Channel 4 in European trading first

11 November 2014

• New research reveals broadcaster VOD ads more valuable than YouTube ads
• Channel 4 trials interest-based targeted ad product with major brands

Channel 4 today announced it will offer advertisers a digital marketplace to buy advertising programmatically – with access to its first party viewer data – on its new on-demand (VOD) platform, All 4, from next year.

At its Upfront 2015 event in Old Billingsgate, London, Channel 4 revealed it is the first broadcaster in Europe to develop a programmatic platform for agencies to buy VOD ads against its unique audience segmentation – as part of an exclusive partnership with Freewheel. The broadcaster also unveiled industry research on the most valuable VOD advertising and a new data targeting product launching in 2015.

 

Broadcaster VOD ads more valuable than YouTube ads

Channel 4 has undertaken pioneering research with Cog Research and Neuroscientist Dr Amanda Ellison at Durham University, which has found that advertising on TV on-demand players outperforms YouTube (and other network, social and auto play video platforms) for viewer acceptance, engagement and attention.

YouTube in particular was found to be ‘inferior’.

Using innovative research methodology devised in partnership with Cog Research, including eye tracking which measures where viewers are looking when exposed to ads, and Skin Conductance Response (SCR) sensors (skin patches) to measure a viewer’s ‘electrodermal response’ (psychological arousal or pleasure) using the skin as a conductor of electricity. The results found that:

• Channel 4’s on-demand player (4oD) grabbed 80% of respondents’ attention versus YouTube’s 20%
• YouTube’s cluttered visual environment increases the work a viewer’s brain has to do by 50% as they process what to watch next whilst the ads are playing, reducing their ability to concentrate
• Five seconds of free YouTube airtime is unlikely to be of any significant benefit as viewers were impatient to skip the ad when given the option to do so and less inclined to engage and opt in

The research results clearly identified the real differentiators in the digital advertising market – the ‘way’ in which viewers consume VOD content is as important as ‘what’ they consume.

 

First advertiser brands to trial new interests targeted ad product

Channel 4 has named the first brands to trial its latest targeted VOD ad product, which offers advertisers audiences based on their interests (e.g. beauty, fashion, gadgets) together with their actual VOD behaviour. The brands include: Missguided, P&G, Very.co.uk, Baileys and rightmove.co.uk – and results will be released to the industry next year.

This latest targeted ad product leverages Channel 4’s growing viewer database of over 11.5m registered viewers – which now includes 1 in 2 of all 16-34 year olds in the UK – and its innovative viewer insight panel core4. core4 is a growing collection of registered viewers which help provide both Channel 4 and its commercial partners with valuable feedback via surveys and testing – and enables Channel 4 to uniquely match a viewer’s survey data with their true VOD behaviour data to deliver a new premium targeted product to the digital ad market.

Speaking at the Transforming TV segment of the Channel 4 Upfront event, Jonathan Lewis, Head of Digital & Partnership Innovation, said: “Our data strategy has enabled Channel 4 to lead the global digital TV ad market. Channel 4’s unique first party data already offers advertisers superior targeting against our engaged, young, upmarket audience on our growing VOD platform – and the radical addition of automation and programmatic buying is a another game-changer for the commercial TV VOD industry in 2015.

He added: “With demographic targeting now representing over 20% of our total digital advertising revenue – and the world’s first ever individually personalised digital campaigns with Coca-Cola and Burberry launched on 4oD this summer – our data strategy continues to future proof our business, driving increased revenues and creative innovation.”

Channel 4’s on demand player (4oD) has grown +28% YTD in 2014. Following Channel 4’s significant investment in original shorts content exclusive to 4oD this year which has so far seen 13 new original digital series commissioned from 12 production companies, an audacious launch this summer has helped drive over three million online shorts views so far in 2014.

 

Notes to editors

• Programmatic trading platform developed with Freewheel – other partners include demand side platforms (DSP) Adap.tv, Videology and TubeMogul
• About Freewheel
  FreeWheel helps the largest players in the television industry generate revenue from their ad-supported content through a robust technology platform for ad management and monetization, a private marketplace for premium television inventory, and advisory services.
• No viewer data is sent or shared with any trading platform (DSP), Adapt.tv, Videology and TubeMogul. A technique called ‘Double Blind Matching’ is used which ensures that neither party is sharing any data
• VOD ad research – to determine viewers’ ‘Implicit’ (versus ‘Explicit’) responses to brands and content, the methodology included Quantitative Implicit Response Testing with 1000 respondents as well as 40 hours of qualitative in-home observations with respondents wearing eye-tracking glasses combined with a skin conductance measurement (SCR) device. SCR measurement is accepted within the psychology community as the most credible measure of psycho-physiological arousal
• Neuroscientist Dr Amanda Ellison is a pioneer in ground breaking research ‘Electrodermal reponse’ which measures people’s psychological arousal or pleasure using the skin as a conductor of electricity
• About Cog Research
  Cog Research is a consumer insight company that measures what people think, what they feel and what they do, giving better insight into their likely future behaviour. They have previously won the 2012 MRS Advertising and Media Research award for their work on Thinkbox’s Screenlife, and a 2013 APG Creative Strategy Award with Adam & Eve DDB on their Changing Faces campaign
• Short form 4oD exclusive content views currently 3.1m YTD 2014