“A triple whammy”: New study shows the dangers of brand proximity to viral video content

By Michael Bürgi, Published by Digiday
 
Ever been riveted by some gross viral video of someone popping pimples? Or gotten sucked into some disturbing trend of “challenge” videos on TikTok? You’re certainly not alone.

Viral videos featuring visceral content of one form or another can generate millions of views for a platform in little time. But research conducted by IPG’s MAGNA Media trials unit, in partnership with tech platform Channel Factory, shows that brands can sometimes pay a steep price if they’re associated with that content.

Among the major findings of the research, titled “The Proximity Effect: Quantifying the Impact of Misaligned Content in the Wild West of Video,” there are some no-brainer conclusions, but also some surprises. Recruiting just over 2,700 mobile users, the study used a handful of brands — T Mobile, Nationwide insurance, as well as a hair-care CPG brand that it declined to identify — across a number of platforms that carry video. The study also investigated the difference between pre-roll ad adjacency and video card presence, which is mostly experienced on platforms such as TikTok or Instagram.

It also looked into three general types of potentially misaligned content: videos about skin conditions (I.e. pimple-popping), content that induces ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) and mukbang (which features excessive eating).

Arguably the biggest surprise is a trifecta of possible trouble for brands. People remember the content but their purchase intent for the adjacent ad drops. Compared to standard content, the study showed misaligned content generated a loss of impact on purchase intent (-8%), brand respect (-9%), brand is high quality (-5%), and brand I trust (-6%). Respondents also remembered the ad but for the wrong reasons: 41% recall compared to 32% in standard content, with a 10% loss of impact in brand thoughtfulness and 7% loss in caring for customers.

“It’s sort of a triple whammy: they’re more likely to be engaged with the content, it’s bad for the brand and it’s memorable,” said Jed Hartman, president, Americas, for Channel Factory. “We’re in the suitability space and we live in this data all the time, and even to us, this was a big deal.”

“The content we tested that people felt most excited about — they felt was most entertaining and truly above the other types of content as a guilty pleasure — had the most negative effect on brands,” added Kara Manatt, senior vp of intelligence solutions at MAGNA. “It’s a most interesting dichotomy. There are so many brands that want to be next to trending content, but it just goes to show brands need to keep a close eye on what exactly that content is.”

In exploring the varying effect of pre-roll advertising versus video-card, viewers were more than 1.5 times as likely to feel the pre-roll advertisers endorsed the content than video card advertisers. Still, negative association in the card environment had a deleterious effect, said Manatt.

“In the card scenario, [the advertiser appearing] both before and after [was] an issue,” she said. “If you appear before misaligned content where you’ve already processed the ad and the very next thing you get is the misaligned content, it does have an impact on the ad’s intended effect. And on the flip side, you get another negative if you appear after it because people are more likely to skip past the ad.”

Hartman noted that this is some of the first research to include the consumer’s point of view about brands and their presence in video content. He pointed to one respondent’s comment as offering a good rule of thumb for brands: “If you want to be taken seriously don’t place ads anywhere near these creepy-ass videos.”

Download the Full Study

 

Read the Article at Digiday

NEW STUDY BY MAGNA & CHANNEL FACTORY FINDS “MISALIGNED” CONTENT ERODES THE IMPACT OF HARDWORKING ADS

Study reveals some of the most entertaining “misaligned” content can have the biggest negative impact on brand KPIs

 
New York, NY – September 22, 2021 – New research conducted by MAGNA Media Trials, MAGNA’s industry-leading proprietary research offering, in partnership with Channel Factory, explores the layers of content suitability and how it can affect brands’ advertising efforts. “The Proximity Effect: Quantifying the Impact of Misaligned Content in the Wild West of Video” explored what brands need to know about misaligned content in different ad environments, as well as the role proximity plays when it comes to misaligned content.

Misaligned content for the test brands was determined as content that commonly produces visceral reactions in people, including skin conditions (e.g. pimple popping), ASMR (videos inducing autonomous sensory meridian response) and Mukbang (video host consumes various quantities of food). The study recruited users of popular video apps offering different video environments and had the users spend time on the platforms as they typically would (e.g. pre-roll video and video card). Users were served a mix of misaligned content and standard content.

A critical finding of the study is that misaligned content erodes the impact of hardworking ad creative that had proven strong performance in the standard content. In addition, the study found that brands need to be proactive about how to treat misaligned content to avoid diminishing the effectiveness of otherwise powerful ads.

Brands should also keep an eye on popular, trending content to ensure the appropriate steps can be taken to avoid unfortunate brand and content alignments, since not all trending content is suitable for all brands. Content can be categorized as icky, yet it’s engaging and watchable: while people rated misaligned content as less “premium” and more “triggering,” “embarrassing,” and “not safe for work,” most people chose to watch the misaligned content to completion, with 68% rating it as “entertaining.”

