Addressable TV Ads Yield Greater Business Impact and Emotional Intensity

London (17 April 2023): GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today announced the release of new research on the effectiveness of addressable TV advertising from Finecast, GroupM Nexus’s addressable TV solution. The research, conducted in collaboration with System1 – a leader in advertising effectiveness – involved more than 13,000 TV viewers in four countries and shows that TV ads elicit more positive reactions and greater short- and long-term business impact among addressable audiences. In addition, addressable TV ads that emphasise melodic music, people touching, a clear sense of place and humour produce more intense emotional reactions and long-lasting effects.

“Addressable//Advantage” applied System1’s Test Your Ad platform, which rates ads’ short- and long-term potential based on viewers’ second-by-second emotional responses, to creative from 46 of GroupM’s clients leveraging Finecast across the UK, US, Canada and Australia. Specifically, ads were evaluated according to three measures. A Star Rating measures positive emotional response to determine long-term impact. A Spike Rating, based on how intensely viewers reacted and how quickly they connected the ad to the brand, determines the short-term impact, while a Fluency Rating indicates how quickly viewers recognise the brand.

The report findings include:

• Greater long-term impact. The long-term impact of addressable TV ads was meaningfully stronger for addressable audiences. Ads shown to addressable TV audiences averaged 3.0 Stars, ranking them in the top 33% of all ads. Conversely, TV ads averaged 2.4 Stars among the broad, nationally representative audience, ranking them in the top 52% of ads. (System1’s IPA-validated Star Rating scale is from 1.0 to 5.9 Stars with +0.3 representing a meaningful uplift).
• Deeper emotion. TV ads elicited strong emotional intensity among the addressable TV audience, including more positive emotion, with 7% greater happiness and 6% fewer neutral reactions.
• Quicker response. Addressable audiences respond more intensely than the broader audience, therefore addressable TV ads are predicted to achieve better short-term business effects. Addressable TV audiences have an average Spike Rating that is 6% higher than the broad audience.
• Right-brain features. Ads with melody, people, humour and familiar places – right-brain attributes that trigger broad-beam awareness – produced more positive reactions, which lead to long-term business growth.

“Brands that invest in ads for broad-beam attention are more likely to achieve longer-lasting business results among addressable TV audiences,” said Jon Evans, Chief Customer Officer at System1. “Overall, the greater short- and long-term impact of addressable TV ads makes it a trusted and powerful medium for upper, middle and lower funnel marketing.”

“Addressable//Advantage” is the latest in a series of research reports underwritten by Finecast, which is leading the way to enhanced education and performance in addressable TV. The report details Test Your Ad metrics to explain the exceptional results of campaigns from such advertisers as Hasbro, Honda and Jet2 Holidays.

“Our research outlines that addressable TV advertising has a direct impact on how consumers ‘feel’ and outlines important factors for maximising attention for greater business effects,” said Kristian Claxton, Managing Partner, Global Innovation at Finecast, “This enables us to provide smarter and more robust solutions to our clients by helping them optimise the creative message of their ads while improving efficiency.”