The effectiveness of the length of commercials in different types of television programs

The effectiveness of television advertising has been most extensively investigated with two variables, moods-generated by television programs and the length of commercials. However, scant attention has been paid to determining these variables together and investigating the interaction between them in influencing advertising effectiveness. This study hypothesized that longer ads would be more effective than their shorter counterparts and that ads placed in a positive mood program would be more effective than those embedded in a negative program. To examine these hypotheses, this study conducted a 2X2 factorial-designed experiment. The data for this study were analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). This study included two independent variables, commercial-length formats (15-second and 30-second) and program-induced moods (positive and negative). The dependent variable was advertising effectiveness measured by brand recall, brand recognition, attitude toward ad (Aad), and purchase intention (PI). Consistent with previous research, the length of commercials was positively associated with advertising effectiveness regardless of moods-generated by television programs. In terms of context-induced mood, however, the findings were not as significant as that of commercial length. The ANOVA analyses found significant mood effects from an individual measure of attitude toward ad where the ad placed in the positive television context was found to be more effective than those in the negative-mood condition. For other variables, the findings were not significant, and they were somewhat contradictory. Similarly, interaction effects were only found in individual ad and brand. However, this study failed to detect significant interaction effects in overall evaluations. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that commercial length effects are more salient in affecting ad performance than effects generated by program context. Nonetheless, considering two significant interactions and several near-significant interactions, more empirical research should follow to gain a better understanding of the effects of context-induced mood and commercial length on television advertising