DVR Fast-Forwarding May Not be Fatal to TV Ads

Brands can stand out as viewers skim ads with TiVo and DVRs

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While digital video
recorders and products like TiVo allow television viewers to skip past
commercials, Boston College researchers have found that fast-forwarding
viewers actually pay more attention and can be influenced by brand images they
view only for a fraction of a second.

Tracking the eye movements of viewers, Carroll School of Management Professors
S. Adam Brasel and James Gips found that ads with brand information placed in
the center of the screen still create brand memory despite a 95% reduction in
frames viewed and complete loss of audio. Their results are reported in the
November edition of the Journal of Marketing.

"In the age of DVRs, advertisers who place their brands anywhere outside the
center of the viewing screen do so at their own brand peril," said Brasel, an
assistant professor of marketing. "Even in fast forward, consumers can focus
in on a product logo or brand and that fraction of a second can later
influence their preferences."

Ads with brand information located on the periphery of the TV screen are of
virtually no value, according to the study "Breaking Through Fast-Forwarding:
Brand Information and Visual Attention."

Fast-forwarded commercials containing extensive central brand information can
even have a positive effect on a consumer's brand attitude, behavioral intent
and actual choice behavior, the researchers found.

The findings show that marketers can counteract the impact of DVRs by ensuring
their ads are heavily branded and the branding is centrally located.

"Everybody is saying that TV advertising is doomed -- TiVo has broken it and
DVR will kill it," said Brasel. "But it's not like the advertising disappears
when you use TiVo. We wanted to find out what happens when you fast-forward
through these ads."

Brasel and Gips found that people who fast forward through shows actually pay
more attention to the screen than those who view at regular speed. That's good
news for advertisers, as long as their commercials feature their brands in the
center of the screen.

When a viewer hits fast forward, he or she only sees about 1 out of every 24
frames, reducing brand ID to a little less than a third of a second out of a
30-second spot, Brasel said. But the speed of the play-back removes visual
cues and motion that attract attention to brand images that lay along the
periphery of the TV screen. Instead, television watchers concentrate on the
center of the screen.

Curious about how attention on the central image might impact consumer
behavior, the researchers created a pair of mock commercials for two British
chocolate bar brands. One was heavily branded, the other lightly branded.
After the research subjects had viewed the content and were preparing to leave
the lab, they were invited to choose one of the candy bars. Subjects chose the
heavily branded bar twice as often as the lightly branded bar.

"We created a massive shift in behavior from a commercial lasting just over
one second," said Brasel. "It's clear that just because an ad is being
fast-forwarded, doesn't mean it is a wasted ad."

The onus now is on brand marketers not to forsake TV advertising or to look
for ways to block the increasingly popular technology. "DVRs aren't going
anywhere," said Brasel. "So it's up to advertisers to work with these new
technologies."

Article link: http://www2.bc.edu/~brasels/BreakingFF_JM_BraselGips.pdf

SOURCE Boston College

Ed Hayward of Boston College Office of Public Affairs, +1-617-552-4826,
+1-617-922-8024, ed.hayward@bc.edu