Latest Research

TV Together: a very social medium

This work explores the shared viewing experience, the latest phenomenon of social networking in relation to TV and ultimately what it all means for advertisers.

TV is arguably one of the most social forms of media; people love to watch, discuss and enjoy TV together. This shared viewing aspect to TV is one of its greatest assets as an advertising medium. However, people's inherent need for interaction has now spilled over onto social networking sites such as Facebook, with new TV related groups and fan pages popping up on a daily basis.

Thus, our research is made up of two chapters. The shared viewing element examines the context of shared viewing and how this unique feature can be best exploited by practitioners. The second chapter looks at TV and social networking and the concept of the 'virtual sofa'. We explore social networking as a response vehicle for TV programmes and advertisers and develop ideas which may help broadcasters and advertisers maximise this relationship in the future.

If you’d like us to come along and present the findings to your colleagues, please contact Nicole Greenfield on nicole.greenfield@thinkbox.tv.

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TV Response: the new rules

Thinkbox has launched a major new piece of research on how TV response works. The analysis looks at the impact of television on both immediate web response and other short-term response channels. As well as coming up with best practice advice on your TV creative and media planning, the speakers pointed to how to optimize your other media activity to capture the response that TV generates.

Click here to review the research underpinning this presentation.

In the Field

Digital switchover research

Last year, the switch-off of the analogue signal in Whitehaven/Copeland marked the start of the UK’s transition to a purely digital broadcast TV service scheduled for completion in 2012. Thinkbox, together with Other Lines of Enquiry, are exploring the impact that switchover is set to have on viewer relationships with TV, particularly perceptions, attitudes and usage. As part of our continuing ‘TV Bites’ series, we are conducting a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the Selkirk region before, during and after switchover. The result will be an informative ‘documentary-style’ film that will aim to increase our understanding of the TV landscape post-switchover and the impact that this might have on the advertising community.

Previous Projects

Me-TV: the future of on-demand

RESEARCH: As households invest in broadband, WIFI and laptop technology, the opportunity to consume TV online is gaining momentum. Together with Work research, Thinkbox have examined the impact and implications of internet TV. Using a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques, this research looked into the usage of and attitudes to online TV; the profile of users; their motivation for watching; the relationship between broadcast and online television; the viewer response to the different online TV ad formats and the implications for the advertiser.
Upside to downturn: sharpening your ad payback

In August 2008, we commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to repeat and extend the innovative payback analysis from 2007. This study look at shifts in brand values in relation to changes in advertising investment across the seven market categories analysed in 2007, plus three new market categories. In addition, we also appointed Data2Decisions bring together two large datasets focusing on brand health and media spend. The objective was to unpick the relationship between media spend and brand health across a much larger range of categories and products. Data2Decisions also examined the impact of investing in brands during a recession.
TV sponsorship: a brand’s best friend

Thinkbox’s pioneering research with Duckfoot uncovers the inner workings of sponsorship; revealing how and why sponsorship works and the ways in which its impact can be best measured. Sponsorship has been shown to have a significant effect on the emotional and implicit mind, with its power being generated through a brand’s association to the programme rather than its ability to communicate messages via the sponsorship bumper. For fans of the sponsored programme, the effects are profound with fame, ‘for me-ness’ brand favourability and purchase intention being raised as the viewer’s relationship with the programme content becomes stronger. Explore more of this fascinating study here…

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Research

Inform. Inspire. Involve. That’s exactly what Thinkbox seeks to do and our research is no exception. Here you can delve into a fascinating body of work, both past and present, to help you get to grips with how TV works, why it works, and how it will develop in the future.

Associated content

Audience Measurement and Data: BARB, TouchPoints and TGI

How TV is measured (BARB), the biggest cross-media research initiative for years (Touchpoints) and using TGI to understanding consumer attitudes, motivations and behaviours. Here's the top line and some useful links.
Stakeholder Research

We're not the only ones who take the business of understanding our medium very seriously: our shareholders have also generated some great insight. We've collected some of this together for you on these pages.

Further Links

Marketing in the Era of Accountability

Through thorough and impartial examination of the last 27 years of Advertising Effectiveness Awards case studies, the IPA has proof that using TV makes campaigns more effective. No matter what size your budget, TV outperforms other media channels. We've collected a few headlines for you here and also filmed Les Binet and Peter Field presenting their findings.

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