PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michelon, Aaron
AU  - Bellman, Steven
AU  - Faulkner, Margaret
AU  - Cohen, Justin
AU  - Bruwer, Johan
TI  - Why Shorter Advertisement Breaks Reduce Radio Advertisement Avoidance
AID  - 10.2501/JAR-2024-008
DP  - 2024 Apr 02
TA  - Journal of Advertising Research
PG  - 2024-008
4099  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/early/2024/03/26/JAR-2024-008.short
4100  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/early/2024/03/26/JAR-2024-008.full
AB  - Low-clutter radio stations have shorter advertisement breaks to attract listeners, increase advertisement effectiveness, and potentially reduce mechanical advertisement avoidance (i.e. swithcing stations). This research introduces a two-factor theory explaining why mechanical advertisement avoidance has an inverse U-shaped relationship with advertisement position in the break, and advertisement break length in advertisement units. The theory was supported by portable people meter (PPM) ratings data. Peak mechanical avoidance occurred at the fourth advertisement position, similar to the average advertisement break length perceived by radio listeners from the same city as the PPM data. This explains why the two-advertisement breaks that are typical for low-clutter radio stations minimize mechanical avoidance.