--Paper Identifies Four Categories of Non-Interactors
--Details Strategies for Encouraging Viewers to Interact
Interactive TV advertising agency, Zip Television, which is best known for the alternative ITV advertising infrastructure that it has developed for the Sky platform, has published a research paper entitled "Passive2Active: Extending the Reach of Interactivity on TV." The paper is based on what the company says was an extensive study of viewers who are not currently interacting with interactive ads, and details how those viewers can be encouraged to press the red button.
According to Zip, 30% of non-interactors are not pressing red because there are too few incentives (the study dubs these "Unimpressed Pragmatists"; it also finds that their favorite genres of programming are documentaries and sports shows, and that they are most likely to watch Sky Movies, Sky Sports and Paramount), while a further 22% are "too daunted by the prospect" to interact with an ad (the study dubs these "Apprehensive Stargazers"; it also finds that their favorite genres of programming are films and quiz shows, and that they are most likely to watch Five, UK Gold and Hallmark). Nevertheless, the study claims that these two categories of non-interactors (as opposed to two other categories the study identified--"Bitter Ad Haters" and "Unengaged Passives") have the greatest potential to press red, if they are provided with appropriate incentives. "We divided viewers into five sub-groups to identify their demographics, attitudes and preferred program genres," Zip's director of research, Emma Seymour, explained in a prepared statement. "There was a broad spectrum of interactor types, ranging from out-and-out rejectors ('Bitter Ad Haters'), through 'Unengaged Passives,' to strong interactor acceptors ('Dedicated Interacters'). But it was 'Unimpressed Pragmatists' and 'Apprehensive Stargazers' that represented the greatest potential to press red--given the right targeting and messaging."
The study found that Apprehensive Stargazers often believe interacting with i-ads will will cost them money and will take too much time; they also apparently find it difficult to tell if an ad is interactive. The study concludes that, in order to overcome these barriers, broadcasters must inform viewers of what to expect when they press red and must provide clearer calls to action: "celebrities," "competitions," and "freebies" apparently encourage Apprehensive Stargazers to interact, the study reports. In order to get Unimpressed Pragmatists to interact, however, a "more sophisticated" approach is apparently required; the study claims that an effective approach would be to integrate the call-to-action with the linear commercial so that it is central to the latter's narrative.
According to Zip, the research behind the new study was conducted in
- Stage 1 consisted of "brainstorms" with ITV "knowledge holders," including research company, Continental Research, the BBC, various advertisers, and Professor Duane Varan of the Interactive Television Research Institute. The brainstorming sessions were intended to determine possible viewer attitudes towards interactive advertising and to establish key variables to measure in the next stage of the project.
- Stage 2 involved a quantitative assessment to identify non-interactor groups--who they are, their likely involvement, and possible hooks. In the course of this stage, 402 phone interviews were conducted with Sky Digital viewers: 302 of those interviewed were non-interactors (defined as viewers who had not interacted with an i-ad in the past year and who were unlikely to interact in the next six months), while 100 were interactors (defined as viewers who had interacted with an i-ad in the past year and who were likely to interact again in the next six months), who served as a control group. The fieldwork was conducted by Continental Research and took place from November 24th-29th, 2004.
- Stage 3 involved a qualitative assessment among the most promising clusters identified in the previous stage. Zip says that this enabled it to explore attitudes towards interactive advertising in more depth, test creative solutions, and identify key drivers for pressing red. The research was conducted by eight two-hour focus groups, each containing five respondents, in the North and South of England. This stage of the research took place in February.
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