Lyons breaks into 'on pause' advertising

Lyons Tea has taken up the first “on-pause” advertising break on the RTÉ Player, in a move expected to mark the beginning of a period of experimentation in catch-up and on-demand advertising formats.

Viewers who press pause while watching an RTÉ programme on catch-up will be told that the Unilever-owned Lyons is the “proud sponsor” of their tea break.

Milking the connection between pausing and having a tea break, it adds “you pop on the kettle, we’ll wait right here”, before a full Lyons television advertisement plays out.

Time-shifting

The new format is the result of “significant investment” by RTÉ, it says, while the technology behind the format is powered by MediaMind, the online division of Texas-based digital media services company DG.

When Lyons’s residency in the on-pause break ends, it will be taken up by another Unilever brand, Knorr Quick Soup.

Media buying agency Mindshare partnered RTÉ and Unilever to introduce the format, with the Lyons advertisement created and developed by Rothco.

“From our side, we were delighted to be involved with it because it is a first,” says Annie Tidy, Rothco account executive.

“The ad has opened our eyes to the possibilities the format offers,” says Rothco digital production manager Daire Lennon.

Demand for solus positions – stand-alone advertising spots, where a brand does not have to compete for attention with rivals – has increased as more viewers gain the habit of time-shifting their television consumption and skipping through long ad breaks.

In January, RTÉ began selling television advertising on a “one break, one spot” basis during episodes of RTÉ Two import Revenge.

In Ireland, where time-shifted viewing accounts for only 8.4 per cent of total television viewing, only about 3 per cent of all television advertisements are skipped overall, the industry estimates.

But advertisers are keenly aware that this will not remain the case forever, the agency Core Media notes in its outlook for 2013.

Natural synergy

“It is naive to suggest that things will always be this way. Skipping will inevitably increase and become a major issue in years to come as consumers become more used to time-shifting,” it predicts.

It just remains to be seen if any toilet roll brands dare to capitalise on what would seem like another natural synergy between their product and the pause button.