TELEVISION BUYING

Merits and Demerits of TV Advertising

Special Merits of TV:

1. Television has immense impact: No other medium can ever complete with TV as far as effective presentation is concerned. It attracts attention immediately. Computer graphics have made it still more effective. It arouses interest in the product. In print ads, these two steps require deliberation. Here it comes spontaneously. TV commercials and sponsored programmes are impactful; even when the viewer is temporarily not before the set.

2. Excellent Quality of Production: TV’s sponsored programmes and DD programmes have been improving in terms of quality content wise as well as product wise consistently over a period of time.

The agency exercises overall supervision. We have cadre of TV producers now. Sometimes the movie Moghuls themselves produce a TV serial (e.g. Sagar produced Ramayana and B. R. Copra the Mahabharat). So skilled hands handle this medium. Some sponsored programmes are lavishly made. They do a lot of outdoor shooting. But most of the programmes are indoor shot programmes.

3. Retailers also watch TV: Both consumers and distributors are TV viewers. The retailers might miss out the ads in print media. But they are exposed to TV ads. Thus, they feel inclined to stock these products. Nand Kishore Khanna & Sons, a local firm making Homacol liquid soap has definitely improved its distribution after TV advertising. The single medium does a double job.

4. It is a Comprehensive Technique: In TV, there is a unique blend of sight, color, movement, sound, timing, repetition and presentation in the home. Put together it has more attributes than any other medium. It, therefore, produces quick results. Only the product should be a nationally marketed consumer product.

5. Evocation of Experience: it stimulates the experience of using and owning the product.

6. Demonstration: Product benefits can be shown most effectively by TV. Benefits may accrue over a period of time. But by using the technique of time compression, product benefits can be shown in a 10 second spot.

7. Animation: It is possible to vest the product/logo with human qualities. Animated characters do not alienate us.

8. Image Building: TV succeeds in building a powerful image of the company and its products. It can also project an image of the users rendering it excellent for life-style advertising.

9. Emotional Content: TV triggers off nostalgia, tenderness, generosity kindness and such other emotions. The special effects enhance the impact. ‘You have to be extremely genuine on TV’.

Special Demerits of TV Ads

1. It takes time to produce commercials and sponsored programmes: This medium requires planning and deliberation. The consent for sponsorship is hard to come by. It lacks the flexibility of press and radio. If not rightly produced, the ads look very crude. But once produced as per our requirements, these ads can be repeated over a period of time (Nirma ad).

2. It is a transient medium: Here the commercial flickers for a few seconds and goes off the air. We work over hard with insistent jingles and repeated sales message. Sometimes, the commercial is repeated frequently. TV ads alone may not be sufficient. They need supportive ads in other media. More than one or two spots are necessary to be as noticeable as one insertion in print.

3. Time gap to purchasing: If TV advertisement sinks into the mind, it is okay. But otherwise, a mind that is well prepared for buying a certain product cannot do so immediately because there is a night to go by and only next morning the action can be taken. By that time, we might not have kept the product in mind. The ‘buy now’ pressure exerted on the TV viewers is totally wasted because the stimulus is often lost by the following morning. This is one of the reasons why TV needs a very high frequency to sustain the impact.

4. An immobile medium: Radio can be listened to either in car or while walking. Newspapers are read in locals, in offices and at many other locations. Right now, TV is watched only at home. It requires a captive audience. It penetrates the home. This is an advantage as well as a disadvantage.

5. Difficult to gain enquiries: TV restricts itself to typical purchases. Detailed enquiries cannot come. It is difficult to note either the telephone number or the address. Another major problem is that too much is compressed in a TV commercial lasting for a few seconds. It is easy to digest and is easily assimilated and absorbed. At first viewing, there is novelty. But on absorption, this wears off. On repeated viewing, it becomes monotonous. Everything is anticipated. This problem can be overcome if we can serialize a commercial. It is better to produce several less ambitious films than to produce one super production. Slight changes make all the difference in results.

6. Time Constraint: In a few seconds, we can put forward only one selling proposition.

7. Production Costs: Cost of producing a commercial is high as compared to costs of the print production. The paying capacity of the client, the prevailing rates in the market, the nature of the product, and the commercial values of the programme that accompanies the commercial determine the final production cost.

8. Hardware Capability: The T.V. set of the viewer and its technical capability determine the overall impact of the commercial. Cinema can afford the luxury of long shots, but not a T.V commercial. All commercials should be tested in real life situations, mostly on portable B & W sets. The colour reproduction is controlled in the print media, but on colour T.V. set the capability of the set itself determines the colour reproduction.

9. Statutory Controls: T.V. commercials have to conform to a broadcast code strictly.

10. Fragmentation of Audiences: All channels have a diversity of programmes to attract viewers. They intend to penetrate the viewers of other channels by a diverse programme mix. Thus channels penetration at the same time gives programme options. This naturally leads to fragmentation of audiences and lower regularities of viewer ship. It is difficult to convey a message in such a situation. It can prove a blessing in disguise for the print media. The relationship with T.V. is extremely flirtatious.

