YuMe: Interactive ads increase attention
March 17, 2016
Interactive ad features significantly increase attention, recall and message breakthrough, according to a study by researchers from YuMe, the global audience technology company powered by data-driven insights and multi-screen expertise, and Ipsos, the global market research company, unveiled recently at Variety’s Massive: The Entertainment Marketing Summit.
The study was predicated in part on the concept of Implicit Reaction Time, or IRT, which measures how quickly and closely a respondent’s brain connects distinct, intricate networks of associations that are the foundations for our images, feelings, and intentions. The faster a user responds indicates a stronger and more emphatic connection with a brand or product and therefore, the higher the conviction to purchase it. Interactive ads, according to this theory, succeed in these case studies because they increase certainty, illustrated by a shorter reaction time; thus, facilitating higher conviction and less inhibition.
The study presented 550 people with 11 different ad formats, representing five brands, on PCs, mobile phones and connected TV sets, finding considerable positive impact of interactivity on ad engagement. The study also found that a positive media experience increases the chances for higher ad transference, resulting in stronger brand impact.
Key findings of the study include:
· Interactive ad units enhance the ability to convey information about the product or brand and generate higher brand metrics.
· Overall, the study was able to measure increased levels of conviction for brand association as a result of exposure to the ad units.
· Conviction calibration was most useful for more involved, complex metrics such as purchase intent.
· The more interactive the ad units, the greater the impact on conviction across all brand associations. As a result, the level of interaction can potentially create stronger brand associations and connections.
Ad engagement was particularly effective, the study found, when the ad was viewed on mobile devices. Respondents who watched interactive ads for a high-end technology brand, for example, reported a 12 percent higher ad engagement rate when viewing the ad on a mobile device, a platform which also improved the context of the ad by more than 50 percent.
“As an audience technology company, our goal is to deliver not only big data but smart data, helping our partners really understand audience expectations and demands,” said Paul Neto, Research Director at YuMe. “This study is immensely helpful, and confirms our conviction that advertisers, publishers, and consumers alike benefit when ads are interactive and engaging.”
“We are thrilled to have had the chance to look at this important phenomenon so closely and be able to study so many distinct examples,” said Tommy Cheng, Vice President at Ipsos. “As the advertising and media worlds move more steadily towards a digital future where interactivity can enhance user connection, we’re excited to pioneer the application of IRT to ad measurement in order to provide meaningful insights on interactive ad formats to advertisers and brands.”