In-content advertising of the type developed by Mirriad Advertising PLC (AIM:MIRI, OTCQX:MMDDF) not only delivers better outcomes for brands than TV spots alone but it is also preferred by viewers.
That’s the conclusion of new research from the data analytics specialist Kantar, with input from Mirriad.
In-content advertising embeds contextual brand imagery into film, TV, music and social media. The process is as seamless as its content is unobtrusive.
Mirriad’s AI-driven tech targets the 94% of content that users log on or tune in for (the film, TV programme or online content) rather than the 6% of airtime (and we use that term loosely in this era) set aside for adverts.
Kantar created a custom study looking at consumers' responses to advertising across three categories: people who only saw TV spot activity, people who saw episodes with both a TV spot and a Mirriad in-content ad integration, and thirdly, consumers who were exposed to neither.
Mirriad said results showed conclusively that adding in-content advertising to TV spot campaigns dramatically ‘improved results’ sales, as well as awareness and favourability scores.
Specifically, when consumers viewed both a TV ad and in-content product placement 56% bought the featured product compared with just 34% for TV spot exposure alone.
Advertising awareness, meanwhile, rose by 10 percentage points from 68% to 78%
Favourability and consideration both increased by 5 percentage points to 92% and 91% respectively.
"In-content advertising is an exciting new ad format for brands looking for differentiated ways to reach their audience at scale,” said Sparsh Pandya, client director at Kantar.
“Not only do people like the experience of branding and product placement within video, the placements also drive higher performance across key metrics including awareness and purchase intent.”