The Story Behind Channel 4's We're The Superhumans | Anatomy of An Ad

Описание: It's been one week since Channel 4 launched ‘We’re the Superhumans’ to promote its coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, and when The Drum visits on an extremely warm summer's day the atmosphere in its headquarters is euphoric.

The campaign, a follow-on from its 2012 offering, has smashed previous viewing records and is set to be Channel 4’s most successful ever.

Superhumans 2.0’s success over its predecessor is driven largely by the growth of video digitally since 2012, with the broadcaster choosing to premiere the advert on social media instead of TV. This change in strategy has helped the ad surpass viewing expectations primarily thanks to Facebook, which has amassed 24 million video views so far.

The spot has driven the most amount of organic video views and overall reach from a single post on the Channel 4's Facebook page this year. On YouTube, it’s had more than 1.8m views over the past six days. This has helped it nudge above BBC's 'The Greatest Show on Earth' Rio 2016 campaign, launched just days before, in terms of social engagement.

The original ‘Meet the Superhumans' campaign was mass-launched simultaneously across 78 TV channels on primetime TV to reach at least 50 per cent of the UK audience. By comparison, premiering ‘We’re the Superhumans’ on social media has opened up the ad to a combined global audience upwards of 2.65 billion users on Facebook and YouTube, as well as Twitter’s 140 million daily users.

Despite the ad smashing viewing records online, Channel 4 is pragmatic and does not expect viewing figures for the Paralympics to meet London 2012 figures, which saw the live broadcast of the opening ceremony watched by 11.8 million. This is due to the time difference between the events taking place and the broadcasting time in the UK (Brazil is four hours behind), meaning some of the events will broadcast late at night on Channel 4.

In an attempt to keep interest high, Channel 4 is working closely with the organisers of the Games and the International Paralympic Committee to ensure that big events with GB hopefuls will be scheduled for primetime in the UK.

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