NBC has released new internal research on two topics: “triangulated” TV-web ad campaigns and DVR commercial skipping. The first involves combining 1) a TV ad that points to an advertiser’s site 2) an online ad on the TV site and 3) search engine optimization of the advertiser’s site. According to the research, viewer ad recall of this triangulated ad campaign is 50 percent higher than average, and those customers are also 20 percent more likely to buy what was advertised. NBC also has some new research that claims “that households without DVRs skip more TV commercials than those with DVRs.” The study shows the drop in TV ad effectiveness in homes with DVRs is less than 3 percent, while non-DVR households had a drop of 7 percent.
Now, consider the source of the study. NBC wants advertisers to buy cross-platform campaigns as well as believe that DVRs are making old-fashioned commercials even MORE valuable. I’m all for the former, but I question the latter.


