Results from Millward Brown’s Link pre-testing service are being combined with Kantar Media’s return path data from the set-top boxes of digital TV subscribers, which reveals what people watched second-by-second.

It has become easier for viewers to tune away from TV ads because of the multitude of other media sources available, and the advent od DVRs which make it possible to skip ads completely.

The two companies are publishing a study looking at the role of ad creative and media placement in causing people to tune away from an ad.

Mitzi Lorentzen (pictured), vice president of client solutions and communications development research at Millward Brown, said: “Tuneaway is a tremendous potential problem for advertisers that can equate to millions of wasted ad dollars. By analysing second-by-second tuning data, we are now able to identify the relative impact of the creative message on retention of audiences, as well as measure the specific media influences that impact audience tuneaway by product, category and brand. The question we will now be able to answer for our clients through our joint offering is: what creative elements and media strategies help to combat tuneaway to enchance advertising ROI?”

The firms said that, while poor creative plays a critical role, inappropriate media placement “accounts for the majority of audience tuneaway”.