Many European brands, and an increasing number of US companies, run TV ad campaigns across multiple countries in Europe and now they can access the results from a new study that identifies key performance trends in 12 markets.

For its Pan-European TV Advertising Performance Analysis, TV measurement firm TVSquared examined response, cost and audience data from advertisers across verticals that included automotive, direct-to-consumer, travel and non-profit.

The study then ranked effectiveness based on response and cost per response (CPR) rates, while also identifying the best days, times of day and creative lengths that advertisers should consider when designing their campaigns and buying media.

According to the findings, Wednesday emerged as the highest performing day, with response 4% above average and CPR of 7% below average. And although Sunday had higher response (+6%), it was found to be less efficient (CPR 10% above average) and came at a premium.

Furthermore, while slightly more spots ran over the weekend, it seemed advertisers didn’t have a preferred day because the analysed inventory was evenly dispersed across the week – despite TVSquared finding Wednesday to be the best day.

When it came to dayparts, the report found that daytime (approximately 9am to noon) had the highest overall performance in terms of response, although the results varied across the five largest European markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Audiences in the UK, for example, registered a response rate of +140% for morning slots, dropping to as low as -72% for early mornings, while the response rate for early mornings in Spain was +113%.

Meanwhile, audiences in France preferred the daytime slot (+60%), while those in Germany responded best in the late morning (+52%) and Italians in the early afternoon (+43%).

TVSquared also analysed creative spot lengths ranging from six to 90 seconds and found that 30-second spots won in terms of response (+36%) and efficiency (CPR 35% below average). Coming second were 10-second spots, which recorded response of +14% and a CPR of 32% below average.

And although 45-second spots made up only a small amount of the creative length under examination, they overperformed with a response rate of +109%.

Commenting on the creative lengths, Mark Hudson, head of business intelligence at TVSquared, said: “What’s interesting is the creative breakdown where you see that traditional forms, such as 30s, still have strong performance, but short-form ads are also proving to be response drivers.”

Sourced from TVSquared; additional content by WARC staff