Even though digital advertising can be more responsive and budget-friendly, TV ads are still a major area of spending because some advertisers are looking to drive brand-related KPIs and awareness, something largely believed to be a benefit of the channel compared to more up-and-coming ones.

But do some brands get more benefit than others?

Industry association ThinkTV used YouGov’s BrandIndex tool to track changing brand metric scores across more than 75 products and services in 10 categories, mapping those results against paid TV GRPs.

The results bore out what many advertisers have held as common knowledge: that TV advertising consistently drives increases in key brand metrics like consideration, value and word of mouth, something seen in every product category. However, certain advertisers saw a bigger lift, and in different particular metrics.

Among QSRs, for example, scores for consideration, quality and positive impressions were high among audiences both aware and unaware of recent ads. Purchase intent is low, while value and word-of-mouth is somewhere in the middle. Among ad-aware audiences, TV ads drove reported consumption levels by eight time, along with a similar lift in purchase intent, despite that metric being notoriously hard to move in this category.

In the automotive category, despite it being a category with brand scores in decline, TV advertising drove substantial lift across key attributes, particularly when it comes to brand value, a highly embattled metric in this category. Purchase intent, value and word-of-mouth were lower, while consideration is more moderate for this category, which is typical of a big-ticket item.

Compared to other categories, the financial category scores were generally low across metrics brands. But for established brands, TV ads drove a nine-fold increase in purchase intent and seven-fold increase in positive impressions.