effects shows how TV generates greater impact 28 days after ad contact than Facebook and YouTube deliver immediately after exposure. Furthermore, analysis of sound and viewing, i.e. viewer’s attention to the test ads, highlights the importance of viewability. When ad pixels are low, the level of attention is low too and decreases the likelihood of the brand being chosen.

Professor Nelson-Field places great emphasis on the generalisability of the study’s results. “Good science is based on replication and only findings that hold when re-tested under different conditions such as different countries, different platforms, different times, offer real meaning to advertisers,” she says.

More on Screenforce What’s on video site

To promote and deep-dive into the comprehensive study, Screenforce has launched a five-part video series available on Screenforce What’s On?, a new video website dedicated to TV advertising and its impact.

Not all Reach is Equal – DACH Edition is the first study to be presented on What’s on. There, Nelson-Field presents the study in five parts, it’s key findings, methodology, the impact indicators, effectiveness factors and more. The videos are followed by Q&A as well as comments from three of Screenforce’s market partners, Kirsten Latour (OWM), Manfred Kluge (Omnicom) und Klaus-Peter Schulz (OMG) (in German).

Find out more and watch the presentations by Nelson-Field here.