What Do We Know About TV in the Digital Age?
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* John B. Ford

![Figure1](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/https://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/jadvertres/59/1/1/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/59/1/1/F1)

With the proliferation of new vehicles as entertainment options, multiple screens are cutting into the traditional lock that traditional TV has held on viewers. Marketers have options unimagined a decade ago for digital-video advertising as an advertising medium of choice. To take some of the mystery out of the new offerings, advertising and marketing researchers have focused on the burgeoning number of video choices. And, this current edition of the *Journal of Advertising Research* offers up a series of studies that examines the current state of TV/video knowledge.

In **“Why Knowledge Gaps in Measurement Threaten the Value of Television Advertising: The Best Available Screen for Brand Building Is at a Crossroads”** (please see page [9](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/lookup/volpage/59/9?iss=1)), Artie Bulgrin (MediaScience) suggests that TV is clearly the best vehicle for brand building, but “as television evolves with digital … gaps in knowledge about how to measure effectiveness are undermining advertisers' confidence in the medium.” Bulgrin—for 21 years, ESPN's research chief—makes the case that “standardized, cross-platform measurement is necessary to truly leverage and balance television's value at the top and the bottom of the marketing funnel.”

Nonetheless, data demonstrate that companies gradually are increasing their investments in digital-video advertising, which is taking away investments in traditional TV advertising.

In **“Allocating Spending on Digital-Video Advertising: A Longitudinal Analysis across Digital and Television”** (please see page [14](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/lookup/volpage/59/14?iss=1)), Nazrul I. Shaikh (University of Miami), Mahima Hada (City University of New York), and Niva Shrestha (Nielsen, Inc.) studied investments in terms of media efficiency and saturation using longitudinal data and found that “digital-video advertising was highly effective and efficient but showed quicker saturation.” They also found that “at the spend level that yielded the highest ROIs, digital-video advertising provided a higher ROI than television advertising, because of its higher retention rates and lower execution costs.” The authors further warn that companies should be “cautious about a headlong plunge into moving dollars from traditional television to digital video.”

Ad frequency and purchase intentions are re-examined in the third article, **“Revisiting the Relationship between Ad Frequency and Purchase Intentions: How Affect and Cognition Mediate Outcomes at Different Levels of Advertising Frequency”** (please see page [27](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/lookup/volpage/59/27?iss=1)). Jennifer Lee Burton (University of Tampa), Jan Gollins (Delta Modelling Group), Linda E. McNeely (Mississippi University for Women), and Danielle M. Walls (BDJ Solutions) employed a sample of 651 consumers using Super Bowl television advertisements and the ability to repeat exposures and found that the traditional view of wear-out is no longer valid. In fact, the authors discovered, at least 10 exposures are necessary to ensure complete marketing efficiency, noting that “frequency … can serve as a proxy for consumers' stage in the consumer decision-making process.”

In **“An Examination of Television Consumption by Racial and Ethnic Audiences in the U.S.: Implications for Multicultural Media Planning and Media Measurement”** (please see page [40](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/lookup/volpage/59/40?iss=1)), J. P. James (Salem State University) and Tyrha M. Lindsey-Warren (Baylor University) examined television consumption across a variety of U.S. ethnicities. Advertisers, the authors determined, should “segment ethnic audiences by demographics, psychographics, and attitudes—just like they do for the overall, general-market population.” They also advise against “(relegating) multicultural media planning solely to ethnic-media networks,” and conclude: “Television plays a substantial role in American society—especially among minority segments—as a medium to communicate entertainment, information, and news.”

Advertising-effectiveness measurements are more important than program ratings, and new research examines the value inherent in developing a mechanism that converts minute-by-minute people-meter data to second-by-second ratings. In **“Converting People-Meter Data from Per-Minute to Per-Second Analysis: A Statistical Model Offers a Closer Look at TV Ad Avoidance and Effectiveness”** (please see page [53](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/lookup/volpage/59/53?iss=1)), Lianlian Song and Peng Zhou (Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics), Geoffrey Tso (City University of Hong Kong) and Hingpo Lo (University of Hong Kong) developed a technique that enabled advertisers to accurately see more clearly how people react to their ads in real time. The authors find that “people-meter data commonly are accurate to one minute.” They add, however: “Advertisements usually are shorter than one minute—perhaps 15 seconds” and insist “minute data cannot indicate the change of audience number in each second of a commercial spot.”

