Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Media Selection Scheduling
Media Selection Scheduling
Media selection is also called media planning. Media plan decides how advertising time
and space in various media will be used to achieve the advertising objectives and marketing objectives of
the company. The basic goal of media plan is to find out that combination of media which enables the
advertiser to communicate the ad-message in the most effective manner at lower cost. An advertising
plan is decided by the advertiser to achieve advertising objectives. Advertising objectives are decided
keeping in view the marketing objectives of the company. Media plan is based on advertising plan. In
other words media plan is a part of the overall advertising plan. In media plan following main media
decisions are taken:
Selecting suitable media to serve the advertiser’s need i.e., selecting media which can reach the
target audience.
Selecting best combination of mix of media which is within the advertiser’s ad-budget.
Selecting most suitable media schedules.
Media planning helps to control wastage in advertising. It ensures the optimum utilization of resources
spent on advertising.
Definition:
According to Fryburger, “Media–planning involves selecting appropriate media for carrying
advertising message to target audience and deciding how much to spend on each media and scheduling
when the advertisement is to run.”
“Media-planning is a decision process regarding use of advertising time and space to assist in the
achievement of marketing objectives.” -- Wells Burnett
2) Nature of customers: an appropriate media plan must be considered in its type, no. of
consumers, for whom the advertising is to be done. Different consumers differ in the age group, sex,
incomes, personality, educational level, attitude etc.
6) Size of ad-budget: if amount of advertisement budget is more, then costly media like
television, national dailies, and popular magazines can be selected.
7) Media reach and coverage: such media should be selected which has wider reach and
can cover out target customers.
8) Media cost: advertiser should compare the cost of each media by considering the no. of
audience covered by such media. It is possible that a media seems to be costly, but if it can cover large
no. of audience, then cost per audience will be less.
Media scheduling
MEDIA SCHEDULING
Every advertiser wants to issue more advertisements to target audience to remind them of
products or services provided by him. But, advertisement budget puts a limitation on advertiser. For
optimum use of money available for advertising, appropriate media scheduling is done. Media
scheduling refers to decision regarding date or time when advertisement is to appear, frequency of ads
etc. Media scheduling starts after selection of media and media-mix. The advertiser will decide the no.
of advertisements to be given in a specified period of time in each media, i.e., he will decide the time-
gap in different advertisements and size of advertisements.
1) Continuous Option: Under this strategy advertisement will run throughout the year. The
amount of advertising budget is divided equally among different months. This strategy is usually used
for the products which are sold during the year and for products of daily use. For example, for tooth
paste, shampoo, soaps, etc., continuous-option is adopted. In this strategy, advertising is done on a
regular pattern without gaps i.e., there is no non- advertising period. This strategy helps the advertiser in
constantly reminding the target audience about its product. But in this strategy, advertising is not
decided on the basis of actual requirements; rather ad-expenditure is spread evenly throughout the year.
It may result in over advertising in a period when less advertising is required and under advertising in a
period when more advertising is required.
2) Flighting option: This strategy refers to advertising in time gaps. At some time periods,
there is heavy advertising and at other time there is no advertising, i.e., advertising in a certain period
and advertising not at all in another period. This strategy is adopted by companies selling seasonal and
festival related products like air conditioners, woolen garments, crackers, etc. In this strategy,
advertising is done in accordance with purchase cycles. Here, continuous advertising is not done; rather
advertising is done in flights. This will reduce advertisement expenses.
3) Pulsing option: In this strategy advertisement will run throughout the year. But at certain
time period; ad expenses will be less and at other time period, ad expenses will be more. In this option
continuity of advertising is made, but the amount of ad expenses is not same throughout the year. In this
option there is no ‘non-advertising period’.
This option removes the limitations of continuous option and flighting option. This is better
than the first 2. In media scheduling strategies, pulse rate of advertisement is also decided. Pulse rate
refers to the time gap between 2 advertisements. Pulse rate can be any one of the following:
Seasonal pulse: ad is released more frequently in seasonal months and less in off-seasons.
Start up pulse: more frequent advertising is done at the time of launching a new product
or service and then frequency of ads are reduced to normal levels.
Special pulse: these ads are spaced irregularly, i.e., very heavy advertising is done in a
particular period of time and less advertising in other time periods.
Nature of products
Nature of target audience
Stage of Product Life Cycle
Competitor’s scheduling
Advertising budget
Rating of different T.V. programmes
Government policies