Improving the Advertising Experience While Increasing the Number of Attentive Impressions Per Dollar

In the preceding article we brought back the ARF Model as the foundation for any efforts to rebuild a better audience measurement mousetrap This revealed that there is considerable misunderstanding and simply ignorance of the existence of the ARF Model and we are now on the road to recovery from thatA key problem identified in the prior article is that the way we now count socalled advertising quotimpressionsquot actually includes a large number of events which do not deserve to be called impressions in the common nonadvertising use of that term as in quotI made a great impression on herquotquotExposuresquot would be a more apt term to use because what is being counted is typically related to what has really appeared on a screen exposing whoever is there if anybody to its light and sound But it might not have made an impression on anyone because either no one was there or whoever was there was not paying attentionThese Opportunity to See OTS Exposures are what the ARF Model calls Level 3 Advertising ExposureDozens of research studies conducted over the past 70 years have proven that in television for example about a quarter of the viewers leave the room during commercials Audits ampamp Surveys Ethnographic Ball State University and other studies have shown that those still in the room are largely not paying attention TVision has proven that even those paying attention are looking at the screen only intermittently and for a few seconds during most TV commercials In digital the percentage of users intentionally ignoring ads is even higher Bill Harvey Consulting eye tracking study for TACODAEd Papazian estimates that it takes two to three TV quotexposuresquot to get one quotimpressionquot if the common sense meaning of quotimpressionquot is used However in advertising we have come to accept that the two terms quotexposurequot and quotimpressionquot are synonymous As Ed complains we as an industry plow on with this naked emperor situation as if it makes no difference But it surely doesIn digital the ratio of exposures to impressions has to be higher given the number of simultaneous exposures many qualifying as quotMRCviewablequot the user is hit with every secondIf Ed is right as he usually is in the desired future when we become able to measure Attentive Impressions ARF Model Level 4 across all media we will see that a crossmedia campaign we thought had made 100 million impressionsexposuresopportunities to see resulting in a 30 reach with 33 average frequency actually delivered 33 million at least minimally attentive impressions with a 11 reach and 30 average frequency plus delivered 67 million exposures involving no attentive impressions at all Illustrative numbersThe way to beat this in the short term is to do things which cause exposures to turn into attentive impressionsThe mind has a mechanism for subconsciously scanning quotapperceptionquot which can bring eyes to screen if the person39s brain detects words or pictures which relate to the person39s motivations RMT39s methods enable knowing the motivations of addressable individuals and also of specific television environments Using such data in ad creation and media selection can increase the ratio of attentive impressions to exposures in both TV and digitalSpecific contexts that have higher attention can be identified with the leading work in that field being done by AdelaideUsing both RMT and Adelaide together can maximize the number of attentive impressions made on people rather than on the air and walls The 62 increase in unaided awareness 605 found in its study of RMT tech suggests that there was a similarly large increase in attentive impressions because as former ARF CEO Jim Spaeth says those two metrics are highly correlated with one another quotCopy research has shown that attentiveness most directly affects recallrecognitionawarenessquotJim goes on quotWe have also seen the evidence that media context plays a role beyond attentiveness It primes predisposes the audience to the message which lifts persuasionquot Persuasion is level 6 in the ARF Model 605 found RMT tech lifts Persuasion 37In digital when RMT tech is used to reach people whose motivations align with those in the ad itself incremental website visit is quintupled amp8211 and incremental website visit is not produced by an exposure that does not get attentionGetting back to the problem of excessive frequency first of all the actual attentive frequency is half or less than half the frequency we think we are delivering so when you look at it on a daily basis even in the heaviest TVdigital usage quintile the problem is not as hellacious as we have thoughtWhich is not to say that we can set it aside and work on other things We still do need to bring down excess frequency and not just to improve the experience of advertising but also to save wasted moneyThe best ways to do this are to use frequency caps on individual IDs within each addressable media silo and in TV to use dispersion across more networks and programs and no more than one spot per telecastEven low rated or unratedbyNielsen ie no number given spots can be used to extend reach and lower frequency because they increase dispersion and the CPMs are outstandingAlso as you increase the use of addressable TV you gain vastly increased leverage in preventing excessive frequency because frequency capping is available from the most advanced suppliers and the others should be encouraged to catch upThere is much more to say about the exciting WFA initiative and I39ve received many nowbacklogged expert comments worth discussing here so please keep an eye on this columnWith the advertisers now taking responsibility along with the rest of us for making the audience and outcome measurement systems as good as they can get now is the time for us all to get clear on what we are doing and not doing and to work together to build consensus on where to take these systems in the futureIt39s a lot like what is happening in America and around the world People seeking a positive reset It39s actually an inspiring time to be alive and part of itClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Improving the Advertising Experience While Increasing the Number of Attentive Impressions Per Dollar

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Bill Harvey

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Improving the Advertising Experience While Increasing the Number of Attentive Impressions Per Dollar

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