Finally, in **“Advertisements in DVR Time: The Shelf Life of Recorded Television Commercials in Drama, Reality, and Sports Programs”** (please see page [73](http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/lookup/volpage/59/73?iss=1)), Bob Kent (University of Delaware) as well as Buffy N. Mosley and David A. Schweidel (Emory University) studied time-shifted television viewing and advertisement exposure. They found that the majority of DVR advertisements are fast-forwarded, but this depends on the genre involved: “Dramas were viewed more often by DVR, often at longer delays from live, with consequences for the timing of normal-speed advertisement views.” Furthermore, they suggest: “Sports and reality programs with fewer day-shifted advertisement views may be beneficial when advertisement messages promote one-day sales or the opening weekend of new films.”

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Every March in this space, we salute a generous, thoughtful, incisive group of Ad Hoc reviewers who are not yet full members of the *Journal*'s Editorial Review Board but still give freely of their time and effort to review papers. Their contributions not only balance out the reviewing burden for our regular board members but also bring specialized expertise to our oversight.

In 2018, the assembly of Ad Hoc reviewers included:

Leonids Aleksandrovs, Universiteit Antwerpen; Brion Baker, Boeing Commercial Airplanes; George (Joe) Belch, San Diego State University; Michael Belch, San Diego State University; Shann Biglione, Publicis Media; Julie Bilby, RMIT University; Joel Bree, Université de Caen Normandie; Justin Cohen, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science; Jaime Core, University of Washington Tacoma; Sharmila Das, Purple Audacity Research & Innovation; Sergio Davalos, University of Washington Tacoma; Catherine Demangeot, IESEG School of Management; Christian Dianoux, Université de Lorraine; Sonia Dickinson-Delaporte, Curtin University; Debbie Ellis, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Fernando Fastoso, University of York.

Also, Nathalie Fleck, Le Mans Université; Claas Christian Germelmann, Universität Bayreuth; Ritesh Ghosal, Infiniti Retail; Joel Gjuka, Slalom; Mohit Gour, Issues and Answers Network, Inc.; Nicole Hartnett, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science; Jun Heo, Louisiana State University; Marco Ieva, Università di Parma; Varsha Jain, MICA; Ram Janakiraman, University of South Carolina; Mathieu Kacha, Université de Lorraine; Michael Kamins, Stony Brook University; Marie-Christine Lichtle, Université de Bourgogne; Karina T. Liljedal, Stockholm School of Economics; Lily Lin, Simon Fraser University; Sarah Lord Ferguson, Simon Fraser University; Géraldine Michel, Université de Paris 1; Erik Modig, Stockholm School of Economics; Prokriti Mukherji, King's College London; Gaëlle Pantin-Sohier, Université d'Angers.

And, finally, Fabien Pecot, University of York; Christine Pitt, KTH Stockholm; Ingrid Poncin, UCL Mons; Atishi Pradhan, J. Walter Thompson; Tom Reichert, University of South Carolina; Gregory Rose, University of Washington Tacoma; Mei Rose, University of Alaska Anchorage; Subhadip Roy, Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur; Daniele Scarpi, Università degli Studi di Bologna; Maja Šerić, Universitat de València; Siv Skard, NHH Norges Handelshøyskole; Beate Stiehler-Mulder, University of Johannesburg; Tanuj Suri, American Express; Chuanyi Tang, Old Dominion University; Shawn Thelen, Hofstra University; Emily Treen, Simon Fraser University; Hsiu-Yuan Tsao, National Chung Hsing University; Pierre Valette-Florence, Université Grenoble Alpes; Leslie Wood, Nielsen Catalina Solutions; Malcolm Wright, Massey University; Yunzhijun Yu, Simon Fraser University

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As the *Journal of Advertising Research* continues to grow and evolve, as always, I welcome your feedback.

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