Brands Increase Recall with TV/Digital Mix, Google Says
Six campaigns saw 200 percent lift when adding YouTube to TV buys.
Six campaigns saw 200 percent lift when adding YouTube to TV buys.
New research from Google and Ipsos claims that recall improves when TV spots appear again in YouTube pre-rolls, making a stronger case for its pre-roll and in-stream ads.
Tests of 15- and 30-second spots for six ad campaigns using YouTube pre-roll and TV ads found that people who watched both YouTube and TV ads showed a 200 percent increase in brand recall compared with people who only saw TV ads. Those who only watched a YouTube ad had 150 percent better brand recall rate than those who only watched a TV ad.
Google says that consumers watch more than 3 billion videos on YouTube each day.
Vic Walia, senior director of brand marketing for Hotels.com, one of the marketers participating in the study, says Hotels.com is making a big push into online video as a complement to its TV efforts.
“If people really are consuming that much content online and, by the way, we are an online brand, it makes sense to have our message there as well,” Walia says. “If we believe it is right for TV, and video is just a different screen, we should be putting it online as well.”
Walia wouldn’t discuss his budget for TV advertising, but did say that online video represents a growing proportion of it, amounting to 10 percent at this point. Hotels.com buys media through TargetCast, and looks for incremental reach with a frequency cap for online video.
In addition to better brand recall, Walia believes online addresses a segment of the market that Hotels.com can’t reach with television, a segment that is predominantly online. “I look at online video as a way to top off my reach plans,” he says.
Much of his online spending is for premium online content, such as that developed for Google’s original channels initiative.
“This isn’t cats playing the piano. Some of that, you’re not able to find anywhere else, and consumers are seeking this stuff out. That’s where the sweet spot is,” Walia says.
Last week, YouTube unveiled a redesign with a more streamlined page and simpler, customizable channels.
Walia says the redesign is good news for users and advertisers. “As a user of YouTube, sometimes I do scratch my head wondering where do I start?” he says. “YouTube has taken the same approach as I would take in my TV guide at home on my digital box. They will get a lot more stickiness now. If consumers are spending more time there and are able to find what they want, it’s even more important that I allocate my dollars to that medium.”