ALVISO, Calif. – Tivo, one of the creators of the digital video recorder market, has released its first monthly set of commercial ratings.
Using TiVo’s StopWatch service’s ability to track consumer viewing behavior on a second-by-second basis, in both live and time-shifted viewing context, the company can tell which ads work best.
“For many years, various sources have provided rankings of top programs. But nobody has ever provided the same type of information for commercials. And this is what marketers really care about – especially with the proliferation of DVRs,” said Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager, TiVo Audience Research and Measurement.
“We believe these monthly reports will be both fun and informative, and provide just a small taste of the type of insight into DVR viewing behavior, time-shifting, and specific commercial ratings available to subscribers of TiVo’s StopWatch service.”
Categories tracked in these reports on a monthly basis include Top Total Viewing Commercials compared with Total Viewing of Top Programs; Time-shifted Commercials compared with Time-shifted Programs; and, Least Fast-forwarded Brand Campaigns. TiVo will also track other categories of interest (in the U.S. only, of course) including performance advertising on DVRs in key advertising categories and other customizable information.
In April and May, the top rated commercial was an ad for the movie Disturbia, which aired during Grey’s Anatomy, followed by the Chase Freedom Credit Card spot in the same show and the GMC Trucks Acadia ad within American Idol.
In the past, people would generally believe they could look to the most popular programs to find commercials with the most viewership, continued the press release. However, Tivo has found the highest rated commercial among TiVo viewers for April appeared in the eighth highest rated program. Conversely, the highest rated program placed only one spot among the top ten commercials. Four of the five highest rated commercials ran in programs not included in top ten program viewership.
And, there is no concentration of top commercials within a particular program episode. The top ten commercials appeared in eight different program episodes. Only two program episodes had more than one commercial spot make the top ten list.
As for the least fast-forwarded ads, the list includes the likes of Almost Golf Sporting Goods, FedEx Kinkos, RGX Body Spray, Stouffers Corner Bistro Flatbreads, and X Games apparel.
StopWatch currently monitors 15 networks: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CW, TNT, TBS, USA, CNN, ESPN, DISC, NIK, MTV, COM, HGTV
Now, most people believe commercials must be entertaining, have big budgets and include celebrities to stop viewers from fast forwarding through them, the Tivo data says that’s not necessarily true. Among all measured networks, the least fast-forwarded campaigns were dominated by Direct Response ads (so call now!) and virtually all of these campaigns ran during daytime.
When limited to broadcast networks in primetime, more “expected” brands/campaigns show up. Three of the least fast-forwarded campaigns in primetime on broadcast also placed an ad in the top ten most viewed ads, such as Samsung, Ford Trucks Edge, Dominican Republic Tourism, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
The Tivo StopWatch ratings service data is derived from a daily, aggregate, anonymous, stratified random sample of 20,000 TiVo units – from which the second-by-second “clickstream” of behavior and viewership is collected and assessed. The StopWatch service includes data for: Total Viewing, Live Viewing, Timeshifted Viewing (less than 1 hour, 1-6 hours, 6-24 hours, 24-48 hours, 2-7 day, and 7-14 day delay), Program Ratings, Commercial Ratings and a Commercial Viewership Index. The Stop Watch service uses ad occurrence data from TNS Media Intelligence to identify commercial spots.
