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The success of television advertising is measured in various ways. The most obvious measurement that a company will use to determine whether their advertising is working is to track sales data for the time the campaign is on air. However, not all campaigns have an immediately noticeable affect on sales; it takes time to build because consumers take time to see the advertising and also to react to it and decide to make a purchase. This is particularly so if the product being advertised is a high value item (eg. a car) or if it's in a category which is of low interest to consumers (eg. financial ads are notoriously difficult for achieving cut-through). Advertisers generally have to spend a lot more money on advertising for these types of products to persuade people to buy them and their campaigns are planned on the basis of needing to achieve a high number of viewings per consumer (eg. consumers might need to see the ad 10-20 times before deciding to think about buying).

So, in the event that sales are not immediately impacted, how do advertisers decide if their advertising is working? Most advertisers employ market research agencies to track consumers shifting opinions during campaigns. The research starts before the campaign goes on air so that they have a base level to measure and it is then tracked and measured afterwards to see if there has been any change. The two measures that are most often used are spontaneous recall (where the consumers being researched mention the advertiser without being told the name) and prompted recall (where they are asked if they can remember seeing that specific ad). This gives advertisers information regarding awareness levels for their product. Obviously, the general idea is, that if awareness levels are on the increase there should eventually be a corresponding increase in sales (although not always!)

Advertisers also conduct research to determine if their target market is changing it's perceptions towards their product as a result of the advertising. In some cases, they may have decided to reposition their brand in the marketplace and will want indicators to show whether or not it is moving in the right direction. For example, in the beer market most beers are pretty much the same but advertisers seek to differentiate their brands by creating a certain image eg. upmarket, youthful, sophisticated etc. However they decide to position their brand they will track their target market to measure whether or not they are getting the message ie. describing the brand in the way that the advertiser wants to position it.

In addition to sales and market research data, the success of TV campaigns might also be judged according to whether the campaign is innovative enough to gain lots of free publicity and possibly win some creative awards. However, a campaign which is famous will not last if it does not also affect the bottom line. Ultimately, increased sales and profits determine whether it has been successful or not.

Learn more about this author, Elaine Seager.
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