TV advertising skipped by 86% of viewers

Nearly 90% of television viewers always skip through the adverts on their digital video recorder but TV still remains the most memorable form of advertising, according to new research published today.

More than half (52%) of respondents said television was more memorable than any other form of advertising medium, followed by 10% who said newspapers and just 2% for online video adverts and 1% for online banner ads and on iPhones and iPads.

While digital or personal video recorders have increased the amount of television people watch, the research suggested that 86% of people always fast-forward through adverts while watching timeshifted shows.

Respondents said shorter ad breaks (highlighted by 48% of people), more memorable campaigns (32%) and shorter ads (17%) would encourage people to watch more advertising.

The research by YouGov for Deloitte was carried out for the MediaGuardian Edinburgh international television festival, which begins on Friday.

"Questions over the relevance of the traditional television advert have been raised for years, yet when asked about their most favoured video format, respondents voted for the standard 30-second commercial," said James Bates, media partner at Deloitte.

"Online advertising's poor showing relative to television may surprise, given that the former has often been portrayed as television's nemesis.

"What television does best – display and brand building – is what online struggles with. Online advertising is best at search, which previously newspapers, particularly for classified, had excelled at."

"However, despite the positive perception of television advertising, its bed of roses is not free of mildew," added Bates.

"Among television advertising's greatest preoccupations is measurability. While television generates billions of commercial impacts every day, it is hard to measure precisely how many of these are viewed."

TV advertising appealed most to 18- to 34-year-olds and least among over-55s, a third of whom said no form of advertising had a great impact on them (compared with 13% among 18- to 24-year-olds).

The survey of 4,199 respondents was carried out by YouGov, based on questions set by Deloitte, between 9 July and 12 July this year. It was conducted using an online interview.

Full findings will be distributed to Edinburgh TV festival delegates on Friday.

To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.