• by Wayne Friedman , January 8, 2010

Consumer electronic brands are doing a lot of shouting about what's coming next at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But what brands on current TV advertising are getting the most attention from savvy TV viewers with DVRs?

TiVo, in using its Stop||Watch and Power||Watch ratings from its DVR sample universe, offered a list of brand winners and losers in advertising campaigns among time-shifted viewers.

Winning brands in its survey included Best Buy, LG, Verizon Wireless, Sony PlayStation, Palm and Canon. TiVo calls the study, which analyzed advertising that ran in October and November 2009, the first "Battle of the Consumer Electronics Brands at CES."

TiVo looked at various criteria, including the rate of fast-forwarding among specific TV viewer groups, pod positions, networks and TV shows, the size of their media buys on specific platforms, and the length of the message, as well as a host of other consumer preferences.

In the battle of the electronics retailers, for example, Best Buy had 10% to 20% less overall fast-forwarding of all its TV commercials than all four mass retailers: Walmart, Target, Kmart and Sears.

Best Buy spots also experienced 20% to 40% less fast-forwarding on broadcast networks than all four merchants. When Best Buy spots ran in the first, or "A" position, the retailer had an overwhelming three-to-four times less fast-forwarding than the other four merchants with spots in first position.

When looking at two major HDTV brands -- LG and Vizio -- LG spots that ran in the first pod position were fast-forwarded only 45% of the time compared to the 64% of fast-forwarding for Vizio spots. In near-term preferences of viewers who were planning to buy a HDTV in the next year, LG commercials had less fast-forwarding than Vizio.

LG's 15-second spots were fast-forwarded 19% less than its 30-second commercials. In looking at specific creative, Vizio's "Colors Redefine Life" spots were the least fast-forwarded, while LG's "People are drawn to TV" was its least fast-forwarded commercial.

For the wireless communication category, Verizon Wireless had less fast-forwarding than T-Mobile or Sprint. Verizon also ran more spots in prime time than the other two companies.

Key for Verizon Wireless was that it placed a higher percentage of its spots in the coveted first pod position than Sprint or T-Mobile. Verizon had 40% less fast-forwarding among time-shifted viewers than Sprint or T-Mobile.

While there are many other factors in determining the effectiveness of media campaigns, Todd Junger, vice president and general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, says TiVo's results stop short of predicting actual return on investment.

"The results are not meant to predict which manufacturer will have the most sales," he stated.

He later added: "It's not a matter of that one brand's creative is good and another bad. What it tells you is how your advertising is working in different environments. It's good additional input for brand managers."