One of the more challenging aspects of advertising sales is
calculating ROI. This is made even more complex with the proliferation of
content platforms and consumer devices. What really contributed to Sales
uplift? ABC, in addressing this issue, just released Phase 2 of an attribution
analysis conducted by Accenture Strategy. Phase 2 is the follow-up to a custom
study completed in 2016 and used four big data sources to prove the role and
value of content in context in driving Sales ROI.
Cindy Davis, Executive Vice President Consumer Experience,
Disney ABC Television Group, took me through the study and how it contributes
to their overall research strategy. “Our objective in this study is to measure
what matters and there was industry pressure to measure ROI,” she stated. To
that end, “we found a very interesting connection between engaged audiences and
their content and the sales and ROI we can drive to clients who participate.”
To achieve that goal, Disney|ABC commissioned Accenture
Strategy which, according to Davis, “had a robust database of marketing spend.
This year in our Phase 2 of the study, we examined 26 national brands over six
industries and their corresponding sales data representing $25 billion in
marketing spend, with $11 billion in television spending.”
Mike Chapman, Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, global
lead for Media and Entertainment Strategy Practice added that his company
provided three years of data, which provided a “closed loop view of advertising
ROI – types of impressions delivered, how many, which channels, what prices
were paid and the impacts from those impressions delivered on incremental sales
week over week.”
In addition to Accenture’s marketing data, Davis asked
Accenture Strategy to incorporate four other datasets in their recent study –
Nielsen ratings, E-Poll, Nielsen Social and Magid’s Emotional DNA, which Davis
described as, “intriguing because we are in the business of connecting with
viewers emotionally and Magid’s DNA work speaks to that.”
Phase 1 Takeaways
Davis and
her team, focusing on the impact of multi-platform TV (premium long-form video
across screens and devices) and how advertisers can leverage that impact,
discovered three major takeaways from the Accenture Strategy 2016 study:
1.
There is
a halo effect on sales with multi-platform television. “This doesn’t get
talked about a lot,” Davis noted, “You hear about last click attribution in
digital advertising. But TV goes a long way to establish and amplify the
impacts of all media.”
2.
Multi-platform
is under-valued, under attributed and under-represented in the industry.
Eighteen percent of all of the ROI impact is traditionally attributed to
digital but it should actually be attributed to multi-platform television.
“Television has been traditionally undervalued and digital over-valued,” Davis
concluded.
3.
Multi-platform
TV has a long-term amplification impact. The study compared sales lift over
years and found that by year two or three, you no longer see a sales lift
impact from digital. But the study proved that there is a long-term effect on
sales lift with TV.
Phase 2 Takeaways - Drivers of
ROI
Davis highlighted
three key drivers to ROI that were identified in the Phase 2 study.
1.
Audience
size matters. “Higher-rated programs deliver more ROI than lower rated
programs by 2X,” she stated, “so not all programs are created equal which makes
sense.” And notably, these higher-rated programs deliver more ROI than their
cost premium indicating that higher rated and therefore more expensive
programming is worth the cost in greater sales lift ROI. This is because these
programs have a greater footprint, greater social amplification and therefore
have the ability to reach people beyond a narrowly defined target audience.
2.
Consumers’
to commitment to the content matters.
“We looked at both the expressed and the observed commitment to the
content,” Davis stated, “and found that the greater the effort to watch, the
greater the ROI.” And there is 2X the ROI with Magid’s Intentionality
measurement.
3.
Content
quality matters. Davis’ group examined perceived quality, as defined by the
viewer, and quantified quality indicators using Magid’s emotional
dimensions. They found that the higher
the perceived quality of the content, the greater the ROI. And, using Magid,
the three most impactful dimensions for higher ROI were Smarts (programs that
are informative, real and inspiring), Edge (unpredictable, outrageous and
funny) and Relatability (originality, suspenseful and intelligent). “There is a
direct connection between the emotions viewers feel about a show and the
benefits advertisers gets in terms of greater ROI,” Davis concluded.
“We are
already starting to have good conversations with clients as to what this means
for them,” Davis stated. “It goes without saying that not all GRPs are created
equal and now we can prove that. Yes, higher-rated shows command a premium but
they deliver even greater ROI at that level.” Adding to all of this insight the
impact of social connection and emotional dimensions, ABC is poised to help
their clients take advantage of the best that multi-platform TV can offer.
eSports competitive global gaming is currently a multi-billion dollar industry with, as CNN reported,
the potential to turn “casual gamers into serious stars who can
sometimes rake in seven-figure earnings and massive brand endorsements.”
The distribution channels of streaming services and live events have
made it the next frontier for marketers who see it as an opportunity to
advertise in fresh inventory and reach Millennial males. 
