The industry’s growing focus on the value and measurement of attention in advertising is being embraced by many broadcasters and other premium media owners. For years broadcasters have argued the strengths of the living room environment when it comes to advertising, and now attention data is providing extra support to these arguments.
But we’ve also seen some media companies designing new ad formats specifically to capitalise on this trend, with attention grabbing formats which score well through various attention metrics. French broadcaster TF1 is adopting this tactic with a new ad format announced today, ‘My[Screen] Thématisé’, which has been created specifically to grab viewers’ attention.
These new spots, sold through TF1’s sales house TF1 PUB, sit in the last spot of a regular ad break. They start with a three second interstitial, separating the ad from the rest of the ad break. This interstitial has text and a voiceover which sets the context for the coming ad, based on the advertisers’ brand category. TF1 gives the example of “Want to escape?”, which could appear before an ad for a travel or tourism brand. This interstitial also contains a QR code, leading audiences to a mobile site for the brand. Then, the ad spot plays as normal.
These spots can be tailored to the TV show they appear alongside. For example, the first brand to run this type of campaign is hotel reservation site Hotels.com, which is running a campaign alongside ‘Koh-Lanta’, a reality game show based on the ‘Survivor’ format. The voiceover and interstitial will be based on the ‘escape’ theming of the show – hence the “Want to escape?” tagline.
Fighting for attention
This format is essentially a variation on a similar format released late last year, ‘My[Screen] Made in France’. Similarly, this included a short interstitial before the regular ad, which highlighted that the product being showcased is produced in France.
But TF1 PUB is pitching this new format specifically around intention. “My[Screen] Thématisé is a turnkey solution for advertisers who want to optimise their media plan, amplify their voice, and win the battle for attention in a world of over-solicitation,” the company said when announcing the new format. TF1 PUB says that the format helps boost audience memorisation of brand messaging, with data from market research business Toluna finding the My[Screen] format drives higher brand favourability and purchase intention.
And as premium media owners increasingly look to attention metrics to validate the value of their inventory, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more creating new ad formats which specifically maximise audience attention.
