LEARN ABOUT UNDERSTANDING MEDIA COSTS
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
MKT 365 - ADVERTISING AND BEYOND: CUSTOMER-CENTRIC
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
WEEK 6
Introduction:
Once you understand the audience of a media vehicle, the media planning calculation
comes when you assess its value. Media planning and negotiation is based on assessing how
low media is and comparing the cost of one media vehicle to another.
In the advertising industry, there are absolute costs and relative costs. Absolute cost,
sometimes called unit cost or vehicle cost, refers to what you would pay for placement in a
particular media vehicle. A full-page black and white ad in the Wall Street Journal costs
approximately 240,000 dollars. Running a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl
costs about $4 million. Buying a local radio commercial during a popular morning show in
Sherman, Texas, might cost $40. So, unit costs vary and are largely based on the number of
impressions delivered by each media vehicle and the value advertisers place on those
impressions.
This brings us to relative costs. It is important to understand the relative efficiency of
the Super Bowl and the Wall Street Journal. Without such an understanding, how do you
know what the best value is? To compare one media vehicle to another and one medium to
another, the gold standard in media cost benchmarking is expensive - per thousand, or CPM.
17.1. COST-PER-THOUSAND:
In advertising, the number 1,000 can be summarized as K (kilo) or M. Most of the
time, K is used for money and M is used for audience. Since 1,000 1,000 equals one million,
we use MM to mean one million. (Not to be confused with media headlines, which often
abbreviate millions using just one M.)
All of this is a little background to explain the abbreviation of "cost-per-thousand" as
CPM rather than CPT. With a little history lesson under our belt, we can put the term CPM
to work. CPM is the primary means of comparing one media vehicle to another, as well as
comparing one medium to another. Let's start by looking at how to use CPM to compare one
media vehicle to another vehicle
It is difficult to compare one media vehicle to another because you have to consider
the rate or unit price of the ads along with the reach or impression they provide. Let's say
that you are looking at two different magazines that have different unit rates and different
circulations. Let's say that magazine A, with a circulation of 2.1 million, costs $23,500 for a
full-page ad, and magazine B, with a circulation of 1.2 million, costs $13,500 for the same
full-page ad. You might think that the magazine with the larger circulation costs more
because the costs go up as you reach more people, but is it a more economical way to reach
your audience?
This is where CPM comes into play. Instead of trying to compare cost and
circulation at the same time, we assume that each magazine only has a circulation of 1,000.
We compare the cost for each 1,000 circulation by dividing the advertising rate through the
circulation to get the cost of advertising in one copy of the publication. Then we multiply the
answer by 1,000 to compare the cost of a thousand copies of circulation. This is the CPM for
magazine A:
Magazine A = $23,500 x 1,000 .19CPM
2,100,000
Doing the same for other publications gives a comparison to CPM>
Magazine B = $13,500 x 1,000 .25CPM
1,200,000
So, according to this CPM analysis, magazine A has a CPM (based on circulation) of
11.19 dollars, while magazine B has a CPM of 11.25 dollars. In this case, the CPMs are
almost identical. Since magazine A has a 75 percent higher circulation than magazine B and
is priced relatively the same with a smaller circulation publication cost, magazine A seems
to be more valuable than both magazines.
CPM is used in every media analysis from print to broadcast to online. The only
difference between the various media is the method used to calculate the audience.
Circulation figures are generally used as a point of comparison for print, while audience
estimates are used for broadcast and internet audiences. However, the same analysis can be
done whether you are comparing two websites or two television programs.
17.2. CPM AS A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN MEDIA:
It's very difficult for even the most experienced media professionals to compare ads
in different media. Is a four-color bloody ad in a magazine equivalent to a 30-second
network television commercial? Or is a placement in a video game equivalent to a banner ad
on a gaming enthusiast site? These are difficult questions, and while there is some research
in the field of inter-media comparisons, most of it is proprietary, meaning it is generally
owned by a medium (such as a video game company), and often they choose not to share.
