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sooner than you think
TV watchers begin tuning out after five viewings
By Kevin Downey
Putting together a media plan can sometimes be mind-numbing, especially when there are things to consider that don’t have an easy answer.
Commercial wearout has puzzled more than a few planners and buyers over the years because there never seemed to be an answer to, “How many times can a person see a television commercial before they get tired of it?”
Now there is an answer, and the number ranges between five and 12 viewings of a commercial before wearout sets in, depending on who's watching.
The lowest figure, five, is the optimal number of exposures for the average person, according to an extensive study from Starcom MediaVest Group. After five, wearout begins to set in.
Among people who use the brand being advertised, the number is 10 exposures.
For heavy TV users, the numbers is around 12 exposures. The study found that heavy users generally have a higher tolerance for repeated commercials but at 12 they, too, begin to experience wearout.
African- Americans and English-dominant Hispanics also have a higher tolerance for multiple exposures.
When commercials are geared to teens, younger people wear out slower than older people.
The study found virtually no difference in wearout levels among men and women.
One-fourth of survey respondents say they don’t want to see a commercial after having seen it five times and fully half say they don’t want to see it after 10 exposures.
To counter the problem, the study’s authors suggest that it would make more sense to take some money from a high-frequency TV schedule and put it into new commercials that have a better chance of getting the attention of consumers.
The results of the study, which was conducted by Knowledge Networks in two phases last year using a panel of 3,000 Web TV users, also suggest getting a better understanding of consumers.
Demographics and product usage habits are obviously important to put together a media schedule, but in terms of understanding commercial wearout, it’s also important to gauge how commercials lose their effectiveness among different people.
There are also ways to slow down wearout, according to the study.
Funny commercials with music, for instance, tend to wear out slower than commercials with a call-to-action message. Commercials with a story take longer to wear out than those without one.
It was also found that a commercial that’s been off the air for 12 or more weeks can come back at about the same level of effectiveness it had the first time it aired.
Ultimately the solution to wearout is finding a balance between frequency and the number of creative executions in a campaign, using the wearout point of a specific product’s target audience as a guide.
That may mean sacrificing some rating points in favor of more creative executions.
Starcom lays out a hypothetical $20 million plan with 2,500 gross rating points, an optimal frequency of 10 exposures and one creative execution. To lessen the impact of wearout, that plan is altered by trimming the budget by $800,000 – giving up 100 GRPs - and using the money to add two new commercials.
June 25, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life
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