How clutter affects advertising effectiveness

This paper reports from a range of data sets (including four new ones, described) on how different levels of ad clutter in TV and radio affects how advertising works. Advertising avoidance is similar in low and high clutter environments, so when there is more clutter, audiences really do see more advertisements. Less clutter does not result in better brand identification, although audiences remember more of what they saw. Advertisements recalled in high clutter are generally of better quality and are more likeable on average: people remember what they liked. Overall, therefore, the impact of clutter is not large, especially when compared to creative elements of executions.