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NBC Tests Physiological Responses to Fast-Forwarded Ads

NBC has launched an experiment that measures the biological reactions of subjects watching TV, to see just how engaged they are during programs and while watching commercials in fast-forward mode.

Preliminary findings show that, based on biological reactions, the test subjects were just as engaged while watching fast-forwarded ads as they were while watching the first moments (in regular speed) of NBC’s Heroes, according to NBC (via The New York Times).

The study has viewers wearing vests from Innerscope Research, a company that researches what it calls emotional engagement. The vests measure things such as “skin conductance” (sweat on the hands), heartbeat, body movement and respiration. Innerscope then gives each subject an engagement score, based on a scale of 1 to 100, with 50 being neutral and anything over 60 being engaged.

In the NBC test, viewers who watched the first 20 seconds of live advertisements scored a 66, while those who fast-forwarded the same ads scored a 68.

In the next phase of the study, Innerscope will help NBC discover which types of ads result in the highest engagement scores when in fast-forward mode. Then, says Alan Wurtzel, president for research at NBC Universal, the network will be able to work with advertisers to help them understand what would be a successful commercial in terms of fast-forwarding, without losing anything when viewed at regular speed.

Advertising research company Millward Brown has also studied physical responses to TV commercials. Nigel Hollis, chief global analyst for the company, says that fast-forwarding should not scare advertisers, because simply pushing the fast-forward button on the remote control is an act of engagement. “We probably pay more attention to doing that than we do when watching a regular TV program. You’re sitting there saying, ‘When is the program coming back on?’ You are actually attending to it.”

Media buyers, including Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis for Magna Global, and Jason Maltby, president and co-executive director for national broadcast at MindShare North America, however, have said that they cannot imagine such physiological engagement measures to replace program and commercial ratings anytime soon.