Addressable TV ads, sustainability, loyalty: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Addressable TV ads have greater long-term impact

Addressable TV adverts deliver greater long-term business impacts than those seen by a broad audience, according to research from Finecast and System1.

TV ads were tested on System1’s Test Your Ad platform, which assesses ads’ short- and long-term brand-building potential, based on viewers’ emotional responses. The long-term brand-building power of ads is ranked on a 1.0 to 5.9 star rating system.

The research finds ads shown to an addressable audience achieve an average of 3.0 stars, placing them in the top 33% of all ads. By comparison, ads shown to a broad, nationally representative audience average 2.4 stars, ranking them in the top 52% of ads.

The short-term impact of ads is also measured by assessing the ‘spike’, which looks at how quickly viewers connected the creative to the brand and the intensity of their reaction. Addressable TV ad audiences have a 6% higher spike score than regular ads, suggesting addressable ads are more likely to drive short-term business impact.

There was also more intensity of emotion elicited from addressable TV audiences, including more positive responses, with 7% greater happiness and 6% fewer neutral reactions.

Source: System1/Finecast

Discounts and sales promotions lead marketing budget growth

Increased spend on sales promotion is leading a revival of marketing budget growth, according to the latest Bellwether Report from the IPA.

Sales promotions saw the biggest budget increases of all categories in the first quarter, recording growth of 8.8% year on year. In the last report, budgets has been shrinking, at -4.4%.

The increase represents the strongest rise in sales promotions spending for nearly two decades.

The sales promotions category includes in-store promotions and incentives, coupons, discounting and loyalty card promotions. The first quarter increase in sales promotions budgets coincides with a burst of activity around retailer loyalty schemes, organised through growing retail media networks, to offer immediate deep discounts to shoppers suffering during the cost of living crisis.

Total marketing budgets at UK companies are growing at the fastest rate since the second quarter of 2022, despite widespread cost pressures and pinched consumer spending, finds the report. The net balance of companies recording upwards revision of budgets has risen to 8.2%, a substantial increase on the 2.2% recorded in the final quarter of 2022.

Source: IPA

UK consumers look for instant price discounts from loyalty schemes

Almost two-thirds (63%) of UK shoppers say the thing they want first in a loyalty scheme is instant price discounts, with just 20% prioritising points, stamps or other rewards currencies.

The research also suggests consumers value personalised recommendations from their loyalty schemes, with 84% of global shoppers believing personalised recommendations will help them save money as they shop.

Value is the top benefit shoppers want from a loyalty scheme for around seven out of 10 (69%) of those surveyed. Over six in 10 (63%) of UK consumers are already using loyalty schemes to save money.

More than a third (36%) of those surveyed say they would consider buying a product if they received a text or app notification alerting them to a deal on it while they were in a store, with a further 35% stating they would find this helpful. Just 15% of those surveyed say they would find this kind of alert “creepy”.

Source: Eagle Eye

Less than one in 20 ads contains sustainability messaging

Just 4% of ads analysed over the past three years feature sustainability-focused messaging.

Ads from retail and consumer healthcare businesses carry the lowest level of sustainability messaging (1%). Meanwhile, sustainability messages are four times more likely to appear in car ads than other industries.

There is a disproportionate level of media spend allocated behind advertising with sustainability focuses, with 8% of budget allocations behind these ads. However, this still accounts for less than one tenth of total media spend.

The data from CreativeX comes from an analysis of 2.5 million ads across nine markets. It finds that sustainability messaging in ads steadily increased between January 2020 and December 2022. However, at the beginning of 2023, it dropped off sharply by 47%, with the suggestion this could be because brands started prioritising cost of living messages.

While sustainability messaging is scarce in the ads analysed, when it does appear, it is generally positive. Positive climate mentions educating and informing consumers to make greener choices appeared four times more frequently than negative or neutral commentary on climate issues.

Source: CreativeX

Consumer confidence score up for third month running

Consumer confidence has risen for the third month running, but without concrete good news on the wider economy, the UK is still “a long way” from emerging from this protracted period of collective gloomy sentiment.

The latest GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer shows the headline score is up six points to -30 in April. While the score is eight points better than April 2022, the figure is still firmly in negative territory and a sign of an entrenched lack of confidence in the economy.

All of the measures which make up GfK’s headline score are up on March 2023. People’s view of their own personal financial situation over the next year has seen the most significant uptick, increasing by eight points to -13. It has improved by 13 points versus April 2022.

Looking back, perceptions of people’s personal finances over the past 12 months have also improved, rising by five points to -21. However, it is the only measure that has deteriorated versus the same month in 2022, dropping by two points from -19 in April 2022.

People’s perceptions of the general economy remain lower than their opinions of their own economic situation. In April, people’s perceptions of how the economy fared over the past 12 months rose by seven points to -55, this was versus -60 in the same month last year.

The major purchase index score, which indicates people’s likelihood to buy big ticket items, also improved in April. It is up by five points to -28. It has also increased slightly versus the same month last year, when it was -32.

Source: GfK