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COMMERCIAL TELEVISION BREAKS,

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, AND NEW

TECHNOLOGY: AN INITIAL ANALYSIS

BY

PHILIP J. KITCHEN AND DAVID A.YORKE

(MANCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL

AND UMIST, RESPECTIVELY)



INTRODUCTION

´ Change in consumer behavior due to change intechnology.

´ BARB (Broadcasting Audience Research Board))has been called into question owing to the adventof new technology.

´ From technological development is the advent of remote control television, tele-text, video

recorders, computers, cable television, and micro-TVs.

´ Recent evidence suggests that the main aim of audiences viewing commercial breaks is to strive

to eliminate them entirely via new technology.



DEVELOPMENT OF NEW

TECHNOLOGY

´ Introduction of remote control televisions´ By using this new technology or advent of remote-

control-equipped television which has occasioned a

new behavioural phenomenon ³ "channel flicking´.

´ Cable television will be of increasing importance to TV

advertising in the future as consumers may switch to

selective private cable networks. It is estimated that

by 1990 provision of extra services via cable will

penetrate some 12.5 per cent of UK homes. But major

advertising agencies are watching the development

with interest, but in the US ³ with 32 per cent cable

penetration at the end of 1982 ³ only 2 percent of

total TV advertising expenditure went in this direction.



´ Also in audio-visual fields is the development of the flat screen miniature TV. Recently a Britishmanufacturer (Sinclair) was pipped at the

selling post by Sony. While this development is

still at the technological teething stage, it mayhave a role to play (in advertising) in the future.

´ For example, the current fad of carrying around

stereo-radio-cum-tape or personal hi-fi may besucceeded by the miniatureTV, thus opening upopportunities for advertisers to "reach" users of this technology.



ADVERTISING EXPENSES

´ Due to the previous innovations, advertisers paid some £1,100 million in 1984 to gain access to 7.1 minutes of

advertising time per hour between 6.00 p.m. and 10.00p.m. and, on average, 5.7 minutes per hour daily.

´

Main advertisers included fast-moving consumer goods,but also consumer finance advertisers, new localadvertisers (particularly on Channel Four), the use of TV

to build direct mail business, plus the growth in suchareas as garden equipment, hi-fi and audio, office

equipment, personal computer facilities, and smalldomestic appliances.

´ Despite this growth of TV advertising and expenditure

the problem still remains of knowing who actually

watches the advertisements.



M ARKETING COMMUNIC ATION

THEORY

´ Simplest level the stimulus response model or"hypodermic needle" is the one most applicable totelevision advertising.

´ This basically involves two stages:

Source ------- MESSAGE -------- Receiver

´ The model simplifies the general models of communication in that it ignores word of- mouthcommunication.

´ It assumes the message to have a direct immediate

effect upon the viewer/audience.´ According to Herbert Krugman, who has carried out much

research into television audience recepectively, printmedia were found to be more "involving" than televisionessentially because television is an "easier form of

communication´.



PROBLEMS ASSOCI ATED WITH NEW

TECHNOLOGY

´ video recorder or remote-control-equipped TVdo consumers have an opportunity to interfere

with (and usually eliminate) commercial breaks.

´ The new technology suggest that eitherinsufficiently advanced to be measurable (i.e.,

diffusion still at innovation stage) or involves the

television set being used for other than TV

viewing (as in the case of computers, computer

or video games).



PROBLEMS ASSOCI ATED WITH AUDIENCE

ME ASUREMENT DEVICES

´ Problems associated with the current BARB

system of audience measurement via the

SETmeter and diary are well researched

systems are incapable of recording rapid

changes of channel or of commercial content

during VCR Playback.

´ The greater problem is associated with VCR

viewing of "timeshift" material which is

estimated at around two per cent per week

across all channels.



METHODOLOGY

´ The research methodology was designed to measureconsumer behaviour in the sample population of thosewith a video recorder and/or remote control TV. ACORNwas then adopted to delineate the sample frame.Thisclassification (which stands for "a classification of

residential neighbourhoods") was used because of thelimited amount of information regarding diffusion of these innovations vis-à-vis social class. Elevenneighbourhood groups are specified by ACORN and, of these, four were selected for a questionnaire to be

administered:´ B: modern family housing, higher incomes 1981 = 16.2

per cent of UK population;

´ C: older housing of intermediate 1981 - 17.6 per cent of UK population;



´ J: affluent suburban housing 1981 = 15.9 per cent

of UK population;

´ EFG: all types of council estates 1981 = 30 per

cent of UK population.

´ These groups represent 79.7 per cent of the UK

population and were chosen primarily because theyrepresented a broad cross-section of private and

rented accommodation covering a wide variety of

social classes and age groups. Initially over

2,000respondents were contacted in a "cold-

canvass" approach.

