Meaning of Media

In mass communication, media are the communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver
information or data. The term refers to components of the mass media communications industry,
such as print media, publishing, the news media, photography, cinema, broadcasting (radio and
television), digital media, and advertising.

The development of early writing and paper enabling longer-distance communication systems
such as mail, including in the Persian Empire and Roman Empire, which can be interpreted as
early forms of media. Writers such as Howard Rheingold have framed early forms of human
communication as early forms of media, such as the Lascaux cave paintings and early writing.
Another framing of the history of media starts with the Chauvet Cave paintings and continues
with other ways to carry human communication beyond the short range of voice: smoke signals,
trail markers, and sculpture.

The Term media in its modern application relating to communication channels was first used by
Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan, who stated in Counterblast (1954): “The
media are not toys; they should not be in the hands of Mother Goose and Peter Pan executives.
They can be entrusted only to new artists because they are art forms.” By the mid-1960s, the
term had spread to general use in North America and the United Kingdom. The phrase “mass
media” was, according to H.L. Mencken, used as early as 1923 in the United States.

The term “medium” (the singular form of “media”) is defined as “one of the means or channels of
general communication, information, or entertainment in society, as newspapers, radio, or
television.”

Media simply refers to a vehicle or means of message delivery system to carry an ad message
to a targeted audience. Media like TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor and Internet are instruments to
convey an advertising message to the public.

Features of Media

Over the years, the impact of mass communication has increased drastically because of the
improvements made.

● It communicates a public message.

● It can appeal to a wide target audience.
● There’s a distance between a source of information and people who obtain it.
● It has a heterogeneous audience.
● It can be transmitted through various channels, such as tv, the internet, radio, and
newspapers.
● News or information communicated through tv, radio, and print media can’t receive
feedback.
 ● Mass media in written, spoken, or broadcast forms has a significant impact on the
masses. Commercials on TV, billboards, and social media platforms allow brands to
build brand awareness.
● Companies search for the most effective ways to convey their message when it comes
to branding, including sites, social media channels, blogs, and forums.
● When they find the right type of mass media channel for their businesses, they can
communicate their ideas and conduct branding campaigns.
● Mass media informs, educates, and entertains people in a wide variety of ways. Brands
can educate users to get the most of their products.
● The majority of companies now use social media platforms, create blog posts on their
sites, and launch commercials on YouTube to describe their best features, the problems
their products can solve, and provide step-by-step guides.

Meaning of Media Planning

Media planning that requires knowledge of both marketing and mass communication skills is the
process of determining deals with the biggest portion of the advertiser’s budget in terms of cost
for buying placement of advertisement.

Media planning refers to an analytical method for making media decisions, and describes the
process of taking the message across to the target audience at the right time and place, and
using the right media vehicle.

Media planning is the process of identifying and selecting media outlets mainly newspapers,
magazines, websites, TV and radio stations, and outdoor placement in which to place paid
advertisements. The person responsible for evaluating the many media options and strategizing
campaigns to support a particular product, service, or brand is called a media planner. Media
planners typically are employed by advertising agencies.

Scope of Media planning

Media planning in simpler terms refers to planning each stage of media executions for brand
promotions, product launch, sales push campaigns and allied. The relevance of media planning
varies accordingly based on the selection of integrated media mix such as Newspaper & Radio,
Digital & Out of Home or individual promotional such as on television. Media planning is
extremely important for the following 3 reasons:

Brand Objective: Defining a brand; campaign objective is paramount while considering media
planning. What are we looking to achieve? Is it mere sales promotion or a new product launch
etc. Whom are we going to communicate with? Where is my audience?

Budgets and Reach: A very crucial aspect of determining your ad spends (media spends). If you
cannot measure your spends and reach, you are not doing it right. You will never know where
you ad spends are. Is it even reaching the right audience. i.e. An average 30 seconds
commercial on television on a non-prime time television show can cost you in thousands while
the same ad, which is part of your television campaign can cost you up to a lakh during an IPL,
Prime Time Breaking News or on a top GEC (General Entertainment Channel) show. It is
always a good practice to approach a media planning consultant who take off the burden and
complexity and work along with you and your brand by creating the cost-effective media
solutions which can be monitored and tailored as per your brand’s need.

Measurability & ROI: With technology in today’s times, any advertising spend on media such as
digital or television can be targeted and measured for effective reach and increase in a brand’s
share of voice (among its competitors on the media space). With solutions from Amagi MIX, you
can now create your advertising plan in few minutes. Currently the media solutions are provided
for television, but with geo targeted options, you can now create your regional media plan on
national channels for your geography. You can also speak to their consultant on a possible ROI /
Measurability and define success factors for your ads, while getting one created for your brand
at truly affordable cost.

Media Planning Elements

Media planning is generally outsourced and entails sourcing and selecting optimal media
platforms for a client’s brand or product to use. The goal of media planning is to determine the
best combination of media to achieve the clients objectives.

A media plan consists of:

1) Media objectives which support marketing and advertising objectives (what do we need to
do).

2) Media strategies which outline how to address the media objectives (how are we going to do
it).

3) Media tactics which get into specific media opportunities and execution options (where are
we going to advertise).

4) An evaluation/measurement plan for determining what worked and what didn’t, allowing for
future or ongoing adjustments.

What → How → Where → Improve

The considerations that help shape this plan include:

1) What are the marketing and advertising objectives?

2) What is the competitive situation?

3) What is the budget, and how was it determined?

4) What has been done historically and how well did it work?

5) What are the geographical requirements?

6) Are there any rules/laws as to what audiences or media can be targeted?

7) What additional data is available for consideration?

These considerations are not a comprehensive list. Specific categories of business will have
considerations unique to that business.

Key outputs of a media plan should identify who the target audience is, what their media habits
are, and how to effectively reach them. It should consist of a media investment plan which
discusses best use of the budget in terms of timing, ad types/sizes, and the media mix.

Role of Media in Business

1. Build Brand Awareness

Across different platforms, companies can tell their story, why they provide the services they
offer, and keep audiences updated with customer and employee stories.

If B2B leaders are able to leverage the voice of their employees, they can extend their brand
reach even further. Every employee has a personal network, and each network has potentially
hundreds of contacts. In turn, each of those contacts is connected to hundreds of other people.

2. Generate Leads
Create meaningful conversations and engagement within their target industry by posting videos,
news, data, and interesting trends. Not only do you build credibility with potential customers, but
these strategies can result in gaining leads.

3. Nurture Leads
Selling enables sales professionals to build relationships with leads. By leveraging their thought
leadership pieces, social proofing and other content, they can help potential customers solve
problems. In turn, this allows your sales team to build trust and credibility.

4. Implement Social Listening

Listen to customers and what people are saying about their company. This gives you a chance
to get candid feedback about how others view your brand. It opens a window into improving the
weaker areas of your business while reinforcing aspects that already resonate with people.

5. Connect Social Posts to Opportunities

With the right enterprise solution, leaders can drive customer posts to their CRM to understand
customers more fully.

6. Measure Marketing Efforts

Media platforms and management tools enable you to track key performance metrics (KPIs).
You can even assign a monetary value to organic social media engagement. Earned media
value (EMV) offers an idea of how much organic social engagement and reach would have cost
if you paid in ads.

7. Build Brand Authenticity

Engaging on media gives brands the opportunity to build trust with potential customers, partners
and talent/employees. This is especially true if other people are promoting your brand or
products/services to other people. People are almost three times as likely to trust advice or
recommendations from family and friends than official brand channels.

8. Drive Thought Leadership

Media is a great way to learn about the problems and interests of people. In turn, being on
social gives brands an opportunity to drive thought leadership by solving problems. Create
how-to guides, webinars and other content to help people and, in response, people could trust
your brand as their source for guidance.

9. Increase target Audience

Media allows you to build an audience that believes in your brand and products and services.

10. Build a Community

With planning and engagement, you can build an active community around your brand on social
media. You can leverage employees and customers alike to generate immediate Likes and
Shares for your content so that it reaches new audiences.

11. Generate Unique Content at Scale

Social media communities can also be an excellent source of original and thoughtful content.
User-generated content (UGC) and employee-generated content (EGC) can speak to brands in
authentic ways, but they keep your content publishing pipeline flush with lots of fresh options.

12. Stay Top of Mind With Key People

Spreading thought leadership through media channels is a go-to method of meriting the
attention of decision-makers and other top stakeholders. Leverage webinars, ebooks,
one-pagers, podcasts and other content types to solve problems for other people.

Media Planning Process

The process includes:

Market analysis
Establishing the media objective
Setting the strategy
Implementation
Evaluation and follow-up
Let's look at these steps in more detail.

Market Analysis
Performing a market analysis involves determining who your audience is. The audience is the
number and type of people your advertising targets. The audience can be classified according
to age, sex, income, occupation, etc. Performing this analysis will help you to project costs and
determine the right media for your campaign.

Establishing the Media Objective

The media objective is the goal of the media plan. To establish this objective, you must
determine your goal for reach, frequency, circulation, cost, and penetration. Reach is the
amount of people the message is in front of over a period of time. Frequency is the average
number of times the message is in front of those people. Circulation is used for printed
advertisements. This is the number of prints that are produced and sent out. Cost is broken
down into two different sections: cost per thousand (CPM) and cost per person (CPP). It is
important to understand the cost as you are budgeting. The cost will tell you which form of
media is the best option for your business. Penetration is the number of audience members
reached by the advertising. The company must determine if it wants to take over a market or
just reach a certain group prior to setting the penetration goals and strategies.

Setting the Strategy

Now that you understand who you are marketing to and how much it will cost you, you will need
to make a decision about what type of media you will use. Some options include Internet,
television, radio, newspaper, consumer and business publications, and interactive media
platforms. Which option reaches the largest audience? How often will it reach the audience?
Does it fit in your budget?

Implementation
Now you have a plan. Now it's time to set it in motion. This is when you buy media. Media
buying is the purchasing of the space in the selected media. This involves committing to the
media provider, submitting the ad, and paying the bill. This is the exciting part. You see all your
hard work come together.

Evaluation and Follow-up

After everything is said and done, it is time to see how successful your media plan was. To do
so, you need to follow-up and evaluate the results. Ask yourself, 'Did we meet media
objectives? How successful were the strategies?' The success of this media plan will determine
future media plans.
Impact of Marketing Objectives on Media Planning

Media planning includes all such decisions like selecting appropriate media, appropriate media
mix and deciding the scheduling of advertisement. All these decisions help the organization in
achieving advertising objectives, i.e., to communicate the message to target audience and thus
to promote sales.

Media planning includes the answer to following 5 Ws:

Which: Which media is to be picked for communicating with our target audience? i.e., identifying
suitable media-mix.
When: When the ad is to be issued? i.e., deciding month, day, time of ad.
What: What type of message should be communicated? i.e., the message is informative or
demonstrative in nature.
Whom: Whom does a marketer want to reach? i.e., identifying target audience (potential
customers).
Where: Where are potential customers located? i.e., identifying geographical area.

Factors Influencing Media Planning Decisions

(a) Internal Factors: Internal factors are those factors which are directly related to company like
size of company, advertising budget, size of organization, distribution strategy of organization,
potential market area etc. Advertising budget is very important factor, while selecting media
planning. If size of ad-budget is more, then costly media like T.V. can be selected. If size of ad
budget is small, the cheap media will be selected.

(b) External Factors: External factors includes media coverage, media image, media adopted by
competitors etc. while selecting the media, the advertiser must consider the media selected by
competitors and leaders of that industry. Along with cost of various media should be compared.

Media planning is a continuous process. Data used in media planning is affected by external
environment factors, these environment factors may change at any time. For example, if at
present a particular T.V. programme is very popular, but soon its popularity may decline with the
launch of another popular T.V. programme at the same time in another T.V. channel. So, the
viewership of first T.V. programme may decline. Similarly, other environment factors viz.
competitors’ media strategy may change. These fast-changing environment factors may render
the media planning less effective.

Nature of Product:

Product to be advertised can be industrial/technical product or consumer product.

Industrial/technical products can better be advertised in specific trade- journals/magazines.
Consumer products can be better advertised through mass media such as television,
newspaper, outdoor advertising etc. Similarly, products for farmers like fertilizers, seeds etc. can
be advertised in T.V., radio, wall painting, etc.

Distribution of Product:

If the product is to be distributed locally or regionally, then media with local coverage and reach
should be considered like local newspaper, cable-network, etc. If product is distributed on
national level, then media with national coverage like national dailies (newspaper), national-level
T.V. channels will be suitable. If the product is to be sold at international level, then media
having reach and circulation in foreign countries will be effective e.g. internet, magazines with
circulation in foreign countries, T.V. channels having international coverage like B.B.C., CNN
should be considered.

Nature of Customers:

An appropriate media plan must consider the type or number of consumers, for whom
advertising is to be done. Different consumers differ in their age-group, sex, income, personality,
educational level, attitude etc. On the basis of consumer traits, consumer groups can be- men,
women, children, young, old, professional, businessmen, high income group, middle-income
group, low-income group, Literate, illiterate, etc.

Some of the consumer traits affecting media selection are described below:

(a) Age: For advertising for kids-products, television is the best for communicating message. In
T.V. ad can be given in cartoon channels. If target audience is young then television, magazines,
internet is suitable. If target audience consists of old age-group, then newspaper, television will
be good choice.

(b) Level of Education: If target-audience is highly educated, then advertisement should be

given in magazines, national newspapers, internet, television etc. If target audiences are less
educated as in rural area then local newspapers printed in local languages, T.V. etc. are
suitable. If audiences are illiterate, then print-media is not suitable. Here broadcast media is a
good choice.

(c) Number of Customers: If number of target customers is more, then mass-media like
television, newspaper will be suitable. If number of target customers is less, then direct mail-
media, tele-advertising (advertising through telephone) are suitable.

Advertising Objectives:

The main objective of every advertising campaign is to get favourable response from customer,
but the specific objectives can be different. If the objectives of advertising campaign are to get
immediate result then fast media of communication like newspapers, banners, pamphlets will be
considered. If the objective of advertising is to build corporate-goodwill and brand-equity, then
magazines, television, neon signboards will be considered.

Nature of Message:

If advertising message is informative in nature, then newspaper will be suitable. If ad- message
is to persuade consumers, and potential consumers need to be given emotional-appeal,
rational-appeal, demonstration of product, then television media will be suitable for advertising.
If ad-message is to inform the potential customers of sale-promotion schemes, discount offers,
exchange offer, festival offers, then it can be advertised through posters, banners,
newspaper-inserts and newspapers, etc.

Media Used by Competitors:

While planning for media the advertiser must consider the media used by competitors and
leaders of that industry. If advertiser does not consider competitor’s move regarding media, then
it is possible that advertiser’s market share is taken by competition. If industry-leader is using
T.V. as media, then the advertiser too must consider the same media. The advertiser must have
a close watch on media-strategies and ad-budget of competitors. However, competitor’s
strategies should not be followed blindly, as it is possible that decision of competitor is wrong.

Size of Ad-Budget:

If amount of advertisement budget is more, then costly media like television, national dailies can
be selected. If amount of ad-budget is less, then low cost media like posters, banners,
cable-network, local newspaper, pamphlets will be suitable.

Media Availability:

Sometimes it is possible that desired space for advertisements in print media is booked by some
other advertisers and hence not available. For example, advertiser wants to issue an
advertisement on front page of newspaper or on the cover-page of any magazine, but this
space is already booked by some other advertiser, then this media is not available to the
advertiser.

