Breaking Through Fast-Forwarding
In the November 2008 issue of Journal of Marketing, Brasel and Gips (Breaking Through Fast-Forwarding: Brand Information and Visual Attention) present practical insights about a big challenge confronting advertisers: As more viewers acquire the ability to fast-forward though television commercials, can anything be done to salvage their impact?
Guided by prior findings in the visual cognition research domain, the authors predict that viewers who actively fast-forward through a TV ad are more likely to devote greater attention than those who are exposed to the ad at a normal speed or those who watch the ad when it is automatically fast-forwarded. This prediction rests on the reasonable notion that active fast-forwarding involves goal-directed visual search where the goal is to accurately determine the point at which the commercial segment ends and the TV program begins.
Results from two eye-tracker studies confirm that fast-forwarding viewers pay more attention to ads and that such attention is mostly confined to the center of the screen. The authors are to be commended for devoting considerable attention to the time-consuming process of coding variables for each data set generated (estimated at 86,000 frames per subject). They report that ads that contain visual brand information in the center of the screen create brand memory even with “a 95% reduction in frames and complete loss of audio, whereas advertisements with brand information located elsewhere are of virtually no value.” Fast-forwarded ads that contain brand information in the screen center were also found to enhance brand attitude, behavioral intent, and actual behavior.
Overall, the key message from this research study is that locating brand information strategically within an ad (in the central part of the screen) can reverse some of the negative consequences when it is fast-forwarded by viewers. This insight is a welcome and reassuring development for advertisers.
I deeply appreciate the authors’ valuable contributions in this new research area. I request JM readers to take a moment now to comment on this very interesting article.
Siva K. Balasubramanian, Journal of Marketing Web site Editor