11. Effect of Clutter: the viewer ship of commercials is less than the viewer ship of the programme which accompanies them. The lengthier the chain of commercials, the less is the viewer ship. Several studies in India have shown that the total audience for commercial for an average T.V. programme is substantially lower than that of the programme, sometimes below over 50 per cent. The figure is further eroded due to large passive audiences of the total commercial audience. The duration of a commercial does not seem to play a significant role in brand name recall. Top rate programmes on any channels have high clutter leading to poor and recall.

 

Factors affecting the choice of Television are as follows

1. Television Rating Point: 

TV advertisers’ evaluate the medium according to the delivery of certain target audiences. In the case of networks and large affiliates, advertisers tend to look for exposure to fairly broad audience segments. The basic measure of television is the rating point. The rating expressed as a percentage of some population (Usually TV households), gives the advertiser a measure of coverage based on the potential of the market.

2. Share of audience:

 Percentage of radio or television sets tuned to a particular station or channel during a given period. Formula: TV rating x 100 ÷ Number of TV sets.

The share is defined as the percentage of households using television that are watching a particular show. It is used by advertisers to determine how a show is doing against its direct competition.

3. Up-Front and scatter Buys:

Up-Front Buys: a term indicating that an advertiser has purchased advertising for the coming broadcast year in an early buying season, typically for the benefit of lower rates and CPM guarantees. Purchase of TV time by advertisers during the first offering for the coming season by networks. Media buyers purchasing the slots in advance.

Among the major up-front trends are:

a. Greater demand for time

b. Agency using computer models called optimizers which provides additional data to major prime-time advertisers, which gives them confidence to spread their budget.

c. Globalization

d. Special events

Scatter Buys: The up-front season is followed by a second phase known as scatter plan buys. Scatter plans are usually bought on a quarterly basis or on an Ad-hoc or as and when required throughout the year.

They are designed for larger advertisers who want to take advantage of changing marketing conditions or, more often, for smaller advertisers who are shut out of upfront buys. Generally, scatter plans will sell at a higher CPM than up-front spots because there is less time inventory and smaller advertisers do not have the leveraged to negotiate the CPM levels of larger networks.

4. Spot Television or Spot Buys

When national advertisers buy from local or regional stations, the practice is known as spot television or spot buys. I.e. purchase of time from a local or regional station, in contrast to purchasing from a national network.

The term comes from the fact that advertisers are spotting their advertising in certain markets as contrasted to the blanket coverage offered by network schedules.

The primary disadvantages of spot television are that it requires a great deal more planning and paperwork than National Network since each market must be bought on a one-to-one basis and it’s more costly on a CPM basis than National Network buys.

Primary purpose for Spot Buys:

1. To allow network advertisers to provide additional GRP’s in those markets with the greatest sales potential.

2. To provide businesses with less than national or uneven distribution, a means of avoiding waste circulation incurred by network Television.

3. Spot buys allow network advertisers to control for uneven network ratings on a market-by-market basis.

4. National advertisers can use spot to support retails and provide localization for special marketing circumstances.

5. Negotiation:

Negotiation is the key to the Television buying. Since each advertising package is unique to a particular advertiser, there are no rate cards for network television advertising. In Negotiation process advertisers negotiate for time across a number of Television options.

6. Pre-emption rate:

A considerable portion of spot TV advertising time is sold on a preemptible (lower-rate) basis, whereby the advertiser gives the station the right to sell a time slot to another advertiser that may pay a better rate for it or that has a package deal for which that particular spot is needed

7. Run of Schedule (ROS)

An advertiser can earn a lower rate by permitting a channel to run commercials at its convenience whenever time is available rather than in a special position.

8. Product protection:

Every advertiser wants to keep the advertising of competitive products as far away from its commercials as possible. This brings up the question of what protection against competition an ad will get. Although some station say that they will try to keep competing commercials 5 to 10 minutes apart, and guarantee that they will not run them back to back.

9. Stripping:

A program scheduled at the same time each day, typically Monday-Friday.. Scheduling a syndicated program on a five-day-per-week basis. That is, they will run “Balika Vadu” or “any television content”, Monday through Friday in the same time slot. This practice is called stripping since the show is stripped across a time period. It is cost efficient to buy fewer shows for multi-showings and allows a station to build a consistent audience for selling commercials to potential advertisers. Channels do not want huge rating or audience composition swings from one day to another.

 

Difference between SOA and rating point system

• SOA: No of people who have switched on to a TV.

 Total households watching TV x 100 /Total TV Households

 

• Rating Point: No of people who have switched onto a TV Prog

Total household watching a particular prog x 100 /Total TV Households

Ref: Dr. Hanif Lakdawala's Media Planning & Buying Notes