Turner's Jeff Grant on How Fans Respond to Fewer Ads Per Pod

Grant during his 21 years at Turner has had opportunities to oversee research for a collection of networks starting at CNN and gradually adding oversight for each of Turner39s emerging consumeramp160brands Cartoon Network Adult Swim truTV and Boomerang which he describes as quotbrands we have that specifically focus on either the Millennial generation or what we call theamp160Pluralsamp160generationquot amp160Plurals are also known as Gen Z39ers amp160Grant believes that quot39Gen Z39 means nothingquot and Pluralsamp160is the appropriate one he adds quotthat is also used by such companies Insight Research and Magid ResearchquotIn late 2015 one of those Plurals networks truTV announced a largescale effort to drastically cut advertising by half during traditional primetime hours starting in fourth quarter 2016 amp160It was all part of a larger company effort to quotreimagine televisionquot and deliver an optimal experience for fansWith a year of execution under their belt Grant and the larger research division now have the ability to share with advertisers what it all means for them amp160Their research focused on the impact of a lower ad load on truTV and how less clutter improved the viewing experience for fans of programming delivering increased ad attention retention and enjoyment amp160What also stood out about the research was a deeper dive into purchase intent amp160quotWe found that when we provided fans more of what they want amp160more content and fewer ads amp160truTV delivered what was good for both the viewer and our advertising partnersquot he explainedHe shared more on the study and its impact in our recent conversationCharlene Weisler amp160Tell me about your recent studyJeff Grant amp160The basic reason behind the study is that we are trying to serve our fans especially the younger generations amp160Plurals and Millennials amp160the most optimal experience in media amp160Our brands are very much about the user experience keeping the fans happy and that extends not only to the content but also to the advertising formats amp160So Chris Linn who heads up truTV took a chance and cut the ad load in half and gave usamp160enough time and content to evaluate if it would make for better results amp160What we saw in the variety of categories that we tested was that there was greater attentiveness and greater ad recall especially the day after and higher purchase intent compared to previous studies amp160And viewers ratedamp160theamp160program more engaging and better paced than the sameamp160episodeamp160with a full commercial loadWeisler amp160Does that mean the same number of minutes per hour and just shorter podsGrant amp160No It is half the number of ads you would see in the normal time in primetime amp160The ad load has essentially been cut in half amp160That also meant our production teams would need to ramp up the amount of content per hour as part of our original series amp160So it also ends up a win for the viewer who gets more storyWeisler amp160What categories did you test and what metrics did you useGrant amp160We measured incremental sales on advertising in the soft drink category the QSR category and the snacks category amp160We found that there is between four and 16 times higher incremental sales among viewers that watched limited commercial formats on truTV than among those who watched competitive networks amp160It was very efficient for the advertiser amp160For the QSR category we used Nielsen NBI which matches household credit card usage purchase data with TV viewing amp160For the consumer package goods category we used Nielsen Catalina Systems which matches grocery loyalty card purchase data with TV viewing amp160There were a variety of advertisers amp160We did several studies within the categoriesamp160 We examined wellknown brands and the results came back with a strong story for all of themWeisler amp160Do you think these results will translate into your other networksGrant amp160Yes amp160It39s worth noting that TNT is also evaluating the effects of limited ad loads within its new original seriesamp160and experiencing similar results The general principle behind this that viewers respond better to fewer ad messages in a lower clutter environment is fairly universal amp160It lends itself to serving the fan base and what it is that the viewer is expecting as they consume content across the variety of platforms that are out thereWeisler amp160Did you look at other Nielsen measurements such as C3 and C7Grant Yes Time spent viewing per premiere telecast went up about 18 truTV C3 delivery grew 17 across all premieres for 1849 yearolds and during that same period our Live3 grew 12 suggesting that commercial minutes grew faster than the programming itself amp160That is a difference in commercial index growth of 3 amp160With other metrics truTV had 10 deeper engagement from length of tuning for P1849 and 30 higher brandunaided ad recall among 1849 yearolds versus traditional podsWeisler amp160How has this been received at the agenciesGrant amp160To my knowledge very well amp160Any time that you can tell a client that people are sticking around and remembering your messaging especially the following day is a strong argument to come back amp160To be able to share purchase intent with our partners is critical as our sales division is eager to evolve to outcomebased conversations amp160So what we39re able to tell them based on the research we have done so far is that we have seen 30 higher 1849 unaided ad recall and 7 1849 intent to purchase amp160For 1834 it was even higher at 15 amp160That is the average uplift across all advertisers inamp160lower ad load vs higher ad load amp160Ads in truTV limited commercial interruptions deliver anywhere from 4x to 16x more sales of the advertising product compared to the competition amp160So even the worst category sees a 4x lift amp160The bottom line is that this research delivers what matters most evidence that limited ad formats delivers higher ad recall purchase intent and actual purchases better than the competitionClick the social buttons above or below to share this story 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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Turner's Jeff Grant on How Fans Respond to Fewer Ads Per Pod

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Charlene Weisler

"About That" with Carl Mayer: Corinne Casagrande (Episode 8: Consumer Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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