Driving brand consideration and emotional engagement through advertising formats

The Format Effect Series, carried out by Publicitas, is the first global research programme of its kind offering a global view on the emotional connection that mobile and video ad formats have with consumers. The Format Effect Part I, focused on mobile advertising formats and consumers’ emotional engagement with these formats. The results of part one were released on the 28 September and today marks the launch of The Format Effect Part II – Video, alongside the complete combined white paper, The Format Effect Series.

The Format Effect infographic ()

Download the report here.

The global survey, The Format Effect Part II, showed that outstream video is, more likely to drive engagement than pre-roll, triggering brand favourability and purchase consideration.   The results also highlight significant differences between over 35s and millennials – the latter scored higher across key brand metrics.

Video is generally seen as an appealing advertising format, showing high levels of enjoyment in six in 10 viewers. However, the results reveal that the environment is crucial, as outstream video adverts drive greater degrees of content engagement when compared to a more disruptive pre-roll formats. The survey showed that 74 per cent of those exposed to the outstream ad continued consuming content after viewing the video, which represents an uplift of 15 per cent in comparison with pre-roll. When it comes to millennials, 85 per cent of the audience went on consuming their chosen story, which suggests that they are more receptive to outstream video inventory, proving it less likely to disrupt their content consumption experience.

“Millennials are confident with their use of different digital screens and prefer video content to other formats, but they also want to control their video ad experiences and will avoid intrusive delivery of content, especially if it is boring, irritating or irrelevant,” comments Mike Jeanes, global head of insight at Publicitas. “Our surveys confirmed this generation welcomes interactivity, as well as flexibility to move around content. If this interaction is not available, it could have a negative effect on brand appeal and image.”

When it comes to purchase consideration and brand appeal, the survey shows that outstream video advertising has a higher impact than pre-roll with 22 per cent claiming to be ‘much more likely to buy’ the Honor 5x after seeing the outstream video ad, compared to 16 per cent exposed to the pre-roll ad.

Improving brand awareness and appeal is essential to building a recognisable brand and outstream video formats can achieve higher results for these metrics. According to the survey, 21 per cent of those who saw an outstream video claimed to have ‘definitely remembered’ the brand shown in the advert (uplift of +31 per cent vs pre-roll). The outstream video ad also made the brand seem ‘different from other mobile brands’ among 56 per cent of consumers increasing to 62 per cent for millennials.

The survey demonstrates that outstream video formats help enhance brand favourability. Consumers (54 per cent) feel ‘more favourable towards the brand’ after seeing the outstream video advert, compared with 48 per cent who watched the pre-roll format. Among millennials, this difference was more pronounced, with 61 per cent feeling ‘more favourable towards the brand’ vs. 49 per cent exposed to the pre-roll.

Finally, the survey results highlight that the outstream format performed better with emotional engagement measures among millennials. The top three performing emotional key words ranked are: 

1.     Interested        (+31 per cent uplift vs pre-roll),

2.     Inspired           (+131 per cent uplift vs pre-roll),

3.     Intrigued          (+23 per cent uplift vs pre-roll).

Mike Jeanes, says: “Due to their less intrusive nature, outstream video adverts deliver higher levels of engagement and interest. However, the story for the outstream format clearly rests with millennials. Levels of brand appeal, brand image, and consideration were permanently higher for the 18-34s exposed to outstream videos compared to those exposed to pre-roll.”

The white paper as well as infographics for both the mobile and video sections of the study are available on the Publicitas website.

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