Companies like Mars and Unilever spend billions per year on video advertisements. Traditionally, they have relied on focus groups and surveys to test and refine their campaigns. While focus groups allow market researchers to accurately assess consumers\u2019 reactions and involvement, they are expensive to scale in terms of participants and geographic reach. Surveys are more scalable but often lack accuracy as they rely on participants\u2019 self-reported emotional reactions.<\/p>\n
Affectiva applies sophisticated digital technology to achieve both: high accuracy and almost unlimited scale. Market research participants simply log-in on Affectiva\u2019s website using their own devices and watch an ad – or any other video content that is being tested – from anywhere around the world. Through the devices\u2019 webcam, Affectiva\u2019s software records and analyzes viewers\u2019 facial expressions using computer vision algorithms and a database of more than one billion facial frames. It measures discrete metrics such as smile, surprise, dislike, attention and confusion as well as continuous metrics such as valence and expressiveness. Advertisers can use a cloud-based user interface to analyze emotion metrics moment-by-moment to see which specific parts of an ad might need to be tweaked. They can also compare reactions of different groups of viewers to gauge the impact of an ad across demographic and regional differences. These insights allow companies to increase the emotional resonance of their marketing content resulting in more effective advertisements.<\/p>\n