Quantifying the Benefits of Syncing Search Engine and Television Ads
(A2022-106341)

AUTHORS

Ivan Guitart, EM-Lyon Business School; Guillaume Hervet, Université de Lausanne

ABSTRACT

We assess the profitability of synchronizing search engine and television ads (i.e., real-time syncing). In collaboration with a company, we ran a field experiment that randomized the presence of brand text and shopping search ads across geographical regions during the execution of a television advertising campaign. The results show that the elasticity of website visits to television advertising is 10.2% higher when text ads are enabled (vs paused). This elasticity is 7.8% higher when both text and shopping ads are enabled (vs paused). Television ads significantly decrease the conversion rate but enabling shopping ads attenuates this decrease by 69.2%. Our results demonstrate that search ads moderate the effects of television advertising, which is a necessary condition for a real-time syncing strategy to increase revenues. A what-if analysis based on the results shows that using a real-time syncing strategy during a 100-GRP campaign increases profits between 1.0% and 4.9%.