REDWOOD CITY, CA – While advertisers and marketers have struggled with the issues of ad effectiveness and ROI for decades, today’s connected consumer has created new opportunities as well as new challenges for brands trying to break out and build loyalty. A 2013 report from The NPD Group shows that by 2015 there will be 202 million Internet-capable TV devices in U.S homes, a 44 percent increase from the 140 million at the start of 2013. Connected devices, which include internet-capable TVs, gaming consoles, and OTT (over-the-top) devices, although growing rapidly with consumers, are often the least understood and thus most underutilized platforms by advertisers, mostly due to a lack of education around their effectiveness at reaching an engaged, targeted audience.
The latest studies from YuMe, Inc. (NYSE:YUME), a leading provider of digital video brand advertising solutions, and Interpret, a leading cross-media market research firm, reveal that brand advertisers who embrace the connected consumer and these emerging devices can overcome many of the measurability challenges that more traditional passive advertising platforms, such as broadcast television, have struggled with over the past decades, while also building close and meaningful relationships with those consumers.
Ad Effectiveness in a Connected World
The YuMe/Interpret Ad Effectiveness Studies looked at several individual campaigns, assessing the impact of each advertising campaign across a wide range of connected devices, capturing brand metrics such as: brand awareness, brand favorability, consideration, recommendation, and post-exposure actions.
“Interpret’s multi-platform methodology coupled with our cross-platform technology provide advertisers the insights they need to confidently make smart media decisions, including how to incorporate new advertising platforms into their media plan,” said Paul Neto, Director of Research & Technical Marketing at YuMe.
Ben Spergel, Senior VP of Media Insights at Interpret, adds, “Devices such as smart TVs and gaming consoles are designed with the connected experience in mind. As consumers are seeking out specific content and entertainment on these devices, it stands to reason that they are naturally receptive to the advertising within that content and entertainment.”
Key Findings
While study results focused initially on effectiveness, they also revealed that these new platforms provide immense opportunity for advertisers to create stronger affinity and connectivity with desired audiences. Gaming consoles in particular, due to their high level of engagement, seem to provide immense value across a number of brand metrics. Overall, YuMe and Interpret’s campaign research demonstrates that brands can benefit from exposure on connected devices. “These new platforms paired with our technology allow advertisers to make a measurable impact and be accepted by the consumer,” says YuMe’s Neto.
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Blinded Brand Study #1: Personal Care Product
For this multi-platform advertising campaign, executions on the PlayStation 3 app and on smart TV/Blu-ray players were highly impactful in raising brand awareness and brand opinion versus the non-exposed control group using these devices. In addition to higher brand awareness among those exposed, brand favorability (those rating the brand “excellent”) was twice as high among those who recalled the ads from either platform than the control group.
Beyond just increasing consumer awareness and brand sentiment, exposure across these platforms created stronger connections to the brand and its key messaging. Survey respondents who recalled the ads were significantly more likely to “definitely consider” future purchase (lifts of 82% for smart TV / Blu-ray and 50% for PS3 app) and “definitely recommend” (lifts of 45% and 11%, respectively) the brand.
In addition, agreement on key brand attributes among exposed groups was also higher. For example, the brand “makes you more confident” saw increases of +34% among smart TV/Blu-ray and 37% for PS3 and “makes you feel attractive to others” was up +18% for both executions.
Blinded Brand Study #2: Retailer
This multi-platform advertising campaign was also successful at improving consumers’ opinion of the brand with executions on smart TVs and game console/OTT/connected TV devices.
Even though the brand had near universal awareness, the percentage of respondents rating the brand “excellent” was double among those exposed on smart TV and console/OTT versus the non-exposed respondents. Those who recalled the ads on these devices were significantly more likely to definitely consider (+33% for smart TV and +53% for console/OTT) and recommend (+71% and +58%, respectively) this particular brand.
Once again, positive sentiment around the brand was higher among those exposed but, even more importantly, brand association with ad messaging/campaign tagline was 13% and 21% higher among exposed groups.
Cross Campaign Findings
Both studies also revealed very positive associations between the advertising and the overall environment in which the ad was seen. For example, at least 8 in 10 exposed respondents said this ad “stood out compared to other types of advertising” and “made the (browsing) experience feel more interactive.” A majority indicated the ad was “relevant to my experience,” “improved my experience” as well as making the experience “more enjoyable.” Most indicated they “wanted to see more of these types of advertisements.” These results were primarily seen among those exposed on game consoles/OTT devices.
Similarly, roughly 8 in 10 exposed respondents experienced a positive lift in their opinion of the brands tested.
Further emphasizing the strength of YuMe’s multi-platform approach, both campaigns outperformed Interpret’s overall ad effectiveness norms on key measures such as ad recall, likeability, fit and brand opinion change.
Interpret norms from 2007-2013 across all ad effectiveness studies
Study Details
Online studies conducted in August – October, 2013. Sample size of 100 control respondents and 100 respondents for each ad execution by platform. All cells matched by key demographics like age and gender as well as ownership/use of devices and platforms.
About Interpret
Interpret is a leading cross-media market research firm. The company applies proprietary, cutting-edge methodologies and extensive category knowledge to help clients plan, test, and measure business strategies in the fast-evolving media landscape. Interpret’s unique combination of syndicated measurement products and custom market research services provides a common language across media for the key stakeholders of the digital age. www.interpretllc.com
About YuMe
YuMe, Inc. (NYSE: YUME) is a leading provider of digital video brand advertising solutions. Its proprietary data-science driven technologies and large audience footprint drive inventory monetization and enable advertisers to reach targeted, brand receptive audiences across a wide range of Internet-connected devices. Designed to serve the specific needs of brand advertising, YuMe’s technology platform simplifies the complexities associated with delivering effective digital video advertising campaigns in today’s highly-fragmented market. YuMe is headquartered in Redwood City, CA with European headquarters in London and nine additional offices worldwide. YuMe supports consumer choice and is a member of the Network Advertising Initiative. See YuMe’s privacy policy for details. For more information, visit YuMe.com/pr, follow @YuMeVideo and like YuMe on Facebook. Current YuMe logos can be found at www.yume.com/news/logos.
YuMe is a trademark of YuMe. All other brands, products or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
