Non-traditional ads beat out primetime ads

Advertising is an industry based primarily on statistics. But with more advertisers placing ads in non-traditional locations, it’s becoming harder to measure how successful these ads are.

The Nielsen Company recently developed a way to measure the reach of what they called “fourth screen” advertisements. (“Fourth screen” refers to video ads in places other than television, computer, and mobile devices). The results are surprising. According to its inaugural report, an advertisement in a non-traditional location reached 61.7 million adults, while its counterpart on primetime broadcast TV reached only three million adults, meaning it would take 20 primetime ads to reach the same audience as a month-long non-traditional advertising campaign.

These new advertising mediums are shoving more content at an already over-saturated public because we watch less TV, listen to less traditional radio, and read fewer magazines and newspapers. While this situation might annoy us, it also complicates the equation for advertisers trying to decide the best venues to place their ads.

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