In terms of comparison between media, CPM is the standard to apply but certainly
not the only analysis a media planner uses. The following are general estimates of CPM for
different types of media.
As you can see in table 17.1, if you choose based on CPM alone, outdoor would be
the medium of choice for any advertising campaign. However, of the mediums listed in table
17.2, outdoor has the lowest media impact or ad revenue. So, even though outdoor has a low
CPM, advertisers are voting with their dollars in other mediums.
CPM Media based on Adults:
As a brand manager looking at the media landscape, you will work with your media
group to determine the impact of each medium for your particular brand. The impact value
of each medium can then be compared to the CPM or used to weight the CPM for a more
definitive analysis. M
For example, if you feel that outdoor advertising has the same impact as television
advertising, you can buy a much bigger outdoor impression for your dollar than you can
with television. However, if you feel that television is worth 10 times more than outdoor
advertising, then outdoor movies are a no-brainer.
Table is an example of the CPN weighting based on the impact value for each
medium for a packaged goods brand (Salad coir). The purpose of the brand is to convey
appetite and show how it can be used in various situations.
CPM is a standardized measure for comparing media, but it should not be used in a
vacuum. It provides a basis for determining value but is not the only aspect to determine the
value of a medium.
17.3. PER-POIN COST:
CPM is the primary cost benchmarking criterion when looking at various media, but
planners working with broadcast costs nationally and locally use a standard called cost-per-
point (CPP). A cost-per-point broadcast vehicle compares how much it costs to reach 1
percent of the audience. Remember that reaching 1 percent is the same as a rating point, so
we call this comparison cost-per-point.
Let's see how you can use CPP to compare two radio stations. The Radio station
costs USD 5,300 per commercial unit and reaches 2.2 percent of our audience (category). So
we just divide the cost by the rating to get the CPP.
CPP= $5,300 =$2,409 CPP
2.2 Rtg
Now look at Radio Station B which costs $6,200 per unit and achieves a value of
2.5%. This CPP is as follows:
CPP= $6,200 =$2,480 CPP
2.5 Rtg
In this example, Radio station A is slightly more efficient at reaching the rating point
(1 percent of the audience) than Radio station B. When media spokespeople quickly count
hundreds of programs and stations, CPP is a key step to efficiency. Think of it as a currency
for local broadcast negotiations.
The reason why CPP is used in broadcast planning instead of CPM is that CPP is a
much simpler method of assessing costs in various markets or on various days. CPM is a
great analytical tool for determining value, as is CPP; but CPP allows for the addition of
quick costs across multiple markets. If you plan to advertise in five major media markets on
daytime television, you don't want to add up all the hundreds of possible unit costs for this
television period across all markets. CPP allows you to quickly calculate costs by
considering market size, because 1 percent of the population of New York City is much
larger than 1 percent of the population of Boise, Idaho. Table is an example of how media
planners use CPP to add up media costs for local market campaigns.
17.4. ONLINE COST ANALYSIS:
As we said earlier, the world of online media offers deeper diagnostics than most
other media. CPM is the starting standard for all online analytics, be it in search engine
marketing or in traditional online advertising.
The second layer of cost analysis beyond CPM is click-by-click (CPC). Cost per
click is calculated by simply dividing the media cost by the number of clicks earned in a
given time frame. Most online media professionals analyze their online plans after a week or
two of activity to determine what sites and what creative executions are producing the
lowest CPCs. Then adjustments are made on the next schedule to
(1) adding more impressions to proven players, (2) removing locations that don't work well,
or (3) adding possible locations for the campaign.
