Watching TV in groups could increase engagement

Mediahub, the media arm of advertising agency Mullen Lowe, equipped 400 people in Boston with TVision Insights technology, which uses sensors to detect what programme is being watched, who is in the room and what they are doing. 

The results, taken from observations lasting three months, indicated that as the number of people in the room increased, the number of distractions from the programming decreased.  

It was also found that viewers were significantly more likely to pay attention to an ad if the brand and programming were contextually linked, and that shorter ad duration and careful channel and programming placement combined to increase the effectiveness of creative: for one client, 15-second ads got four times the attention of 30 second ads when the brand, channel and programme were congruent.