So the advertiser will have to plan for some other media or he will have to change timing of
advertisement. Similarly if an advertisement is to be issued on television during a particular
programme, then it is possible that it may have been booked/sponsored by other advertisers. So
media-availability must be considered for media planning.

Media Reach and Coverage:

Such media should be selected as has wide reach and can cover our target customers. If the
advertiser has two available media, involving same cost, then media with more reach and
coverage of our target audience will be selected. Media reach means total circulation/viewership
of media in a given period of time, (say, one day). If ad is given on T.V., then expected audience
size of that T.V. programme in which ad is issued, in a given period of time is called its reach. It
measures the number of persons who are exposed at least once to this media in a specific
period of time.

For example, if advertisement is issued on newspaper, then number of copies circulated in a

given period of time (say, a day) will be called its reach. Media- coverage means number of
advertiser’s target customers exposed to media in a specific time- period.

It is possible that reach of a media is large, but its coverage for advertiser is poor, i.e. the media
has wide circulation, but it is not popular among the target customers of advertiser. So such
media is not of much use to the advertiser. The advertiser should select that media whose reach
and coverage, both are large. For improving coverage of target customers, advertisers generally
use combination of media (media-mix).

Media Frequency:

Media frequency refers to average number of times, the audience is exposed to media vehicle
in a specified period of time. Higher media-frequency is preferred. Greater the frequency, more
are the chances of advertisement message making deep impression on the minds of
consumers. In case of print media, frequency of newspaper is very less as the receiver is not
exposed to the same newspaper for a long period of time.

On the next day he will be getting the new newspaper and old newspaper will be discarded the
same day. In case of magazine, media-frequency is more as same magazine may be opened by
audience many a time, as he will get the next issue of magazine after a month, a fortnight or
after a week. Higher frequency will create better impressions on target audience. So, media with
higher frequency should be selected.

Media Image:

Some media-vehicles enjoy better image in comparison to other media vehicles. Media- image
enhances the communication value of advertisement. Good reputation of editorial board and
well established media enjoy better image among public, so advertisements given in such
media enhance the credibility and trust of advertisements. So, media with good image should be
selected. Media image also affects the product image and advertiser’s image. So, we should not
select media with bad image.

Media Discount:

Sometimes some media offer attractive discount schemes. The advertisers consider these
discount schemes while selecting media as it reduces their media cost. Sometimes some
advertisers use only one medium or one class of media regularly so as to get media discount
offered by media to their regular users.

Language:

The advertiser selects that media which communicates in the language well known to our target
customers. Like if ad is given for less educated customers, then ad in English newspaper will be
of little use.

Role and Importance of Media in Consumer Buying Decision

The influence of media on consumer behavior is profound. The billions of dollars spent in
advertising each year attest to the impact of media on consumer purchasing and buying
preferences. The ability of media to shape consumer trends and tastes through media such as
movies, television shows and music is all-pervasive. New media such as Internet sites
accelerates consumer receptivity to products through comments made on websites and blogs.

Entertainment Media

Media can shape who we are as both public and private people. The adage you are what you
consume should apply to media as much as it does to food. A celebrity wears a certain clothes
ensemble or mentions the designer, manufacturer or store where it was purchased and almost
immediately, sales for that item skyrocket. Celebrity endorsers bring instant brand awareness
and receptivity even if indirect. Advertisers pay to get their products conspicuous placement in
TV and movies because they believe these seemingly non-commercial associations will result in
positive uplift and eventually, sales.

Advertising Media

Media is such a part of our daily lives that we don’t even realize it’s influencing us in big and
small ways. Media use in advertising is purposely designed to elicit a change in consumer
action, belief and perception. It unabashedly woos us to buy products we don’t need and trust
wholly with product claims that are puffery or exaggerated. While it’s generally known that we’re
being swayed for commercial reasons, the consuming public allows these forays because
media pays for shows on television or music on the radio as well as the information and news
we read in newspapers and magazines.

Caveat Emptor

Websites such as Angies’ List and The Urban Shopper exist to guide consumers in their choice
of products and services, locally and nationally. The consumerism adage “Buyer Beware” is
needed more than ever as the power of all media to influence and inform and impact
consumerism continues grows exponentially, and more people have access to that media, with
fewer controls in place to scrutinize what’s respectable or true.
Online Media

The Internet has added significantly to media’s ability to influence consumers. There are
thousands of websites from both commercial and private sources hawking everything for sale
under the sun. While consumers still retain a bit of guarded concern on those commercial
entities they know are out for a buck, they tend to be swayed and a bit more open to entreaties
from bloggers and forum posts, which they typically view as unbiased third parties.

Role of Media Planner

A media planner conducts market research and develops effective marketing campaigns for
businesses and advertisement agencies. Also known as media researchers or media
specialists, these highly-analytical professionals present campaign proposals, evaluate
campaign performance, and oversee budgets.

● Researching and evaluating market data.

● Overseeing campaign budgets and negotiating costs for features such as advertising
room and social media campaigns.
● Supervising the implementation of media campaigns.
● Identifying target audiences and analyzing their behavior, characteristics, and routines.
● Choosing the best media outlet combination for different campaigns.
● Preparing and presenting campaign proposals to clients.
● Monitoring media trends of all channels, including magazines, blogs, and television.
● Assessing the success of media advertising plans and campaigns.
● Proofreading all advertisements and marketing campaigns before release.
● Maintain detailed records
● Evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns to inform future ones.

Challenges of Media Planning

Time Pressure:

Sometimes environment changes are sudden and quick. These sudden changes require
immediate decisions regarding advertisements. In such case, media planning decisions are
made without proper analysis of various factors affecting media planning e.g. change in media
strategies of our immediate competitor requires immediate counter media strategies. It exerts a
lot of time pressure on media-planners, to take quick decisions. So decisions taken in a hurry
may be wrong.

It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of a particular media for con­veying relevant message
through the media. The reach of the media to the target audience cannot be measured
accurately. The study regarding the readership or exposure to the viewers are conducted only
for a limited period and the limited study cannot reflect the total effect of exposure; through a
medium.

Insufficient Information:

Media planning requires lot of information regarding nature of target customers like their age,
education level, their geographical concentration, their size, etc. It also needs information about
competitors, media strategies of competitors; information about media like their rates, Image,
rating etc. Collecting all such information is a tedious job. Sampling technique is used for
collecting all such information. If this information is not sufficient or is incorrect then whole
process of media planning will fail.

Difficulty in Audience Measurement:

Audience measurement here refers to number of persons who are exposed to a particular
media. It is very difficult to measure the number of audience of any media especially broadcast
media. For example, it is very difficult to ascertain how many persons watch a particular
television programme. If the number of viewers of a media is ascertained, even then it is very
difficult to ascertain the number of target audience out of total number of viewers. Audience
measurements are a key element in selecting media. In the absence of this information, media
planning may be wrong.

Changing Environment Factors:

Media planning is a continuous process. Data used in media planning is affected by external
environment factors, these environment factors may change at any time. For example, if at
present a particular T.V. programme is very popular, but soon its popularity may decline with the
launch of another popular T.V. programme at the same time in another T.V. channel. So, the
viewership of first T.V. programme may decline. Similarly, other environment factors viz.
competitors’ media strategy may change. These fast-changing environment factors may render
the media planning less effective.

Difficulty in Cost Comparison:

While evaluating the relative effectiveness of different media, cost comparison of different media
is done. But cost of different media is available on different basis. Like in case of print media,
cost per word or per square centimetre is known; in case of broadcast media, cost per second is
known, in case of outdoor media, cost per sign board/sky balloon, etc. is known. All these costs
are on different basis. Hence, cost comparison of different media is very difficult. In the absence
of proper cost comparison, selection of appropriate media is difficult.

Media Decisions Based on Guess Work:

All media decisions are not quantitatively determined. Many media decisions are based on
judgment of ad-manager e.g. mangers have to make guess regarding image of a particular
media in the market. Sometimes these guess works are made without adequate analysis. So
these guess works may be wrong.

Confusions Regarding Different Terminologies:

Different terms are used for measuring different forms of media. It is difficult to measure the total
effect of the advertisements, focused through different media. For example, in print media the
effectiveness is calcu­lated on the basis of cost to reach a thousand people i.e., cost per
thousand or CPM.

In broadcast media like TV or radio, the effectiveness is calcu­lated on the basis of cost per
ratings point or CPRP. But the media planner should be interested to know the reach and the
coverage of a particular medium to assess the ultimate effectiveness of the exposures.

Inadequate Expertise:

The work of media planning requires the services of talented, experienced and skilled ad-
mangers. If the ad-manager does not have sufficient exposure, knowledge, experience, talent
then media decisions may go wrong.

Immediate Action:

Considering certain pressures, the advertiser sometimes may be compelled to release

advertisements, through different media, without any proper media planning. Some situations
like, in case of any important urgent announcement, any particular offer for a very limited period,
to take advantage of certain eventualities etc. may inspire or compel the advertisers to release
the advertisements through different media without proper planning.

Organization Structure of Media Company

Following are also some different organizational structures on the basis of factors affecting an
organization’s functioning:

On the basis of Hierarchy: Vertical Organizational Systems, Hub & Spokes, Horizontal/ Cross
Departmental, Cross Industry / Platform, Conglomerates
Hybrid Organizations, i.e, organizations adopting more than one pattern structure.
On the basis of geographical spread: National, Regional, Local, Trans-National, Global
On the basis of ownership of the organization: Cooperative, Proprietorship, Partnership,
Subsidiaries, Sister Concerns.
Functional Organizational Structure
One of the most common types of organizational structures, the functional structure
departmentalizes an organization based on common job functions.
An organization with a functional org structure, for instance, would group all of the marketers
together in one department, group all of the salespeople together in a separate department, and
group all of the customer service people together in a third department.

Product-Based Divisional Structure

A divisional organizational structure is comprised of multiple, smaller functional structures (i.e.

each division within a divisional structure can have its own marketing team, its own sales team,
and so on). In this case a product-based divisional structure each division within the
organization is dedicated to a particular product line.

Market-Based Divisional Structure

Another variety of the divisional organizational structure is the market-based structure, wherein
the divisions of an organization are based around markets, industries, or customer types.

Geographical Divisional Structure

The geographical organizational structure establishes its divisions based on you guessed it
geography. More specifically, the divisions of a geographical structure can include territories,
regions, or districts.

Process-Based Structure

Process-based organizational structures are designed around the end-to-end flow of different
processes, such as “Research & Development,” “Customer Acquisition,” and “Order Fulfillment.”
Unlike a strictly functional structure, a process-based structure considers not only the activities
employees perform, but also how those different activities interact with one another.

Matrix Structure

Unlike the other structures we’ve looked at so far, a matrix organizational structure doesn’t
follow the traditional, hierarchical model. Instead, all employees (represented by the green
boxes) have dual reporting relationships. Typically, there is a functional reporting line (shown in
blue) as well as a product- based reporting line

Circular Structure

While it might appear drastically different from the other organizational structures highlighted in
this section, the circular structure still relies on hierarchy, with higher-level employees occupying
the inner rings of the circle and lower-level employees occupying the outer rings.

Flat Structure
While a more traditional organizational structure might look more like a pyramid with multiple
tiers of supervisors, managers and directors between staff and leadership, the flat structure
limits the levels of management so all staff are only a few steps away from leadership. It also
might not always take the form or a pyramid, or any shape for that matter.

Network Structure

A network structure is often created when one company works with another to share resources
or if your company has multiple locations with different functions and leadership. You might also
use this structure to explain your company workflows if much of your staffing or services is
outsourced to freelancers or multiple other businesses.

Creative Department

This department majorly incorporates the following job positions which are also arranged in a
manner of highest job position at the top and then proceeding further:

Creative Director: These professionals are required to develop the conceptual designs to meet
up the requirements of the client in order to advance the company’s brand. These are required
to figure out the best ways for visually presenting a company’s identity.

Art Director: Art directors are expected to design materials for clients and represent their
company expectantly.

Copywriter: The major job duties include persuading customers to purchase a new product or
demonstrating why a business needs a specific service.

Production Artists: These are fresher hired at entry level.

Account Department

Account related professionals are hired to liaise with the customers in any Media Company.
Majorly they handle accounting related work.

The hierarchy of Media Company is quite critical since it is such a wide field. Well to make it
simple the hierarchy of Media Company has been categorized into these three core levels:

Lower Level

The professionals at this level of hierarchy of Media Company incorporates both fresher as well
as experienced one. Following are few profiles that get hold of middle level in the hierarchy of
Media Company:
Media Technical Supervisor
Media Information Officer
Photographer Head
Media Information Assistant
Web development expert
Social Media Specialist
Assistant Photographer
Technical Writer
Relationship Manager
Sound Mixer
Stage Hand
Media Analyst
Senior Media Associates
Media Mentor
Media Associate
Trainee
Middle Level

This level features all the job profiles at middle executive levels. Following are few profiles that
get hold of middle level in the hierarchy of Media Company:

Media Administrator
Copywriter
Production Artist
Corporate Communications Specialist
Reporter
Program Coordinator
Public Affairs Specialist
Media Information Specialist
Concept Development Manager
Publicist
Senior Level

These are the highest job title attainable in the hierarchy of Social Media jobs in the media
Company. Following are few profiles that get hold of middle level in the hierarchy of Media
Company:

Director of Media Company

Chief Media Officer
Creative Director
Media Company Manager
General Media Manager
Chief Media Executive
Media Branch Manager
Art Director
Section Editor
Producer
Assistant Media Manager
Multimedia designer

Regulatory Framework and Legal Aspects in Media Planning

● First Press Regulation, 1799

● Gagging Act, 1857
● Indian Press Act, 1910
● Vernacular Press Act, 1878
● Constitutional Provisions regarding Press Freedom
● Official Secrets Act, 1923
● Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867
● Contempt of Court Act
● Cinematography Act, 1952
● Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956
● Parliamentary Proceedings Act, 1956
● Delivery of Books and Newspapers Act, 1954
● Copyright Act, 1957
● Press Council of India Act, 1965
● Prasar Bharati Act, 1990
● Cable Television Regulation Act, 1995
● Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 1997
● Sports Broadcasting Signal (mandatory sharing with prasar bharati) Act, 2007

Media Research: ∙Meaning, Role and Importance

Media Research is the study of the effects of the different mass media on social, psychological
and physical aspects. Research segments the people based on what television programs they
watch, radio they listen, media they access and magazines they read.

It is also called “Audience Research”. It provides information regarding the popularity &
effectiveness of each advertising medium & the comparative position of the cost of advertising in
each medium. This facilitates the selection of the most suitable media mix for the benefit of the
advertiser.

It includes achievements and effects of media and a study about the development of media.
Newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, Cinema or other mass media analysis and collection of
information’s. It helps to understand the ways in which media can meet the needs of the
audience. Whether it can provide information and entertainment to more and different types of
people. New technological improvements that help to improve or enhance the medium. Thus in
order to deal with social and political issues insightfully, management and regulation of media is
needed. Unbiased evaluation of data can be achieved through media research.

Parameters in Media Research

● The nature of medium being used.

● The working of the medium.
● Technologies involved in it.
● Difference and similarities between it and other media vehicles.
● Functions and services provided by it.
● Cost associated and access to new medium.
● Effectiveness and how it can be improved.
● As decision process depends on data, thus media research has grown to be utilized for
long range planning. Research is in growth phase due to competitions between different
media.

