[Satellite News 11-09-10] ESPN, which is aiming to one of the early movers in the 3-D broadcasting arena, has completed a comprehensive research study looking at the early impact of 3-D and is happy with the results.
    Artie Bulgrin, ESPN’s senior vice president of research and sales development told Satellite News that the study showed a common trend that 3-D consumers experience an acclimation effect to the platform, where participants adjust to 3-D over normal use, with a gradual increase of enjoyment happening along the way. Bulgrin was also encouraged by results, which found that 3-D ads produced significantly higher scores across all ad performance metrics, with purchase intent increasing from 49 percent to 83 percent after exposure and ad approval rising from 67 percent to 84 percent.
    In the following interview, Bulgrin explained why these results are significant for 3-D content producers.

Satellite News: What was the most important discovery from ESPN’s 3-D consumer research?

Bulgrin: There is clearly an enhancement and benefit in terms of the presence that the audience has in the content. It is clearly elevated. It is presence that has really moved up from what we have seen when doing 3-D for the 2010 World Cup last summer. That, I think, is significant in terms of the future of this medium. People feel more like they are there. Being in the sports business, there is absolutely what we want to succeed in doing.

Satellite News: How does this research compare to your development efforts in HD? Are there different consumer behaviors between these two mediums?

Bulgrin: We didn’t have the lab technology when we first started to launch HD. We can’t make like-for-like comparisons because we didn’t have the biometrics with things such as eye tracking, for example. But we have looked at a comparison recently, and clearly the dimension of presence is elevated significantly. That is a direct comparison. That is because of the depth that is involved. To make that work, we have to change how we shoot things and we are doing that.
The fact that depth provides a better experience, however, does make things more complicated on our side. To give you one example, in the next weeks and months as we continue this research program, we will place great deal of focus on graphics. What you do with graphics in a 3-D environment can have a significant impact on viewer experience and enjoyment with that experience. Subtleties can become very important.

Satellite News: What did your research tell you about 3-D advertising?

Bulgrin: What we learned from a couple of 3-D spots is very encouraging. Our role is that more and more advertisers invest in 3-D production. But, they need evidence there is an audience out there first before they build it. There is an expense associated with it. What we have at our disposal is the lab environment in Texas. We will collaborate with advertisers to test the effectiveness so we can drive the effectiveness of those ads within our content. 3-D will be no different.

Satellite News: Did the research cover reaction to wearing glasses to watch 3-D issue?

Bulgrin: All we know right now, is that the difference with all content being equal is that there was no difference between passive and active for overall impact. However, the passive glasses were rated as being more comfortable. This is probably just common sense, but that was also the case when we tested it scientifically. What effect that might have on the industry, I don’t know. We are simply reporting the findings. 

Satellite News: Were there any key findings in terms of production, camera angles, etc.?

 
Bulgrin: The distance shots during the World Cup were less impactful than the on-field shots done from corner kicks. So, not only did those resonate more because they had more depth. But, they were shot a lot closer. They came off as being more spectacular. During our testing in Houston, and our users went through the lab experience, those were the kind of the shots that people remembered.  People think those low level shorts are spectacular. Over time, as we evaluate other sports, we will look at which shots have the most impact. We are learning and evolving. We are working very closely with our technology folks.

Satellite News: Where does the research go from here?

Bulgrin: We want to move on and test what we did with the World Cup and test with new productions in different sports. So, our next assignment will most likely be college football, and then we will go into college basketball, and then golf. We need to explore to see whether there are different variations by event. We will study very carefully how we shoot things, different camera angles, different camera locations, graphics etc. We are in the early phases of this. The research program is really just beginning. The World Cup was a perfect opportunity for us. It was very convenient as they were events going on all the time. All we know right now is the impact of 3-D soccer. We have to see if there are any differences by sport. That is our main concern right now.