Smartphones, not DVRs, are the most important threat to TV adverts

TV viewers are a famously fickle bunch, which tends to drive TV advertisers crazy. The prevalent theory remains that skipping past ads using a pesky DVR is the most important enemy of marketers, but new research has another time contradicted that received wisdom. The IPG Media Lab in La pulled together a representative group of 48 TV and online video viewers and asked them to sit down through some programming while equipped with the standard “devices or distractions” that accompany their viewing habits. Central to the study was the measurement of time absolutely everyone spent facing the screen and the way engaged they were with the content. The very first thing noted was that 94 percent of TV viewers and 73 percent of online video consumers used any other type of media to reinforce their visual entertainment. Smartphones were the most typical, with 60 percent of test subjects resorting to their handset while gawking on the TV. That’s led to a mediocre 52 percent attention level during actual programs and 37 percent during ads. In other words, two thirds of the time, commercials are being ignored and smartphones are helping individuals with that heinous behavior. Ironically, fast-forwarding adverts using a DVR garnered attention levels that were 12 percent higher, mostly because people were attempting to be certain they did not skip too far ahead. Damn, why does reality should be all complex and stuff ?

Source

This post is tagged: attention level, prevalent theory, representative group, test subjects, tv advertisers, video consumers, visual entertainment