Google and Nielsen measured the impact of advertising across multiple screens, and the findings were stark. Advertisers will be happy to learn that advertising across devices appears to significantly increase brand retention by eyeballs… I mean, people.
The study tested a 15-second car ad on different subject groups. Some saw no ads, others saw them on various combinations of TV, PCs, smartphones and tablets. Those who saw the ad on TV alone recalled the brand of car correctly 50% of the time. The people who saw it across all devices got it right 74% of the time.
The study also found that multi-screen advertising increased “engagement,” meaning that subjects remembered more details about the product. Twenty-two percent of the TV group remembered that the car was a 4-door sedan, versus 39% of the multi-screen group.
These results come on the heels of multiple Google analyses of tablet use, one showing that users flock to their tablets in the evenings, and another breaking down the kinds of activities tablets are used for. News flash: it’s mostly for consumption. So the moral of today’s story is, if you want to get inside people’s heads, it’s measurably worth the money to reach them across devices all day long.
Google’s Smooth Moves
To that end, Google has also announced AdWords for video today. This makes it easy to place ads on YouTube videos.
Google has also recently launched new incentives for advertisers who optimize for mobile devices. Google, of course, is almost entirely in the advertising business, so its partnership with Nielsen on this study conveniently defines a problem to which Google is the solution.
How do you feel about advertisements in general? Do they make for a better Web?
