Summary
This study explores how message delivery may differ for television commercials that appear in various pod positions. Channel changing at the onset of commercials often may lead to higher exposure levels for advertisements in the first pod position. When advertising pods are relatively long, viewers may return within the pod, so commercials in the first and last pod positions may have higher exposure levels than commercials in middle pod positions. The set of advantageous pod positions, however, can differ in commercial breaks that appear near the beginning and end of programs. Ideas for audience measurement, media buying, and advertising creative are developed.

Summary
Marketers are constantly on the search for advertising formats that deliver maximum effectiveness for minimal expense. However, while ads of all lengths can be equally effective, short executions are less effective against complex advertising objectives. Millward Brown argues for an holistic approach to ad optimisation, demonstrating that maximising attention and engagement is not sufficient to build brands. It also offers several methods for strengthening branding. Depending on the style of the ad - where the brand is the object of desire, when it ties ideas together, or is the solution - branding can be improved in different ways, even while losing engagement. Effective storytelling means maintaining the right degree of tension, and brand awareness can be improved by reducing the impact in sections of ads, rather than raising it. Ultimately, the optimal length of an ad will be a function of the communication task.

Summary
Previous research on exposure to TV commercials and recall of the commercials has been done in conditions where viewers did not know the exact duration of commercial breaks. This study is the first to investigate the effects of prompting the remaining duration of embedded commercials in TV programmes on commercial exposure and recall. The study also examined the influence of interactions between the length of the commercial break, the number of advertisements in the break and the type of prompt on commercial exposure. The results show that the use of a prompt influences the effectiveness of the commercials. When viewers knew the exact duration of the commercial break, there were no differences in their commercial exposure irrespective of whether any prompt was used or not. For the same commercial exposure, when compared to not using a prompt, using a prompt giving either the remaining time or the number of remaining advertisements in the form of a duration countdown enhanced viewer commercial memory. These findings provide evidence that prompting the remaining duration during commercial break influences viewer commercial exposure and recall.

Summary
This summary from the Advertising Research Foundation offers an overview of recent research and debate related to the topic of the effectiveness of different television commercial lengths.

Summary
This study explored the collective impact of repetition and position on advertising effectiveness as evidenced through recognition and likeability of advertisements that were broadcast at different times in the Super Bowl. The findings indicate that brands advertised more in the first half and brands that appeared in both halves but shown more in one half than the other were better recognized than those equally promoted in both halves. Meanwhile, advertisements presented in both halves but repeated more in the second half were less favored than those evenly shown in both halves. The results support theories of repetition and primacy effects.

Summary
Great sums of marketing dollars are spent on television advertising time in the absence of precise audience-size information for individual advertising units. This paper uses granular data from a large system of set-top boxes to observe how television audiences decline and rebuild during expensive commercial time. The data reveal greater set delivery declines from programs to commercial units than has often been anticipated. Moreover, variation in set delivery was seen within particular shows. The results suggest that advertisers should use detailed commercial audience information to choose shows and negotiate media prices.

Summary
Patrick Hourihan from Yahoo! Europe presented at Warc's Advertising Research conference examining how video advertising revenues have grown. He also explores the opportunities and challenges for advertisers using short form video; measuring audience engagement and who watches what; and video highlights vs the full programme.

Summary
This summary from the Advertising Research Foundation offers an overview of recent research and debate related to the topic of the effectiveness of advertising at the Super Bowl.

Summary
A number of studies in the psychological and marketing literature have focused on the effects of message spacing on consumer memory and judgement. The importance of message spacing has also been exemplified by a crucial scheduling problem in the broadcast television industry that requires the assignment of multiple airings of commercial videotapes to purchased slots of air time. Existing models for this problem are restricted to the case of equal spacing of successive airings in terms of slot position. In light of the fact that equal spacing of messages is not necessarily the best course of action in all situations, we present an alternative model that enables greater flexibility with respect to the spacing of commercial messages. For example, the model allows for equal temporal spacing of commercials in addition to equal spacing in terms of slot position. More importantly, the model permits spacing options that allow for pulsing strategies associated with well-separated bursts of commercial airings, as well as the consideration of spacing decisions when commercials have different durations. We demonstrate a heuristic for solving the scheduling problem under various message spacing policies. We believe that our model, which is effective and adaptable, has considerable promise for practical scheduling problems as well as subsequent experimental research.

Summary
Although half the length of a 30-second ad, the media cost of a 15-second advertisement is between 60 to 80 percent that of a 30-second advertisement. Is this price premium warranted on the basis of relative effectiveness? We find that recall and likeability scores for 15-second advertisements are approximately 80 percent that of 30-second advertisements. However, the performance of 15- and 30-second advertisements was equal for correct brand identification. The better branding execution of 15-second advertisements appears to compensate for their length disadvantage. This difference in branding execution is consistent across advertisements sourced from Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. These findings will aid marketers to commission effective advertising and provide useful benchmarks for negotiating deals for media purchasing.