Data presented by Council For Research Excellence at Nielsen Consumer 360 Event in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – Speaking at the annual Nielsen Consumer 360 event, the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) unveiled findings from a new platform usage study that shows TV outperforming computer, smartphone and tablet in viewer ad attention and recall.
“It appears that in the world of ad engagement and recall, size really does matter. The challenge for content providers is to find ways to leverage the more personal experience viewers have with smaller screens.”
The study, conducted by Hub Entertainment Research, was designed to compare viewing of TV shows and advertising across screens to determine whether engagement and recall differ among platforms, and to identify the drivers that have the greatest impact on the viewing experience.
Key findings include:
- Attention to advertising and ad recall, two important measures of advertising engagement, are similar among viewers using computer, smartphone and tablet, but higher among those watching a TV set. For ad recall, 62% of TV viewers were able to recall half or more advertisers, followed by tablet (47%), smartphone (46%) and computer (45%). For attentiveness, 29% of participants rated TV an 8-10 on a 10-point scale where 10 means complete attention, ahead of smartphone (23%), computer (20%) and tablet (17%).
- Enjoyment, a measure of program engagement, was high across all platforms but especially so among smartphone viewers.
- Platform experience is related to actual screen size. Independent of other factors, the viewing experience was significantly more positive among TV set viewers. 89% of participants rated TV an 8-10 on a 10-point scale for enjoyment, followed by tablet (63%), computer (54%) and smartphone (53%).
- Multi-tasking negatively impacts engagement with ads (sponsor recall) but not with show (plot recall). In addition, the study found that very little multi-tasking behavior (7-11%, depending on the platform) during ads was related to the brands featured in the ads themselves.
“Our study indicates that the television set is not only the most enjoyable of viewing platforms, but that its strength extends to the diagnostics of ad engagement,” said Tom Ziangas, SVP Research, AMC Networks and chair of the CRE’s Media Consumption and Engagement Committee. “It appears that in the world of ad engagement and recall, size really does matter. The challenge for content providers is to find ways to leverage the more personal experience viewers have with smaller screens.”
Peter Fondulas, Principal, Hub Entertainment Research, said, “The fact that viewers were equally engaged with program content, regardless of screen, suggests that there’s nothing inherent in the device itself that makes them less likely to pay attention to ads. The more likely culprit for the lower ad engagement on smaller screens is an ad delivery approach that doesn’t align well with the expectations, and viewing situations, of consumers watching on mobile devices.”
The CRE research was presented at Nielsen Consumer 360 by Joe Abruzzo, former chair of the CRE’s Media Consumption and Engagement Committee, and Joanne Burns, a former member of the committee. Richard Zackon, CRE Facilitator, presented an overview of other CRE research projects. Among these is a second phase of the platform viewing study that will consider additional variables such as ad load, ad placement, fast-forwarding and Spanish-language programming.
Methodology
Hub Entertainment Research recruited a nationwide sample of persons 16-54. Respondents watched one show on one targeted platform; show content and ads were identical across all four types of platforms. 1,968 people completed a 15-minute online post-viewing survey measuring levels of enjoyment, attention and emotional response, as well as show and ad recall utilizing questions provided by Nielsen Brand Effect. The sample was weighted for show, age and gender. Shows viewed were “Bones,” “Family Guy,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Survivor” and “Family Feud.”
About Hub Entertainment Research
Hub Entertainment Research is a market-research firm with deep expertise in television, movie, videogames, music, publishing and sports. For the television industry, Hub analysts work with networks, content producers, MSOs and digital distributors. Hub focuses on helping organizations understand their greatest risks and most promising opportunities in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace. For more information about Hub, please visit www.hubresearchllc.com.
About the Council for Research Excellence
The Council for Research Excellence (CRE) is an independent research group created in 2005 and funded by Nielsen. The CRE is dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of audience measurement methodology and comprises senior-level industry researchers representing advertisers, agencies, broadcast networks, cable, syndicators, local stations and industry associations. CRE members represent advertising agencies, media buying firms, media companies, advertisers, digital publishers, social media companies and industry organizations.
For more information about the Council for Research Excellence, please visit: http://www.researchexcellence.com/.
