Marketers are always looking to advertise in TV programs where they can best target likely customers. Finding those shows isn’t always easy, but data gleaned from brand strategy company NewMediaMetrics’ survey of fall TV viewers has matched up both freshman and returning broadcast primetime series with brands that viewers watching those shows have formed a strong attachment to.
For example, viewers who have a strong emotional attachment to NBC’s freshman drama The Blacklist also have a high level of attachment to American Airlines, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Ketel One, Hilton hotels, Hyatt hotels, Sheraton hotels, Met Life and Traveler’s Insurance.
Meanwhile, viewers who have made a strong connection with Fox freshman drama Sleepy Hollow also have strong affinity for Dodge, Budweiser, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Coke, Pepsi, Dunkin Donuts, Lancome, Sonic, Johnson & Johnson, Embassy Suites, Bing search engine, Febreze, Kraft, Snickers, Home Depot, FedEx and Travelodge.
ABC freshman drama Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has an even longer list of brands that fan viewers hold in high regard. Among them: JetBlue, Disney Parks, Cadillac, Ford Fusion, Chase, Korbel, Sam Adams, Red Bull, iPad, Red Lobster, Clearasil, Dove for Men, Westin, Allstate, Yahoo, Tide, Fancy Feast, Best Buy, Costco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, JC Penney, Nike, Kindle Fire and Expedia.
Viewers with a strong emotional attachment to the CBS freshman sitcom The Crazy Ones also hold Suburu, BJ’s Warehouse, Disaronno and StayFree in high regard.
Those with a strong attachment to CBS freshman sitcom The Millers have a strong attachment to Lowe’s, while those with a strong attachment to ABC’s The Goldbergs have an affinity for Marriott.
Heavily attached viewers of CW’s new drama Reign also prefer brands including Ford, Bank of America, Target, JC Penney, iPad and American Airlines.
And those highly emotionally attached to Fox’s drama Almost Human, which premiered this week, are also connected to brands including Sea World, Universal Studios, Volvo, Sony Vaio, Nutrisystem, Ivory soap, Right Guard, Hampton Inn, W Hotel, Progressive Insurance, Blackberry and LG.
Breaking Down the Details
The information gleaned from the study is proprietary, so NMM did not offer up more details. But it did break out by percentage for MBPT how four major advertisers fare with viewers of seven of the more popular veteran broadcast primetime series.
The four advertisers are Honda, Coca-Cola, Capital One and Disney Parks. The seven TV series are CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles; NBC’s The Voice; and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, Modern Family and Scandal.
Of the four advertisers, Disney Parks has the highest emotional attachment to viewers that are big fans of all seven shows. Between 70% and 77% of the viewers who are highly emotionally attached to those seven shows are also heavily invested in the Disney Parks brand.
Honda’s highest attachment is to viewers of NCIS: Los Angeles with 70% of that show’s most emotionally attached viewers also being committed to the Honda brand. The other Honda percentages are: 68% for Dancing With the Stars faithful; 64% for NCIS; 63% for Scandal; 62% for The Voice; 61% for Big Bang; and 53% for Modern Family.
Coke’s highest attachment among the seven shows is to Dancing With the Stars, with 54% of that show’s most emotionally attached viewers also being highly attached to the soft drink brand. The other percentages are: 53% for The Voice; 52% for NCIS: Los Angeles; 51% for Scandal; 48% for NCIS; 47% for Big Bang and 47% for Modern Family.
Capital One’s highest attachment among the seven shows is also to Dancing With the Stars with 51% of that show’s most emotionally attached viewers also favoring Capital One. The other percentages are: 48% for both The Voice and NCIS: Los Angeles; 45% for Scandal; 44% for NCIS; 42% for Modern Family; and 30% for Big Bang.
Denise Larson, cofounder of NMM, says many marketers are still buying TV advertising based on generic data such as the number of men and women and age demographics without taking in the likelihood that those viewers might or might not be interested in their brands.
“The business model today is so different and marketers need to change the way they buy and target in order to continue to be profitable,” Larson says.
She adds that much like there are skeptics who continue to question NewMediaMetrics’ TV viewer survey results on viewers’ emotional attachment levels to new programming, there are also skeptics who question viewers’ emotional attachment to brands.
But Larson says NMM has lots of success stories working with certain marketers who have used the combined emotional attachment viewer data to shows and brands to help them drive sales.
While Larson will not be specific, she says a major health and beauty category advertiser redeployed its ad dollars into different shows based on NMM’s emotional attachment to shows and brands data, and reversed a two-year decline in sales. After advertising in some targeted shows, the company increased its sales revenue by more than $20 million.
“Success stories like this do happen,” Larson says. “That’s why we continue to bang the drum, even when there are still skeptics out there.”