Mass Media Research Importance

Many businesses are trying to target advertising, but some people are also concerned with the
well-being of a very plugged-in society. Businesses study mass media to see which form of
mass media produces the greater result for its advertisements. In contrast, from a public health
standpoint, studies have been performed to see what kinds of effects depictions of violence can
have on children. While the studies conducted do show correlations, the results have never
been consistent with regard to their significance.

Nevertheless, media companies have adopted a better-safe-than-sorry approach with a lot of

their programing, primarily by limiting the amount of violence portrayed in programs that don’t
fall under the adults-only or adolescence-plus ratings. Thus, the purpose of mass media
research is mainly for business purposes and for public health reasons.

When used for business purposes, mass media research is important, as it helps businesses
figure out which forms of advertising work. Businesses want to see more sales, so mass media
research for business focuses more on conversions, the number of people watching or reading
a mass media form and then turning into customers. This is important, as the numbers found
through mass media research helps the business decide whether a certain form of advertising is
financially worth it.

For example, to advertise on an animal channel costs $1,000. The animal channel tells you that
they have over 4 million people viewing the channel each day. Your advertisement only takes up
30 seconds of the day, so your potential audience is significantly less than that 4 million. It may
be only 500,000. Your own market research tells you that of those who view your commercial, 2
percent will become customers. That means you’ll get 500,000 * 0.02 = 10,000 customers from
your commercial. If this is enough to recoup the cost of the commercial and to provide enough
profit, then this form of advertisement is worth it. Businesses can also use mass media research
to help figure out how customers view their product by looking at what they are posting about
the business online.

Mass media research for health and well-being reasons is important, as scientists are still
learning about how technology is affecting people in both positive and negative ways. For
example, with the increasingly prevalent use of smartphones, some scientists are concerned
that the increased exposure to radiation will negatively impact people’s health. Is this true? This
is something that scientists are still trying to figure out through mass media research.

Another example is studying the effects of young people using social media instead of
communicating with people face to face. Scientists are seeing these younger people
experiencing more loneliness than people who don’t depend on social media as much.

Functions of media research:

Three major functions of media research & these are:

Vehicle distribution:

If refers to the number of copies of newspaper or magazine circulation in a particular region or

throughout the country. In case of T.V. it refers to the no. of programmes distributed on each
channel.

Vehicle exposure:

It refers to the kind of people expose to newspaper or T.V.

Advertising exposure:

If refers to the no. of people exposed to the advertising message.

Media Research is Important -

● To study the viewership or to know the TRP.

● It helps the advertising agencies or advertisers to know the TRP and rating of programs
which later boosts the sponsership cycle
● Formative and summative assessment of various programs, movies, documentaries or
traditional media helps the researchers and producers and promotes a better
understanding of the need of the market and the audiences.
● It creates a bridge between the need and supply of content which is being provided.
● It is also helpful in quantifying the Impact of media on the audience or viewers
● It compares the former media content with the running content to show the statistical
differences between the contents.

Sources of Media Research

Audit Bureau of Circulation
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is an independent nonprofit auditing organization formed in
1914 whose membership is composed of advertisers, advertising agencies, and publishers of
newspapers, magazines, and web sites that sell advertising space. Its purpose is to audit and
validate print media circulation claims and Internet traffic figures for the benefit of its members.
Relied upon as a principal information source by media planners, the bureau publishes annual
Audit Reports that detail the findings of its auditors as well as semiannual Publisher’s
Statements.

The Bureau issues ABC certificates every six months to those publisher members whose
circulation figures confirm to the rules and regulations as set out by it. Circulation figures that
are checked and certified by an independent body are an important tool and critical to the
advertising business community.

Press Audits
A media audit is a research tool used to determine where and how your organization has been
covered before, as well as where and how your competitors and topics of expertise are being
discussed by the media. When done well, a media audit will uncover specific areas where you
have an opportunity to “own the conversation” and be seen as a thought leader from a media
perspective.

A comprehensive media audit is the foundation for a focused media relations strategy. Armed
with information about how your organization, your competitors and your field are being
covered, you can determine a set of highly focused topics about which your organization can
become known as an expert.

From there, you’ll be able to define specific media pitches that set your organization up for
thought leadership in those key topical areas of focus. You’ll also be well-positioned to build a
targeted list of media contacts for each individual pitch.

Knowledge of a journalists’ prior work and interests helps foster connections and makes it
easier to tailor pitches to individual reporters and producers, so use what you learn in the media
audit about the focus of a reporter’s work to your advantage. Members of the media, whether
broadcast producers, magazine journalists, bloggers or anyone else, are more likely to take
interest in your story when it is clear you’ve made an effort to read, view or listen to their past
work, and approached them with something that’s a good fit. It can be a win-win situation when
you pitch the right reporters you get coverage that reaches your ideal audience, and they get a
story that their audience will find interesting. The piece is more likely to be shared by engaged
readers, viewers or listeners. If your outreach is not a good match, however, neither your
business nor the reporter will gain anything from the opportunity.

National Readership Survey/IRS

The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) is the largest continuous readership research study in the
world with an annual sample size exceeding 2.56 lakh (256,000) respondents. IRS collects a
comprehensive range of demographic information and provides extensive coverage of
consumer and product categories, including cars, household appliances, household durables,
household care and personal care products, food and beverages, finance and holidays. IRS is
not restricted to survey of readership alone but is synonymous with both readership &
consumption across various FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) products throughout India.
IRS covers information on over 100 product categories. IRS is conducted by MRUC (Media
Research Users Council) and RSCI (Readership Studies Council of India).

IRS was launched in the year 1995 with an objective of setting an industry standard for
readership & other media measurement, & to provide insights on media & product consumption
as well as consumer behavior patterns. In the year 1995-96, 23 Metro Reports were released
followed by the All India Report consisting of urban and rural data. Simultaneously a software
programme was developed to not just enable the optimum use of raw data but to also carry out
multi media planning which provided a common basis of media evaluation. Over the years IRS
has evolved to be very progressive, covering a broad spectrum of categories from Media data,
Indian Demographics, Indian Market, Product Profiles, to the recently developed Telecom
Report, TV Report, and IRS Countryside. Apart from a range of products offered new changes
have been introduced in the method of classification of sub-regions from SCR’s to ISD’s, which
is a more microscopic view of the consumer profile based on the socio−cultural ethnicity. From a
user’s perspective, a few introductions in the form of participative sampling, customized queries
have been introduced. Sub Metro level reporting for a better understanding of the consumer
behavior patterns across different zones in the Metros & Edition wise reporting is the other
recent introduction.

Sampling

The annual sample spread exceeds 2.56 lakh (256,000) respondents with continuous fieldwork
spread across 10 months of the year.
Sample allocated proportionate to 12 years+ Universe of a geographic unit.
More than 1 Lakh towns are sampled.
All publication towns and districts are sampled in the four rounds.
Remaining towns and non-publication districts are randomly sampled.
Rural Sampling: Once a district is selected, 2 Talukas from the district are randomly sampled.
Businessmen’s Readership Survey

TRP
A target rating point (TRP) (or television rating point for televisions) is a metric used in marketing
and advertising to compare target audience impressions of a campaign or advertisement
through a communication medium relative to the target audience population size. In the
particular case of television, a device is attached to the TV set in a few thousand viewers’
houses to measure impressions. These numbers are treated as a sample from the overall TV
owners in different geographical and demographic sectors. Using a device, a special code is
telecasted during the programme, which records the time and the programme that a viewer
watches on a particular day. The average is taken for a 30-day period, which gives the
viewership status for the particular channel. This has an average limit between 0-3.0.

Calculating TRP
In India, two electronic methods are there for calculating TRP:

People meters device is installed in some places or set in selected homes to calculate the TRP.
In this way some thousand viewers are surveyed in the form of justice and sampling. These
gadgets record data about the channel or programme watched by the family members or
selected people. Through this meter the information of TV channel or programme for one minute
is carried out by the INTAM a monitoring team i.e. Indian Television Audience measurement.
After analysing the information, the team decides what is the TRP of the channel or programme.
Or we can say that this data is later analysed by the agency to create a national TRP data of
various TV channels and TV programmes.
Second method is known as picture matching where the people meter records a small portion of
the picture that is being watched on the TV. This data is collected from a set of homes in the
form of pictures and later on is analysed to calculate the TRPs.

National Television Study

Television studies is an academic discipline that deals with critical approaches to television.
Usually, it is distinguished from mass communication research, which tends to approach the
topic from a social sciences perspective. Defining the field is problematic; some institutions and
syllabuses do not distinguish it from media studies or classify it as a subfield of popular culture
studies.

One form of television studies is roughly equivalent to the longer-standing discipline of film
studies in that it is often concerned with textual analysis yet other approaches center more on
the social functions of television. For example, analyses of quality television, such as Cathy
Come Home and Twin Peaks, have attracted the interests of researchers for their cinematic
qualities. However, television studies can also incorporate the study of television viewing and
how audiences make meaning from texts, which is commonly known as audience theory or
reception theory.

As a result, television studies is marked by a great deal of “disciplinary hybridity.” Perhaps

because television scholars are approaching the subject from so many different disciplinary and
theoretical perspectives, there are many debates about how television should be understood
and conceptualized from a political and methodological point of view. Another impact of the
disciplinary hybridity is the diversity in the types of studies carried out. Early television studies
included histories of television, biographies of television producers, archival research by
historians, and sociological studies of the role the television set played in 1950s homes.

In television studies, television and other mass media forms are “Conceptualised within
frameworks” such as “Ownership; national and international regulation of media production and
distribution; professional ideologies; public opinion; [and] media audiences.” As the field of
television studies was being developed, it was influenced by the medium’s longstanding issue of
invoking “distrust, fear and contempt”, as a purported cause of social ills. As well, television
scholars had to prove that television was different from other “mass media”, often by pointing to
how television differed from radio and cinema.

In the 1970s and 1980s, television studies developed three strands of commentary:

A journalistic approach, which reviews recent television programs

A literary and dramatic criticism approach, which examines the television screenwriter in the
same way that literary and dramatic criticism examines novels and plays
A social science approach, which examines production and distribution, and the function of
television in society.
The social science stream examined the social function and effects of television and analyzed
the role that television plays in the social order and the public sphere. Some television scholars
applied Marxist frameworks or the “critical sociology of the Frankfurt School”. Since the 1970s,
feminist television scholars have focused “… on programmes for women and those which have
key female protagonists”, such as Julie D’Acci’s study of the police drama Cagney and Lacey
and the “Now substantial literature on soap opera.” Television studies in the 1990s includes
“work on the definition and interpretation of the television text and the new media ethnographies
of viewing” and histories of “production studies” how television shows are developed, financed,
and produced.

While some predicted the end of television (or at least of the broadcast TV), some scholars
claim that television “has never been so healthy and triumphant as nowadays”.

ADMAR Satellite Cable Network Study

Reach and Coverage Study

In the application of statistics to advertising and media analysis, reach refers to the total number
of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period.
Reach should not be confused with the number of people who will actually be exposed to and
consume the advertising, though. It is just the number of people who are exposed to the
medium and therefore have an opportunity to see or hear the ad or commercial. Reach may be
stated either as an absolute number, or as a fraction of a given population (for instance ‘TV
households’, ‘men’ or ‘those aged 25–35’).

Advertising coverage is defined as the expected number of customers or prospects of a product

or brand who will be reached by an advertisement. This advertising coverage number will be
largely decided by choice of media i.e. TVC, print advertising, online media and the frequency of
advertisement in the selected media. Advertising coverage percentage varies across different
media chosen and the target percentage depends upon the scope of the company, the targets
of the company, the project undertaken and the particulars of the marketing intentions.
To determine Advertising Coverage, there are various ways. Sometimes, the Advertiser himself
identifies this percentage for the company. Or, it can also be determined by establishing a point
of diminishing returns. This is the point where the costs of the Advertisement exceed the
expected returns from the audience. This is where certain changes need to be done. The
change may be the Advertisement itself, the channel used, the frequency of the Advertisement,
the graphics and the content used for the Advertisement, etc. The proper planning involves
setting the right targets regarding the coverage and frequency in order to avoid wasting money
in the wrong message, wrong channel or the wrong time. Advertising coverage plays an
important role in deciding how and where to display advertisements. Advertisers sometimes
want as many prospective customers as possible to view their advertisements. Thus overall
customer reach is an important factor deciding advertising coverage. Advertisers also market
the product to specific segment of people in some cases and thus they have to place their
advertisements so that target audience should see them. Thus, reach of an advertisement to
customer according to their needs is also important factor of expected coverage.

Types of Media in Advertising Coverage

The type of media chosen for advertisement plays an important role in extending advertising
coverage. For example billboard advertisement have limited coverage within the area where it is
planted. Television advertisements have large advertising coverage as they are seen by large
audiences. Also, the interstitials on internet sites are usually targeted to specific individual and
thus gives significant Advertising coverage. Another example of increasing advertising coverage
through internet is through Viral Marketing. Viral advertising is method in which social
networking services are leveraged to produce increased brand awareness by making an
advertising campaign viral. Thus people share the advertisements on their social networking
account thus increasing the advertising coverage. Thus choice of media and the frequency of
advertisement determines the viewership of advertisement and thus advertising coverage.

Advantages of Advertising Coverage

Advertisements have primarily been the main source of attracting customers towards a product
or brand and having proper advertising coverage helps attract many customers towards its
product or services.
There is a wide variety of different Advertisement channels available each serving a specific set
of purposes and tapping a particular customer segment and can be chosen based on the
purpose and the budget of the company.
Disadvantages of Advertising Coverage

Some channels involve really high investment costs which may or may not give the expected
coverage or return and the company may end up making huge losses.
To have an effective Advertisement coverage, a lot of factors need to be taken into
consideration and coordinated together like the timing, the place, length, graphics, content, etc.
which may the entire procedure complex. Not having even one thing right may ruin the entire
purpose.
Also, a proper frequency of Advertisements to show must be chosen in order to avoid saturation
with too much display of the Advertisements.
CIB Listenership Survey

Media Mix: ∙ Meaning, Need for Media Mix, Identifying Audience for Mass Media

Media mix is used to refer that the combination of communications channels which is used for
the purpose of advertising particular goods or services by any particular business entities. The
main objective of the media mix is to help the businesses in meeting up with the various
marketing objectives.

Typically, these include newspapers, radio, television, billboards, websites, email, direct mail,
the Internet and social media, such as Facebook or Twitter. Combining these channels in a
media mix enables you to communicate in the most effective way with different types of
customers and prospects at different stages of the purchase decision, according to
Entrepreneur.

Integrated Media Work Harder

The components of a media mix are more effective when they are integrated. The benefit of an
integrated campaign is that the media mix is more effective when the components work together
and communicate consistent messages each time, according to MMC Learning. In practical
terms, that means using the same creative themes and marketing messages across all
elements of your media mix. Prospects viewing an advertisement, website page, direct mail
piece or product guide from an integrated campaign would receive consistent messages, with
each element of the mix reinforcing the others.

Right Message to the Right Audience

An effective media mix delivers the right marketing message to your customers and prospects at
the lowest cost and with minimal waste. If you want to reach a consumer audience across the
country, you might use a media mix that includes national newspapers, radio or television. If you
wanted to reach a specific group of business decision-makers, such as technical directors, your
mix might include specialist business magazines or exhibitions aimed at those directors. To
reach a small number of key executives who influence a major purchasing decision, you might
include personalized direct mail or an executive briefing session in your mix.

Aligning Media Mix With Buying Stages

Entrepreneur notes that the emphasis in the media mix changes at different stages in the buying
cycle. When prospects are looking for information, they may read publications covering their
interests, search websites, visit trade shows or check product review sites. So, it’s important that
you have information in the places they are likely to visit. The emphasis in your media mix would
be on raising awareness through advertisements, press releases, product pages on your
website, participation in trade shows or comments on social media.

