While live broadcast media is on the decline as the central means of television distribution, there are elements of time-shifting broadcast content that may mutually appeal to viewers and advertisers in an online environment. Research on digital video recorder (DVR) devices suggests that we should be re-evaluating the supposed adverse effects that these time-shift technologies have on advertisers and, by extension, networks. Surveys indicate that zipped exposures to advertisements (experienced when users fast-forward DVRs) are effective due to “heightened attention, latent effects, and effects of time compression” (Wilbur, p. 144, 2008). To some extent, zipped ad exposure trumps unzipped ad exposure in terms of its advertising effect, with one survey demonstrating “that zipped ads produced brand recall effects about 20% greater than unzipped ad exposures” (Stout; Burda, 1993). Advertisers need to be aware of the affordances offered by time-shifting broadcast content before completely abandoning the methods of television’s traditional format.

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Interactive features of broadcast television advertising also demand further investigation by advertisers. Interactive television (iTV) ads are defined as “ads with clickable content added to the video stream relayed by a cable or satellite set-top box” (Bellman; Schweda; Varan, p. 831 2010). Advertising for low-involvement products requires long-term iTV campaigns to generate a profitable return on investment. On the other hand, a luxury vehicle is an example of a high-involvement product appropriate for iTV advertising given that it is expensive and, by extension, profitable over a comparatively shorter iTV advertising campaign. Testing advertisements among sample audiences is suggested when opting to use iTV advertising. The top ten executional factors for iTV ad campaigns have been determined along with how they are best approached by advertisers (Bellman; Schweda; Varan, 2010):

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1. Rates of response to campaigns are negatively associated with the number of steps required for a consumer to execute a request. DVD or video offers are an exception to this while high-involvement product advertisers are strongly advised to keep the number of steps low.

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2. Requestable brochures that offer detailed information on a product and are accessed separately increase response rates by 150%.

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3. Use of the word ‘free’ increases the response rate by more than 250%.

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4. Offering a DVD or video in a call-to-action (CTA) message raises response rate by more than 50%.

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5. Displaying people other than a main presenter increases response rate.

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6. A ‘more-information’ banner will likely decrease response rate.

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7. As CTA banner size-to-screen ratio increases, so too does response rate. Having no CTA banner also impacts negatively on response rate.

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8. Delivering on advertising promise increases response rate.

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9. Longer and clearer messages increase response rate.

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10.  Offering a sample will increase response rate by almost 1000%.

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The factors listed above may all be applicable to an online iTV context, given the emergence of functions such as YouTube ‘annotations’. iTV DAL (dedicated advertiser location) advertisements shift viewers from TV content to “a website-like location on a sub-channel of the channel the viewer is watching” (Bellman; Schweda; Varan, p. 831, 2010). Online iTV advertisements that employ similar DAL technology would perform even better than its broadcast predecessor in that a separate browser window or tab gives consumers the option of when to view the DAL content, thereby reducing advertisement irritability. In addition, costs associated with purchasing DAL space are reduced, allowing advertisers to increase the amount of content shown at websites that they can potentially have full administrative powers over.

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Digital watermarking can be considered a type of Internet iTV advertisement that has the added benefit of repelling piracy: “[W]hen a watermark is designed to add viewer-usable information, such as links or references, there is value to the content creator, distributor, and recipient, and the only piracy value is vandalism” (Acken, 1997). Watermarking to assert authenticity should be approached with caution for two reasons. Firstly, it promotes pirate modification of the watermark to differentiate the product for consumers’ benefits, and secondly, it inhibits content distributors in that they pay more for authorised original works if they do not own the content (ibid.).

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Ubiquitous freedom and resources in DAL spaces could allow the advertiser to exercise more complex strategies than ever before. One such model called versioning involves the advertisement of different versions of the same product. This is a price-differentiated variation of personalised advertising, where it “creates multiple price points for potential buyers, hence increasing the chance of selling a product that can meet different customers’ needs at the same time” (Lei; Shi; Iqbal, p. 19, 2012). A commendable instance of this occurred when atom.com advertised a number of different bundle packs containing products for its comedy web series, The Legend of Neil. In terms of the products available, the bundles ranged from containing single complete series DVDs to comprising collections of autographed material and an agreement for the loyal customer to feature in the series’ credits for contributing large sums of money to the franchise. The versioning exhibited in this case is exemplary for its innovative bundles that tap into a set of unique consumer desires.



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REFERENCES:



Acken, J. 'How watermarking adds value to digital content: a digital watermark isn't just a tag or label for protecting content but an opportunity to increase the value of the content itself.' in Communications of the ACM, July 1998



Bellman, S; Schweda, A; Varan, D. 'Interactive TV advertising: iTV ad executional factors' in Journal of Business Research, 2011, p.831-839



Lei, P; Shi, K; Iqbal, T. 'A Comparison of Pricing Strategies for Digital Goods' in Understanding the Interactive Digital Media Marketplace, 2012, p.12-24



Stout, P; Burda, B. 'Zipped Commercials: Are They Effective?' in Journal of Advertising, 1989, p.23–32.



Wilbur, K. ‘How the digital video recorder (DVR) changes traditional television advertising’ in Journal of Advertising, Spring 2008, vol. 37, no. 1, p.143–149.







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