menu
Weekly Online Magazine
ISSN 2544-5839
zamknij
Work In Media image

1.12.2011 Marketing and PR

Do Ads on TV Annoy You? Think Again, It’s Quite the Opposite!

Bartłomiej Dwornik

Advertisements don’t irritate viewers; instead, they increase the appeal of television programs, according to research published in the Polish edition of Harvard Business Review. Viewers are actually willing to pay more for shows they watched with ad breaks.
Poczytaj artykuł wydanie polskie w wydaniu polskim

Television programs are more enjoyable when accompanied by ads, though viewers are often unaware of this. This surprising insight comes from studies conducted by professors Leif Nelson from Haas School of Business, Tom Meyvis from NYU`s Stern School, and Jeff Galak from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School, who researched viewer preferences.

According to Harvard Business Review Polska, which published the study, two test groups were shown three types of programs:

  • episodes of the comedy series *Taxi*,
  • documentary nature films,
  • and Bollywood productions.

One group watched the programs without ads, while the other saw them with ad interruptions. The results were surprising: the group that saw the shows with ads was more satisfied with the programs, regardless of the quality of the ads shown.

source: Harvard Business Review Polska, Why Do We Prefer TV with Ads?


Surprisingly, viewers who watched the version with ads were also willing to pay more for DVD sets of productions by the same directors. The study published by Harvard Business Review Polska found that this difference could be as much as 30%.

  • viewers of the ad-free version offered $4.18 for a DVD
  • viewers of the ad-supported version were willing to pay up to $5.42 for the same DVD.

The study authors note that this principle is reflected in pay TV, even though it doesn’t include ads. These networks structure their programming with built-in breaks.

- What increases viewer enjoyment isn’t the ads themselves but the breaks in the show, - explains Prof. Leif Nelson in an interview with HBRP. - In series, the plot usually consists of six or more parallel storylines that producers continuously juggle. More complex and unpredictable shows, with twists that naturally introduce breaks, were rated higher than programs with a more linear narrative structure.

This is known as the adaptation effect. The researchers found that this effect is much stronger among younger people. As people age, they need less stimulation to feel pleasure and adapt more slowly.

Nelson, Meyvis, and Galak`s research was also published in the Harvard Business Review Polska special report Why Do We Prefer TV with Ads?

Share the article:

dodaj na Facebook prześlij przez Messenger dodaj na Twitter dodaj na LinkedIn

COMMERCIAL BREAK
Work In Media

New articles in section Marketing and PR

Connected TV and borderless advertising. The ID5 report

KFi
Viewers are moving away from cable TV. And they are doing it en masse. Already 86% of Europeans watch content via Connected TV and global ad spend in this segment is set to double by 2028. The industry is undergoing a communication revolution.

AI will take up to 70% of traffic from online stores. TrustMate Report

KFi
There is a quiet but radical change happening online. Traditional SEO, which for decades determined brand visibility, is losing its relevance. Now, it's no longer search engines that define a company’s online presence, but generative artificial intelligence.

How to find topics for communication

Aleksander Pawzun
"We have nothing to say" is a phrase heard all too often. Yet practice shows that every business has the potential to tell stories. You just need to learn how to spot them and turn them into content that appeals to your audience.


See articles on a similar topic:

Child with dyslexia. A therapist's guide for parents

patronat Reporterzy.info
Dyslexia is a specific developmental disorder affecting reading and writing abilities. It can significantly impact a child's educational and emotional development. In Poland, as well as worldwide, it is being diagnosed more frequently. [#MAMYNATORADĘ under the patronage of Reporterzy.info]

Customers Flirting with Service Bots. What Contact Center Research Says

Krzysztof Fiedorek
Research by Infobip shows that nearly 20% of Americans engage in flirtatious conversations with bots while handling standard customer service issues. This trend is particularly evident among people aged 35 to 44, where more than half of respondents admitted to flirting with a virtual assistant.

What to do when a child bites nails? Advice from a child psychologist

patronat Reporterzy.info
For children, nail-biting is often a way to cope with boredom or stress. However, our role is to intervene when we notice this habit, not only for aesthetic reasons but also to address potential underlying causes. What might these be, and what can we do?

SEO and AI in Polish e-commerce 2025. Harbingers analysts’ report

Krzysztof Fiedorek
Although 44.56% of e-commerce traffic comes from organic results, over half of online stores are not seeing growth. The biggest surprise? A staggering 9.5 million monthly visits lost due to dead content. On top of that, 38% of companies still don’t appear in AI-generated answers - a new and growing source of visibility.

More in the section: Marketing and PR

Work in media

United States
New York • Washington DC • Los Angeles • Chicago • Houston • Phoenix • Philadelphia United Kingdom
London • Birmingham • Manchester • Liverpool • Glasgow • Edinburgh Canada
Toronto • Ottawa • Montreal • Calgary Australia
Sydney • Melbourne • Brisbane • canberra Ireland, New Zealand, India

advertisement

Media Review 24/7




community

Facebook LinkedIn X Twitter TikTok Instagram Threads Youtube Google News Blue Sky Social RSS

Reporterzy.info - online media studies magazine. The world of communication from the inside. Media, journalism, PR and marketing. Data, reports, analyses, advice. History and market, law, photography, job offers.



Reporter shopping

Reporter shopping

Affordable laptops, notebooks and netbooks
Affordable laptops, notebooks and netbooks
for writing
Digital SLR and compact cameras
Digital SLR and compact cameras
for photographers
Books and e-books about media
Books and e-books about media
for reading
Video drones and flying cameras
Video drones and flying cameras
for pilots
Gimbals for stabilizing video
Gimbals for stabilizing video
for those on the move
Software and apps for creative work
Software and apps for creative work
for digital creators
More occasions

advertisementMedia Review 24/7
Read books and e-books

Read books and e-books

Okładka Media Control. The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
Media Control. The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
Okładka The 40-Day Social Media Fast
The 40-Day Social Media Fast
Okładka Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies
Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies
Okładka Mass Communication: Living in a Media World
Mass Communication: Living in a Media World
Okładka Beyond The Feed: A Social Media Success Formula
Beyond The Feed: A Social Media Success Formula
Okładka Trust Me, I`m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
Trust Me, I`m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
more books and e-books

Reporterzy.info

More about us

Our tools and services

Contact


© Dwornik.pl Bartłomiej Dwornik 2oo1-2o25