TV ads create most short to medium term sales

The study ‘TV Response: new rules, new roles’ was designed to look at the different media channels’ effects on driving response and TV advertising’s role.

GroupM found that media account for on average 39% of sales in the short to medium term (within three months of a campaign finishing); 33% of these media-driven sales are from TV advertising, more than any other communication channel. Paid-for online search created 22%, online display 12%, affiliates 10%, print 8%, direct mail 8%, radio 3% and outdoor 1%.

It also found that TV is responsible for 44% of all media-driven interactions for brands on Facebook (e.g. likes and comments). This effect of TV on Facebook was two-fold: TV ads prompt consumers to directly engage with Facebook; and TV drives significant volumes of sales and, after purchase, consumers go on to engage with Facebook.

Types of advertising response measured in the study were via e-commerce, bricks and mortar and telephone. It also identified the additional consumer response which was directly attributable to media investment over and above the ongoing base level of response, the product of many historical factors, including previous media investment.

GroupM analysed the response effects of a range of channels, including Brand Response TV, Direct Response TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, Direct Mail, Affiliates, Online Display and Paid Online Search. It employed a combination of analytics methodologies, including econometric modelling and GroupM’s Spotlift tool, which analysed 1.38 million TV spots, spanning 43 advertisers and nine sectors. Each methodology was tailored to the time period during which the effects of communications were measured: immediate, short to medium term and long term.

Matt Hill, research and planning director at Thinkbox said: “This research gives us something we’ve never had before: a comprehensive understanding of the wide-ranging effects advertising has. What’s clear from GroupM’s work is that TV advertising triggers response like nothing else; it delivers both long term brand building and short to medium term sales. It has also revealed the hidden effects TV advertising has on other media and how they work together. I hope this research can be put to use helping make advertising work even better.”