Depending on the category, online media planners negotiate with websites on a CPC
or on a cost per lead (CPL) basis. CPL is the fee that advertisers pay for the explicit
registration of potential consumers who are interested in the advertiser's offer. For example,
if advertisers know that they will make money if their campaign reaches a certain target at a
cost per lead (say, $20), then they will negotiate with web publishers to pay that much for a
target response, but not pay for leads above that threshold. For established categories with
known conversion rates, such as car insurance, this is the standard method for online
placement. This also relates well to search engine marketing pricing, which is done based on
bidding for selective keywords: the more popular the keyword, the more expensive it is. For
example, the insurance business is very competitive online, so keywords like "car insurance"
can sound up to $200 per kilometer. On the other hand, a low-interest category, such as
hazardous waste hauling, may only be worth $10 per kilometer.
Some online media planners also use the term cost-per-action (CPA) to describe the
cost of purchasing, buying a customer, or holding some sort of transaction. Again, this is
calculated by dividing the cost of an online campaign by the actions it is designed to
generate.
1. Internet pricing:
Advertising on the Internet uses some of the same pricing approaches, such as cost-
per-thousand, as advertising in other media. Nonetheless, there are additional systems used
with the Internet that do not apply to other advertising media. As per Exhibit 17.1, the most
common pricing systems include techniques such as counting the number of clicks - through
search, where Internet users go beyond a website by clicking on an icon or some other
connection that takes them to another site. The amount of time spent on a site is another
pricing approach, but it can be misleading because someone can access a website and then
leave the room while still connected. That would add up to a lot of time, even though
nothing actually happened. Size-based pricing relies on the size of the ad as a portion of the
web page, but many or even most Internet ads are whole-page insertions so the size may not
be very reliable. Transaction fees are only charged if an actual purchase is made, which
would reduce the role of typical Internet searches that do not result in buying behavior at
that time. Most Internet advertisers now use a combination of these other approaches, known
as hybrid agreements.
2. Social media pricing:
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and others often use pricing systems adopted
from other media, especially from various online methods such as CPM or CPC for banner
ads. Many advertisers using social media are not actually involved in placing ads but instead
use social media to track how often the company and its products and services are discussed
and whether such discussions are profitable. Since many advertisers are not skilled in
handling this new type of media, they often use specialized advertising agencies or
consulting services that know this media well, so the cost for consulting or agency services
is often added to the cost of social media.
3. Production Cost:
In addition to the cost of media space and/or time, there are costs for producing
advertisements. This can include typesetting, art services, broadcast production, Internet
development, and similar costs.
4. Additional costs:
Many advertising agencies that handle production for their clients simply take the
production cost and add a certain percentage, generally 15 percent or 18 percent or 20
percent, depending on the type of work and the prevailing contact between the agency and
the advertiser. Such an approach can work, but there are other approaches that might provide
a more realistic denial of the actual work involved.
5. Based on time:
With time-based production compensation and hourly surcharges set and then only
doubled by the number of hours used for this work. Such an approach reflects the
investment by the agency in the production work, but it is easy to spend a lot of time on
details that advertisers may not want. Unforeseen problems often arise in advertising work,
which makes advance budgeting difficult or inaccurate. Therefore, although time-based
pricing may be slightly more reflective of actual costs than the simpler cost-plus pricing, it
still creates problems.
6. Based on Performance:
This approach attempts to measure advertising results and then base reimbursement
on performance; in short, the more sales generated by advertising, the more production
costs. But such an approach is difficult to establish, and perhaps even more difficult to
measure. For example, it may be difficult, even impossible, to measure what role advertising
plays in marketing work, or how often advertising plays a role in influencing purchasing
decisions.
7. Based on Value:
In this case, the value of the entire work is measured and then the reimbursement of
the agency fee is calculated. A print ad of a certain size is considered to have a certain value,
and a television ad of a certain length is considered to have a certain value. By establishing
these values upfront, both the agency and the advertiser know what the compensation will
be. Some productions may take longer, or demand greater investment than others, which is
difficult to predict and account for using this system. This might encourage agencies to do
the job quickly rather than well, or to prepare more versions of the ad than they should.
8. Other Costs:
Costs for public relations are often based on the time spent working on the account.
However, like advertising costs, there is more valuable work and there is an end result to
consider.
