To this end, the market research institute Facit identified four influencing factors relevant to advertising impact, the so-called advertising impact differentials, for print, digital, TV and social media, in order to compare the advertising impact in the various media genres with each other using a new performance indicator. Decisive factors are a) affective expectation as the emotional state in which advertising is consumed, b) the content environment in which advertising is placed, c) involvement for advertising recall, and d) frequency of use of the medium. A total of twelve news media (including BILD, WELT, Tagesschau, Spiegel and RTL Aktuell), one fictional TV format and the social media platforms Facebook and YouTube were studied. The key findings:

• Content reinforces advertising recall in traditional media, in stark contrast to campaigns in social media. While the higher the content recall, the greater the advertising recall in traditional media, this effect is even reversed in social media with minus 43 percent due to distraction (the so-called “vampire effect”).
• In case of traditional media, the frequency of use has no influence on the advertising impact, but in case of social media it must increase in order to increase the advertising impact. This effect is most evident in the target group of “heavy users,” which means a significant restriction of the actual advertising-relevant marketable reach (heavy users on Facebook 38 percent, on YouTube 11 percent of total users – according to b4p 2019 IV). The full results of the study are available here.

With the new, positive planning parameter “advertising recall plus,” advertising planners can now for the first time apply these measurements concretely to individual media brands studied and strengthen their campaigns. In principle, it was possible to prove a general advertising recall plus for the news media studied from the concrete design of the advertising medium. Carsten Schwecke, CMO Axel Springer All Media and CEO Media Impact: “These results are a clear wake-up call to advertisers and their agencies to allocate budgets where they can actually efficiently achieve a relevant advertising impact. With this study, we offer new parameters for advertising planning, so that campaigns can be played out even more effectively on the various web carriers in the future.” Clarissa Moughrabi, Head of Axel Springer Market Research: “With our study, we are the first in the world to have comprehensively and statistically validly investigated the relevance of advertising medium effects. Conclusion: Content is the effect amplifier with classic media, with social media the ‘vampire effect’ leads to reduced advertising recall. It also shows that reputation and likeability for a media brand have no influence on advertising impact. They are a matter of taste, but not a matter of impact.” Dr. Andrea Malgara, Managing Director Mediaplus: “Our maxim at Mediaplus is ‘More impact through knowledge’. This is the advantage we offer our clients, and we will individually incorporate the results of this study into our clients’ media plans so that they achieve even more impact. We have to make sure that for every euro our clients invest in advertising, they generate more revenue than their competitors. Because then, as an agency, we’ve done our job right.” – In addition to the initiators Axel Springer, Media Impact and Mediaplus, the study, which was carried out by the market research institute Facit, also involved Texas Tech University for scientific advice, ISBA (Institute for Market and Media Research) for statistical and methodological advice on the study design, as well as an advertising customer advisory board with representatives from CHECK 24, Lidl, LG Electronics and Dieter Lutz, among others. Axel Springer had already initiated a debate on qualitative criteria in media planning in February 2019 with the inaugural study “The Conscious Reach of Media Brands”. Following this, Axel Springer and Media Impact, together with Mediaplus, launched a large-scale research project, which has reached its provisional conclusion with the publication of the study “Media Impact Differentials”.