´ ACORN also enables the researchers to test various

hypotheses vis-à-vis market segmentation



(1) measurable ³ (i.e., based on geographic,demographic or socio-economic variables);

(2) accessible ³ (maybe difficult to reach with massmedia, without "reaching´ other consumers);

(3) substantial ³ (i.e., large enough to be worthy of consideration).

ACORN would appear to satisfy all three criteria.

´ ACORN would be relevant to life-stylesegmentation as the theory implies thatconsumers in different neighbourhood groupswould be heterogeneous while maintaining

homogeneity within the group.´ One of the major hypotheses to be tested in the

research was to establish whether behaviour vis-à-vis new technology did vary by ACORN, age or sex

of respondents.



RESE ARCH FINDINGS

´ 25 viable interviews were conducted in each ACORNgroup. In total 56 male and 44 female heads of households were interviewed; ages among the samplepopulation varied from 19 to over 65. The questionnairewas subdivided into two sections ³ video and remotecontrol.

´ V ideo Section

(a) number of hours viewed of TV-recorded material viavideo;

(b) number of hours pre-recorded (i.e., films) materialviewed via video;

(c) best time to view via video at evening;

(d) behaviour during recorded commercial breaks;



(e) behaviour "last time" a recorded commercialbreak was viewed;

(f) main source of pre-recorded material.

´ Remote Control Section

(g) behaviour when first switching on TV set;

(h) courses of action at end-programme;(i) courses of action at mid-programme.



RESULTS OF THE STUDY

´ VCR Section:-

Table II. Hours Viewed of TV-recorded Material per week (at95 per cent confidence interval)

´ Group B - 1.785 to 2.741

´ Group C - 1.988 to 3.901

´ Group J - 1.400 to 2.953

´ Group EFG - 2.248 to 3.43

Group C tends to view from two to fourhours per week while group EFG went from just over two

hours to under three and a half. The average viewing forthe sample (with 95 per cent confidence) varied from1.852 to 3.257.



The next question revealed an even higherincidence among all groups viewing prerecorded material viavideo

Table III. Hours Viewed of Pre-recorded (i.e., Films) Material perweek (at 95 per cent confidence interval)

´ Group B - 1.990 to 3.904

´ Group C - 1.846 to 4.043

´

GroupJ

- 2.092 to 4.497´ Group EFG - 2.374 to 4.026

it is important from the point of view that the TV isnot available to view commercials while the film is being

shown. It is important to note that, together with thepreceding distribution, the average VCR user is using thevideo for six to eight hours per week ³ hours in which the TVis ostensibly being used but in which commercial breaks areeliminated. In the case of pre-recorded material, groups J and EFG view such for longer hours.



´ Table IV. Best Time to View via Video at Evening

´ 6.00 to 8.00 p.m.

´ 8.00 to 10.00 p.m.

´ 10.00 to 12.00 p.m.

´ Later

´ Skewness

As the percentages indicate, the majority

of respondents view generally in what is known as "primeadvertising time" ³ from 8.00 to 10.00 p.m. However, 28 percent of the population were still viewing from 10.00 tomidnight while 6 per cent from groups C and J were stillviewing after midnight. Generally the early evening hoursfrom 6.00 to 8.00 p.m. were not a good time to view via

video. This time is taken up with eating, etc, but generallythe TV is switched on, and thus an opportunity foradvertisers may be available. However, if respondents areviewing pre-recorded material there is no possibility of viewing commercials while TV-recorded material entails a

variety of options.



REMOTE CONTROL SECTION

´ This part of the survey pertained solely to thoserespondents with the remote control facility and

was looking specifically at channel flicking during

programme breaks.

´ The first question asked what respondents did

when switching on the TV set by remote control.

´ channel flicking when first switching on the TV set

is somewhat low at only 32 per cent of the total.´ Seventy-five per cent of this total is accounted for

by groups B and J, quite the reverse of the video-

speeding syndrome.



CONCLUSION

Video recorders and remote control television arechanging consumer behaviour during commercial televisionbreaks. Whilst pre-recorded films eliminate all possibility of seeing a commercial while a film is being viewed, usage of video to replay a commercial programme produces analmost universal reaction. In most instances, among all ACORN groups commercial breaks on V CR were eliminatedeither by pressing the rapid forward button or using the"pause" button while recording. This accounted for 66 percent of regular behaviour and 68 per cent of "last time"behaviour among the sample population.

Technologies are affecting audience receptivityto commercial breaks. By and large, consumers are tending to eliminate commercials where possible. The behaviourresearched did not prove to be statistically significant at the0.5 level or stronger when cross-tabulated by ACORN or by

sex or age of respondents.



Overall, it suggest that thesefindings (qualitative though they may be) areindicative of a "tip of the iceberg" phenomenon

in behavioural use of new technology. Though itmay be naive to suggest that quantitativeinformation be backed up by qualitative marketresearch and results made available to

commercial advertisers ³ some attemptsshould be made by BARB to outline firmly theparameters of these problems.

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