This review of media choices is for your own edification. Use leading questions in the data gathering stage to determine dissatisfaction with any of their current media choices. “Is (name an OOH attribute) important to you?” “Does (name a competing media weakness) frustrate you?” Many OOH companies teach reps to sell against other media. Do not take direct aim at a prospect’s media choices as a way of winning business. Get the prospect excited about your ideas. They will decide where to get the money.
Local Broadcast Television:
Strengths.
- Status/glamour (depending on the show)
- Ego gratification (advertisers love to see/be in their own TV ad!)
- Great creative platform
- Multi-demographic
- Ad length flexibility
- Uniform ad platforms/lengths across markets
- Attention grabbing
- Combination of sight and sound
- Wide audience reach over a large geographic area
- Proven/accepted direct-response media
- Accepted media for co-op tag advertising
Weaknesses:
- Often requires 2 to 5 television stations to achieve 100 weekly GRP across a market
- Advertiser’s share of voice on TV is diluted because they only get a portion of the ad time in a given hour (30 seconds, 60 seconds, etc.)
- Run competitors in the same ad break, especially at peak times
- Viewership is the worst when weather is the nicest in most markets
- Have to buy multiple programs to reach multiple demographics
- Hard to reach some important demographics: Millennials, Soccer-Moms, etc.
- Ads overpriced based on a cost per thousand comparison
- A lot of fringe time placement in an ad “package”
- High production costs
- Requires long lead time to implement a campaign or change/update copy.
- Impossible to make the message “real time”
- Audiences are declining/migrating to digital
- DVR ‘s/ad hopping software and shift to digital platforms make it very easy to watch your favorite show with no/minimal ads
- Viewers take breaks/ leave the room when an advertiser’s ad is aired
- Preemption, if a new advertiser pays a higher rate, the current advertiser could be “preempted”. This is especially troubling during election cycles when political advertisers (by law) take precedent over traditional advertisers.
How can OOH capitalize on local broadcast TV:
- OOH is a media that consumers are migrating “to” and not “from”
- OOH ads are not skippable, can’t change the channel
- OOH delivers 52 weeks a year even during the nicest weather months when TV is at its weakest
- OOH delivers 24/7 share of ad voice on each printed unit.
- Real time messaging (with DOOH)
- Can singularly achieve 100 weekly GRPS
- Reach every demographic and for the same dollar
- Low cost per thousand impressions
- Gratifies advertiser’s ego better than any other media
- Highly creative ads create buzz, street talk, and social media posts amplifying the reach at no extra cost
- No pre-emptions, even during election cycles!
- (mostly with DOOH) can be a powerful co-op ad medium
- Can achieve direct-response results equal or better than any other media
Next week pros and cons of local cable TV advertising.
Kevin Gephart spent 35+ years selling advertising including 12 years at Clear Channel Outdoor in Minneapolis. Have an opinion or comment on this column or a topic you’d like addressed. Email kevinjgephart@gmail.com or use the form below.
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