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Factors that Effect the Cost of TV Advertising
There are numerous factors that determine the cost of advertising on TV. Here is a brief outline of the main variants:-
- Transmission time
Otherwise known as ‘dayparts’, the time of day you advertise effects the price you pay as audience profile and size changes throughout the clock. Peak is the most sought-after time (1730-2300) as more people watch. Day time and late night have less demand for the reverse reason. However, certain dayparts are better suited to certain types of campaigns. Post-pub is a great time to catch young men whereas daytime works best for direct response (when people are more alert and willing to act. - Programming
Programmes that command large, or high profile audiences are generally more expensive to advertise in that those that have smaller, more downmarket viewers. Programmes that are in high demand are often given ‘special’ status and a premium is charged to advertisers wishing to utilize them. Examples of specials might be films, sporting events and high rating dramas such as Lost. - Time of year
The season can also effect viewing levels, for example, more people watch in winter when there’s less appetite to spend time outside. Traditionally, autumn proves expensive (in the run-up to Christmas when demand is high) whilst July and August cost less (as people holiday and spend more time outside.) - Commercial time length
The length of an ad also effects the price. A 60” ad will cost twice as much as a 30” (the most popular timelength) which will cost around twice as much as a 10”. - Target audience
Audiences that are in plentiful supply through a channel’s schedule are generally cheaper than those that are harder to access. For example, it would be much cheaper to buy an All Adults schedule than one aimed at women between the ages of 16 and 34. - Regionality
The terrestrial broadcasters provide the option of advertising regionally (to a greater or lesser degree depending on the station) or nationally. Obviously, a regional campaign will not hit as many people as one that runs across the whole country and this is reflected in the cost. However, some regions are more expensive than others. For example, to hit 100,000 25-44 year olds in London would cost more than reaching the same number in Scotland as generally, London viewers consume less TV.
Have you seen this?
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With the arrival of Europe’s first 3D channel in UK homes, and people starting to enjoy a new immersive viewing experience, we take a roundup of who’s doing what in the world of 3D TV and look at how advertisers can engage with it at the moment. -
Over the past few years we've been out and about with cameras and lights, filming award-winning brand stories from the IPA Effectiveness Awards, the Thinkbox TV planning Awards and elsewhere. These bite-size documentaries are a rare chance to hear from some of the advertisers and agencies responsible for these inspiring and effective campaigns. Recent additions to our ‘case studies on film' gallery include Audi, PG Tips, Tesco, Orange and Tobacco Control. Here are some quick links for you; they’re well worth a look. -
This film, with Robin Wight, President of Engine and Laurence Green, Chairman of Fallon, tells the story of the transformation of fledgling 'Hutchison Microtel' into the multinational success story that is Orange today, creating a whole new style of advertising along the way. The original case study at the heart of this film has been voted by past conveners as one of the very best case studies from 30 years of the IPA Effectiveness Awards: these are brilliant campaigns that still have much to teach us about planning effective communications today. If you want to find out more about the power of emotional advertising, great brand building or the direct effect advertising can have on shareholder value, then this is a must see. -
This film looks at PG Tips marketing communications from its launch to the present day and features contributions from Paul Feldwick, Consultant; Nigel Jones, UK Group Chairman and Chief Executive, Publicis: Les Binet, European Director, DDB Matrix and Dylan Williams, Partner & Head of Strategy, Mother, amongst others. It explores DDB’s Grand Prix winning paper from the 1990 IPA Effectiveness Awards; which has been voted by past and present Convenors of Judges as one of the very best case studies in the IPA Databank. The brand’s enduring success story is bought up to date by Mother, who tell us about the thinking behind their current Al & Monkey campaign. If you want to find out more about added value; brand resilience; commanding a price premium; the value of consistency in both share of voice and creativity, then this film is well worth a look. And of course, it’s packed with classic ads too. -
