PROTRENDS
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 AD BREAK 1 AD BREAK 2 AD BREAK 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
TABLE 3: ARAB IDOL SATURDAY NIGHT AD BREAKS
Advertising Idols
Anyway, enough about singers – the real contestants are the advertisers, so how did they do? Again, minute-by-minute analysis provides a picture that we can’t get elsewhere. (See Table 3) Table 3 shows the pattern of three ad breaks during the Saturday night programme by minute and rating in thousands. The first three and last three minutes are the actual programme time. Now, if you buy your advertising by
programme, you pay a set fee regardless of how the spot performs. As we can see, however, the break your ad was shown in and the position it was shown in, will have a huge impact on the numbers who viewed it. The overall programme average was more than 260,000 but those who were in the lowest advertising minute at 22:51 had 160,000 viewers. The winners in this are the quick promo stings at the top of the breaks – in this case, sponsors and advertisers
such as Pepsi, Kit Kat, Chevrolet and Maybelline. Being at the end of the break also helps, as viewers come back to see if the programme has re-started – Samsung benefited from this effect. It’s something presenters and producers need to be aware of. At one moment when the words “after the break” were heard, there was a drop of 19,000 viewers in a matter of seconds. The challenge then is to keep viewers entertained and engaged during ad breaks. This is potentially where social media and other devices come into play. Luring viewers into tweeting, commenting and so on, during ad breaks or even about advertising spots helps. The agency that can deliver this service for a client will surely be singing the right tune. PRO
Christopher O’Hearn is GM of Emirates Media Measurement Company, which has rolled out ‘tview’, the UAE’s new television ratings and audience measurement system, and the first in the Middle East.
August 2013 | www.broadcastprome.com |
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