When prospects have expressed an interest in your products, you can use a different media mix
to nurture them and move them toward a buying decision. The mix at this stage might include
email offering detailed product information, a seminar or a customized sales proposal.

Fine-Tuning the Mix

Analytical tools are available to assess your media mix and improve the results you achieve.
These tools identify the strengths and weaknesses of your marketing programs and your media
mix. By demonstrating how changes in the mix can affect results, the tools help you to reallocate
your budgets and create a better mix to improve marketing performance.

Advantages
It helps the marketers in understanding the latest marketing trend that is going on in the market.
Its take into account various external factors which makes it an effective tool for planning of the
budget.
It also helps in formulating a better strategy so that more and more people can get encouraged
to buy the product.
Disadvantages of media mix

The disadvantage of them is that it is not able to provide gradual and person level insight which
one important factor on which most of the modern marketers truly rely on. This way the media
missing dens did not help in measuring the digital and the traditional form of marketing ROI
when combined together.

It is a very powerful strategy to help advertise a product or any service that is being newly
launched in the market. The only things that should be taken care of are that it should be
prepared by first researching well.

Usage of media mix

It is majorly used in the marketing industry. It is considered to be one of the masters marketing
strategies and should be inculcated by all the businesses that are planning to grow at a rapid
rate and survive in the industry for the longest time. The media mix is used by all kinds of
companies be it a new startup or a small company to any really big and well-established
company.

Media mixing is a selling strategy which is compulsory for all. it is used by these companies to
select the right kind of advertising channels that will help them advertise their products as many
people as possible.
Thus, there is plenty of usage of the media mixing and when it is used with the right kind of
approach will help the companies to generate a lot so sales revenue and profit.

Identifying Audience for Mass Media

Mass Media Audience is often characterised by the term Mass which enumerates how a Mass
Audience is. The term Mass can be identified here as a large number of people who are
heterogenous, assorted and anonymous in nature.

‘Large’ here would mean a relatively big audience or people who are many in number. However,
it does not include everyone. People have their own choices in the consumption of Mass
mediated messages. The Mass Media audience could be a small community with a thousand
listeners or a large audience with billions glued to watching the Football World Cup finals.

‘Assorted’ here would mean a varied lot. Mass Media Channels have a huge audience but they
are often assorted and spread out. They need not always be accumulated in the same place.
The audience for a particular Media channel can differ not just from place to place but even in
the precincts of a house. For instance, the children in the house may only prefer to watch
cartoons on a particular channel, however, the parents may want to watch news, sports or any
other tele-serial. The audience is scattered. Children in different homes from all across India
may be watching a particular cartoon. Due to satellite Technology, this serial could even have an
audience across countries. They may or may not be from a particular geographical context.
They are assorted and from different places. However, for a Mass Media channel like a
Community Radio, the audience is normally a particular community of people to whom the
channel caters.

As Marco Dohle (2008) writes on the topic ‘Audience’ in the book, ‘The international
Encyclopedia of Communication- Vol 1’ Contrary to the traditional Audience, the mass media
Audience is not assembled where the received contents take place or are produced. The
audience of Mass media is dispersed: as a general rule, the individual audience members are
spatially separated from each other or, at the most, assembled only in small groups
(Co-viewing). The members of an audience do not know or see each other; they do not
communicate with each other either. However, they are aware that they are not the only
recipients of mass media content, but that co- audience exists.

‘Heterogeneous’ here would mean that the audience includes different types of people. A Mass
Media channel may have viewers from rich or poor backgrounds, educated or uneducated
based on the content, it could be youth or adults, bureaucrats or ordinary middle- class family
members.

‘Anonymous’ would mean that the audience is nameless and unspecified. While analysis can
predict the number of hits a channel gets or the popularity a particular serial or book garners,
once cannot identify the specific characteristic of every individual audience member. You may
identify the place in which your audience exists but you will not be able to identify the person by
his or her name. The Audience is Anonymous.

However, in some cases, in todays digital arena where the Mobiles have people’s identity
registered, it is easier to recognise the Audience from the details fed into the App.

Another factor that accompanies the Mass Media Audience member is the fact that a particular
Mass Media Consumer can be part of the News Paper audience, an avid book reader, and a
particular tele-serial follower at the same time. Which means such a person categorises as an
audience for a newspaper as much as he or she categorises as a book reader or a Particular
tele serial audience.

The audience may be large and assorted, but may follow similar cultural contexts. For instance,
some serials that are popular in the Hindi language in India are often dubbed in other languages
for people’s consumption across India. And these have a varied Indian Audience who just the
same identify with the Indian culture and its practices and context.

As McQuail says, “Audiences are both a product of social context, (which leads to shared
cultural interests. Understandings and information needs) and a response to a particular pattern
of media provision. Often, they are both at the same time, as when a medium sets out to appeal
to the members of a social category or the residents of a certain place. Media use also reflects
broader patterns of time use, availability, lifestyle and everyday routines”.

A Targeted ‘Mass Media Audience’

Another important factor, that one should remember is that Mass Media Content is often made
keeping in mind a target audience. For instance, Harry Porter series was a huge craze among
children and teens. Cartoons like Mickey Mouse or Duck tales are meant for Kids. In case of
Mass Media like Television or Radio, we need to understand that Tele- serials are made keeping
in mind the Audience of the place the serial is aired. Or the Music aired on particular Radio
Channels are aimed at particular audiences.

Audience as Market

The Audience and its receptivity of a particular Media product decides the fate of that product.
Thus, before producing a product or making a product for general consumption of the people, a
lot of hard work and Money is spent on Target Analysis and ‘Audience Research’. Secondly, if a
particular Media product has a huge audience, the Advertisement revenue garnered for this
serial is also big. Which would mean, the audience is actually compelled to see a particular
Advertisement, due to the popularity of the serial. We are prospective consumers being doled
out to an Advertisement company for the sale of their products.

Keval J. Kumar (2010) in his book ‘Mass Communication in India’ says, “The primary objective
of market research is to provide advertisers and advertising agencies with quantitative data
about the access and exposure of selected (segmented) audiences to the various mass media
or to their various components. Armed with such ‘reliable’ data (believed to be ‘scientifically’
collected), advertisers can ‘slot’ their advertising spots in newspapers or magazines with the
highest readership among audiences that have a good purchasing power (often termed ‘target
audience’) or on the radio or TV programmes which have the highest rating or even on
websites, search engines, blogs and social networks hat have the highest number of
‘page-views’, ‘hits’ or ‘click throughs’.”

McQuail puts it rightly in his book ‘Mass communication theory,’ “In an innovative and
sophisticated move, the Canadian Dallas Smythe gave birth to the theory that audiences
actually work for advertisers (thus for their ultimate oppressors). They do so by giving their free
time to watch media, which labour is then sold by the media to advertisers as a new kind of;
commodity.’ The whole system of commercial television and the press rests on this extraction of
surplus value from an economically exploited Audience. The same audience has to pay yet
again for its media, by way of the extra cost added to the advertised goods.”

Growth in the definition of the concept Mass media ‘Audience’

In the twenty-first century, the concept of Audiences has gone through a drastic change.
Digitised content, the internet and the world wide web, has led to the Audience no more
remaining passive in their behavior. The mediatisation of daily life where, people are buying,
reading, shopping, banking, and interacting online has transformed the concept of Audience and
its feedback. Audiences are responding, giving feedbacks, and are reciprocating to Mass Media
content. The ‘Online’ world is virtual, large and perhaps unidentifiable but none the less, it is for
real.

The social networking forums where Media content gets displayed has active audience
interactions. Audience’s comment, are free to like or dislike and state their grievances on
different forums. While there may be blocks, today’s audience finds its own way of sending its
message loud and clear. The advertisers too are making drastic move towards online audiences
with the huge increase in the number of people who are active online.

Factors Affecting Media Mix Decision

advertisers may be interested in appealing the prospects by colour advertisements. In that case,
magazine, film, television, bill- boards, bulletin boards serve the purpose.

If the timeliness is the greater concern, one should go in for news-paper, radio, posters. If
demonstration is needed there is nothing like television and screen media. If new product is to
be introduced, promotional advertising is most welcome.

The budget available:

A manufacturer may have a very colourful and bold plan of advertising. He may be dreaming of
advertising on a national television net-work and films. If budget does not allow, then he is to be
happy with a low budget media like his news-paper and outdoor advertising.

Instead of colour print in magazine, he may be forced to go in for black and white. Thus, it is the
resource constraints that decide the choice.

Competitive advertising:

A shrewd advertiser is one who studies carefully the moves of his competitor or competitors as
to the media selected and the pattern of expenditure portrayed. Meticulous evaluation of media
strategy and advertising budget paves way for better choice.

It is because, whenever a rival spends heavily on a particular medium or media and has been
successful, it is the outcome of his experience and tactics. However, blind copying should be
misleading and disastrous.

Media availability:

The problem of media availability is of much relevance because; all the required media may not
be available at the opportune time. This is particularly true in case of media like radio and
television; so is the case with screen medium. Thus, non-availability of a medium or a media
poses a new challenge to the media planners and the people advertising industry. It is basically
an external limit than the internal constraint.

Types of Media Mix Decisions

Broad Media Classes

Video Advertising: Television & YouTube

On July 1st, 1941, the first-ever legal television advertisement was broadcast in the state of
New York during a Brooklyn Dodgers versus Philadelphia Phillies game, which was on the
screens of about 4,000 televisions. In the decades that followed, the popularity of television
advertising swelled along with the popularity of mass marketing. Today, television is one of the
most popular media channels for marketers, especially with the advent of connected TV
advertising, which uses viewer data for more effective segmentation.

Audio Channels: Radio & Podcasts

While radio technology was developed during the 19th century, the commercial capabilities of
radio broadcasts was not harnessed until 1912, where record companies supplied free music to
broadcasters in exchange for mentioning which company provided the record. By the late
1920s, almost every U.S. radio station would play commercially sponsored programs. Today,
traditional radio remains incredibly popular for listeners and advertisers alike and with the rise of
internet radio, it appears this audio-only method of advertising will remain popular throughout
the digital revolution.

Newspapers

Print mediums, such as newspapers, are one of the oldest media channels for advertisers in
fact, newspaper advertisements predate brands. As literacy rates increased in the 16th century,
advertisers in Italy, Germany, and Holland began publishing print advertisements in weekly
gazettes.

Magazines (Print & Digital)

The first magazines were published in the late 1600s as a form of entertainment for the upper
class, and often discussed matters of philosophy, culture, and lifestyle. It wasn’t until the 19th
century that the middle class began desiring magazines, so publishers started selling ad space
to offset exorbitant printing costs and expand their readership. By the 20th century, magazines
were known for having distinct audiences and the option to purchase sizable ads in full color. In
2019, magazine advertising spending was worth an estimated $15.6 billion.

Media Vehicles
Media vehicle refers to a specific method (like digital, radio, newspaper etc.) of media used by a
business to deliver advertising messages to its target audience. The first step is to pick a
suitable media class, that is, a general category of media, like radio, television, the Internet,
newspapers or magazines. This is followed by selection of the right media vehicle, such as a
specific radio station, television channel, online website or print publication. The aim is to reach
the target consumer group and receive a good response to the advertising messages from the
group.

Media Vehicle Types

The different kinds of media vehicles have been explained below:

Print Vehicles

Newspapers are also feasible for small businesses owing to relatively low ad costs. Both
national newspapers and community newspapers (that can reach a local audience) are good
options. Magazines are not quite as accessible for small businesses as they cater to a niche
audience and cost per target is therefore high. However, some regions have local magazines
that offer community events, entertainment and themed topics.

Broadcast Vehicles

This includes television and radio stations. Such vehicles can be used to target mass
audiences, and the cost per target is low. They are more effective than print media as the ads
include audio and video. They can be effectively used for low involvement products because of
short ad durations and lack of excessive detail-sharing. Television vehicles in India include
networks such as STAR India, Network 18, Zee Network, UTV and so on. Sometimes, small
businesses can not afford to advertise on national networks, and so they often associate
themselves with local network affiliate stations, or radio vehicles.

Digital Vehicles and Others

Online or digital/interactive vehicles along with mobile communication opportunities provide

low-cost advertising options. Other supportive media vehicles include directories, buses,
billboards and benches. These are usually used to reinforce messages that have been delivered
through broader mass media. Billboards are comparatively expensive, but they have a very
wide reach.

Media Units

Media buying
While some advertisers prefer to purchase advertising spots by dealing directly with media
owners (e.g. newspapers, magazines or broadcast networks), in practice most media buying is
purchased as part of broader negotiations via a media buying agency or media buying group.
Well-known centralised buying groups include Zenith or Optimedia. These large media agencies
are able to exert market power through volume purchasing by buying up space for an entire
year. Media agencies benefit advertisers by providing advertising units at lower rates and also
through the provision of added value services such as media planning services.

Most media outlets use dynamic pricing, a form of yield management which means that there
are no fixed rates. Prices depend on a number of factors including the advertiser’s prior
relationship with the network, the volume of inventory being purchased, the timing of the
booking and whether the advertiser is using cross-media promotions such as product
placements. Advertising spots purchased closer to air-time tend to be more expensive.

Buying advertising spots on national TV is very expensive. Given that most media outlets use
dynamic pricing, rates vary from day to day, creating difficulties locating indicative rates.
However, from time to time, trade magazines publish adrates which may be used as a general
guide. The following table provides indicative advertising rates for selected popular programs on
American national television networks, broadcast during prime time viewing hours.

Print Media Meaning Factors Affecting Selection of Print Media Decisions, Types of Print
Media, Advantages and Limitations

Print media advertising is a form of advertising that uses physically printed media, such as
magazines and newspapers, to reach consumers, business customers and prospects.
Advertisers also use digital media, such as banner ads, mobile advertising, and advertising in
social media, to reach the same target audiences. The proliferation of digital media has led to a
decline in advertising expenditure in traditional print media, but print isn’t dead.

Print advertisements are only effective when people see them. When people browse through
newspapers and publications, these advertisements should grab the attention of the potential
customer. Therefore, these advertisements should be created in such a manner that they can
hold the attention of the customer to some extent. Usually, a team of individuals is required in
order to design the advertisements.

The newspaper or magazine ad should be such that it should compel people to spend money
on the products. This is just what the advertising team does. To create such an ad, the team
members work on a concept and develop the wordings and images of the ad. These wordings
and images are then brought together to form the final ad. Then there are people who deal with
the placement of the ad. They have to make sure that if the client has paid for premium place,
they get the desired exposure. For example, an ad on the first page will get instant attention of
the reader than the ad on the subsequent pages. Likewise, an ad which occupies greater space
is likely to get more attention. All these factors have to be looked into while designing the ad.

Factors Affecting Selection of Print Media Decisions

Class of the audience: Firstly, the advertiser must note the class of the audience to be
influenced by the medium. The audience can be classified into different groups by their social
status, age, income, educational standard, religion, cultural interests. They may also be divided
into men and women.

Extent of coverage: Secondly, the advertiser must consider the number of audiences to be
covered by the medium. Every media has a general as well as an effective circulation. The
general circulation is made up of the total number of people who read or subscribe to the media.
The effective circulation is the number prospective customers who read it and the number of
those who influences sales, though they may not buy for themselves. Effective circulation must
be considered while estimating the number of people to be covered. The extent to which the
medium reaches the same audience as that covered by some other media i.e., the percentage
of over-lapping must also be taken into account.

