Should TV Advertisers Maximize Immediate Online Response?

Abstract

As technology advances, television advertising tactics evolve. Many media agencies now offer proprietary solutions to maximize immediate online response following TV ad insertions. We investigate this practice by analyzing a unique dataset of minute-by-minute TV ad insertions, audience sizes and characteristics, and branded search volume for daily fantasy sports and pick-up truck brands. Even TV ads with small audiences produce detectable search spikes for the advertised brand, with 75% of incremental search volume occurring within two minutes. Search response per ad viewer is greater after brand-focused national ads than after price-focused local ads, and after less informative ads than after more informative ads, suggesting that immediate online response should not serve as the sole optimization metric for all ad campaigns. The data show that ads produce positive asymmetric spillovers to competitors' search volume and that media lift factors have brand-specific effects, suggesting that new practices may soften competition and reduce competitive advertising clutter in equilibrium.