The folks at National Geographic Channel are proving just how effective a sound mobile cross-screen retargeting strategy can be, especially when the goal is higher ad recall and viewership.
The case study in question relates to a National Geographic Channel cross-platform marketing campaign for its show “Life Below Zero.”
The network retargeted viewers who had seen a promotion on television with an ad on the Peel Smart Remote app. The end result was a 50 percent higher ad recall rate, a 50 percent higher intent to tune-in and 100 percent improvement in viewers actually tuning in over TV or mobile advertising alone.
“We were expecting some lift from the dual exposure or we wouldn’t have conducted the test,” said Hayes Tauber, senior vice president of consumer marketing at the National Geographic Channel. “But we were surprised at the degree of impact, particularly the doubling of viewers actually tuning in.”
Partnering with Mediahub/Mullen, IPG Media Labs and Peel, the National Geographic Channel finalized the results from test for potential of TV-to-mobile retargeting in June.
Here’s how it worked:
Utilizing Peel’s tune-in data capture capabilities, viewers were retargeted within 24 hours of being exposed to a “Life Below Zero” TV ad with a full-screen mobile interstitial ad served on the Peel Smart Remote app, which turns a smartphone or tablet into a TV remote control.
IPG then surveyed users to gauge the impact of various types of exposure. Unlike some previous two-screen targeting tests, this study benefitted from access to Peel’s tune-in tracking capabilities both to accurately retarget viewers as well as measure the potential impact on ratings.
Peel’s CEO Thiru Arunachalam says seventy-five percent of smartphone users have their device in hand when watching TV. “This is a clear demonstration that TV-to-mobile retargeting, when executed well, can definitely drive higher ratings.”