Other common costs include orchestrated campaigns, campaign monitoring, and
reporting for search engine marketing programs that include Internet search engines like
Google, Yahoo! There are also fees for all sorts of other services, such as overnight delivery,
attending special seminars or training sessions, or even entertaining top executives of client
companies.
9. Trade Price Discount:
Back at the beginning of this chapter, we discussed two types of cost analysis: the
initial analysis was absolute cost and the second was relative cost. Both of these pillars of
media value analysis are used by media planners in their ongoing determination of the best
media plan for the dollar.
As a brand manager responsible for media dollars, it's important that you ask
questions about media costs. The first question is, what can I do effectively for the dollars I
have to invest in media? This is not asking what is the best CPM, but what is the best media
plan. Let's look at an example for a national brand package of goods on a $1 million budget.
Here are three plans developed for the same product by various media agencies:
1. Plan A was developed by a CPM-driven agency, which said that the brand should schedule
national television spots for eight weeks of daytime television, with about 40 target rating
points, or ratings, per week, or 15 to 20 ads per week.
2. Plan B only recommends magazines as a support plan. Their plan consisted of six months of
support using six publications with four insertions per publication or a total of 24 insertions.
3. Plan C recommended allocating dollars to the six best markets for brands to develop a
television and print support plan that would cover 75 percent of the year with activities.
Based on the question of effectiveness, which of these plans do you feel meet the
criteria? Do you get the same answer if you ask the question, which plan is the most cost-
effective?
Common sense will tell you that while plan A may be cost-effective, it may not be
very effective. On the other hand, plan C may be the most effective but may be too
restrictive in terms of sales and efficiency. So, there is a trade-off that happens with every
media plan and negotiation. There is always a trade-off between what can be done well and
what is most efficient for the brand.
When you assess a media plan, it is important to understand the basics of cost
analysis, but it is even more important to understand the basics of trade-off analysis.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIA:
There are many factors other than cost to compare advertising media. In fact, if you
rely solely on the price and cost of advertising, it is likely that your ad will be placed in front
of an unwelcoming audience. Let's take a look at some of the most commonly used
characteristics in advertising media analysis and selection.
18.1. Audience Quality:
What is the audience like? Are the audiences similar to each other (homogeneous), or
are they very different from each other (heterogeneous)? It stands to reason that it is easier to
reach a homogeneous audience than the opposite sex; similar people usually engage in the
same types of activities and pay attention to the same types of media offerings.
18.2. Demographics:
Is the audience rich or poor, working or looking for work, educated or saving for
college? Of course, these descriptions are extreme, but these demographic characteristics are
still important. Demography is the study of populations, so demographic characteristics are
factors of the population: age, income, gender, education level, occupation, number of
children at home, whether urban or rural, and the like.
It is easier to sell a Lexus 400 to someone with a sizable income than someone who
is having a hard time meeting monthly expenses. A large book series is likely to be
purchased by someone who has a college education. Sweetened breakfast cereals are usually
sold to children at home.
Of course, there are other ways to segment media audiences than through
demographics. These methods include psychographics, based on psychological differences,
and sociographics, based on social and cultural differences.
Audiences can also be segmented by heavy and light users of products or services, or
by lifestyle, which will be discussed later. Specific segmentation patterns include geographic
segments such as parts of the country or urban versus rural, and combinations of elements
such as geodemographics, a combination of geography and demographics; for example, the
U.S. Navy may find good prospects for enlistment in locked-down states such as Montana
and North Dakota due to a combination of population factors and geographic factors.
18.3. Activities and Habits:
Certain types of media and vehicles reach certain audiences. Magazines are mostly
read by those with good income and education, while television is seen by almost everyone,
although lower income groups spend more of their time with broadcast media. Even within
media types, there are differences: all types of men watch soccer matches on television, but
televised golf matches are mostly seen by men with higher incomes.
18.4. Audience Engagement:
Do viewers pay close attention to a particular piece of media, or are they somewhat
distant and uninvolved in the media? People may sit back at night to watch television
without outside distractions. Or, they may be watching television while playing the radio,
not giving it their full attention. Some people scan a newspaper while others read it intently.
