*Study Conducted with EXPO Shows Persuasive Elements of User-Generated Product Videos Lift Brand Affinity When Used in Tandem with Professionally-Produced Content*
NEW YORK, NY and RESTON, VA, March 28, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, and EXPO, the 
first consumer network focused on creating and distributing high impact product videos to drive engagement and conversion, today released the results of a study on the synergy of professionally-produced video content and user-generated product videos in marketing campaigns. The study evaluated an actual campaign that included a combination of a professionally-produced “how to” video and a user-generated product video that was created and submitted by an actual product user. The results of the study indicate that professionally-produced video content and user-generated product videos are highly synergistic, driving higher levels of sales effectiveness when used in tandem.
“This study aimed to answer a critical question for today’s digital advertisers: ‘how do user-generated videos complement professionally-produced content, if at all.’ What we found was strong evidence of incremental benefit with exposure to both forms of media,” said Frank Findley, Vice President, Research and Development at comScore. “In the campaign examined, professionally-produced content and product videos drove strikingly higher lifts when used together than when either was used individually. While marketers may already be familiar with the effectiveness of professional video content alone, these results suggest that even greater returns can be had by combining their use with authentic, user-generated content.”
Unique Combination Dramatically Increases Sales Effectiveness
The first group of consumers participated in a veiled exercise in order to determine the sales effectiveness of the professionally-produced content, the user-generated content, and both together. Professionally-produced content generated a 24.7 point lift in Share of Choice for the featured product and a 16 point lift for the brand’s total line. User-generated product videos drove an 18.7 point lift in Share of Choice for the featured product compared to a 10 point lift for the brand’s total line. When exposed to both professional content and user-generated product videos, lift in Share of Choice for the featured product jumped to 35.3 points for the featured product and 28 points for the brand’s total line. This demonstrates not only the value of each of these media individually, but also the powerful combination when used together.
| Lifts in Share of Choice After Veiled Exposure to Video Content March 2012 Total U.S. Source: comScore, Inc. |
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| Professionally-Produced | User-Generated | PP & UG Together | |
| Featured Product | +24.7 | +18.7 | +35.3 |
| Brand’s Total Line | +16.0 | +10.0 | +28.0 |
Significant Lifts Seen in Favorable Perceptions of Advertising When Used Together
A second group of consumers participated in a cued exposure exercise and were surveyed after being directly exposed to the content. On its own, professionally-produced content resulted in a higher percentage of respondents understanding the importance of the key message presented than user-generated content, while the user-generated product videos were more successful at producing emotional intensity, key message communication, and ease of relating to. When consumers were exposed to both professionally-produced and user-generated content, the combined increases were greater than for either of the individual media exposures.
| Percent of Audience Exhibiting Specified Responses to Video Content March 2012 Total U.S. Source: comScore, Inc. |
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| Professionally-Produced | User-Generated | PP & UG Together | |
| Emotional intensity | 77% | 84% | 85% |
| Key message communication | 55% | 60% | 65% |
| Easy to relate to | 79% | 83% | 87% |
| Importance of key message | 84% | 80% | 89% |
“It seems that professionally-produced content and user-generated product videos are each successful at delivering different key elements to a consumer through video ‘advertising’,” said Jessica Thorpe, Vice President of Marketing at EXPO. “We found that consumers perceived feature benefits as more believable when coming directly from the brand through professionally-produced content, while the unbiased user-gen videos were more believable in verifying specific product claims, such as superiority and convenience. When used together, all of the perceived gaps get filled in and consumers become more confident in their purchase decision, resulting in better sales effectiveness from the advertising.”
comScore and EXPO will be conducting a webinar on Tuesday, April 3rd at 2 p.m. EDT to further explain the methodology and results of the study. To register for the webinar please visit: https://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Events_Webinars/Webinar/2012/The_Synergy_of_User_Generated_and_Professional_Video_Content
*Source: comScore