March 01, 2017

Editorial Content is More Memorable than Social News Feed Content

A new study conducted by Neuro-Insight, a neuroscience-based market research firm, show that high-quality, memorable editorial content has a strong impact for video advertisers. The study, conducted in conjunction with outstream video provider Teads, tested editorial articles from the company's publisher partners including Time Inc., Conde Nast, Forbes, and The Atlantic. It found that the value of high-quality editorial is 16% more personally relevant and engaging than social news feeds.
Other findings:

--Premium editorial delivers a deep experience with a powerful impact on memory: For the rational/detailed-oriented (left) side of the brain, high-quality editorial was found to have a 19% greater impact on memory. For the emotional (right) side of the brain, premium editorial had an 8% greater impact on memory.

--Memorable content helps make ads in high-quality editorial environments more memorable: Video ads within these editorial environments performed better than eight out of 10 online ads tested when measured by detailed memory encoding, a key metric for ad impact.

--High-quality editorial content also helps generate more memorable peak "hero" moments that influence behavior: Peak memory describes the highest level of detail memory (correlated with purchase behavior) achieved. Teads said its video ads had a 15% higher impact on peak detail memory, which has a validated correlation with purchase intent.

--High-quality editorial allows for a broader range of ads to be effective:
Content and video advertising have separate neurological states that, when aligned, drive higher effectiveness, according to the research. This type of editorial charted equally well on the left and right sides of the brain, allowing a broad range of video advertising creative to be effective within the editorial content.

--Social feeds are slightly right-brain skewed: Social feeds generate a neurological state slightly skewed to the right side of the brain, which is associated with the global or emotional side. This means that a narrower range of creative strategies receive a boost in impact from aligned neurological states.

--The right creative strategy can boost long-term memory: Creative has the power to amplify the strengths seen in both premium editorial and within social feeds. The study found that ads featuring individuals are star performers in high-quality editorial vs. ads showing complexity and movement, which perform well on social.

Jen Wong, COO and president of Digital, Time Inc., stated: "As our partners look for ways to allocate their budgets, this study reinforces the effectiveness and engagement of video advertising within premium editorial content."

Rebecca Mahony, CMO, Teads stated: "Neuro studies are really pushing the envelope of what is possible when it comes to measuring how ads resonate with consumers and offer a unique opportunity to drill down on the elements and contextual considerations surrounding advertising."

Teads and Neuro-Insight recruited 100 respondents, split in two cells groups, for the study, each of whom were outfitted with neuro-mapping caps used to measure brain response. Both groups were exposed to eight identical mobile video creatives on either their Facebook newsfeeds or outstream video ads from Teads that appeared across several of Teads' publisher customers.

The key performance indicators measured for content and ad evaluation were engagement and memory encoding. Engagement measures activity in the brain related to the level of personal relevance a person feels toward a content experience and is the key metric for content performance and environments. A high level of engagement creates higher impact for video advertisers.

Long-term memory encoding is measured within each brain hemisphere and offers insight into the impact content has on the subconscious mind. This is a validated ad-effectiveness metric.

Copyright 2017 MediaPost Communications. All rights reserved. From http://www.mediapost.com. By Tobi Elkin.

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