A person driving on the highway may not pay much attention to a billboard, but another
person stuck in traffic on the same road has several minutes to read and remember the
message of the billboard.
In addition, a related factor is also the degree of one's distraction. We know that
people who watch prime-time television in the evening hours listen more than people who
watch television during the day. One reason for this difference is that there are more
distractions during the day: telephones, children's needs, meal planning, and so on. Another
reason may be the increased number of commercial messages during television, which
provides more opportunities to leave the television on in order to complete household
chores.
18.5. Influencers and Followers:
In your circle of family and friends, is there someone who always seems to know
about the latest movies, someone else who is knowledgeable about politics, and someone
else who keeps up with fashion or music trends or current events? If these knowledgeable
people tell others their opinions, they are considered influential people, while people who
listen and heed their advice are considered followers.
Many advertisers try to choose advertising media that reach Influencers in the hope
of persuading these people to learn about products and services and then tell others about
them. Other advertisers prefer to use media that engage followers; the media plays an
influential role in persuading these followers to listen and act on advertising messages.
However, other advertisers may not use these same media, believing that followers are
influenced more by influence than by media.
18.6. Lifestyle:
Everyone has a different lifestyle. Some want to buy physical goods; others want to
live in a rural environment with few goods. Some read a lot of magazines and don't watch
much television, while others are the opposite.
Lifestyle affects people's propensity to buy certain products. There's no point trying
to sell beer to people who don't drink, but it's easy enough to sell electronic equipment to
people who want the latest computers, sound systems and phones. Some media vehicles
appeal to one type of lifestyle, while others appeal to a completely different type.
18.7. Media Attributes:
Advertisers use many factors other than audience in their media analysis and plans.
Some of these are characteristics of the mass media itself.
18.8. Cost:
Obviously, media cost is a major consideration. There are media that are expensive
while others are not so; Television has a high promotional rate for hours of airtime, and
television production costs are also high. Radio, on the other hand, is much cheaper. While
cost is important, it must be balanced against all other factors. Does the inexpensive media
impact the same audience, or is there a trade-off with the cheaper media outlet?
Most advertising media also offer discounts, which can be based on the number of
ads that purchase quantity discounts or regular purchases for frequency discounted ads.
18.9. Cost Efficiency:
As we saw in the previous chapter, there are various measures of cost efficiency,
such as cost-per-thousand (CPM) and cost-point (CPP, where point refers to rating point).
Efficiency in media is usually a strong objective for advertising media, and many advertisers
try to consider cost efficiency as well as the basic cost of advertising. Keep in mind that (1)
many cost-efficiency ratios are used simply to compare one vehicle to another, but within
the same general media type, and (2) effective inter-comparisons of cost-efficiency require
careful limitations and provisos, as well as much experience and caution.
18.10. Reach:
One key factor when considering different media is reach. How many people in the
target group have access to and use the particular medium or vehicle? (This is generally
expressed in terms of unique impressions.) Or what part of the target group sees or hears the
medium or vehicle? (This is generally expressed in terms of percentages.)
Media Vehicles that reach a large number of people in a special target audience are
usually attractive, but they can also cost more than other vehicles that can reach fewer
people - both exits and CPPs. So many factors must be considered together: reach, cost,
cost-efficiency, and so on.
18.11. Frequency:
Since frequency is often an important objective of advertising media, media planners
generally consider vehicles that offer frequency at a reasonable rate as long as they fulfill the
campaign strategy. Some media offer frequency as an almost natural part of their package;
broadcast media such as cable television and radio are known for being frequent advertisers,
and the Internet can also build frequency fairly quickly, especially among heavier users.
Newspapers appear infrequently, and magazines even less so, so generally they don't build
frequency in the same way as broadcast vehicles. However, remember that there are two
types of frequency: insertion frequency and exposure frequency. No audience member will
see your ad every time it runs. Therefore, Media plans tend to provide information for the
average reach and frequency of a particular schedule.
