When you ask someone what their favorite advertisement is, chances are they will first list off their favorite TV commercials. TV commercials are a big deal to a lot of people. Every year I hear people state that the only reason they watch the super bowl is for the commercials and advertisers realize this. A 30-second advertisement to air during the Super Bowl costs $4 million, yet large companies are happy to pay this for their ad to be seen by the over 100 million viewers that the Super Bowl attracts. Most years multiple commercials that air during the Super Bowl are remembered. One of my favorites is the GoPro Dubstep Baby commercial that aired at Super Bowl XLVII (2013). This commercial, shown below, shows off the GoPro cameras capabilities by attaching it to a baby who is thrown in the air creating quite an entertaining visual.
Pros and Cons
Beside the mass coverage that TV commercials can reach there are a few perks of TV commercials
- They have a relatively low cost per exposure
- Advertisers can request when and with what programs they want their commercial to air and ,in this way, can target potential costumers more easily
- They have the potential to be as creative as one wants them to be
- They can have great impact. No other medium can show and demonstrate how a product works and its uses like TV can
- The initial production cost of the typical TV commercial is very high, sometimes costing over $1 million.
- A 30 second commercial is not always enough to make a consumer remember your product
- A lot goes on during one TV program including the show, credits, possible news interruptions, and others commercials. It is heard for ones commercial to be heard with so much going on.
- Viewers using a DVR can simply fast forward over commercials.
Buying Television Time
When buying television time, companies typically look at the cost per rating point (calculated by dividing the cost by the rating) or the cost per thousand (calculated by dividing the cost by the amount of thousands of people). Prices are normally negotiable. One common way of getting a better price is taking advantage of a preemption rate. A preemption rate simply states that if another advertiser pays a higher rate then the original advertiser will get bumped. Other ways of negotiation include working out a package deal or accepting run-of-schedule positioning.
