Convergence presents challenge for evaluating ad effectiveness

Thinkbox’s neuroscience study comparing the level of emotion and attention generated by television versus online advertising presents an innovative way for marketers to assess the kinds of reactions their work generates through different channels.

The overall results of the study showed that online ads attracted higher engagement and participation level, but TV was able to invoke deeper emotions – an interesting insight to help marketers shape the direction of the content they produce for their brands.

But TV won’t be static forever – and as the internet and TV merge closer together, presumably these will also merge as advertising channels? As Henrique de Castro, Google vice president for global media and platforms, declared in Cannes last month, TV and internet will fuse in the next two years, meaning it will be the default thing for your TV viewing to run alongside a social media feed or search window.

De Castro’s argument was so convincing that I find it hard not to believe him, as this is the way people are behaving already – tweeting, Facebooking, searching while watching TV, device of choice in hand, or on lap.

And as even more evidence that this connected future is on its way, in the pages of the John Lewis magazine I read this morning, HP is advertising a large touchscreen computer through which people will be able to view video and TV. Like a massive wall mountable iPad, there is no reason for this kind of device to become commonplace in living rooms around the UK once it stops being “new” and the price becomes more accessible.

As many in Cannes were quick to point out, the element of the moving picture will continue to be an effective way to reach people, but it is no longer confined to the television. Not to discredit the comparisons in Thinkbox’s research, but I think soon we won’t even be needing such a comparison as the lines blur between video online and TV – it will all come under connected content.

As De Castro also said, the future of connected TV will mean that ads can be served tailored to individual viewers – thousands of different ads going out at the same ad break to different users, meaning different devices will receive different content according to the type of user identified as being in front of it. A challenge for marketers to meet, but an exciting one.

To read Lou Cooper’s trends feature click here