On improving the engagement between viewers and TV commercials through gamification

• Published in: Multimedia systems Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 107 - 123
• Main Authors: Furini, Marco, De Michele, Roberta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Advertisements; Commercials; Computer Communication Networks; Computer Graphics; Computer Science; Cryptology; Data Storage Representation; Games; Gamification; Operating Systems; Regular Paper; Smartphones; Television advertising; Within-subjects design; Engagement; TV commercial; Second screen; Gamification; Between-subjects; Within-subjects
• ISSN: 0942-4962; 1432-1882
• DOI: 10.1007/s00530-019-00625-9

TV advertisements are less and less watched as most viewers turn their attention to the smartphone during commercial breaks. Therefore, broadcasters are facing a novel challenge: how to improve the engagement between viewers and TV commercials. In this paper, we investigate whether gamification can be a winning strategy. Indeed, despite some strategies that have recently been proposed (e.g., cross-media, use of specific mobile software), an effective approach to improve the engagement between viewers and TV commercials is yet to be found. We designed a game that involves the commercial break and the smartphone: during each TV advertisement, a simple question (e.g., “What was the color of the car?”) appears on-screen and the answer must be given through a special smartphone app. A player earns points if she answers exactly, otherwise she loses points. Results obtained from two different experimental assessment (within-subjects and between-subjects) revealed that a well-designed gamification strategy improves the marketing memorability (i.e., a measure of engagement) from 44% (no game elements) to 75% (with game elements). Therefore, gamification might be exploited by broadcasters and advertisers to improve the engagement between viewers and TV commercials.