ARF study: The first few seconds of an ad are the most important and effective

Stephen Whiteside and Jo Bowman

The first few seconds of an ad are the most important and effective for driving an impact among consumers, according to a study by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF).

Advertising that drives an immediate consumer response typically has the greatest impact with its audience, a study by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), the industry body, has found.

“The bottom line is: all the evidence suggests that the first few seconds of an ad are by far the most important and effective,” Paul Donato, the ARF’s chief research officer, said on a virtual town hall convened by the organization to examine the question, “What is the Value of Time in Advertising?”

Such a conclusion was drawn from a mix of biometric and neuroscientific data gathered from over 400 research participants,...

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