The most recalled ad on television in 2007 was part commercial, part program.

IAG Research found that hybrid ads, in which products are pitched in specially created spots that tie in to the show in which they air, tend to be recalled better than traditional 30-second commercials.

The highest-scoring example, in which a host of TLC’s “What Not to Wear” talks to Macy’s sales associates about clothes that can be worn both in the office and as evening wear, was recalled at triple the rate of the typical hybrid ad, with an index of 337.

The most-recalled commercial of the year, GoDaddy.com’s Super Bowl spot featuring scantily clad women, had a recall index of 309 compared to the average traditional spot.

Alan Gould, CEO of IAG, said the company began picking up the hybrid ads during the 2006-07 television season; the phenomenon has been growing since much of the TV world switched over to commercial ratings. During last year’s fourth quarter, IAG registered 2,881 hybrids. That number rose to 3,312 in the first quarter of 2007, 3,701 in the second quarter and 3,887 in the third.

“If they are done well, they will typically perform better than a 30-second ad,” Mr. Gould said.

While it’s not as good as a full integration within the program itself, which IAG also measures, “This type of advertising, from an impact perspective, has great potential,” he said.

Mr. Gould pointed to a hybrid ad that combined the comic-book roots of The CW series “Smallville” with the launch of the Toyota Yaris. The spot was two minutes long and silently told a story by turning the pages of a comic book. The Yaris was mentioned only at the end.

“The reason why it worked is because the people who watch that show are hard-core fans of both the comic book and the show, so that ad pops up and immediately kind of draws in the audience,” he said. The spots had the eighth-highest recall of all the hybrid spots this year, according to IAG.

Putting together hybrid spots is more work for the advertisers, the network and the agencies involved, Mr. Gould said. But given the current conditions in the industry, with advertisers worried about viewers using digital video recorders to fast-forward through their spots, there’s no choice but to put in the extra effort, he added.

“For the networks, they’re now getting paid on the audience for the commercials, so I would think they’re going to be extraordinarily interested in the construction of those ads and the pods,” Mr. Gould said.

The majority of the 20 most-recalled hybrid ads appeared on three of the 18 cable networks IAG tracks: TLC, USA and Bravo. Most of the broadcast hybrids were on The CW, although CBS and NBC also were represented.

“I think the message there is those guys have been a little bolder in their experimentation,” Mr. Gould said. At the same time, cable networks usually don’t have as many original programs to tie in to, so it’s easier for them to focus their resources and try to make the ads happen.

But Mr. Gould expects to see more hybrid ads on broadcast television.

“They’re looking at the same data, too,” he said. “If it turns out that this is a format that potentially can transform how viewers just typically think about advertisers, you’re going to see it adopted more widely.”

Four of the top six hybrid spots that appeared from January through November were for Macy’s and featured hosts of TLC’s “What Not to Wear.”

World Wrestling Entertainment on USA took the No. 2 spot with a “Stay in the Game” moment for Just for Men hair coloring. A vignette showing an “America’s Next Top Model” contestant trying Cover Girl products ranked fifth. At No. 7 was an ad for Sears Kenmore appliances during “Top Chef” on Bravo. No. 9 showed Eddie Matos of CBS’ “Cane” thanking Chevrolet for presenting the show with limited commercial interruptions. Rounding out the top 10 was a vignette showing how a winning dish on “Top Chef” pairs with Bombay Sapphire gin.

Among the best-scoring traditional ads, the most-recalled spots after GoDaddy.com were for Bud Light, Budweiser, THQ, Geico, Snickers and Budweiser.

“If you look at the total number of new ads that are created each year and you look at the fractured nature of the audience … it’s very difficult to do ads that achieve their first-order purpose, which is to become recalled, to become noticed, to generate awareness,” Mr. Gould said. “It’s just getting harder and harder to make ads that generate high level of recall on linear television.”

It’s even harder if you’re creating a car ad, he added: The average auto ad performs 21% below the norm of all advertising.

“Think about that for a second. You’re Chrysler or Ford or Nissan or Toyota and to come up with a good ad, your agency is already behind the eight ball,” he said.

The flipside is that if you happen to be a quick-service restaurant, no matter what’s in the ad, its recall on average will be 20% higher than all advertising.