Nature of the product: Nature of the product itself is a principal factor governing the selection of
the medium. Products can be classified into various kinds; consumer’s products and
manufacturer’s products etc.

Nature of the competition: The nature of the competition exerts greater influence of the selection
of the media. If the competition is stiff utmost care is needed in the selection of medium and a
larger advertising budget is also required. In many cases where the advertising copy is similar or
the choice of the media solely determines the effectiveness of the campaign as compared with
that of the other competitors.
Reputation of the medium: Newspapers and magazines can offer a beautiful illustration for the
reputation of the media. There are a few newspapers and magazines which have international
reputation with a high readership. Advertisements in such magazines and newspapers are
generally recognized and believed as true. Such advertisements also add prestige to the
product.

Cost of the media: Cost of the medium in most cases, is an important factor in the selection of
the medium. Advertisements in certain media are expensive. For instance, TV and Radio
advertisements. Magazines and newspaper advertisements are generally considered as less
expensive. Yet, certain magazines and newspapers, having larger circulation and high
reputation charge higher rates. The rates also differ depending upon the space occupied and
the preferential positions. The first page of a newspaper is rarely missed by the reader. Hence,
they have more attention value, than the advertisements presented anywhere inside the
newspaper.

Time and location of buying decisions: The location of the audience and the time by which it
should reach them must also be looked into. This consideration also enables the advertiser to
keep his retail outlets in the proximity of the customers.

Newspaper Advertising. Newspaper reading is a common habit among most of the educated
people. Besides daily newspapers, there are bi-weekly and weekly newspapers also
Newspapers reach almost every place and are read by all kinds of people. Therefore,
newspaper can be used as a medium of advertisement with great advantage. While selecting a
newspaper for this purpose, an advertiser has to take into consideration the strength of
circulation, the class of readers it serves, the geographical region over which it is popular, and
the cost of space.

Magazine Advertising. Magazine or periodicals are an excellent medium of advertisement when

a high quality of printing in colour is desired. Magazine advertisements can be directed towards
a particular class of people. . Thus, marketers can avoid wasteful expenditure on advertising.

Magazine advertising is considered to be superior to newspaper advertising because of the

following merits:

Magazines are read more carefully and at greater leisure. Advertising through magazines is
more effective.
The life of the magazine advertisements is longer. Magazines are preserved for a long period of
time and are read time and again.
Types of Print Media

Print media include those media of communication which are controlled by time. It can be read
at any available time and can be kept for record. Following are the major print media of mass
communication.
Book

It is most effective mass media. It is best source of education. It is best and cheapest means of
storing and transmitting to others the records. It is best example of print mass media. By books
people easily get information and knowledge

Newspaper

It is most effective and important media of mass communication. Its valuable services to the
community like information, education, entertainment, record facility etc. It gives information to
the people in the printed form. It is good example of print media

Magazine

It is most important print media of mass communication. It gives information to the people. In
magazines people show their talent in the form of anything. it is predecessor of the daily
newspaper.

Advantages
Higher Frequency of Viewing

One of the best benefits of print media is that it has a higher frequency opportunity of viewing
than online ads. Since the newspaper or magazine may sit on a table or rack at a business or
home, repeated exposures are allowed. Flyers, brochures, and other physical pieces are often
reviewed multiple times and shared with other prospects. Unlike digital messaging, print media
does not disappear after generating an impression. It piles up, creates clutter, and is thereby
reviewed once more, even before recycling or discarding. Because of this long shelf life, you
can benefit from having your ad seen by more people, more often.

Holds Readers’ Attention

If you’ve ever tried to read a lengthy article online, you’ll understand how much the digital age
has nearly killed the human attention span. People surf the Internet with multiple tabs open,
while texting their friends, and half-listening to the television in the background. With all this
constant stimulation, it’s almost impossible to focus on a single thing for very long. That’s why
print media is the better option for your advertising. Print readers cannot multitask while they are
reading your magazine or newspaper. This means they can focus on what they see and be
more receptive to the ads within the publication. This benefit of newspaper advertising is one of
the reasons why so many big brands still post ads in print.

Flexibility

Print ads are amazing at allowing you to target your audience. You’re in full control of exactly
what section of the newspaper or magazine you place your ad in, and you can do this based on
information about where your audience is most likely to read. You can run your ad in specialty
magazines related to your topic or in general papers that deliver to your geographic locations.
You can also run your ad on a specific day of the week. You can tailor your campaigns to suit
your budget by changing the size and colour of your ad. Even more, you will be working with a
human being when you buy your ad space, so you won’t be at the mercy of an online algorithm
that decides where your ads are seen. Print media provides you much more customization than
digital ads.

Credibility Increases Reader Loyalty

Print publications are better able to increase reader loyalty because they are credible. Many
people subscribe to magazines and newspapers because they understand and believe that the
information provided to them is credible and accurate. Publishing an article in print takes a lot
more effort than publishing something online. This is because you only have one chance to get
every word and image right before it gets published. With online ads, you can go back in to
change or tweak your ad and send it back out. Since there is this pressure on accuracy and
credibility and print media, readers are more likely to trust this platform. This works to your
advantage by generating leads and sales much easier. As an added benefit, this trustworthiness
leads to better reader loyalty.

Control over Appearance

Another newspaper advertising advantage is that you can control the way it looks. You have
complete power over the colours you use and the characteristics of the paper. Every aspect of
typography, colour choices, graphics, and design allow you to create a presentation that meets
the expectations of your prospects. Other types of media provide less control over these
aspects. Digital media can be subject to operating systems and browser configurations, and
television advertising only appears and sounds as good as the technology it is presented upon.

Encourages Action

When people use the Internet, they try to avoid ads at all cost. It’s easy to click the “X” button
within seconds of an ad popping up on the screen it’s almost instantaneous. Online users hate
ads. There are even apps designed to block ads from showing up on webpages. This isn’t the
case with print media. Most print readers are motivated to take some form of action after viewing
a magazine or newspaper ad. For example, ads for a local grocery chain product sale
encourage customers to visit the store and buy the product right away, instead of waiting until
they actually need it. The idea that the item, at such a good price, could go out of stock sends
signals to the reader that they need to take immediate or soon action, so they don’t miss out.

More Accurate Targeting

It’s hard to know exactly whether print media or digital media are better at reaching a targeted
audience. Print allows you to choose a publication that your target audience is most likely to
read. This can be a trade magazine that caters to a specific industry or a local newspaper. This
is why many say print is better at reaching local audiences. Print media allows you to advertise
directly to your audience, by publishing your ad in magazines that rely on subscriptions. For
example, if you sell gardening tools, you can post your ad in gardening and home magazines.
Since digital ads can get lost on the Internet and are subject to algorithms, you can benefit from
choosing a print media marketing solution. You have the time to better understand your target
audience and specify your ad to appeal to them.

Sensory Experience

Some people simply enjoy the act of flipping through magazine pages, creating “dog ears” on
the pages they want to turn back to, and carrying the information everywhere they go. When
people wait at a doctor’s office, it’s second nature to pick up the magazine or newspaper on the
front table and start reading. When people take a flight on an airplane, they often bring reading
material to enjoy as they relax and try to get their mind off how high up they are. This sensory
experience of touching the page of the ad is on improves the impact it has on consumers.

Limitations

Competition for attention is fierce: Research shows that Americans now engage with seven
different types of information sources each day from print, TV and radio to online videos while
spending one of every four minutes on a social media platform. Rather than fight this trend,
savvy business owners work to ensure that their media mix covers all the opportunities available
to them.

Print media requires multiple exposures: Consumers need to see an ad several times before
they will take action. Marketing professionals call these exposures “touches.” This is why print
ad buys are usually made in bundles for multiple exposures. Print media can quickly add up to
be a costly proposition for the small business owner, which is why it’s imperative to select the
different media carefully, so that you increase the chance of a return.

Print media requires longer lead times: The immediacy of social media has cast a brighter light
on the meaning of the word “long.” Even if it’s not particularly well done, an ad can be written
and posted on a social media platform within minutes. Competition has helped shorten lead
times, but print ads must be written, produced and distributed. Knowing this, small business
owners should plan accordingly, designating print media for messages that are less
time-conscious in nature and are less likely to change at a moment’s notice.

● Requires multiple exposures

● Not for a global audience
● Requires a lot of planning
● Hard to target a specific audience
● Competition for attention is fierce
● Higher cost
 ● Requires longer lead times

Television- Meaning, Factors Affecting Selection of Television Media Decisions,

Advantages and Limitations

This medium consists of various forms like terrestrial, satellite and cable. The ads on this
medium are normally measured in term of slots (normally as a multiple of 10 seconds) both in
duration and frequency.

Television was introduced in India on September 15, 1959 as a pilot project in Delhi. Two one
hour telecast from a studio in Aakashvani Bhavan were transmitted through equipment gifted by
UNES. But many never knew that television is there in India. By early seventies the television
telecast started m full swing. And today we have satellite channels in so large a number.
Television channels are international, national as well as regional and local. Moreover, the
advertisements are audio-visual advertisements.

It is extremely important that whatever has been advertised in the commercial is true. For this
reason, organizations such as Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are there to monitor the
commercials on television and radio. This ensures that the advertisers are not making any false
claims to lure consumers to buy their products.

Most of the radio and television advertisements are paid though there are some public service
ads which can be aired for free. The advertisers usually have to pay for the spot which lasts for
30 seconds. In rare cases, this spot can increase to 60 seconds too.

These days radio and television ads are prepared by advertising agencies for their clients. They
understand the need of the client and make the commercial keeping in mind the current state of
affairs. Broadcast advertising has become a very essential part of marketing in recent times.
Companies allocate specific budget for radio and television ads and make an estimate of how
much revenue they can earn through broadcast advertising. For example, marketing consultants
are hired to determine the return on investment (ROI) for spending on radio and television ads.
Sometimes the marketing consultants of these businesses run sample ads to judge its
popularity among the viewers.

Full opportunity exists for product demonstration and amplification of selling points with audio
presentation. It is really a wonderful means of mass communication for creating market.
Television combines all of the elements of communication:

(1) illustration

(2) Music

(3) Spoken words

(4) written words.

We can have short commercials as well as sponsored programmes combining entertainment

with advertisement. It represents typical combination of salesmanship and advertising.

However, television has limited market coverage. Advertising on TV is expensive. In addition to

time costs, the costs of producing TV shows are considerable. Both radio and TV messages
have no life span like the messages in printed form. TV cannot have a long advertising copy.

Factors Affecting Selection of Television Media Decisions

Television is the fast-growing medium of advertisement because of huge expansion of electronic

media and cable network. It makes its appeal through both the eye and the ear. Products can be
demonstrated as well as explained as in film advertisement. Advertising may take the form of
short commercials and sponsored programmes.

T.V. advertising has all the merits of film advertising. It has greater effectiveness as the message
is conveyed at their homes to the people. Selectivity of message can also be achieved.
Commercials may be given during that time period when the prospective buyers are supposed
to watch television programmes.

T.V advertising has got all the demerits of film advertising. Television is a very costly medium of
advertisement and can be made use of by the well-established companies only. Another
limitation of television advertisement is that once it is presented, its back reference is not
possible.

Advantages

● The creative potential for the fusion of sight, sound and motion through pictures,
symbols, movement, colour, text, music, effects and dialogue ensures advertising has a
high impact on viewers.
● It gives access to vast audiences, and can raise awareness very quickly
● It gives opportunities to match advertising messages to likely audiences for programmes.
● It offers selectivity through regional coverage, broadcast time and programme con
catering to the selected target audience as per requirement.
● It appeals to the sense.
● Model day after day become familiar and part of the family and hence whatever they say
are more convincing.
● It is very convenient and effective to demonstrate the product m the television.
● High attention is possible due to the combination of sound and visuals.
● It is a very powerful media in building up the image of the product.

Limitations
 ● It is an expensive media of advertising compared to the Press media. The cost “a time is
very high and along with that the cost of producing good quality advertisement for this m
● Advertisers might need to deliver the message to a selected group of audience, which is
very narrow Television causes overexposure of the advertisement thus losing the cost
effectiveness.
● The advertisement on TV is short lived as the commercials last for 30 seconds or less,
which might be very less to create an impact. The advertisers are becoming shorter day
by day because of the increasing cost and demand of the media time.
● Like the other media there is a huge clutter of advertisement on television also because
of which it is facing trouble being noticed.
● This is a media, which attracts people or its creative commercials. But on the other hand,
it has a limitation also that attention paid by viewers is limited because of increase
number о commercials, channel zapping i.e. changing channels to avoid commercials,
zipping i.e. forwarding through commercials if watching a prerecorded movie.
● It takes longer time compared to the print media to produce the commercials and
sponsored programmes.
● The commercial is there on the screen for few seconds and is then gone. So it is
essential, that jingles are catchy and sales message is repeated again in again leading
to higher customer brand recall and also higher expenditure.
● Generally it is difficult to carry the television set along with you.
● Television commercials have to abide by the broadcast code strictly.

Radio- Meaning, Factors Affecting Selection of Radio Media Decision, Advantages and
Limitations

Radio advertising sales represent the sale of airtime on local radio organizations, typically to
local businesses and nonprofit organizations. This type of advertising is one of the oldest forms
of business advertising. Different factors can affect radio advertising sales made to businesses,
and many of these factors depend on the local market and radio station. These factors include
time of advertisements, competition with other stations, types of advertisements available and
cost of advertisements. Other economic factors might result in times of greater or lesser sales,
just like with any other business.

Factors:
Radio Advertising Cost 1: Time and frequency

The time of day and frequency of playing your ad are important factors for radio advertising
costs.

Time

A 15-second ad played during prime hours may cost the same as a 60-second ad played
outside of peak periods. Keep in mind the morning and evening hours are more expensive than
airtime in the middle of the day since many listeners turn on their radios during their commute.
Because the size of the radio audience changes drastically during the day, the radio rates will
reflect the number of listeners you are expected to reach at any given time. For instance, during
the midday, or from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there may be few employed listeners tuning in to the radio
station. This situation is because many people do not listen to the radio while at work.

The best airtimes to maximize the size of your audience are from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and 3 p.m.
to 7 p.m. After this hour, people tend to switch to television time. Note that radio stations often
provide their audience data when you enquire about the slot you are interested in taking.

Aside from the time slot, another factor that may cause a price surge is when there are events in
your area, such as festivals or elections. Many companies or candidates may want to advertise
during these times, so expect to shell out extra money during these times.

Frequency

Another factor that will affect your radio advertising costs is the frequency of playing your ad.
The key to a successful ad campaign is consistency. If your target audience only hears your ad
once, it may not stick in their mind. If you want to engage current and future customers, your ad
should run regularly over a suitable period of time. This tip will not only lead to increased foot
traffic but also improved social media statistics.

Most brands use the 21/52 strategy, which specifies that your ad should run 21 times per week
throughout the year. By following this, you will have around 1,100 opportunities to connect with
your audience in the span of one year.

Radio Advertising Cost 2: The Market

One of the major factors that can affect your radio advertising costs is the radio market size of
your preferred station. This consideration covers the surrounding area and communities, as well
as the households and listeners that tune in to a particular station.

If you run a marketing campaign in large cities such as New York, expect to pay a higher fee
compared to fees in a small town. When a radio station has a broader reach, this larger
audience commands higher advertising costs.

