“‘Profit Ability’ has, for the first time, quantified the total profit generated by different forms of advertising in the UK, to show what they deliver to the bottom line. It set out to examine and benchmark all media’s profit-generating performance, with a particular emphasis on uncovering TV advertising’s effects. The study was commissioned by Thinkbox from Ebiquity and Gain Theory, who independently evaluate advertising performance and effectiveness for hundreds of brands. Using their databanks of existing, client-funded data, it analysed over 2,000 advertising campaigns across 11 categories to uncover the impact that different forms of advertising have on short-term profit (throughout the campaign and within 3–6 months of the campaign finishing), and then combined these learnings with results for profit generated over the longer term (up to 3 years on) to determine total profit return. Clearly, advertising also has an even longer-term impact beyond 3 years, but that is beyond the scope of this study.”