Additional findings of the study include:

  • Misaligned content diminishes the impact of otherwise hardworking ads: The impact on purchase intent diminishes when the ad appears next to misaligned content. The study saw a loss of impact on purchase intent (-8%), brand respect (-9%), brand is high quality (-5%), and brand I trust (-6%) compared to standard content.
  • People remember a brand’s ad, but for the wrong reasons: +41% recall ads in misaligned content while +32% in standard content. However, impact on perceptions of brand thoughtfulness (-10% loss of impact) and caring about customers (-7% loss of impact) diminishes when next to misaligned
  • Consumers feel brands shouldn’t be aligned with certain types of content: Many people felt brands who had ads in misaligned content “leaves a bad memory attached to the brand,” and found the content association to be “weird” or “low caliber” for the brand.
  • Brands are held most accountable in pre-roll environments: In a pre-roll environment, brands are more likely to be held accountable for the content they appear next to: consumers were 1.5X as likely to feel the brand endorsed misaligned content in pre-roll video compared to the video card environment.
  • In a video card environment, the closer the ad, the stronger the brand association: Consumers were +10% more likely to believe the brand supported the misaligned content that the ad was immediately next to compared to two videos away. Brand KPIs were most likely to be harmed when the ad appeared immediately before the misaligned content, making it the biggest concern in video card environments.

 
“A major and critical finding of the study is that some of the most engaging misaligned content actually had the worst repercussions for brands,” said Kara Manatt, SVP, Intelligence Solutions, MAGNA. “The industry should continue to learn about the effects of misaligned content and build technologies accordingly to ensure appropriate and aligned placements regardless of the video environment.”

“We understand that content alignment and suitability is a spectrum and can vary by verticals, brands, and campaigns,” said Jed Hartman, President, Americas, Channel Factory. “Advertisers can see immense benefits from taking a deep dive into what their specific consumers’ thresholds are and working with video partners to custom-curate campaign content targeting to drive more positive brand results.”

 

Download the full study

 

About Channel Factory

Channel Factory is a global technology and data platform that maximizes both performance efficiency and contextual suitability and alignment, turning YouTube’s 5 billion videos and 500 hours per minute of new content into brand-suitable, efficient advertising opportunities. Channel Factory’s mission is to create a suitable video ecosystem that connects creators, brands, and consumers – by enabling advertisers access to the most relevant videos, channels, and creators.

Through their proprietary platform that harnesses the power of the deepest YouTube dataset in the industry, Channel Factory has enabled advanced brand suitability, customized content alignment targeting, and maximum performance for the world’s biggest brands. Channel Factory’s algorithm ensures not only that advertisers run against content that aligns with their brand but also delivers outcomes by optimizing campaigns using active and historical campaign performance data.

Channel Factory has offices across the USA and is present in over 30 countries worldwide including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

About MAGNA:

MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers.

We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

 

Media Contact:

Zinnia Gill
Mediabrands
Director, Global Corporate Communications
(646) 965-4271
[email protected]

Majority of consumers want control of their online ad load

By Patti Summerfield, Published by Media in Canada
 

Many internet users would prefer more control over ad delivery than the ability to block them, according to a new survey from UM, MAGNA and Brave.

 
When it comes to consumer attitudes toward online advertising, the majority (67%) feel bombarded by the number of ads, and more than half (60%) feel as if they’re continually being tracked by advertisers, according to a new study from UM, MAGNA and privacy browser Brave.
 
Rather than ad blocking, 79% of internet users say they would prefer to have more control over the content they receive. In addition, 72% feel online ads that are presented to them at a convenient time and separately from web content are just as preferred as no ads at all.
 
If they could control their online ad load, 81% of participants say they would consider using more adsupported websites without paying for content (66%), support brands they see ads from (61%), and even spend more time online (60%).
 
The study also found that 80% don’t trust online ads, 74% are not open to seeing online ads, and 74% hate online ads. Ad tracking is a big irritant: 70% find it creepy to see ads for products they’ve previously searched and 60% feel like they’re constantly being tracked.
 
In addition to gauging attitudes towards advertising and the value exchange, the research also included five ad effectiveness studies for brands American Express in Canada, as well as Canada Dry, Mini, Energizer and Simple Mobile in the U.S.
 
The brands found that between 61% to 74% of consumers interacted with their online ads when they were offered more control over ad load in a privacy safe environment. The advertisers also saw significant increases in key branding metrics including brand association (+15% – +17%), intent to research products online (+30%), and purchase intent (+9%).
 

Read the full article at Media in Canada

Consumers want control over ads served

By Sabrina Sanchez, Published by Campaign

A study by MAGNA and Brave shows consumers engage more with privacy protected ads.

