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Summary
Dec 2019 (Vol. 59, Issue 4): SOCIAL-MEDIA MARKETING

Dynamic Asymmetric Effects of Cross-Media Exposures over the Purchase Cycle: In China, TV Ads Benefit from Prior Online Exposure, but Not Vice-Versa
There is ample evidence that cross-media advertising campaigns can be advantageous to marketers because of their potential for synergy. “Little is known, however, about the dynamics of cross-media effects due to the evolution of household demand over the purchase cycle as well as the potential for asymmetry in such effects due to sequential exposure,” according to June So Lee and Demetrios Vakratsas (McGill University).

In this article, the authors focus on such effects in the emerging Chinese market, where there is potential for regional variation.  They do so by examining single-source data on household-level, cross-media exposures and purchases for consumer packaged goods brand in China. The upshot: TV commercials benefit from prior exposure online, but not vice versa.

The analysis—broad in scope—used single-source data on a cross-media advertising campaign for a leading CPG brand in a mature, staple product category in China. The campaign was 33 weeks long, from October 2013 to June 2014, consisting of TV commercials, online banner ads and digital preroll ads (ads played before consumers are exposed to content online). Data collection methods for ad exposures included media questionnaires, surveys and tagging with cookies. The data included information on purchasing transactions and weekly advertising exposures for the focal brand for a sample of 40,706 panelists—translating into 1,343,298 panel-time observations.

Among the findings:

  • Response to advertising was dynamic for TV, but only through the strength of its synergy with prior online exposure.
  • The observation that prior TV exposure did not enhance the effectiveness of online advertising suggests that the synergy effect is asymmetric in the direction of TV advertising.
  • Online advertising did not achieve a recent exposure effect; rather, “its role was ancillary, much along the lines of a catalytic effect.”
  • There is regional variation in cross-media response in China.

Read the full JAR article here.