Development and testing of an instrument to determine Musical Fit in audio–visual advertising

Over the past three decades, several studies have explored the concept of Musical Fit in audio–visual advertising. However, a central problem is the inconsistency of the results derived from these studies. The current level of knowledge does not make it possible to safely predict whether and how Musical Fit influences recipients’ attention, brand and product recall, and positive attitudes toward commercials, including purchase intentions. One origin of this problem is the lack of a coherent definition and operationalization of Musical Fit. Therefore, this article describes the development of a transparent and applicable instrument to identify and determine Musical Fit in audio–visual advertising. Starting from music’s function of transporting and inducing emotions and its ability to communicate referential meaning, we designed a classification system for relating music to the three most important reference points of a commercial: the narration, the product, and/or the target group. Accordingly, Single, Double, and Perfect Musical Fit can be distinguished and classified into different types. To test whether the developed instrument is applicable in practice, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of 594 German TV commercials. After two pilot tests, the inter-coder reliability of two different coders improved to an average of .80, providing an indication of the instrument’s practicability. Surprisingly, the most common Musical Fit types were a Single Fit to Narration (50%), a matching largely unaddressed in studies to date, a Double Fit to Narration and Product (21%), and a Perfect Fit (15%), the type that is most difficult to create