Enhancing memorability

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.