Laugh and the world laughs with you said one particularly unfunny person; however, a new study has shown the value of laughter and better advertising ROI. Or, more to the point, why viewers pay more attention to ads during sitcoms.
The three-year study was collated by US media company CBS and research firm Nielsen Catalin and previewed on the US industry website AdWeek.
Researchers looked at the five key components to what made a good TVC – the message, maximising reach, timing to purchase, targeting of customers and surrounding relevant programming.
They then researched the performance of six different ads that aired during different TV genres to find out which sold more.
The result: ads during sitcoms had the highest ROI, followed by variety shows and then drama. Strangely, the study didn’t include news or current affair programs.
Unsurprisingly, ads shown in prime-time had the biggest ROI regardless of the nature of the program.
Commenting on the study, CBS’s chief research officer David Poltrack, said it validated his networks’ view of the importance of advertising in prime time.
Poltrack added that many US CPG (consumer packaged good) advertisers were increasingly moving out of prime time due to the cost. The report noted that the proportion of CPG brands advertising at peak times had fallen from 40 per cent to 22 per cent in the last three years.
“The research shows that if you have an effective advertising campaign, your number one priority should be to reach as many people with that campaign as possible,” Poltrack said.
“When you take money out of television and move it into digital, and you cut your prime time down to marginal levels, you’re going to be at a net loss, because you’re wasting effective advertising by not exposing it to as many people as possible.
“If you have an effective television campaign, you want to reach as many people as possible. You can’t do that if you’re going to exclude premium product from that schedule,” he said.
