A MORI survey suggests that people used to responding to participation television programmes are more likely to respond to interactive advertising.
30% of those responding to television programmes had also responded directly to advertisements, 22% using interactive television.
The report, Switching on to interaction: consumer insights into participation television, was commissioned by telephone response services provider Broadsystem. It is based on a survey of a thousand UK adults in July 2004.
40% of those surveyed had responded to television programming or promotions in the previous three months.
18% had participated in a donation or fundraising appeal, with 12% participating in competitions, 12% voting and 11% purchasing products or services. Only 5% had requested or subscribed to information and 2% commented or contributed.
Respondents were motivated by a range of incentives: 41% wanted to win a prize; 38% did it for fun; 28% to vote for a contestant; 26% to register a viewpoint; 18% because it was for charity; 9% were bored, while 2% gave their reason as a chance to appear on a game show and 2% wanted a mention on television.
Participation was seen by many as a group activity, especially for competition and voting formats, with 31% discussing their response before participating.
Fixed-line telephone remained the primary response channel for most activities, used by 66% of viewers, with 23% using SMS texts for voting and 10-20% using interactive television as means of participating.
Of those surveyed, 18% claimed to have responded to an advertisement in some way, 13% using interactive television, with the remainder split between telephone and SMS text. The proportion using interactive television rose to 21% in the 16-34 age range, falling to 7% in those over 55.
People who respond to television programmes are significantly more likely to respond to television commercials. In general, 30% of those responding to television programmes had also responded to advertisements, 22% using interactive television. Those that had requested or subscribed to information or entered a competition were more likely to respond to advertising than those that had voted, commented or contributed, with 30% using interactive television.