18.12. Distraction Factors:
Along with high frequency comes the risk of irritating the audience. People who see
or hear ads too often may turn them off in their minds or, even worse, develop a negative
reaction to the news. Irritation often occurs with annoying and irritating commercials, but it
can happen with any advertising message. The internet, television, and radio cause the most
frequent advertising interruptions that are intrusive, often delivered, and beyond the control
of audience members. If an advertisement appears on several pages of a newspaper, the
reader only has to turn the page to avoid it, and page turning is a routine part of newspaper
reading. But, if an ad appears several times in an evening on a cable network, the viewer has
to change stations or stop watching to avoid the ad.
1) Color:
For some ads, color is very important. In the print environment, color ads stand out
from editorial black and white coffee. Displaying fashion apparel may need color, and
showing the unique colors of detergent boxes creates brand registration but at the same time
may require special colors at a premium cost. Color quality is generally good in most
magazines, but not so good in many newspapers. Television and Internet colors are good,
but color quality also depends on the type of reception and equipment used by the audience.
2) Movement and demonstration:
To demonstrate products or services, motion may be required. Therefore, media such
as television, movies, and the Internet may be needed.
3) Schedule:
If your advertising appears as an important factor, and some mediums allow you
more flexibility than others. There are several components of scheduling, such as exposure,
flexibility, waves, preparation time, and available capabilities.
4) Exposure:
Running television ads at the best time of day will bring in more audience than ads
during the day, because more people watch television at night, and they generally pay more
attention to its content in the evening than at other times during the day. A print insert in a
fashion magazine may reach many women in September, when they are planning to wear
clothes for the fall, but it will reach fewer women in January, when it is too early to think
about spring clothes and when post-holiday bank accounts may be lower than usual.
5) Flexibility:
Flexibility considers how easy it is to have ads appear when you want them to, and is
especially important if recency is a key element of the media plan. An Internet ad appears
any time an audience member calls the website. A television or radio station can schedule
ads at any hour of the day. Newspapers can't offer ads at a specific hour, but newspapers can
every day offer advertisements at any time of the week. Magazines may only offer a weekly
or monthly schedule, which is inflexible in scheduling ads.
6) Waves:
Scheduling in waves considers taking a break after a period of advertising activity:
for example, a TV campaign may run for five weeks and then stop for two weeks. This can
help prevent irritation and can keep the ad campaign fresher for longer. It can also save
money by extending the campaign over a longer period of time.
The high point in the wave is a period of intense advertising, called blaze saturation,
or just air. A period of low advertising intensity or no advertising is known as a hiatus. If
there is a moderate level of promotion after the wave, it is called a support period.
7) Preparation Time:
How much preparation time do you have to create, produce, and perfect your
campaign before it appears in the media? Often they have to broadcast advertising literature
up to several weeks or even months in advance. On the other hand, we may be able to call a
radio station and read an announcement over the air in an hour or so, if there is still time
available to buy.
8) Available capabilities and considerations:
In broadcast, there is a limited supply (measured in time) that advertisers can buy.
Some of these limits are set by the Federal Communications Commission; others are set by
the stations themselves. If another advertiser has already booked a certain amount of time, it
is no longer available; you must choose from the remaining available time slots, known as
available, or usable, capabilities.
Some broadcast stations offer unassigned time at a discounted rate. For example, you
can buy a spot on a local news station for a low price, but if another advertiser comes along
and offers full price, your ad will be preempted: it will not run or will be moved to another
time slot.
The ability to be available is irrelevant to print media because there is little limit to
the amount of advertising a newspaper or magazine can receive; if more advertising is
purchased, more pages will be printed, resulting in a larger issue. In fact, the number of
advertisements in a newspaper or magazine is usually the determining factor for the number
of pages in a given issue.
