MUMBAI: Television was the most memorable type of advertising in 2010 and had the greatest impact, according to a report to be published by Deloitte on behalf of the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival in the UK, which took place from 27-29 August 2010.
The UK’s appreciation of television advertising appears to remain robust. It is now regarded as a top three advertising format by 56 per cent of respondents, compared to 64 per cent in 2009 – it still leads by a long way.
Television was way ahead of newspapers (30 per cent) and magazines (17 per cent). In contrast, banner ads polled poorly in both years (four per cent) and a new option for 2010, online video ads, also underwhelmed (3 per cent).
Television advertising’s appeal to the young : Television advertising’s appeal was strongest amongst the youngest, with 18-34 year olds rating television advertising’s impact the highest at 63 per cent. Among those aged over 55, a third stated that no form of advertising had a great impact on them, compared to among 18-24 year olds, for which group the proportion was just 13 per cent.
TV ads most widely remembered : When respondents were asked to think of the advertising campaign they considered to be most memorable in 2010, 52 per cent ranked television highest followed by 10 per cent for newspapers. This compared to just one per cent for banner adverts, one per cent for iPhone or iPad ads and two per cent for online video ads.
Relevance of the traditional television ad:
Just over a third (36 per cent) said they were most likely to pay attention to the traditional, 30 second advert, compared to 1 per cent for a video advert before an online video clip or as part of the web site.
Online video formats were particularly poorly rated – only three per cent of respondents were most likely to pay attention to a pre-roll advert. Less than one per cent of respondents cited a video advert shown on a mobile phone, or an ad played in the middle of an online video as the format they were most likely to pay attention to.
Questions over the relevance of the traditional television advert have been raised for years, yet when asked about their most favoured video format, respondents voted for the standard 30 second commercial.
Online advertising’s poor showing relative to television may surprise given that the former has often been portrayed as television’s nemesis. What television does best – display and brand building - is what online struggles with. Online advertising is best at search, which previously newspapers, particularly for classified, had excelled at.
However, despite the positive perception of television advertising, its bed of roses is not free of mildew. Among television advertising’s greatest preoccupations is measurability. While television generates billions of commercial impacts every day, it is hard to measure precisely how many of these are viewed.
Viewers’ television advertising behaviour :
When television viewers were asked about whether they watched the entire advertising break when watching television live, 13 per cent always or almost always watch the entire advertising break, while 11 per cent said they never watched it, and two per cent remarked they never watch any television which has ads. Of viewers watching pre-recorded television via their PVR, 86 per cent reported that they always fast forward through the adverts.
Shorter ad breaks (48 per cent), more memorable ads (32 per cent), and shorter advertisements (17 per cent) were the top three reasons that would encourage viewers to watch all the advertisements in a break. Less popular were ad breaks that focused on one theme, such as cars or food (eight per cent) or personalised advertisements (14 per cent).
Over the past 12 months, 33 per cent of viewers have watched the same number or more ads than before. When watching a non-staged television programme, such as a football match, 21 per cent are less likely to watch the entire ad break than if they were watching a drama, film or documentary.
