Debuting New Ad Break Format In Portugal and Putting it to The Test

On February 16, SIC debuted a new 2-minute ad break format during Jornal da Noite, one of Portugal’s most-watched news programs, reaching over 2 million viewers daily. The network partnered with Mediaprobe to conduct a two-week study by leveraging GSR technology and emotional impact data to measure the effectiveness of the new format. The goal of this innovative move? Increase ad impact without sacrificing viewer engagement.

This follows the success of our previous collaboration with SIC’s XXVIII Gala dos Globos de Ouro (XXVIII Golden Globes Gala), where we demonstrated that emotionally impactful content drives higher ad impact, with first-in-break ads delivering a +38% increase in engagement vs the national average.

Stay tuned for the results of this groundbreaking initiative!

Read more: Group Impresa and Mediaprobe Partner to Innovate & Transform Media Measurement in Portugal

[update 28 February] Shorter breaks, higher impact! SIC’s innovative 2-minute ad breaks are proving that less is more —with a +12% higher emotional impact on average vs. the previous format and ads outperforming content by 29%.

[update 12 March] Context matters. Break structure matters. And the results speak for themselves.

• 11% higher audience
• 23% higher advertising reach
• 2.5X higher brand recall on average for 2 weeks run vs previous model/long breaks

Read the full interview with João Paulo Luz, commercial director of TV & Digital at Impresa and professor at ISCTE Executive Education, with Marketeer: “We achieved an 11% increase in the audience of ‘Jornal da Noite’ and a 23% increase in the reach of advertising”, João Paulo Luz, Impresa, on the reduction in the time of advertisements