• by Wayne Friedman , June 1, 2010

Here's another reason to advertise in a series-ending TV show -- big-time viewer engagement.

The Nielsen Company says last week's finale of "Lost" -- which found a healthy 13.6 million viewers -- also registered major numbers when it came to brand recall, message recall and likeability of marketers' messaging -- more than other recent series finales.

For example, "Lost" had a 51% higher brand recall versus the ad messages in the prior week on other broadcast and cable TV shows. This is better than other recent series finales, which got 10% to 30% higher brand recall compared to their airings in other recent programming.

Verizon, running a series of "hybrid" tie-in ads during the preceding retrospective episode, had the best results of any "Lost" finale advertiser -- getting 100% higher brand recall. When it came to "likeability," the Target "smoke monster" commercial scored best: nearly four times the likeability score of other "Lost" finale spot.

Commercials for automotive, retail, telecommunications, consumer packaged products and other categories also took in an average 92% better message recall and 66% higher likeability in the finale of "Lost" versus those ad messages in the prior week.

Overall, nearly 90% of all national TV advertising during the final episode of the ABC series grabbed better engagement results than the average of all prime-time broadcast and cable TV shows in the prior week. As with most prime-time TV, "Lost" skews mostly female, with 54% of its viewers women and 46% men.

"Lost" also did well with three episodes leading up to the series finale -- on average 27% better-recalled during other prime-time programs.