• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, August 7, 2013

New research from video technology company, Unruly, examines 12 television commercials from Super Bowl XLVII, which aired on February 3, 2013, to uncover why top shared ads performed well online and others didn’t. The majority of brands aim to create funny content. But this is dangerous. The psychological response of hilarity can be incredibly effective when done well or combined with another trigger. But, ads need to be extremely funny to impress consumers worn down by having been subjected to a glut of humorous ads.

Super Bowl ads were selected in order to provide a group norm from which to benchmark other ads, and to provide as level a playing field as possible (all ads aired in the same event on the same day). The 12 ads tested were selected from the 94 Super Bowl ads that aired in total, with a view to providing a representative sample of sharing performance and industry sector.

Brands benefit from people sharing their content, says the report. Third party research has shown that social viewers (people who watch content shared with them vs. those who find the videos themselves by browsing or watching pre-roll) are far more likely to act after watching branded content.

A recent study measuring the effectiveness of social video advertising across CPG/ FMCG brands found that after viewing a branded video:

• 49% of respondents claimed to have purchased the product
• 38% claimed to have spoken with someone about the product
• 13% claimed to have visited the product’s home page
• 9% claimed to have searched for the advertised product on a search engine
• Social recommendations increased brand recall and association by +7%
• Video enjoyment increased by +14%. Video enjoyment is the key to driving ROI: viewers who enjoy a video demonstrate +97% higher purchase intent over people who watched the video but did not enjoy the content.

The study Share Rank includes 100+ viral variables that affect shareability; two of the most significant drivers of sharing are psychological responses to an ad and social motivations to share it, says the report. Videos that score highly across these two dimensions are likely to share strongly.

Ads must give viewers a strong reason to share (called social motivations), says the report, and ideally more than one, to generate earned shares and views. Ads that offered weak social motivations, even when paired with strong psychological responses from viewers, had very low share rates.

The research established that when viewers feel something strongly, as a result of watching videos, they are compelled to share them with people in their network, amplifying the awareness of these branded messages.

The Science of Sharing white paper which gives brands and agencies actionable insights on how they can maximize their online video campaigns. Humor is very subjective and brands need to be extremely funny to impress consumers worn down by a glut of ads that try to be funny (and usually are not), notes the report The two most popular ads from this year’s Super Bowl attracted the most shares on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere because they evoked a different set of emotional triggers from the rest.

Key findings of the report included:

• Wednesday is the best day to launch a campaign, based on two factors: 48.3% of the weekly video shares occur between Wednesday and Friday, with the peak of shares occurring on a Friday and the lowest point being the weekend. And, quarter of a video’s total shares on average occur in the first three days of launch
• Ads must also give viewers a strong reason to share, and ideally more than one emotional trigger, to generate earned shares and views. Ads that offered weak social motivations, even when paired with strong psychological responses from viewers, had very low share rates
• Sarah Wood, co-founder and COO of Unruly, says “… for brands looking to optimize their chances of viral success, the video needs to reach a critical mass of viewers within the first 24 hours of its launch… “
• The most shared ads from Super Bowl XLVII evoked intense emotional responses, including warmth, happiness, awe and pride. These ads also offered strong reasons for people to share. These include “reaction seeking” and the desire for others to feel the same way about the ad’s content.

To access the complete Whitepaper, please visit Unruly here: http://www.unrulymedia.com/unruly-whitepapers