Viewers’ facial expressions can indicate sharing potential for video ads

Understanding facial expressions, such as smiles and nose wrinkles, can help marketers assess the likelihood of a consumer sharing a video ad, according to a study published in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).

Daniel McDuff (Microsoft Research) and Jonah Berger (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania) discussed this subject in a paper entitled, Why do some advertisements get shared more than others? Quantifying facial expressions to gain new insights.

Headline findings

• Smiles were found to be most “positively and most strongly associated with sharing”, with a 30% increase in smiling associated with a 10% lift in willingness to share.
• A lip corner depressor, associated with sadness, and a furrowed brow, linked with confusion, were both “negatively associated with sharing”.
• Nose wrinkling, associated with disgust, was “positively associated with sharing”, indicating that specific negative emotions can encourage this activity.
• Smiles recorded at the end of a video had an “even more positive effect” on sharing than the favourable impact delivered by smiles at the start of a piece of content.

The big idea

“Most advertisements already try to make people smile, but the current findings suggest that certain negative emotions, such as disgust, may boost transmission as well” – Daniel McDuff, Microsoft Research, and Jonah Berger, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.