The Journal of Advertising Research (JAR) conducted a study to understand the effects of commercial length on advertising impact.
According to the research, seven-second advertisements are just as effective as 15-second commercials, while considering unaided brand recall as the measure of effectiveness. Seven-second ads are also found to deliver 60% of a 30-second advert’s brand recall, despite being less than a quarter of the length.
The research further reveals that the shorter ads are effective because the length of the commercial has a diminishing effect on its returns. Researchers argue that most of the effectiveness of a long commercial is delivered in the first five seconds of the advertisement.
Seven or 15-second ads can also be used as the “reminders” of longer ads. The researchers conducted three studies with 11 ads segregating them into 15-, 30- and 60- second variants of each commercial.
[2 minute read]