TiVo Users May See More Commercials... Sort Of
from the kinda-maybe.--if-you-squint. dept
There have been studies in the past that showed that TiVo (or similar DVR users) often can recall the commercials they've fast forwarded through. Now, Dave Pell from Davenetics points us to a new study that actually suggests DVR users see more commercials - even though they're just fast forwarding through them. Basically, the people most likely to have and use a DVR device are the same people who were likely to simply channel surf when commercial came on in the past - meaning they saw very few commercials. Now, however, while they may be fast forwarding through the commercials, they are still at least "seeing" them - and possibly getting some brand recognition. In fact, the survey suggests the net impact of advertising on DVR users may be positive. Of course, it might help if broadcasters and advertisers continued to look at more creative advertising solutions. As Dave suggests, "The first advertiser to shoot commercials in slow motion wins."
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Recall vs. comprehension
Most commercial exposures are repetitive - that is, you see a commercial for the first time once, then see that same commercial many times thereafter. Your recall of the commercial content on the repetitive showings probably owes as much to recall of your initial exposure as it does to the repetition you've just seen. So, the key would be to ensure that there is some significant visual "hook" that uniquely identifies the commercial, so that it serves as an effective probe to recover the initial impression.
For example, I'd argue that it gets hard to tell apart commercials for pickup trucks - they're all shots of pickups (which don't look all that different to me) hauling tough loads, being driven by manly men, etc. A pickup commercial with a different setting would be unique.
Of course, the uniqueness criterion would probably improve the commercial in normal viewing as well.
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