Radio Advertising Cost 3: Ad quality

When it comes to your radio advertising costs, you get what you pay for. This factor is not only
true when it comes to the time slot, but also your radio ad quality. The efficiency of the
production, creative side, copy, and even call to action of your radio ad will significantly impact
its effectiveness in urging customers to act. Your radio ad should be consistent across all
marketing channels. So, it is highly recommended that you invest in hiring experienced
professionals that can tailor your ads perfectly to your goals and vision.
Radio Advertising Cost 4: Regional rates

You may run your radio ad on local stations and pay less because they do not have the same
number of listeners compared to a national radio station. If you have a small local business,
there is no need to invest in national exposure. You just have to shoulder the flat rate of the local
radio advertising costs. Because of this, you can run radio ads even if you’re on a tight budget.

Radio Advertising Cost 5: Negotiating Factors

When considering radio advertising costs, what you see isn’t always what you get. In other
words, keep in mind that prices can be negotiable. For example, a local radio station might give
you a larger discount if you commit to running an ad for a longer period.

Advantages of Radio Advertising

Radio has many advantages over other media, including cost and efficiency, selectivity,
flexibility, mental imagery, integrated marketing opportunities etc. Some of the important ones
are listed as under:

Selectivity: Another major advantage of radio is the high degree of audience selectivity available
through the various program formats and geographic coverage of the numerous stations. Radio
lets companies focus their advertising on specialized audiences such as certain demographic
and lifestyle groups. Most areas have radio stations, which format such programs as adult
contemporary, classical music, news, talk shows, top 20, to name a few. Some of the radio
programs are meant exclusively for women and children. This provides radio geographic
selectivity as well as target audience selectivity.

Cost and efficiency: One of the main strengths of radio as an advertising medium is its low-cost.
Radio commercials are very inexpensive to produce. They require only a script of the
commercial to be read by the radio announcers or a copy of the pre-recorded message that can
be broadcast by the station. The cost for radio time is also low. The low cost of radio means
advertisers can build more reach and frequency into their media schedule within a certain
budget. Radio commercials can be produced more quickly than TV spots, and the companies
can run them more often.

Flexibility: Radio is probably the most flexible of all the advertising media because it has a very
short closing period, which means advertisers can change their message almost up to the time
it goes on the air. Radio commercials can usually be produced and scheduled on a very short
notice. Radio advertisers can easily adjust their messages to local market conditions and
marketing situations.

Mental imagery: A potential advantage of radio that is often overlooked is that it encourages
listeners to use their imagination when processing a commercial message. While the creative
options of radio are limited, many advertisers take advantage of the absence of a visual element
to let consumers create their own picture of what is happening in the radio message. Radio may
also reinforce television messages through a technique called image transfer, where the images
of a TV commercial are implanted into a radio spot. The idea is that when consumers hear the
radio message, they will make the connection to a TV commercial, reinforcing its video images.
Image transfer offers advertisers a way to make radio and TV ads work together synergistically.

Widest possible geographic coverage: Radio can and does reach almost every where, in India.
Even at those places, where there is no television connectivity, people cannot read and write,
still, they do have a radio or a transistor with the help of which they connect themselves with the
rest of the world. This makes radio a truly mass media.

Mobility: Radio is extremely mobile. It follows the listener’s from room to room, goes to the
beach, and rides in the car. There are few places it cannot go. It can even follow workers to their
place of business.

Integrated marketing opportunities: Radio provides marketers with a variety of integrated

marketing opportunities. Radio stations become an integral part of many communities, and the
DJs and program hosts may become popular figures. Advertisers often use radio stations and
personalities to enhance their involvement with a local market and to gain influence with their
local retailers. Radio also works very effectively in conjunction with
place-based/point-of-purchase promotions. Retailers often use onsite radio broadcasts,
combined with special sales or promotions to attract consumers to their stores and get them to
make a purchase. Live radio broad casts are also used in conjunction with events marketing.

Mass appeal: Radio as a medium is good for people from all the backgrounds, whether they are
rich or poor, literate or illiterate, from every religion, caste, creed, or sex.

Sales promotion schemes: Radio is a very effective medium for the introduction of a new
product, or a special announcement or for the promotion of a new sales promotion incentive.

Audio element: It depends solely on the spoken words in human voice. Listeners can hear the
programs and the commercials, while doing other things such as driving a car or doing other
household work. The touch of human voice also adds to the reception of radio commercials.
Human voice has a warmth and persuasiveness in conveying a message that can be most
effective. So, radio commercials call for least effort on the part of the target audience to listen to
the commercials and get the message across.

Limitations of Radio Advertising

Several factors limit the effectiveness of radio as an advertising medium, among them, creative
limitations, fragmentation, chaotic buying procedures, limited research data, limited listener
attention, and clutter. Media planner must consider them in determining the role the medium will
play in the advertising program.
Fragmentation: Another problem with radio is the high level of audience fragmentation due to
the large number of stations. The percentage of the market tuned to any particular station is
usually very small. The top-rated radio station in many major metropolitan areas with a number
of AM and FM stations may attract less than 10 percent of the total listening audience.
Advertisers that want a broad reach in their radio advertising media schedule have to buy time
on a number of stations to cover even a local market.

Creative limitations: A major drawback of radio as an advertising medium is the absence of a

visual image. The radio advertiser cannot show the product, demonstrate it, or use any type of
visual appeal or information. A radio commercial is, like a TV ad, a short lived and fleeting
message that is externally placed and does not allow receiver to control the rate at which it is
processed. Because of these creative limitations, many companies tend to ignore radio, and
agencies often assign junior people to the development of radio commercials.

Limited research data: Audience research data on radio are often limited, particularly compared
with TV, magazines, or newspapers. Most radio stations are small operators and lack the
revenue to support detailed studies of their audiences. And most users of radio are local
companies that cannot support research on radio listenership in their markets. Thus, media
planners do not have as much audience information available to guide them in their purchase of
radio time as they do with other media.

Clutter: Clutter is just as much a problem with radio as with other advertising media. Most radio
stations carry an average of nearly 10 minutes of commercials every hour. During the popular
morning and evening rush hours, the amount of commercial time may exceed to 12 minutes.
Also contributing to the clutter problem is the practice of some stations to offer “commercial-free”
blocks of music to attract listeners.

Limited listener attention: Another problem that affects radio is that it is difficult to retain listener
attention to commercials. Radio programming, particularly music, is often the background to
some other activity and may not receive the listeners’ full attention. Thus, they may miss some
or all of the commercials. One environment where radio has a more captive audience is in cars.
But getting listeners to pay attention to commercials can still be difficult.

Transient Quality: Radio, like any time medium, is fleeting. The message is not available for
reference or for rereading.

Out of Home (OOH)- Meaning, Types of OOH, Factors Affecting OOH Planning Decision,
Advantages and Limitations

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor advertising, outdoor media, and
out-of-home media, is advertising experienced outside of the home. This includes billboards,
wallscapes, and posters seen while “on the go;” it also includes place-based media seen in
places such as convenience stores, medical centers, salons, and other brick-and-mortar
venues.

OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, transit, and
alternative.

The OOH advertising industry in the United States includes more than 2,100 operators in 50
states representing the major out of home format categories. These OOH media companies
range from public, multinational media corporations to small, independent, family-owned
businesses.

Digital out-of-home

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) refers to dynamic media distributed across place-based networks in
venues including, but not limited to: cafes, grocery stores, bars, restaurants, health clubs,
colleges, arenas, gas stations, convenience stores, barber shops, airports and public spaces.
PQ Media defines DOOH by two major platforms, digital place-based networks (DPN) and
digital billboards & signage (DBB); DOOH networks typically feature independently addressable
screens, kiosks, jukeboxes and/or jumbotrons. DOOH media benefits location owners and
advertisers alike in being able to engage customers and/or audiences and extend the reach and
effectiveness of marketing messages. It is also referred to as digital signage.

DOOH includes stand-alone screens, screens on buildings, kiosks, and interactive media found
in public places. The availability of inexpensive LCD screens with built-in media players has
opened the door for companies to add interactive video messages in point of purchase (POP)
displays. The displays allow consumers to get additional information at the moment of decision
on a product or service. Growth in the DOOH industry has been increasing in 2009, with more
POP manufacturers, advertisers, and content developers moving to digital. Technological
improvements are holding down costs, and low-cost digital signage is making it easier to reach
consumers on a larger scale. For example, beacons are small devices placed on out-of-home
advertising structures that use Bluetooth technology to connect with mobile devices.

Types:
Aerial advertising: Aerial advertising includes towing banners via a fixed-wing aircraft as well as
airships like blimps and other airborne inflatables above beaches, events and gridlock traffic.

Billboard bicycle is a new type of mobile advertising in which a bike tows a billboard with an
advertising message. This method is a cost-efficient, targeted, and environmentally-friendly form
of advertising.

Brochure Distribution: Information displays in public gathering spaces such as transportation

centers, lodging facilities, visitor centers, attractions, and retail environments are targeted
methods to distribute effective messaging to a targeted audience. This method is slightly
different from traditional OOH as the consumer self-selects the messaging material, and can
take that message with them.

Billboard: Billboards (or Bulletins) are usually located in highly visible, heavy traffic areas such
as expressways, primary arterials, and major intersections. In the US bulletins are usually
illuminated. The ad artwork, commonly digitally printed on large vinyl-coated fabric membranes,
is often “rotated” by the outdoor plant operator amongst several locations in a metropolitan area
to achieve the desired reach of the population as defined in the sales contract. With extended
periods of high visibility, billboard advertisements provide advertisers with significant impact on
commuters. This is the largest standard out of home advertising format, usually measuring at
14ftx48ft in overall size. Vinyl decals allowing use of windows, on a side and rear advertisement
for alcohol on a Berlin bus

Bus advertising: Firmly establish brand awareness and generate quick recall with high-profile
exposure near point of purchase locations.

Commuter rail display: Reaches a captive audience of upscale suburban commuters.

Additionally, reaches lunch-time patrons, shoppers and business professionals.

ComPark advertising: ComPark is a device used for car park advertising, which is placed onto
the parallel lines of a bay and is able to gain instant exposure from motorists that have parked
their vehicle. The ComPark also serves as a guide to assist motorist in adhering to the parking
bay size.

Gas Station Pump Top Advertising: Printed Signage is inserted into sign holder frames above
the Pumps. These are called Pump Top advertising and are generally eye-level height. Average
dwell time for customers to refuel their vehicle is 3-5 minutes which make this form of
advertising very effective to reach automobile drivers.

Inflatable billboard: Similar to regular 2D billboard, but imposed on 3D object. Best used to
market physical products rather than services. A cost-effective approach that is able to achieve
high brand awareness and increase product purchases.

Lamppost banner advertising: Lamp columns are sited everywhere, allowing advertisers and
events to use banners to target precise geographical locations and create massive promotional
awareness.

Mobile billboard: Mobile billboards offer a great degree of flexibility to advertisers. These
advertisements can target specific routes, venue or events, or can be used to achieve market
saturation. A special version is the inflatable billboard which can stand free nearly everywhere.
This product can also be used for outdoor movie nights.

Poster: Target local audiences with these billboards, which are visible to vehicular traffic, and
are ideal for the introduction of new products/services. Marketers use posters to achieve
advertising objectives and increase brand awareness by placing multiple units in strategic
locations while lowering the cost per thousand impressions. This is a standardized poster
format, typically measuring 12’3″ x 24’6″; formally known as a 30-Sheet Poster.

Premier panel: Premiere panels combine the frequency and reach of a poster campaign with the
creative impact of a bulletin.

Premier square: Bright top and bottom illumination on a premiere panel provide extra impact
after dark.

Street advertising: The use of pavements and street furniture to create media space for brands
to get their message onto the street in a cost-effective approach.

Taxi advertising: Taxi advertising allows advertisers to highlight their products, whether brand
awareness, or a targeted message, directly to areas where people work, shop, and play.

Wallscape: Wallscapes are attached to buildings and are able to accommodate a wide variety of
unusual shapes and sizes. These billboard advertisements are visible from a distance and
provide impact in major metro areas.

Aircraft Advertising: Aircraft advertising includes product or service branding inside and outside
the aircraft. This includes wrapping the aircraft with printed SAVs, baggage tag branding,
boarding pass branding, tray table branding and more.

Walking Billboards: These billboards are strapped on to the human shoulder and are carried
along the targeted geographic area. These billboard advertisements are also visible during
night.[citation needed] It helps the local advertisers as it is very cost effective and can be
geographically targeted to a particular area.

Other types of non-digital OOH advertising include airport displays, transit and bus-shelter
displays, headrest displays, double-sided panels, junior posters and mall displays.

Factors Affecting OOH Planning Decision

Plan a budget
Budget is the base of all your advertising plans, it can range from small to very large and is
dependent on the type of marketing you want for your product. Making a proper budget plan for
the advertisement helps you select the right media and locations you will be using for your
outdoor advertisement.

Know the target market

Identify your target consumer and start advertising from there. For example, if you are selling
clothing for working women, start from those areas which have most of the offices of the city.
Outdoor advertising companies will advise their clients about the geographical facts that can
decide a successful marketing campaign. Advertising a product on a very large scale yet still
unable to find an increasing demand in the consumer market? This is usually the result of
neglecting to analyze where your target market is and missing the opportunity to best to
communicate your message to the targeted, potential consumer.

Collect information about your competitor’s strategies

Find out who your competition is, and who’s already advertising a similar product or service that
may have the same appearance as your brand. Then research and analyze them to get useful
information. What outdoor advertising strategies are they using? What kind of messages are
they conveying? Are these messages precise or are they suggestive? What types of illustrations
and visuals and are being used? Understanding your competitors will help you boost the
effectiveness of your outdoor advertising campaign.

Consider offering promotional incentives

Offers that announce discounts or prizes can be likely to get more attention. Examples include
offering prizes for the first few customers, discounts for repeat customers, or cash-based
referrals for referring a friend or neighbor. Always be cautious when using this technique though
as not to “cheapen” your brand.

Advantages

Outdoor advertising offers a number of advantages as depicted as under:

Frequency: Because purchase cycles are typically for 30-day periods, consumers are usually
exposed a number of times, resulting in high levels of frequency.
Wide coverage of local markets: With proper replacement, a broad base of exposure is possible
in local markets, with both day and night presence.
Geographic flexibility: Outdoor advertising can be placed along highways, near stores, or on
mobile billboards, almost anywhere that law permits. Local, regional, or even national markets
may be covered.
Ability to create awareness: Because of its impact (and the need for a simple message), outdoor
can lead to a high level of last minute awareness and reminder of a product.
Creativity: Outdoor ads can be very creative. Large prints, colours, and other elements attract
attention.
Efficiency: Outdoor usually has a very competitive cost per thousand measures when compared
to other media.
Production capabilities: Modern technologies have reduced production time for an outdoor
advertising to allow for rapid turnaround time.
Effectiveness: Outdoor advertising can often lead to increased sales, particularly when
combined with a promotional program.

Limitations
Limited message capabilities: Because of the speed with which most people pass by outdoor
ads, exposure time is short, so messages are limited to a few words, and/or an illustration.
Lengthy appeals are not likely to be effective.
Waste coverage: While it is possible to reach very specific audiences, in many cases the
purchase of outdoor advertising results in a high degree of waste coverage. It is not likely that
everyone driving past a billboard is part of the target market.
Wear out: Because of the high frequency of exposures, outdoor advertising may lead to a quick
wear out. People are likely to get tired of seeing the same ad every day. Moreover, because of
the severe weather conditions, the life of the outdoor banners and posters is generally very
short.
Measurement problems: One of the more difficult problems of outdoor advertising lies in the
accuracy of measuring reach, frequency, and other effects.
Cost: Because of the decreasing signage available and the higher cost associated with
inflatable, outdoor advertising can be expensive in both an absolute and a relative sense.
Image problems: Outdoor advertising has suffered some image problems as well as some
disregard among consumers. People do not consider this medium a very authentic and
prestigious. So, most of the renowned companies do not use this medium for advertising their
products.
Legal constraints: This medium also confronts lots of legal problems from time to time.

