The digital marketing industry is navigating a significant shift—from focusing on viewability to prioritizing attention metrics. This evolution is sparked by concerns that high-viewability ad placements on made-for-advertising websites, which resort to high ad density, pop-ups, and autoplay to generate revenue, are training consumers to ignore the ads they see. A study from Integral Ad Science shows that as global viewability trends upward, the time consumers spend actually viewing ads decreases.* This suggests that high viewability does not necessarily translate into high impact or engagement, leading to an industry-wide rethink on how ad effectiveness should be measured.
Why Brand Lift Studies Provide Better Insights for Marketers
Given the limitations of viewability metrics, the media buying industry’s pivot towards attention metrics calls for a more nuanced approach to measuring campaign success. This is where brand lift studies come in, offering marketers a comprehensive tool to assess the qualitative impact of their campaigns beyond mere impressions or clicks. Brand lift studies evaluate how exposure to a brand message influences consumer perception, awareness, and sentiment towards a brand by comparing the attitudes and behaviors of those who have seen the message with those who haven’t. This shift is crucial for understanding real consumer engagement and the emotional and psychological connections that brands forge with audiences.
Understanding the benefits of brand lift studies
The pivot towards brand lift studies represents an insightful turn in strategy for marketers seeking to understand the true impact of their campaigns. These benefits include:
- Holistic Assessment: Rather than fixating on the click-through rates and impression counts that have long been the bedrock of digital marketing, brand lift studies enable marketers to measure the qualitative impact of their campaigns, shedding light on the emotional and psychological connections forged with audiences.
- Adaptive Measurement: Brand lift studies allow marketers to tailor measurement strategies to align with campaign objectives, whether focusing on brand awareness, favorability, or purchase intent. These studies offer actionable insights to optimize marketing efforts accordingly.
- Unbiased Insights: Unlike cookie-based metrics reliant on online user data, brand lift studies provide impartial insights into campaign performance. By comparing the behavior and attitudes of exposed and unexposed groups within a target audience, marketers can comprehend the actual impact of their campaign on brand metrics, ensuring more reliable, accurate measurements.
- Cross-Channel Analysis: Leveraging brand lift studies enables marketers to evaluate the cumulative impact of campaigns across various channels, shedding light on the effectiveness of both digital and traditional media. This holistic view supports optimized budget allocation and aids in campaign decision-making.
PBS brand lift studies offer brand campaign measurement
PBS has addressed the challenge of measuring the effectiveness of cross-platform buys for PBS corporate sponsors by providing brand lift studies for clients who opt-in to this service. Through audience surveys before and after campaign launch, these studies assess the impact that a PBS sponsorship has on key metrics such as brand awareness, ad recall, brand favorability, and purchase consideration, enabling brands to gain a deeper understanding of PBS’s impact on their business. For one large mobile communication company, their brand favorability and purchase consideration doubled after their American Experience national corporate sponsorship ended.**
Embracing the new change in digital marketing measurement
As the industry moves away from simplistic viewability towards deeper attention metrics, embracing brand lift studies offers a path forward for marketers seeking to understand if they are connecting with their audiences in a meaningful way. Of course, getting audience attention is only the first step. Once brands have it, what they say, how they say it–and yes–where they say it, are crucial in creating that emotional connection with audiences marketers strive for, guiding them toward shopping cart conversions.
Contact us to learn how a PBS national corporate sponsorship can lift up your brand.
*Integral Ad Science (IAS), “Media Quality Report: 18th Edition,” May 9, 2023
**KANTAR Media/SGPTV Viewer Attitudes & Behaviors Study, April 27 – May 16, 2020 (AMERICAN EXPERIENCE viewers vs. adults that don’t watch AMERICAN EXPERIENCE)
