Dive Brief:
- Fox Networks Group will run broadcast TV's first six-second ads during the Aug. 13 airing of the "Teen Choice" awards, according to MediaPost Communications. The super short ads will be the first as pure linear TV commercials and not quick spots promoting the broadcaster itself.
- Duracell and Mars are two of the brands that will use the new ad format in both real-time and on-demand streams, MediaPost said. Fox will also use the short spots to promote its own programming.
- The broadcaster said it's deliberately testing the new format on "Teen Choice 2017" to engage younger audiences that are generally more receptive to shorter ads. Fox said the ads will likely reduce the number of commercial breaks in the telecast as well. It first announced plans to roll out the six-second format at the Cannes Lions festival in June.
Dive Insight:
Super short video ads of 10 seconds or less have been popularized by digital platforms like YouTube and Snapchat, and are gaining more traction as marketers search out ways to immediately engage audiences with increasingly short attention spans and viewing habits that are trending toward smaller screens on mobile devices. Major players including Facebook have harped on the power of super-short video that's catered to mobile, with the social media giant noting on a recent earnings call that such "snackable" formats can drive higher brand awareness lifts than more traditional 15- or 30-second ads.
Whether that success will translate to TV, where viewers are accustomed to sitting through longer-form commercials, remains to be seen. There's also been some concern over the trend toward super-short ads potentially stifling marketing creativity. Last month, Business Insider spoke to several agency creative executives who said truncated time formats make it harder to tell a brand's story and forge the proper emotional connection — two pillars of traditional TV advertising.
TV also doesn't have the all of the interactive benefits of digital. Short ads on Snapchat, for example, can prompt users to swipe up to access more content or go to external links.
