A new study claims that consumers pay more attention to shoppable ads when streaming than when browsing social media — for better or for worse.
Professor Michelle Nelson of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media told MediaCat: ‘Right now, shoppable ads are much more common on social media than in streaming. That means that they’re more unexpected in streaming — a novelty. People may pay more attention to these kinds of ads, but they also may be more wary.’
The study found that on both social media and TV, consumers viewed shoppable ads as more unexpected and as more ‘negatively valenced violations’ than non-shoppable ads. The researchers suggest that the surprise of a shoppable ad triggers consumers to consider the ad more than they would with a more traditional format.
On streaming TV, shoppable ads were found to be even more unexpected than on social media. This element of surprise triggers more consideration, which can be good for brands, causing consumers to pay more attention to an ad. However, it can also make consumers more aware of an ad they perceive as an interruption to their viewing experience.
‘Let’s face it — most ads are invasive,’ Nelson said. ‘Unless they offer some value to us — maybe they’re entertaining, maybe they offer a discount, or maybe they provide valuable information to us. Ads that interrupt our media experience tend to be regarded as most intrusive.’
Overall, the study found that consumers respond to shoppable ads ‘based on how they interpret that unexpectedness, whether the violation is appraised as useful, innovative, or irritating’.
The researchers explain: ‘The same shoppable feature can trigger surprise, but it is the perceived meaning of that deviation (benefit versus disruption) that determines whether persuasion is facilitated or undermined.’
The study recommended that marketers treat shoppable ads ‘as a context-contingent format rather than a universal solution’. Nelson explained that this means producing shoppable ads that blend into the platform and offer seamless purchasing, particularly when those are ads for well-known brands that already have a degree of consumer trust.
She added that in the follow-up study she is currently working on, her team are looking at the differences between different types of shoppable ads on TV: the more traditional ads that interrupt a show, and ‘as seen in’ ads that come after the show and allow audiences to buy select clothing or jewellery worn by the main characters.
‘We’re seeing if the timing and format matters,’ she said. ‘This is a wide open area of study — as advertisers are experimenting with new formats and as the shopping funnel collapses – we’ll see more studies and forms of persuasion in the future.’