This film tells the story of Audi's advertising from 1981 – when Audi became the first piece of business that BBH won – to 2007, a period in which an overhauled communications strategy delivered a payback of £7.50 for every £1 spent alongside creating the UK's fastest growing prestige car brand. Contributors on film include Peter Duffy, Head of Marketing, Audi UK, Sir John Hegarty, Worldwide Creative Director, BBH and Fiona Walford, Director, Mediacom. The original case study at the heart of this film has been voted by past conveners as one of the very best case studies from 30 years of the IPA Effectiveness Awards. If you work in the automotive sector, or would just like to explore the link between continuity, creativity and effectiveness, then this is well worth a look. "Vorsprung durch Technik", as they say in Germany. -
This research, commissioned by Thinkbox and the IPA, and undertaken by independent marketing consultant Peter Field, analysed the correlation between campaigns' performance across a wide range of the worlds' most respected creative awards determined by The Gunn Report, and their performance in hard business terms recorded in the IPA Effectiveness Awards Databank. Updated in 2011, the analysis now covers 435 campaigns over a sixteen year period between 1994 and 2010. It reveals a direct correlation between strong advertising creativity and business success, and that high levels of creativity make advertising campaigns some 12 times more efficient at increasing a brand’s market share. Here you can find out about the project’s background, read the management summary and download the IPA’s full report. -
Product placement has been on our screens for some years, appearing within acquired programming from overseas or as legitimate prop provision. Since February 2011, British films, TV series, entertainment shows and sports programmes made for UK audiences have also been able to contain product placement as long as they comply with Ofcom’s rules. Here you can find out more about this new TV opportunity, including an overview of what you can and can’t do with it. -
This Grand Prix award-winning case study on film, from the 2009 IPA Effectiveness Awards, shows how a new marketing programme generated significant returns at a time when competitors were concentrating on price. The 'Let's Grow' campaign was a voucher redemption scheme, providing schools with gardening equipment and seeds, and encouraging both teachers and children to enjoy growing their own food. Communications included a partnership programme with schools and then a national campaign to consumers, featuring TV, print and DM among others. In its first year, 85% of primary schools registered, 39 million vouchers have been redeemed and Let's Grow has generated payback of £21.57 per every £1 spent. -
Argos and ITV have come up with a clever piece of ad innovation to launch the Argos catalogue. It involves contextual ads across a range of ITV programming and a competition spot in Emmerdale that references the broadcast content. This was all part of a campaign designed by media agency Mindshare to encourage people to interact with the catalogue and is the first time ITV has ever made soap scripts available ahead of time for a brand. You can read more about it, see how the ad looked in the Emmerdale break and view the other contextual ads here. -
We’ve just given our Nickable Quotes page a complete overhaul. This section is a treasure trove of brilliant things said by brilliant people from our industry with lots of new material and an updated search function. You can jump to a category by using the drop down menu, select quotes from a particular industry legend, pop a key word into the search box or simply have a poke around at your leisure. -
The case studies section of the Thinkbox website is one of our most visited and valued online resources. There’s lots of good stuff there, but you can’t have too much of a good thing. So, if you’ve worked on an inspiring or effective campaign that you’d like to see featured, we’d love to hear from you. Here you can get the low down on the information you need to provide, how we would go about researching and writing up your case study, and also who to talk to about making it happen. -
This film tells the story of HSBC’s ‘The world’s local bank’ and how a powerful brand idea helped the bank establish a strong global identity, generating an estimated incremental growth of $69.87 billion worldwide between 2002 and 2008. Based on an award winning paper from 2010 IPA Effectiveness awards, it includes contributions on film from Chris Clark, Global Head of Marketing HSBC, Ian MacDonald, Head of Brand and Advertising, HSBC, Axel Chaldecott, Global Creative Director at JWT and Ben Brown, Global Account Director at Mindshare Worldwide. If you work in the financial sector or would just like to find out more about successful Global advertising campaigns then this is well worth a look.