EN 
NL 
The battle for consumer attention reaches a peak. Where people used to be glued to the screen, nowadays we are easily distracted by a WhatsApp message from a friend, our endless Instagram feed, or a late work email.
It's logical then that marketers increasingly ask themselves: ‘How do I keep the attention of TV viewers during a TV commercial break?’
We Multitask Relentlessly
The majority of our media consumption is spent on multiple devices simultaneously. Adults spend on average more than 10 hours a day in front of a digital device. Moreover, studies have shown that almost everyone multitasks while watching TV, usually with a digital device such as a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. It also appears that multitasking occurs mainly during commercials.
Multitasking forces TV viewers to divide their attention across different types of media, resulting in less attention for each type. Consequently, the simultaneous use of two types of media reduces the persuasive power of the message and diminishes the recall, understanding, and recognition of the message.
Jingles and Music in Advertising
One of the most used tools in commercials to capture the attention of TV viewers are jingles and background music. According to research, music could contribute to conveying the advertising message; it could connect the commercial to the brand in the consumer's brain and ensure that the associative network around the brand in the brain becomes larger. This would be an entirely unconscious process, meaning the TV viewer does not even need to pay explicit attention to the music and jingles in commercials.
Other research has shown that commercials without music in a commercial block were able to capture the attention of TV viewers. Since music competes with the people and voice-overs in the commercials for attention, removing music led to better recall of the message.
Jingles and Music: The Remedy for Multitasking?
Never before has the direct effect of music on the attention of the TV viewer in a multitask environment been measured. A great opportunity for us to investigate whether jingles and music can capture attention in such a situation. By using an electroencephalogram (EEG) and an Eye Tracker, we were able to unravel the unconscious reactions of multitasking TV viewers. To find out what role music and jingles play in capturing attention.
Feel free to read on to discover what unconscious effects jingles and background music in TV commercials actually have on the visual attention and engagement of TV viewers when they multitask.
Music and Jingles are Processed Unconsciously
Our research showed that jingles and music are indeed processed entirely unconsciously in the brain of a TV viewer when they are multitasking. TV viewers in such a situation simply have too many stimuli to process music and jingles consciously, so they do not realise whether a commercial contains background sounds and/or jingles or not.
Despite being processed unconsciously, jingles and music are indeed capable of influencing the effectiveness of a commercial. We have summarised the main effects for you.
Jingles and Background Sounds Reduce Visual Attention
Surprisingly, in a multitask environment, people see 7% less of each commercial when it contains jingles and background sounds. And when people see less of a commercial, they also have less capacity to process the verbal information (e.g., from the voice-over), making the message less well processed. When it comes to visual attention, omitting jingles and background sounds increases the effectiveness of the commercial. A good example is the informational commercial from Beter Horen, where there is still room for improvement in capturing visual attention by excluding the background music.
But visual attention does not solely determine the effectiveness of a commercial. Another important factor is consumer engagement.
Jingles and Background Sounds Increase Consumer Engagement
Engagement indicates the extent to which people find something interesting. Although music and jingles slightly reduce visual attention, the engagement of TV viewers actually increases.
Jingles and (background) music are often used to create a connection with the brand in the brain. When marketers advertise emotionally appealing products, such as luxury perfumes and chocolate, they want to create an emotional bond between the consumer and the brand, and are less focused on communicating the functional benefits.
In this case, it is wise for marketers to use background music and/or jingles in commercials, as the use of background music and/or jingles increases consumer engagement.
When Do Jingles and Background Sounds Work and When Not?
Our research shows that the use of music and jingles depends on the campaign's objective. A commercial without music increases the chance of standing out visually, on the other hand, omitting music comes at the expense of viewers’ engagement.
If you want to convey a conscious (informational) message, it might be effective to leave out the music. However, if the goal of your campaign is to increase brand image and/or preference (mainly for emotion-driven products), then definitely use music.
