They Look the Same On Your Wide Screen…

…But There’s a Wide Range of Difference Between Broadcast and Cable.

Many advertisers, without good counsel, often see no difference between Network and Cable television advertising. The differences are real and good advice is not only valuable, but indispensable. The Audio and the Video in your commercial spot is where the similarities end.

Broadcast television and cable television each have about half of all viewership. That means that the broadcast viewing audience is divided into 5, sometimes 6 different segments depending on the number of networks broadcasting into the market. Cable, on the other hand, even on the most basic package offers hundreds of channel choices. That means your potential viewers media selections in each is divided by 5 or 6 in the broadcast half or by 150+ in the cable segment. Targeting is far more challenging in the cable Universe.

In addition, the broadcast universe is sold and viewed by the entire marketing area (DMA) and cable is most commonly sold in far smaller geo-specific areas called systems. Most counties are broken down into 5 or 6 different geo-systems. Cable is far less expensive on a commercial spot basis, but for that cost advantage, advertisers receive far fewer potential viewers. If your business is a single point location that services a relatively small market, the cost advantage that cable offers can be very efficient. if your business serves a larger geography or has multiple locations those efficiencies offered by cable can become deficiencies.

Cable provides a great “frequency” builder, because of its cost advantage, but for larger geographies and multiple points of sale, those frequencies cost a great deal of reach, for reasons identified in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this blog. Building reach at a robust rated is indispensable  in evaluating the effectiveness of your advertising message, in a reasonable amount of time.

There are more differences between Broadcast television and Cable television that I will visit in the future. In the meantime, get solid counsel and advice and don’t get caught in a decision without knowing that there are indeed differences that you don’t see on your wide screen.

Tags: Advertising, Television

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 9:47 am and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.