Case Study: Fox Sports increases double box ad adoption with Nielsen Holdings

Measuring Emotional Engagement with Split-Screen Ads to Predict Success

FOX Sports was looking for ways to address declining NASCAR viewership and keep audiences engaged while also delivering more value to advertisers. One option was double box advertising, which splits the screen between ads and the race during commercial breaks, but advertisers were hesitant about the format.

Nielsen Holdings, through Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience, evaluated race fans watching NASCAR events and measured both double box and full-screen ads using biometrics and eye tracking. The research ran over 2 years with 568 participants and found that the new format drove higher engagement and attention to advertising. FOX Sports used the findings to increase advertiser adoption of double box ads and launched FOX Sports 1 with 15% to 20% of advertising revenue from double box ads.

Fox Sports