Top or flop

Does advertising on television actually work?

The cabaret artist, author and expert on human nature Stefan Vögel answers questions that others don't even dare to ask. This time it's about whether and when advertising on television actually works.

The matter is in the eye of the beholder. And yet it is worth taking a look at the exact placement of commercials on television to give the marketing professionals of this world a few general pointers on the advertising effectiveness of their clips from the viewers' perspective. I would broadly distinguish between three cases:

Fixed time program
The commercial precedes a fixed-time program: Let's take the example of Zeit im Bild, a program which is always preceded by advertising - and the most expensive in Austria. Does this insertion bother me before the world goes into a frenzy? Not at all. This news program starts at half past seven every day anyway, and whether or not there are commercials before it doesn't diminish my viewing pleasure in the slightest. If necessary, I just switch on at 7.30 pm and miss the commercials of my own free will. And if I don't, the display of a chocolate bar or a cuddly bed mattress before the global murder and manslaughter starts may actually encourage me to buy both as a pleasant contrast to the evil world out there. Well done, marketing expert!

If you place advertising incorrectly, you are damaging the product!

Stefan Vögel

Natural interruption
Advertising bridges a natural interruption in the program that would have taken place anyway, even without the trigger of a planned product placement. Typical examples of this are a skier falling and interrupting a race, or Bengal fires or projectiles disrupting a soccer match. Nobody wants to watch empty pistes or even footballers thinking, so advertising does not have a damaging effect on the product here either. In most cases, the commercial break at live sporting events is used to empty domestic beer bubbles anyway, which means that any advertising effect also fizzles out in the toilet.

Commercial breaks in films and series
Finally, there is the interruption of films and TV series by commercial breaks: It is still somewhat tolerable in the case of the sitcom, as here the commercial break has already been thought through by the author and consequently placed in a dramaturgically sensible way. On the other hand, I would never - never! - buy a product that interrupts my favorite film at a soul-stirring point - be it an award-winning steam cleaner, the effective ointment for erectile dysfunction even when urgently needed or the market leader's roof window with quadruple glazing.

Advertisers who book advertising blocks at such points in the program are therefore ignorant idiots who do not know their audience and cause massive damage to the advertiser, as the advertiser's product remains forever linked in the viewer's subconscious with an insensitive and abrupt interruption of their deeply felt emotional experience.