They’re not out making the tea or fast-forwarding through them, after all – TV ads are being seen.
The vast majority of television viewers are watching the TV ads. That’s the surprise finding of a survey by UK-based technology start-up company Yospace in conjunction with Censuswide, providing insight into behaviour surrounding live television and the power of personalised advertising.
Key TV ads findings include:
- 88% of people do watch the adverts during live TV at least some of the time
- 78% would be more likely to take notice of adverts during live television if they were personally targeted
- Viewers showed a keen interest in ads that were relevant to their geographical location, age and interests
- Viewers in the 16-24 age range are most likely to take notice of personalised ads
- Almost three-quarters of the 16-24 age range are likely, to some degree, to click on an advert they like online (74%)
Live ad insertion specialist Yospace has revealed that rather than avoiding ad breaks audiences actually want to see adverts that are personally relevant to them.
The study questioned 2001 consumers from 17 major cities around the UK and showed that 78% would be more likely to take notice of adverts during live television if they were personally targeted. Sending a clear message to broadcasters and providers, one in five viewers want adverts that are relevant to where they live and exactly one fifth said they would be more interested if the ad was relevant to their age group.
The survey provides an interesting insight into consumer views and behaviours surrounding live television and the power of personalised advertising, enabled by the advent of online streaming, revealing that personally relevant ads are more likely to prompt action from audiences. 55% of consumers said they would either be likely or very likely to look online for the product if an ad was targeted towards them personally, more than three quarters (78%) said they would be likely to some degree to look in store for the product, or ask friends (64%) about the product advertised.
In fact, the majority of consumers (62%) said they had already taken follow up action after seeing an advert while watching live TV and more than one third had done so on several occasions. Viewers in the 16-24 age range scored the highest when it came to taking follow up action – with 73% saying that they would look online for the product. This figure is significant because it points to future habits.
Low patience threshold
Despite the positive responses, the research also highlights that viewers have a low patience threshold for poorly operating advertising. For instance, one quarter (25%) stated they would consider switching channel if there were technical problems with adverts on live TV and nearly one fifth (19%) said they would think less of the broadcaster.
Tim Sewell, from Yospace, said: “Opinions were very strong in the survey, particularly among the younger audiences who will have a significant influence on advertising trends in the future. Live advertising needs to be fast forwarded into the future generation – the interest in watching ads is evident. However, replacement advertisements need to be selected according to the demographic of the viewer, in real-time and delivered seamlessly to make today’s audiences sit up and take notice.”
Yospace services major broadcasters and network operators throughout the world, including DirecTV in the US, Sky Media, Channel 4 and STV in the UK, BFMTV in France, Canal 13 in Chile, TV4 in Sweden, Channel 9 and Network Ten in Australia, and TV3, UTV and TG4 in Ireland.