Interesting Facts About The Effectiveness Of Advertising
A RECENT survey carried out by media communications specialist OMD has revealed some interesting facts about the effectiveness of advertising in the different newspapers in the country.
For instance, it highlighted the fact that, contrary to popular belief, high readership does not necessarily equal high ad noting (percentage of ads noticed by readers).
The Star, which has been earning more advertising revenue than any other newspaper for years, had the lowest ad noting of all at only 52 per cent! By comparison, the New Straits Times had an ad noting rate of 55 per cent.
OMD Asia communication insights director Florence Oong says this clearly illustrates the shortcomings of media agencies that can only advise advertisers on the basis of a newspaper's readership.
"The Star may have the highest readership (among English language newspapers) but it clearly does not have the highest ad noting," she adds.
Berita Harian has the highest ad noting at 60 per cent. A score of 60 per cent means that three out of every five ads in Berita Harian were noticed by readers.
The survey also found that ad noting, in general, has declined from an average of 60 per cent in 2000 (in the first OMD survey) to 57 per cent in 2003.
The ad noting scores of English language newspapers were most adversely affected while those of Chinese language newspapers have remained relatively unchanged.
Oong says the decline in ad noting could be due to increased ad clutter and a general reduction in time spent reading newspapers.
After all, The Star which has the lowest ad noting also has the highest ad clutter. The newspaper carried 115,000 ads in 2002, a 33 per cent increase from 87,000 ads in the previous year.
In terms of demographics, it was found that the Malays registered the most significant drop in ad noting, falling from 64 per cent to 58 per cent.
The survey also highlighted the fact that females are more likely than males to notice advertisements. For some reason, females aged 20 to 39 had the highest ad noting score.
Professionals and executives, interestingly registered the lowest noting score of all occupational groups.
This suggests that more impactful advertising is required to grab the attention of this group of consumers, notes Oong.
Also, it was found that while right hand ads (i.e. ads placed in the right hand pages) generally command better ad noting, left hand ads in Nanyang Siang Pau, Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Utusan Malaysia actually did slightly better! Colour ads were found to be more appealing than black and white ads.
Readers paid more attention to colour ads, were more likely to read them and had better recall as well.
But, surprisingly, in the case of Berita Harian, it was found that the ad noting score for both colour, and black & white full page ads were the same at 78 per cent.
Stand alone ads do better than other ads. The ad noting score of ads that share space with editorial content drops slightly.
The ad noting rate falls further if the ad in question shares space with both editorials and other ads.
As expected, the front page which has an average readership of 98 per cent also commanded the highest ad noting.
But, in the case of the regional news section which has an average readership of 90 per cent, the ad noting rate was only 49 per cent! Sections such as technology and leisure which have far lower readership have been found to have pretty respectable ad noting rates.
"So if you want to do niche targeting, it makes sense to go into the technology, IT, lifestyle and women's sections," says Oong.
She stresses that OMD is uniquely positioned to provide quality advice to clients because it is the sole proprietor of a data-base of 35,000 ad noting responses collected during the current survey and an earlier survey that was done in 2000.
"It helps our planners provide greater accountability to our clients in terms of their advertising dollars in newspapers.
"To the savvy advertiser, just placing an ad in a newspaper is no longer enough. We need better justifications in ad positioning, in ad sizes and by readers' profile because we know that ad exposure is not the same everywhere and with everyone.
"The bottom line is to enhance the value of newspaper advertising."
The survey involved a "walk-through" of newspapers to determine whether readers saw and read a collection of 20,000 ads. A total of 1,011 people aged 15 to 54 were interviewed face-to-face in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang, Ipoh and Johor Baru from March 19 to April 1.
The newspapers covered were Berita Harian, China Press, Guang Ming Daily, Kwong Wah Yit Poh, Nanyang Siang Pau, New Straits Times, Sin Chiew Jit Poh, The Star and Utusan Malaysia.
