Is It Possible to Give Viewers a Reason To Stay Tuned during Commercial Breaks?
MediaScience is the leading provider of lab-based media and advertising research, incorporating a range of neuro-measures including biometrics, facial expression analysis, eye tracking, EEG, and more. With state-of-the-art labs in New York, Chicago, and Austin, MediaScience is discovering actionable insights in advertising, technology, media, and consumer trends.
Dr. Duane Varan, the global authority of neuromarketing research, founded Audience Labs (formerly the Interactive Television Research Institute) during his tenure at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, in 2001. In 2005, he launched the Beyond : 30 Project, a consortium exploring the changing media and advertising landscape, and in 2008, he was approached by Disney Media Networks to set up a dedicated custom research lab on a broader scale – and so MediaScience was born. Though he officially left Murdoch in 2015, he continues to maintain some research links with the University of South Australia and has been widely recognised for his innovative contributions to teaching and the neuromarketing industry as evidenced by a long list of awards and over 90 published academic papers in his field.
Below is an abstract from one of his papers about Using Interactive Program-Loyalty Banners to Reduce TV Ad Avoidance from the Journal of Advertising Research.
Abstract
This study used a sample of the general public in Australia to test whether program-related interactive banners superimposed over commercials during programming breaks would reduce channel changing. Interaction with the banners reduced channel changes during the ad break by almost 40 percent, although interaction did distract viewers from optimally processing the ads. With the potential for advertising avoidance rates being driven up by digital video recorders, however, accepting reduced levels of advertising impact may be a necessary consequence of strategies designed to retain audiences, such as interactive loyalty banners.
Citation:
Using Interactive Program-Loyalty Banners to Reduce TV Ad Avoidance, Stephen Richard Dix, Steven Bellman, Hanadi Haddad, Duane Varan, Journal of Advertising Research Jun 2010, 50 (2) 154-161; DOI: 10.2501/S0021849910091312,