 
Consumers aren’t interested in ad tracking — just look at the dismal opt-in rates on Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, which explicitly asks people if they want to be tracked by advertisers.
 
But they do engage with ads that appear in a privacy safe environment, according to a study released by MAGNA and privacy browser Brave.
 
The study, released on Thursday, shows that while most people, including Gen Z and Millennials, understand the role online ads play in enabling free content on the internet, the majority feel bombarded by the ad loads (67%), and 70% feel that ad tracking is creepy.
 
But that doesn’t mean people prefer to block ads completely. Of the survey’s more than 1,000 respondents, 79% preferred more control over ad blocking (73%) to completely blocking all ads. Additionally, 72% of people said online ads presented separately from web content at a convenient time were just as preferred as no ads at all.
 
The data shows privacy and greater consumer data control is good for marketers, not negative, despite industry wide concern over the loss of third-party cookies and mobile identifiers, said Kara Manatt, SVP of intelligence solutions at MAGNA.
 
“Advertisers [should] lean into these types of ad environments, because more and more people are going to be opting for them,” she said. “[They want] something in the middle — not having to pay for content and blocking all ads, but also not being constantly targeted or having a huge ad load.”
 
The study also evaluated ad effectiveness with five brands, including Energizer, American Express, Canada Dry, Mini and Simple Mobile, surveying more than 10,000 respondents. All five brands saw 61% to 74% engagement with their online ads when run in a Brave browser, which offers more control over ad load.
 
“When we asked people what they value about online advertising experiences, privacy protected ads and the option to control ads ranked the highest, followed by the desire to have ads that use a lot less of their personal data,” said Clayton Hartford, director of sales at Brave Software.
 
He added that users also want more control over which ads they see.
According to the survey, 66% of respondents would use more ad supported websites without paying for content if they had more control over ads, support brands they see ads from (61%), and even spend more time online (60%).
 

Read the full article at Campaign

CONSUMERS WANT CONTROL, NOT AD BLOCKING, IN ONLINE ADVERTISING

By Mike Juang, Published in AdAge

Audiences require value in exchange for seeing ads, new survey from Magna and Brave finds

 
Audiences want more control over the digital advertising they see, and want to get more in exchange for the ads they are shown, according to a new survey done by Interpublic Group’s Magna and the privacy-focused Brave web browser. While most people understand the role online ads play in supporting content, most say ads are too numerous–and too intrusive.
 
The results also painted a dire look at ad tracking, with 70% agreeing that it was creepy to see online ads for products previously searched and 60% feeling as though they were constantly being tracked by advertisers online.
 
“People feel completely bombarded with ads, and that’s been the main driver for negative ad sentiment,” said Kara Manatt, SVP of intelligent solutions at Magna. “They don’t want to feel trapped and want more control over their ad experiences.”
 
Most people don’t love or trust the ads they are served, with 80% saying they don’t trust online ads, 74% saying they are not open to seeing online ads, and 74% saying they hate online ads.
 
The intrusiveness of online advertising has become a heated topic in ad tech, and has led to action from lawmakers passing data regulation and privacy legislation, like Europe’s GDPR and California’s CCPA. The controversy has also led to companies like Google and Apple phasing out third-party cookies and identifiers, creating a rush within the advertising industry to find new ways to target ads without cookies.
 
But while the survey painted an unflattering portrait of digital ads and ad tracking methods, it also found that most audiences were not fundamentally opposed to online ads. 67% of Gen Z and 64% of Millennials agreed that online ads served an important purpose. (That number dropped to 61% within Gen X respondents and climbed to 65% of Boomers.)
 
According to the survey, the problem could lie in the value people were getting in return for being shown digital ads. 80% of respondents felt they didn’t get much in return for the online ads they saw, with 67% of respondents said there were too many ads on the internet and felt bombarded and 64% saying online ads interfered with their web experience.
 
But ad blocking is not the top go-to solution. 79% of survey respondents say the most appealing option would be to control the number of online ads they see daily, while 77% said they wanted online ads that are privacy protected. In comparison, 73% wanted a browser that blocks ads. The survey also found several popular solutions, like ads that tell a story, show previously searched products or letting audiences choose what brands served ads, were not as appealing or valuable to their ad experience as control and ads that don’t use personal data.
 
“We need to innovate, and for advertisers, they should be considering new and different ad environments,” says Manatt. Advertisers need to give consumers different options, or risk losing audiences to ad-free environments like Netflix, Disney+, and other SVOD services, she says. Not fixing the problem could destroy what little remaining trust there is between audiences and advertisers.
 
“There are two options: you see a lot of ads, you feel trapped, but you get free content. On the very opposite, there’s the Netflix paradigm. You are paying for great content but no ads,” says Manatt, who adds that people are not saying they want to block all ads. “I think the results show us there’s a need for options in the middle.”
 

The full study is available here.