9) Coverage:
Earlier we discussed the audience factor. Coverage is essentially the same - but from
the media's point of view, not the audience's point of view. Some media do a better job
covering certain audiences.
For example, television dramas and daytime talk shows do a good job of addressing
housewives, but a relatively poor job of reaching young men who are in school or at work.
On the other hand, hip hop radio music formats reach young men but not older, retired ones.
10) Selectivity:
Selectivity is related to coverage. If you want coverage of a specific demographic
group (such as adults aged 25-54), you will have a wide choice of media. However, some of
them will also cover many types of people other than your primary target. Selectivity
provides coverage without much waste; it allows you to choose media that covers your
target group well but without much coverage of groups you are not interested in.
11) Positive Feedback:
Some consumers respond to some types of media better than they do to others. For
example, a coupon may elicit a much greater response from a mom with a large family, who
has to pay for family purchases, than from a mom with a smaller family. In fact, every
medium has consumer groups that respond better than others. Many packaged goods
marketers now use part of their marketing mix analysis to determine the responsiveness for
each medium by different target groups.
12) Relevance:
In today's increasingly fragmented media world, there are media that are naturally
targeted to certain audiences and products. This concept is known as relevance. For
example, a food network is a cable network used to make delicious food. Products marketed
to people who love to cook are likely to be a good fit. The same is true for magazines like
Good Housekeeping or Southern Living where the idea of recipes is a major part of the
editorial content. In fact, a media vehicle can actually become a market unto itself. Vogue
magazine is devoted to 75 percent advertising; consumers look at these ads to make their
fashion decisions.
13) Support for Other Media:
Some advertising media have dubious efficacy when used alone, but work well
together with other media.
For example, if necessary, radio may not be the right choice, but it may be used to
combine with and complement the demonstration shown in the television commercial. If the
same theme, message, music and words are used in both media, radio advertising will extend
the impact of television advertising, gaining both reach and frequency at a lower cost.
Similarly, transit and outdoor advertisements are generally seen only in passing, which may
not be enough to convey complex messages; however, it may be good enough to remind
audiences of messages conveyed through other media.
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14) Audience Portrayal through Media
Another media characteristic combines media and audience factors: how the
audience is portrayed through the media. Many television commercials, for example, depict
users of the product or service being promoted, and from these images members learn what
kind of people are being targeted and what uses and benefits they might derive from buying
the service or product. If people see themselves in an advertisement, they may feel that they
should also use the advertised material. Earlier, we discussed audience engagement, which
may also be a combination of audience and media factors
Short, lively commercials, in which some part of people's daily lives are included,
are actually based on depictions of people using the advertised product or service. In
contrast, a hard sell uses a strong message aimed at convincing the audience to buy; this
strong argument is likely to be delivered by an announcer or spokesperson, which reduces
the opportunity to depict actual users. Both types are also used in other media, but television
provides a practical and universal example.
The following chapters give detailed information about each major advertising
medium. As you read those chapters, keep in mind what you've learned from this chapter.
MEDIA VEHICLE EVALUATION:
Identifying the optimal media vehicle for a media plan is a key component of the
planner's job. This process involves comparing one medium to another: should the advertiser
use magazines or television? Should ads be purchased on search engines or as online display
ads? In addition, knowing how the various vehicles work together is another important
aspect of a planner's job.
There is no single way to make good decisions; most media planners use a number of
different viewpoints, including research findings provided by assessment sources and
through specific mediums, and their own experiences that inform subjective assessments of
media vehicles.
19.1. REACH, FREQUENCY AND IMPACT:
Planners begin by analyzing the reach, frequency, and impact of the various vehicles
under consideration. The media plan will contain specific reach and frequency goals, and
planners will evaluate which vehicles best achieve those goals, either alone or in
cooperation. Rarely does one medium do this job alone: some types of television can
develop high coverage but may not develop the necessary frequency levels, while radio
provides high frequency levels but rarely produces the necessary coverage on its own.
