The current trend in the industry is for marketeers to move money away from TV advertising into digital, especially mobile. Imagine a new advertising format that delivered 100% viewability, and also delivered the same levels of real estate as a home page take over, with the simultaneous ability to reach multiple people through a single device…sounds good, doesn’t it? This is what TV delivers.

Fortunately, smart brands understand that TV advertising is still one of the most effective ways to engage your audience, grow your brand, and raise product awareness. We’ve seen brands buying TV advertising with our parent company NBC Universal at the US Upfronts this year, as well as big increases in ad spend commitments for 2017 overall.

The popular misconception has always been that viewers do everything they can to avoid TV ads by switching channels, or as us Brits are known for, making a cup of tea during the commercial breaks. However, a recent project by the IAB proves that people are actually making less tea than ever before (!) and that the ‘TV/online marriage is in great health with its effectiveness increasing in recent years.’

With the amount of advertising bombarding consumers nowadays, brands really need to work on standing out from the crowd more than ever before. Although creativity is the most important aspect of a successful ad, not much emphasis seems to be placed on another crucial part of TV advertising; the position in break (PIB).

Advertisers placed either in the first or last position in the commercial break will be the ones that the majority of viewers will see or engage with, compared with those placed within the rest of the break.  Even if a viewer does tune away during the ad break, chances are they will have witnessed the ‘First in Break’ (FIB) spot anyway. Furthermore, the rhythm of a channel can also benefit advertisers. For example, core viewers will know if ad breaks are going to be short therefore they’ll remain engaged and not switch channels.

There are some important factors which can influence the effectiveness of a PIB such as the time of day, programme category, the channel as well as the content and message of the advertiser within the spot and within these scenarios the importance of a PIB decreases.

Certain types of programming retain viewership more than others, such as News and Sports genres. As these genres have a clear type of viewer in terms of demographic, advertising becomes more targeted and therefore more engaging and relevant for the viewer. Most importantly for brands, it actually becomes cheaper for the advertiser, as they are only paying for the exact type of demographic that they want to reach.

The goal is that even if you have bought your campaign using a natural delivery for your PIBs, CNBC has one of the highest chances of retaining viewership and ensuring your message reaches the intended viewers.

Here at CNBC Catalyst, we’re continuously improving our advertising environment in order to increase results for our advertisers using our ABCDE approach. The A represents one of the most important aspects of a campaign, Audience planning, and our sales and operations teams are constantly working together to ensure smart, targeted audience planning is delivered, as well as providing our clients with reassuring data and insights that prove CNBC is the number one network for business and financial news.

A recent quant study of international TV viewers within five key markets* showed us that 87% of our viewers feel that advertising on CNBC is more relevant and 85% say that it is less irritating, than other channels. Proof that we are delivering content and advertising that works for our audience, and as a result, works for our advertisers.

So what does this mean for brands? Well, the same survey showed that a spot for Saxo Bank placed in the same date and time on CNBC and Bloomberg was 12% more effective on CNBC, due to higher levels of content engagement and the right blend between content and ads. Here at CNBC Catalyst, we are striving to ensure that campaigns are hitting the right viewers and in turn providing ROI for our advertisers.

We believe that the right advert, being placed in the right position, at the right time, will yield results. Our main aims are to ensure excellent client service, and we try to design each break specifically to keep our breaks engaging for the viewers, therefore resulting in more success for your campaigns.

To find out more about CNBC Catalyst and how we can spark change for your brand, please get in touch.

*Source: GlobalWebIndex, CNBC Advertising Engagement Study, August 2016

By Mark Ede, Commercial Traffic Operations Manager