Emerging Media: ∙ Online, Mobile, Gaming, In flight, In Store, Interactive Media

Online
Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or
web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver
promotional marketing messages to consumers. Many consumers find online advertising
disruptive and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a variety of reasons.

When software is used to do the purchasing, it is known as programmatic advertising.

Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media
marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile
advertising. Like other advertising media, online advertising frequently involves a publisher, who
integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the
advertisements to be displayed on the publisher’s content. Other potential participants include
advertising agencies who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server which
technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics, and advertising affiliates who do
independent promotional work for the advertiser.

In 2016, Internet advertising revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television
and broadcast television.  In 2017, Internet advertising revenues in the United States totaled
$83.0 billion, a 14% increase over the $72.50 billion in revenues in 2016. And research
estimates from 2019’s online advertising spend puts it at $125.2 billion in the United States,
some $54.8 billion higher than the spend on television ($70.4 billion).

Many common online advertising practices are controversial and, as a result, have been
increasingly subject to regulation. Online ad revenues also may not adequately replace other
publishers’ revenue streams. Declining ad revenue has led some publishers to place their
content behind paywalls.

Mobile Advertising
Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile (wireless) phones or other mobile devices.
It is a subset of mobile marketing, mobile advertising can take place as text ads via SMS, or
banner advertisements that appear embedded in a mobile web site.

It is estimated that U.S. mobile app-installed ads accounted for 30% of all mobile advertising
revenue in 2014, and will top $4.6bn in 2016, and over $6.8bn by the end of 2019. Other ways
mobile advertising can be purchased include working with a Mobile Demand Side Platform, in
which ad impressions are bought in real-time on an Ad exchange. Another report has indicated
that worldwide mobile digital advertising spend would reach $184.91 bn in 2018, $217.42 bn in
2019 and $247.36 bn in 2020 and $500 bn in 2025.

Types of mobile ads

Click-to-download ads: The user will be directed to the Appstore or Google Play
Click-to-call ads: The user will call to a phone number after clicking the button.
Click-to-message ads: The user will be directed to an SMS application to message the
advertiser.
Image text and banner ads: A click opens your browser and re-directs you to a page
Push notification
Pin pull ads: Mostly common in Playrix ads
Gaming Advertising
Advertising in video games is the integration of advertising into video games to promote
products, organizations, or viewpoints.

There are two major categories of advertising in video games: in-game advertising and
advergames. In-game advertising shows the player advertisements while playing the game,
whereas advergames are a type of game created to serve as an advertisement for a brand or
product.

Other methods of advertising in video games include in-game product placement and
sponsorship of commercial games or other game-related content.

In-game advertising is similar to product placement in films and television, where the advertising
content exists within the universe of the characters. These forms of product placement are
common, which led to the advertisement technique being applied to video games to match
evolving media consumption habits. According to the Entertainment Software Association in
2010, 42% of gamers said they play online games one or more hours per week. Game playing
is considered active media consumption, which provides a unique opportunity for advertisers.
The principal advantages of product placement in gaming are visibility and notoriety. A single
in-game advertisement may be encountered by the player multiple times, and advertisers have
an opportunity to ally a brand’s image with that of a well-received game.

In flight Advertising
In-flight advertising is advertising that targets potential consumers aboard an airline. It includes
commercials during in-flight entertainment programming, advertisements in in-flight magazines
or on Boarding Passes, ads on seatback tray tables and overhead storage bins, and sales
pitches by flight attendants. Ads can be tailored to the traveler’s destination, or several of the
airlines destinations, promoting local restaurants, hotels, businesses and shopping.

Boarding passes advertising

Boarding pass advertising relies on the use of targeted advertising technologies. When the
passenger checks on-line he has the possibility to click on the various ads and suggestions
suggested on the boarding pass. When travelers print their boarding passes, the ads will
automatically be printed, too. Fliers can, however, click a box to prevent the ads from being
printed if the company is so compassionate as to allow it.

The ads are used by airlines to increase revenue and for advertisers to target travelers down to
their departure city and destination. Sojern was one of the first companies to partner with such
airlines as Delta Air Lines to offer boarding pass advertising technology.

Evolution

Inflight advertising began in onboard magazines as a way to increase ancillary revenue for
airlines and pay for inflight content. Today, inflight advertising is set to increase as airlines are
investing heavily in content and connectivity and utilizing media sales to offset costs.

In Store Advertising
In-store adverting is the act of marketing to customers while they are inside of a
brick-and-mortar business or commercial property. It actively promotes products and services at
the point-of-purchase when customers are highly interested and engaged.

Usually, when retailers plan their marketing, they focus on how they can use outside messaging
to bring customers into a store. But in-store advertising is a strategy that focuses on using
on-property messaging to engage customers that are already in the store.

Brands can create custom animations, videos, and interactive in-store advertising content and
display it on:
Digital wait-boards
Digital menu boards
Video walls
Interactive kiosks
Wayfinding screens
Personal devices (through the use of WiFi marketing)
In-store advertising effectively:

Encourages impulse buys by highlighting cross-sells, up-sells, and related products.

Introduces new products and effectively explains their features and benefits to customers.
Promotes sales by making it easy for customers to notice current promotions.
Supports cross-promotions by showcasing similar or related products and services.
Informs customers by helping them find information they need to guide their purchasing
decisions.
Reminds customers about information and promotions they saw on your digital platforms before
they arrived to your store.
Captures customer contact information by encouraging shoppers to enter their email address or
phone number.
Interactive Media
Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems
which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, moving image,
animation, video and audio.

Development

The analogue videodisc developed by NV Philips was the pioneering technology for interactive
media. Additionally, there are several elements that encouraged the development of interactive
media including the following:

The laser disc technology was first invented in 1958. It enabled the user to access high-quality
analogue images on the computer screen. This increased the ability of interactive video
systems.
The concept of the graphical user interface (GUI), which was developed in the 1970s,
popularized by Apple Computer, Inc. was essentially about visual metaphors, intuitive feel and
sharing information on the virtual desktop. Additional power was the only thing needed to move
into multimedia.
The sharp fall in hardware costs and the unprecedented rise in the computer speed and
memory transformed the personal computer into an affordable machine capable of combining
audio and color video in advanced ways.
Another element is the release of Windows 3.0 in 1990 by Microsoft into the mainstream IBM
clone world. It accelerated the acceptance of GUI as the standard mechanism for
communicating with small computer systems.
The development by NV Philips of optical digital technologies built around the compact disk
(CD) in 1979 is also another leading element in the interactive media development as it raised
the issue of developing interactive media.
All of the prior elements contributed in the development of the main hardware and software
systems used in interactive media.

Advantages
Intuitive understanding

Interactive media makes technology more intuitive to use. Interactive products such as
smartphones, iPad’s/iPod’s, interactive whiteboards and websites are all easy to use. The easy
usage of these products encourages consumers to experiment with their products rather than
reading instruction manuals.

Effects on learning

Interactive media is helpful in the four development dimensions in which young children learn;
Social and emotional, language development, cognitive and general knowledge, and
approaches toward learning. Using computers and educational computer software in a learning
environment helps children increase communication skills and their attitudes about learning.
Children who use educational computer software are often found using more complex speech
patterns and higher levels of verbal communication. A study found that basic interactive books
that simply read a story aloud and highlighted words and phrases as they were spoken were
beneficial for children with lower reading abilities. Children have different styles of learning, and
interactive media helps children with visual, verbal, auditory, and tactile learning styles.

Relationships

Interactive media promotes dialogic communication. This form of communication allows senders
and receivers to build long term trust and cooperation. This plays a critical role in building
relationships. Organizations also use interactive media to go further than basic marketing and
develop more positive behavioral relationships.

Media Strategy: ∙ Meaning, Need for Media Strategy, Situation Analysis for Media Strategy
and its Components

Media strategy, as used in the advertising or content delivery (online broadcasting) industries, is
concerned with how messages will be delivered to consumers or niche markets. It involves:
identifying the characteristics of the target audience or market, who should receive messages
and defining the characteristics of the media that will be used for the delivery of the messages,
with the intent being to influence the behavior of the target audience or market pertinent to the
initial brief. Examples of such strategies today have revolved around an Integrated Marketing
Communications approach whereby multiple channels of media are used i.e. advertising, public
relations, events, direct response media, etc.
This concept has been used among proponents of entertainment-education programming where
pro-social messages are embedded into dramatic episodic programs to change the audiences
attitudes and behaviors in such areas as family planning, literacy, nutrition, smoking, etc.

Where is the place for showing or delivering advertisement. In short it means the geographical
area from where it should be visible to the customers who use or are most likely to use the
product or services offered. The place does not mean only TV or radio but it can also be
newspapers, blogs, sponsorships, hoardings on roads, ads in the movie break in theatres, etc.
The area varies from place to place like it can be on national basis, state basis and for local
brands it can be on city basis.
When is the timing to show or run advertisement. For e.g. you cannot show a raincoat ad in the
winter season but you need to telecast ad as soon as the summer season is coming to an end
and rainy season is just about to begin. The ad should be delivered with perfect timing when
most customers are like to buy the product. The planners need to plan it keeping the budget in
mind as the maximum of 20% of revenues of the company can be used in the advertisement
section. Different products have different time length for advertisements. Some products need
year long ads as they have nothing to do with seasonal variations e.g. small things like biscuits,
soaps, pens, etc and big services like vehicle insurance, refrigerators, etc. Some products need
for three or four months. E.g. umbrellas, cold creams, etc. So the planners have to plan the
budget according to the time length so that there is no short of money at any time in this
process.
There are basically two media approaches to choose from.

Media Concentration approach

Media Dispersion Approach
In media concentration approach, the number of categories of media is less. The money is
spent on concentrating on only few media types say two or three. This approach is generally
used for those companies who are not very confident and have to share the place with the other
competitors. They don’t want anyone to get confused with their brand name so this is the safest
approach as the message reaches the target consumers.

In media dispersion approach, there are a greater number of categories of media used to
advertise. This approach is considered and practiced by only those people who know that a
single or two types of media will not reach their target. They place their product ads in many
categories like TV, radio, internet, distributing pamphlets, sending messages to mobiles, etc.

Selection of Media Category

Whichever category is selected by the planners of the organization, they should select a proper
media to convey their message.

If the product is for a big amount of customers then a mass media option can be selected like
TV, radio or newspaper. The best examples for this type are detergent ads, children health
drinks and major regular used products such as soap, shampoo, toothpastes etc.
If the planners want to change the mind of people doing window shopping or just doing
shopping for sake of name, then point of purchase type can be opted by the company. This
helps the company to explain their point to the buyers and convince the buyers to go for their
product.

If the planners want to sell their product on one to one basis, then the third option is direct
response type. Here, the company people directly contact the customers via emails, text
messages, phone calls or meeting for giving demos. The best example of this type of media is
the Life cell Cord Blood Banking. They go to their customers, explain them what it is all about
and try to convince them.

Thus, this process of media strategy plays an important and vital role in the field of Advertising.

Types of media strategies

Understanding the different types of media strategy is key when deciding which one to
implement to achieve your desired outcome. The following are the primary types of media
strategies:

Media concentration strategy

A media concentration strategy is an approach that focuses only on a select few types of media
to reach a distinct target audience. Whereas some other media strategies incorporate the use of
several media types, a media concentration approach narrows down the types of media used
based on a specific target audience’s trend. For example, a company may choose to only
advertise or market on a specific social media platform rather than divvying up its resources to
market on multiple social media platforms.

This type of strategy is ideal for companies that only want to attract a particular audience rather
than a broader customer base. For example, a company that makes pool tables likely doesn’t
want to market to a broad audience as many people aren’t in the market for purchasing a pool
table. So, the company is more likely to use a media concentration strategy to reach a select
group of consumers the company knows is interested in purchasing this type of product.

Media dispersion strategy

A media dispersion strategy is an approach that uses a large variety of media types to reach a
broad audience. This approach is most frequently used when a company’s target audience can’t
be reached by marketing on only a few media platforms. A company using a media dispersion
approach may place advertisements in several different media categories such as radio, social
media, television and search engines. Using this strategy allows a business to reach a mass
audience that may or may not be interested in its goods or services.

Earned media strategy

An earned media strategy refers to a marketing and advertising approach that aims to gain
media or publicity organically. This is considered one of the best types of media strategies
because it requires no payment or commission and is generated by a third party. Earned media
strategies work because they increase trust in a brand or company through the promotion of
that brand or company by others or third-party credibility. For example, a customer is more likely
to purchase a product they see their favorite social media influencer using than they are a
product they see a paid ad for.

Paid media strategy

A paid media strategy refers to a media approach in which the company promotes its content,
services or goods through paid advertisements. These paid ads can be placed on various
platforms, including social media, TV and radio. For example, pay-per-click advertising is a type
of paid media that charges the company a small fee every time a user clicks on its ad.

Other examples of paid media include:

Paid ad placements
Branded content
Display ads
Influencer collaborations
Owned media strategy

An owned media strategy refers to an approach in which a company uses its own media to
advertise or market its products or services. For example, posting information about an
upcoming product launch on your company’s blog is a type of owned media strategy. Owned
media is any online property that is owned by the company or brand. Examples of owned media
include social media platforms, websites and blogs. Having more owned media channels allows
a company to have a larger digital footprint and reach more potential customers.

Need for Media Strategy

Definition of the target audience. An insufficiently thorough approach to this stage threatens the
failure of the entire advertising campaign. The target audience should be determined very
accurately. It depends on how effective the tactics of action will be. And additional differentiation
of the target audience into target groups will help to direct the advertising campaign even more
precisely.

Analysis. At this stage, competitor strategies, market conditions and consumer behavior are
analyzed. However, it should be understood that it is not always possible to obtain such
information. Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to guess how a competitor or a consumer acts. As
a result, either an incomplete or a not entirely relevant picture is formed. But research in this
area allows you to adjust the media strategy taking into account the behavior of the main
players in the market.
The place of the advertising campaign, or the choice of communication channels. The choice of
a communication channel for an advertising should take into account the following factors:

Weaknesses and strengths of a particular channel;

Possibilities of a communication channel for solving tasks;
Features and specifics of the promoted product or service;
Budget size.
It’s not easy to choose from the variety of channels those that most closely meet your goal. For
this, there is not always all the necessary data.

Budget management for the implementation of the media strategy. The formation of a media
strategy should be built in strict accordance with the funds allocated for promotion. In this case,
it is necessary to select from possible methods those that are able to convey information to
consumers most effectively. Media strategy should be part of the brand’s overall communication
strategy.

Situation Analysis for Media Strategy and its Components

The definition of a situation analysis refers to a set of methods that marketing managers use to
analyze a company’s internal and external environment to understand the organization’s
capabilities, customers, and business environment.

Your marketing plan is critical and the importance of situational analysis in your marketing plan
is paramount.

Situation analysis refers to a collection of methods that managers use to analyze an

organization’s internal and external environment to understand the organization’s capabilities,
customers, and business environment. The situation analysis consists of several methods of
analysis: The 5Cs Analysis, SWOT analysis and Porter five forces analysis. A Marketing Plan is
created to guide businesses on how to communicate the benefits of their products to the needs
of potential customer. The situation analysis is the second step in the marketing plan and is a
critical step in establishing a long term relationship with customers.

