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Study: Mobile+TV Ads Work Way Better Than TV Ads Alone

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Who says multitasking doesn't work? We notice and respond to ads much more on iPads and iPhones while we're watching television than we do to TV ads alone, according to a study released this morning by Nielsen for the mobile video ad firm AdColony.

In a test conducted at CBS's TV City Media Lab in Las Vegas, people watched a 30-minute TV show that had TV ads in the commercial breaks--one of them for the movie Contraband. At the same time, they were using mobile devices. Nielsen and AdColony compared the people who were exposed only to the Contraband ad on TV (but not a 15-second video ad on the mobile devices) to the group that saw both the TV ad and the mobile video ad on their mobile device.

The results showed a significant impact on several traditional brand metrics, according to the study:

* Purchase intent for Contraband spiked by 72% for cross-screen viewers from 18% to 31%.

* Brand recall for the movie was 69 percent higher for cross-screen viewers compared to TV-only viewers.

* Ad recall on TV only was 55%, while cross-screen viewership increased recall to 93%.

* Cross-screen viewers also were 160% more likely to recommend the movie to a friend or family member.

* Cross-screen was 5.5 times more effective at driving search. Only 4% of TV-only viewers intended to search for Contraband after seeing the ad. That rose 22% for cross-screen viewers.

Of course, despite the Nielsen imprimatur, a study this specific, involving just 400 people, is still pretty close to anecdotal. But it's an intriguing sign that some of the more effective online ads may be those that are viewed in close conjunction with television ads. Your spouse may not love the multitasking you're doing while watching Mad Men, but marketers do.