Source: New Straits Times (Malaysia), Jul 20, 2003
For instance, it highlighted the fact that, contrary to popular belief, high readership does not necessarily equal high ad noting (percentage of ads noticed by readers).
The Star, which has been earning more advertising revenue than any other newspaper for years, had the lowest ad noting of all at only 52 per cent! By comparison, the New Straits Times had an ad noting rate of 55 per cent.
OMD Asia communication insights director Florence Oong says this clearly illustrates the shortcomings of media agencies that can only advise advertisers on the basis of a newspaper's readership.
"The Star may have the highest readership (among English language newspapers) but it clearly does not have the highest ad noting," she adds.
Berita Harian has the highest ad noting at 60 per cent. A score of 60 per cent means that three out of every five ads in Berita Harian were noticed by readers.
The survey also found that ad noting, in general, has declined from an average of 60 per cent in 2000 (in the first OMD survey) to 57 per cent in 2003.
The ad noting scores of English language newspapers were most adversely affected while those of Chinese language newspapers have remained relatively unchanged.
Oong says the decline in ad noting could be due to increased ad clutter and a general reduction in time spent reading newspapers.
After all, The Star which has the lowest ad noting also has the highest ad clutter. The newspaper carried 115,000 ads in 2002, a 33 per cent increase from 87,000 ads in the previous year.
In terms of demographics, it was found that the Malays registered the most significant drop in ad noting, falling from 64 per cent to 58 per cent.
The survey also highlighted the fact that females are more likely than males to notice advertisements. For some reason, females aged 20 to 39 had the highest ad noting score.
Professionals and executives, interestingly registered the lowest noting score of all occupational groups.
This suggests that more impactful advertising is required to grab the attention of this group of consumers, notes Oong.
Also, it was found that while right hand ads (i.e. ads placed in the right hand pages) generally command better ad noting, left hand ads in Nanyang Siang Pau, Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Utusan Malaysia actually did slightly better! Colour ads were found to be more appealing than black and white ads.
Readers paid more attention to colour ads, were more likely to read them and had better recall as well.
But, surprisingly, in the case of Berita Harian, it was found that the ad noting score for both colour, and black & white full page ads were the same at 78 per cent.
Stand alone ads do better than other ads. The ad noting score of ads that share space with editorial content drops slightly.
The ad noting rate falls further if the ad in question shares space with both editorials and other ads.
As expected, the front page which has an average readership of 98 per cent also commanded the highest ad noting.
But, in the case of the regional news section which has an average readership of 90 per cent, the ad noting rate was only 49 per cent! Sections such as technology and leisure which have far lower readership have been found to have pretty respectable ad noting rates.
"So if you want to do niche targeting, it makes sense to go into the technology, IT, lifestyle and women's sections," says Oong.
She stresses that OMD is uniquely positioned to provide quality advice to clients because it is the sole proprietor of a data-base of 35,000 ad noting responses collected during the current survey and an earlier survey that was done in 2000.
"It helps our planners provide greater accountability to our clients in terms of their advertising dollars in newspapers.
"To the savvy advertiser, just placing an ad in a newspaper is no longer enough. We need better justifications in ad positioning, in ad sizes and by readers' profile because we know that ad exposure is not the same everywhere and with everyone.
"The bottom line is to enhance the value of newspaper advertising."
The survey involved a "walk-through" of newspapers to determine whether readers saw and read a collection of 20,000 ads. A total of 1,011 people aged 15 to 54 were interviewed face-to-face in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang, Ipoh and Johor Baru from March 19 to April 1.
The newspapers covered were Berita Harian, China Press, Guang Ming Daily, Kwong Wah Yit Poh, Nanyang Siang Pau, New Straits Times, Sin Chiew Jit Poh, The Star and Utusan Malaysia.
Source: New Straits Times (Malaysia), Jul 20, 2003
posted by James at 11:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home