A Message to TV Commercial Buyers and Sellers: Pay Attention to Viewer Emotions

by Henry Schafer

Today's complex TV viewing environment has placed much more focus on how to best determine the value of a program's advertising environment. In order to be a really savvy buyer or seller of commercial time, knowledge of a program's audience must go beyond the limited realm of "how many viewers are delivered" and include a clearer understanding of a program's ability to deliver "satisfied viewers" as well as "viewers who are committed to continue watching on a regular basis". Programs that deliver above average levels of these viewers provide a more valuable advertising environment due to greater viewer involvement.

Reaching satisfied and committed viewers, or "favorite viewers" as we like to call them, is extremely important because they have a stronger likelihood than less favorable viewers to:

• watch the whole program
• watch the program more often
• pay close attention to the program

....and, as a result, also have a stronger likelihood to:

• recall the brand being advertised
• have a more favorable opinion of the advertised brand
• purchase the advertised brand in the future

So, when decisions need to be made about competitive pricing and strategic buying, make sure you are informed about a show's momentum (current viewer satisfaction) and ability to keep viewers tuned-in to future telecasts. Our TVQ and Cable Q Online Program Evaluation Services answer these critical questions throughout the year with regularly scheduled nationally representative surveys -- covering all of the major broadcast and cable networks as well as syndication. Our unique metrics for measuring the strength of program satisfaction (Impact Q) and ongoing commitment (Emotional Bonding Q) get to the very core of what really drives viewers to connect with certain shows -- viewers are primarily driven by their emotions!

This is true for high rated as well as low rated shows and those in between. Hence, the size of a program's audience and/or the program's CPM can be misleading with respect to determining the value of its advertising environment. My next blog will get into more details about how some prime time and cable shows rank on these "viewer emotion" metrics -- you will be surprised!