Part of choosing the right vehicle is understanding the overall goal of the messenger
and how different media can impact the message. If there is quite a bit of detail required in
the message, then print advertising may be the right choice. A decision must be made
between a full-page and two-page spread, based on the amount of information to be
conveyed. The cost trade-off must be balanced against the need for copyright space to tell
the brand story. Planners also need to understand the specific creative units being developed
by the creative team to ensure that the media plan does not only feature print ads and that
creatives do not only develop television ads.
With a target audience of 18 to 49 years old, an important consideration is the
difference between 18 to 34 year olds and 35 to 49 year olds. A network television
commercial will do a good job of reaching the older part of the segment, who are more
likely to pay attention and engage with the message. However, the younger section is more
likely to engage with the message if it is delivered to them digitally.
19.2. COST-PER-THOUSAND:
The best "apples to apples" comparison is a cost-per-thousand comparison: the cost
of exposing a message to 1,000 viewers. Chapter 17 presents a section on media-to-media
comparisons that explains the philosophy of identifying and comparing the cost-per-
thousand of different media. However, this apples-to-apples consideration should take into
account specific aspects of each media vehicle.
First is the idea of audience quality. It says that 1,000 target members watching a
prime-time ad may be more or less valuable than 1,000 members viewers who listen to
advertisements on the radio. One must consider that more attention will be paid to television
commercials, so the message is more likely to be delivered. However, if the message
highlights a call to action to visit a store (for example), radio advertising may reach a higher
quality audience. As mentioned earlier, there is no right or wrong answer, and this factor of
audience quality should also be considered.
While television ratings and print audits rarely provide information beyond
demographics on audience quality, other syndication sources such as Kantar Media SRDS or
Mediamark Research Inc. These syndicated sources can tell you, for example, whether
cheese pack users prefer radio or rock, or prefer Grey's Anatomy to Saturday Night Live.
Understanding how very specific user audiences use certain vehicles can help rationalize
higher CPMs in media plans.
The planner should also consider audience engagement. Audience engagement is an
idea of how well the audience shows that they are interested in the vehicle. Is there a
particular TV show that people are tweeting about? Is there a magazine that shows a high
level of comments and clicks on the website? Do media vehicles reach a small number of
people? But, are those people likely to influence their friends and family about the purchases
they make and about the ads they see? Syndicated research is starting to capitalize on this
type of engagement, which again can help rationalize a higher cv.
Finally, media planners should consider the situation in which the ad will appear.
One thing to think about is the hoarding: will the ad run on the front of a magazine, or will it
be one of many ads in the newspaper's main news section? Can a television commercial
appear in the first or last position of a commercial pod? Understanding the specific level of
clutter on the vehicle and how it affects the message is the first step. Planners should
evaluate whether the environment is a positive fit for the product or service. For example, a
shoe store may be interested in reaching women who follow fashion, but the ad may not
match the affordable trend portrayed in Vogue magazine. An ad for a financial product may
have the same target profile as people who watch programs like American Idol or the Voice,
but placing the ad in these programs may not be the best editorial fit.
19.3. TIME SELECTION:
A campaign usually spreads over a period of time, and the mix of vehicles should
allow for consistent advertising exposure over that period. Some campaigns "front-load" a
message that clearly embeds the news as the target, but ensuring that there is a certain
amount of consistency in a campaign will address the consumer buying cycle and increase
the likelihood that the news is in front of consumers when they are ready to buy.
19.4. GEOGRAPHY:
For national campaigns, ensuring that the vehicle mix conveys the brand message
consistently across the country is also important. Although Big Bang Theory is often one of
the top three programs nationally, it is often rated much lower in major markets than in
smaller markets. If only highly-rated prime-time shows are part of the media mix, then
larger markets may not get the desired media load. An increased presence in local news or
main access programs helps solve this dilemma.
19.5. SUMMARY:
Clearly, media planning is not only a science, but also an art; a media planner's
experience and subjective understanding of media vehicles combine with statistical data and
syndicated research to provide optimal recommendations for clients.
