Types of TV Media Buy
To appreciate the value of a particular TV media buy, we have grouped TV stations into 3 categories. Furthermore, we analyzed their rates based on their coverage. The three categories are:
- National TV Media Buy: These TV stations are either cable networks or national super-stations. (To illustrate, we’ll use Nickelodeon at 1:30 a.m. on weekdays which costs $12,500.)
- Primary TV Media Buy: These are local broadcast TV stations in major cities with at least one million TV homes. (We’ll use WPGH, the FOX affiliate in Pittsburgh, at 1:30 a.m. on weekdays which costs $900.)
- Secondary TV Media Buy: These are local Broadcast TV Stations in smaller or secondary cities, with usually less than 500,000 TV homes. (We’ll use WWAT, an independent in Columbus, Ohio at 1:30 a.m. on weekdays which costs $150.)
Charting rates and reach of each station yields the following:
TV Group Rate TV homes CPM*
Nationals > $12,500 > 63 Million > 0.20
Primary > $900 > 1.2 million > 0.75
Secondary > $150 > 350,000 > 0.43
*The acronym CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand (M stands for Mil, on the preceding table, if all the potential viewers being reached by each station were watching that station at that time, it would cost you 20 cents to reach every 1,000 viewers watching a widely subscribed to cable network. Or 75 cents for a primary station. Or 43 cents in a secondary market.
Although it seems obvious that you may want to split your media secondary markets, often this is not possible. Here are some of the reasons:
- Airtime on national stations is hard to come by. The reason nfor this is that fewer than 20 cable networks and super-stations fall into this category. In addition, most available infomercial time has already been purchased or is controlled by major media brokers and infomercial production houses.
- In the test market stage, it is unwise to invest a lot of money in national tv media buys. It is better to spread your budget over a string of secondary markets to get a better feel for viewer feedback.
- Finally, finding good secondary markets involves a fair amount of research. It is best to deal with media brokers who specialize in this category.
Airtime Testing
Always test your media on an OTO (one-time-only) basis. Even Fortune 500 companies with multimillion-dollar budgets always test their products and the media where they are placed. No one can accurately predict the outcome of an untested campaign. For this reason, we recommend that you lay out a sensible test campaign and evaluate the results accordingly.
Infomercial Approvals
As soon as the first draft of your infomercial is completed, make several copies and send one to each station you are considering. But before you send any tape for approval, contact the station to confirm that they have available airtime. The approval process can take anywhere from a day to a month, depending on who you know and the overall attitude at that station.
Media Brokers
Media brokers are independent companies that sell airtime for stations nationwide. Stations pay these brokers a commission based on the cost of airtime purchases. A good recommendation for an
experienced Media Broker is www.GoDRTV.com with the ability
to purchase National Media reaching up to 99,000,000 households
for as low as $250 per :60 second airings.
Brokers come in all shapes and sizes depending on the type of TV stations they represent and their volume of business. In some cases, brokers who buy a lot of media time have better pricing leverage. Therefore two brokers may have different rates for the same time slot at the same station.
Testing by Zip Code
If your tv media buy is sensitive to demographics, one method of buying will deliver precision, especially if you buy from cable service companies on a local basis.
From Beverly Hills to the Bronx, expanding your geographic exposure is as easy as qualifying the socio-economic profiles of you audience. Marketers now use ZIP codes to identify the geographic distribution of their potential viewers. As a result of markets becoming more segmented, a new method of categorizing American neighborhoods is gaining ground.
The Clustering of America. This is a book by Michael J. Weiss which dissects different lifestyles in contemporary America based on the U.S. Postal Service’s Zone Improvement Plan.
The 5 digits of your zip code can tell a
marketer what you ate for breakfast.
Weiss explains that your ZIP code, which actually represents the community where your live, reveals a lot about the people who live within its boundaries. As a result, Marketers use your 5 digit ZIP to figure out the kinds of magazines you read, what you eat for breakfast, and the brand of toothpaste you are likely to use. Marketers are even using ZIP codes to decide what kind of celebrity to use in their advertising.
Do you need marketing for your Product?
If you are looking for a infomercial production company with a long track record of successful outings on Television, contact GoDRTV at 800.507.0159 or shoot us an email at info@GoDRTV.
Infomercial Production Services:
1. Infomercial Production
2. TV Commercial Production
3. Direct-response media buy
4. Outdoor Media
5. Corporate Video Production
6. Call Center
7. Studio
