• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 27, 2012

comScore, reporting on the results of a study on the synergy of professionally produced video content and user generated product videos in marketing campaigns, found that professionally produced video content and user generated product videos are highly synergistic, driving higher levels of sales effectiveness when used in tandem.

The study evaluated an actual campaign that included a combination of a professionally produced “how to” video and a user generated product video that was created and submitted by an actual product user.

The first group of consumers in the study participated in a veiled exercise in order to determine the sales effectiveness of the professionally produced content, the user-generated content, and both together.

Professionally produced content generated a 24.7 point lift in Share of Choice for the featured product and a 16 point lift for the brand’s total line. User generated product videos drove an 18.7 point lift in Share of Choice for the featured product compared to a 10 point lift for the brand’s total line.

When exposed to both professional content and user generated product videos, lift in Share of Choice for the featured product jumped to 35.3 points for the featured product and 28 points for the brand’s total line. This demonstrates not only the value of each of these media individually, but also the powerful combination when used together.

Frank Findley, Vice President, Research and Development at comScore, says, in answer to “... do user-generated videos complement professionally produced content... (the study) found strong evidence of incremental benefit with exposure to both forms of media...”

A second group of consumers participated in a cued exposure exercise and were surveyed after being directly exposed to the content. On its own, professionally produced content resulted in a higher percentage of respondents understanding the importance of the key message presented than user generated content, while the user generated product videos were more successful at producing emotional intensity, key message communication, and ease of relating.

When consumers were exposed to both professionally produced and user generated content, the combined increases were greater than for either of the individual media exposures.

Jessica Thorpe, Vice President of Marketing at EXPO, concludes that “... professionally produced content and user generated product videos are each successful at delivering different key elements to a consumer through video ‘advertising’... feature benefits are more believable when coming directly from the brand through professionally produced content, while the unbiased user generated videos were more believable in verifying specific product claims, such as superiority and convenience... used together, all of the perceived gaps get filled in and consumers become more confident in their purchase decision... resulting in better sales effectiveness from the advertising.”

For additional information from comScore, please visit here.