Marketing Plan

Introduction
Situation analysis
Objectives
Budgeting
Strategy
Execution
Evaluation
5C Analysis
While a situation analysis is often referred to as the “3C analysis“, the extension to the 5c
analysis has allowed businesses to gain more information on the internal, macro-environmental
and micro-environmental factors within the environment. The 5C analysis is considered the most
useful and common way to analyze the market environment, because of the extensive
information it provides.

Company

The company analysis involves evaluation of the company’s objectives, strategy, and
capabilities. These indicate to an organization the strength of the business model, whether there
are areas for improvement, and how well an organization fits the external environment.

Goals & Objectives: An analysis on the mission of the business, the industry of the business
and the stated goals required to achieve the mission.
Position: An analysis on the Marketing strategy and the Marketing mix.
Performance: An analysis on how effective the business is achieving their stated mission and
goals.
Product line: An analysis on the products manufactured by the business and how successful it is
in the market.
Competitors

The competitor analysis takes into consideration the competitors position within the industry and
the potential threat it may pose to other businesses. The main purpose of the competitor
analysis is for businesses to analyze a competitor’s current and potential nature and capabilities
so they can prepare against competition. The competitor analysis looks at the following criteria:

Identify competitors: Businesses must be able to identify competitors within their industry.
Identifying whether competitors provide the same services or products to the same customer
base is useful in gaining knowledge of direct competitors. Both direct and indirect competitors
must be identified, as well as potential future competitors.
Assessment of competitors: The competitor analysis looks at competitor goals, mission,
strategies and resources. This supports a thorough comparison of goals and strategies of
competitors and the organization.
Predict future initiatives of competitors: An early insight into the potential activity of a competitor
helps a company prepare against competition.
Customers

Customer analysis can be vast and complicated. Some of the important areas that a company
analyzes includes:

Demographics

Advertising that is most suitable for the demographic

Market size and potential growth
Customer wants and needs
Motivation to buy the product
Distribution channels (retail, online, wholesale, etc…)
Quantity and frequency of purchase
Income level of customer
Collaborators

Collaborators are useful for businesses as they allow for an increase in the creation of ideas, as
well as an increase in the likelihood of gaining more business opportunities. The following type
of collaborators are:

Agencies: Agencies are the middlemen of the business world. When businesses need a specific
worker who specializes in the trade, they go to a recruitment agency.
Suppliers: Suppliers provide raw materials that are required to build products. There are 7
different types of Suppliers: Manufacturers, wholesalers, merchants, franchisors, importers and
exporters, independent crafts people and drop shippers. Each category of suppliers can bring a
different skill and experience to the company.
Distributors: Distributors are important as they are the ‘holding areas for inventory’. Distributors
can help manage manufacturer relationships as well as handle vendor relationships.
Partnerships: Business partners would share assets and liabilities, allowing for a new source of
capital and skills.
Businesses must be able to identify whether the collaborator has the capabilities needed to help
run the business as well as an analysis on the level of commitment needed for a
collaborator-business relationship.

Climate

To fully understand the business climate and environment, many factors that can affect the
business must be researched and understood. An analysis on the climate is also known as the
PEST analysis. The types of climate/environment firms have to analyse are:

Political and regulatory environment: An Analysis of how active the government regulates the
market with their policies and how it would affect the production, distribution and sale of the
goods and services.
Economic Environment: An Analysis of trends regarding macroeconomics, such as exchange
rates and inflation rate, can prove to influence businesses.
Social/cultural environment: Interpreting the trends of society, which includes the study of
demographics, education, culture etc…
Technological analysis: An analysis of technology helps improve on old routines and suggest
new methods for being cost efficient. To stay competitive and gain an advantage over
competitors, businesses must sufficiently understand technological advances.
Media Strategy Components
These are the steps involved in creating your media plan:
Research and Identify Your Target Market: Take the demographics of your target audience into
consideration. The more you know about your target market, the more effective your overall
marketing strategy will be. Identify your market, where and how they spend their time, and the
media and messaging to most effectively reach them. For example, marketing through mobile
apps and social media would be more effective to reach the teenage demographic than
advertising in print and traditional media.

Set Measurable Objectives and Goals: Keep in mind your overall marketing objective and goals
during the strategy creation process. These must be measurable and specific. Use the SMART
method, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Based. The
simple goal to “Make more money” can be measured, but “Increase profits by 20% by Q3” is a
much more specific goal and it offers a way to create a timeline that keeps you on track.

Determine Your Marketing Budget: The marketing budget is also part of your media strategy.
Without a budget, it is possible to throw thousands of dollars at a problem and get no clear
solution. Having a set budget encourages you to think each tactic through and be more creative
in your problem-solving. It protects you from overspending or spending money you do not have.

Craft Your Message: The marketing proposition is the customer problem your business will
solve and how it will do it. The message is based on your research into what will appeal to the
target audience. You can have different messages for different objectives, all tying into one
theme. Remember to include a call-to-action.

Learn From Your Results: The most effective media strategies evolve over time. If you launch
one strategy that doesn’t have the expected business results, your company can learn from
where it went wrong and improve subsequent launches.

Steps in Formulating Media Strategies:

Defining the Target Group

Identifying your target audience is essential in developing an effective media strategy. In
addition to understanding identifying your target audience is essential in developing an effective
media strategy. In addition to understanding your audience’s key demographic traits, really dive
deep to try to get to know and understand your target audience. Ask yourself these questions:

Where and how do they spend most of their time?

What does a typical day look like for them?
What are their fears?
What are their interests?
What media channels do they use?
Have clear objectives for making media

Objectives are even more specific than your goals. Objectives need to be SMART:
S: Specific

M: Measurable

A: Achievable

R: Realistic

T: Time-bound

Market Prioritization
Project prioritization is the process that helps you take on the work that will influence your
marketing goals most effectively.

Here are some examples:

Your regular content marketing brainstorming process

Notes from customer support and sales teams
Trending or up-and-coming topics and audience challenges
Competitor’s content (or gaps in their content)
Chances are, you have a new idea in your head, inbox, or whiteboard more often than you can
handle. This is where a project prioritization matrix comes in.

A project prioritization matrix is a decision-making tool that can be used in any type of project
management.

Audience Profiling

After you have identified your target audience and participant communities, create a profile for
each that includes details such as:

Demographics: Race, gender, ethnicity, age, education, religion.

Geography: Local, national, international, remote, urban, rural.
Attitudes: How do they perceive the issue; how proactive they are? What would it take to get
them to take action?
Media habits: What media do they have access to, use and like?
Culture: What is their cultural background, what languages do they speak or read?
Media Weights
Media weight is a term used in advertising to refer to the size of the audience reached by an
advertising campaign. Media weight is determined by the number and placement of
advertisements in media such as television commercials, online ads, or billboards.

Media weight is usually expressed in the form of GRP’s (Gross rating Points), AOTS (Average
opportunity to see) and reach of target audience. The main use of media weights is to monitor
how well the goals of a communication plan are being reached. There are different ways to
measure media weight.

Measurement

The most important method in measuring media weight is analysis of past records. The analysis
is done on basis of television, print and magazines reporting. Television spending’s are reported
as TAM rates and print as card rates. TV spending’s can be analysed on the basis of program
genre, channel type, time duration and total airtime. The print rate analysis is done on the basis
of colour/monochrome, magazine, issue, placement of ad, month, and other variables.

Types of brands

Research carried out by John Philip Jones on the advertising of different brands in 23 countries
found that the brands could be classified into two types: profitable brands and investor brands.

Profitable brands

These are brands that are advertised less in proportion to market share are categorized as
profitable brands. These are brands which may have advertised many times previously but at
present are enjoying higher market share with less advertising.

Investor brands

These are brands that are advertised more in proportion to market share. These brands tend to
be newly introduced brands, which have less impact on the audience and are in the growth
phase of their product lifecycle (PLC) curve.

Media Mix
A media mix is the combination of communication channels your business can use to meet its
marketing objectives. Typically, these include newspapers, radio, television, billboards,
websites, email, direct mail, the Internet and social media, such as Facebook or Twitter.
Combining these channels in a media mix enables you to communicate in the most effective
way with different types of customers and prospects at different stages of the purchase decision,
according to Entrepreneur.

Aligning Media Mix with Buying Stages

Entrepreneur notes that the emphasis in the media mix changes at different stages in the buying
cycle. When prospects are looking for information, they may read publications covering their
interests, search websites, visit trade shows or check product review sites. So, it’s important that
you have information in the places they are likely to visit. The emphasis in your media mix would
be on raising awareness through advertisements, press releases, product pages on your
website, participation in trade shows or comments on social media.
When prospects have expressed an interest in your products, you can use a different media mix
to nurture them and move them toward a buying decision. The mix at this stage might include
email offering detailed product information, a seminar or a customized sales proposal.

Right Message to the Right Audience

An effective media mix delivers the right marketing message to your customers and prospects at
the lowest cost and with minimal waste. If you want to reach a consumer audience across the
country, you might use a media mix that includes national newspapers, radio or television. If you
wanted to reach a specific group of business decision-makers, such as technical directors, your
mix might include specialist business magazines or exhibitions aimed at those directors. To
reach a small number of key executives who influence a major purchasing decision, you might
include personalized direct mail or an executive briefing session in your mix.

Integrated Media Work Harder

The components of a media mix are more effective when they are integrated. The benefit of an
integrated campaign is that the media mix is more effective when the components work together
and communicate consistent messages each time, according to MMC Learning. In practical
terms, that means using the same creative themes and marketing messages across all
elements of your media mix. Prospects viewing an advertisement, website page, direct mail
piece or product guide from an integrated campaign would receive consistent messages, with
each element of the mix reinforcing the others.

Media Scheduling
Media Scheduling refers to the pattern of timing of an advertising which is represented as plots
on a flowchart on a yearly basis. The plots in the flowchart indicate the pattern of periods that
matches with favorable selling periods. The classical scheduling models are commonly known
as continuity, fighting, and pulsing.

Media scheduling depends upon a number of factors such as:

The nature of product: Whether it is consumer usable, durables or industrial.

The nature of sales: Whether the sales is seasonal or regular.
The product lifecycle: Whether the product introduction is in growth, maturity or decline.
The pattern of competitor’s programs.
The entry of new competitors in the market.
The availability of funds for advertising and marketing campaigns.
Types of Scheduling:

The advertiser has to consider two types of media scheduling problems:

Macro-scheduling:
The macro-scheduling involves allocating advertising expenditure and frequency
(repetition/reproduction of message) in relation to season or broad picture of business cycle.
The macro-scheduling problem concerns with how to schedule advertising in relation to
seasonal and business cycle trends.

The broad picture of seasonal and/or cyclical trend is considered. This is due to the fact that the
demand is fluctuated as per seasons and/or business cycle. Therefore, it is desirable to vary
advertising expenditures to follow seasonal patterns. Company, as per its calculation, can spend
more or less during the season or particular phase of business cycle.

According to experts, advertising does not have immediate impact on consumer awareness,
sales, or profits.

So, one should study relationship between:

(1) Timing of advertising and consumer awareness,

(2) Consumer awareness and impact on sales, and

(3) Sales and advertising expenditure.

Advertising timing should be adjusted as per time gap exists between advertising time and its
impact. Computer-based mathematical model can be formulated to study these time relations.
Advertiser has to decide on advertising time for different types of products, such as frequently
purchased, seasonal products, and low-cost daily consumed products. Along with seasonal or
cyclical aspect, an advertiser should also consider impact of the past advertising. Many
consumers continue buying even without the present advertisement.

Micro-scheduling:

The micro-scheduling problem concerns with allocating advertising expenditure and frequency
within a short period to obtain the maximum response or impact. In other words, the problem
deals with how to distribute advertising expenditure within the given time.

For example, a company has decided to advertise specific message 60 times (that requires
approximately Rs. 500000) through daily regional newspapers in a year. Now the question is to
decide on which days/weeks/months/seasons the 60 times advertisement is to be allocated.
Similarly, the same issue is related to radio or television spots.

Media Budget ∙ Meaning

An Media budget is an estimate of a company’s promotional expenditures over a certain time

period. The term “advertising budget” in essence is nothing but planning the advertising
expenditure. The amount of money to be utilized for advertising purpose is charged to the profit
and loss account of the co. and therefore is of vital importance both to the company and to the
advertising agency that handles advertiser’s account. Advertising costs money & before
spending, it is necessary to ensure its proper investment.

Factors to be considered while Framing a Budget

● Advertising Task
A more effective budgeting strategy would be the one which considers the firm’s overall
promotional objectives. The budgeting then is done according to the requirements for meeting
these goals.

Objective and task method:

The most logical budget setting method is the objective and task method whereby the company
sets its promotion budget based on what it wants to accomplish with promotion. This method
entails defining specific promotion objectives, the tasks needed to achieve these objectives and
estimating the costs of performing these tasks.

Objective setting and budgeting should not come in sequence, one after another. They should
be considered simultaneously because it is difficult to establish a budget without specific
objectives in mind, and setting objectives without regard to how much money is available makes
no sense.

The approach used by the objective and task method is buildup approach consisting of three
steps:

Defining the communications objectives that are to be accomplished,

Determining the specific strategies and tasks needed to attain them
Estimating the costs associated with performance of these strategies and tasks. The total
budget is based on the accumulation of these costs.
Implementing the objective and task approach is somewhat more involved. The manager must
monitor this process throughout and change strategies depending on how well objectives are
attained.

This process involves several steps:

Finalise Communication objectives.

Any company generally has two kinds of objectives viz. the marketing objectives for the product
and the communications objectives. The first job is to establish the marketing objective and
when that is done the net task is to determine what specific communications objectives will be
designed to accomplish these goals. Communications objectives must be specific, attainable,
and measurable, as well as time limited.
Determine tasks required:
The strategic plan designed to attain the objectives consists of various elements one of which
could be advertising in various media, sales promotions, and/or other elements of the
promotional mix. Each has its own role to perform and hence the specific tasks should be
finalised.

Estimate aggregate expenditures:

The next stage is to determine the estimated costs associated with the tasks fixed the last step.

Monitor:
A regular monitoring is required as to how much the objectives have been attained effectively. If
advertisements are an investment then a close monitoring of the invested amount and its return
is must.

Re-evaluate objectives:
Once specific objectives have been attained the budget should be reevaluated to check how
better it can be used to attain the other goals. Thus, if one has achieved the level of consumer
awareness sought, the budget should be altered to stress a higher-order objective such as
evaluation or trial.

The major advantage of the objective and task method is that the budget is developed from the
bottom to up, which is a proper and rational managerial approach. The method does not rely on
past sales figures, forecasted sales, what the competition spends and considers only those
factors, which are under the advertiser’s control.

Payout Planning:
The budgeting for a new product is a very different story because the first months of a new
product’s introduction require heavier-than-normal advertising and promotion appropriations to
stimulate higher levels of awareness and subsequent trial. James O. Peckham studied the
Nielson figures of more than 40 years and estimated that a new entry should be spending at
approximately twice the desired market share. But the major question is what will be the
profitable amount of spending on promotion of the new product.

In order to determine this, marketers often develop a payout plan that determines the
investment value of the advertising and promotion appropriation. The basic idea is to project the
revenues the product will generate, as well as the costs it will incur, over two to three years.
Based on an expected rate of return, the payout plan will assist in determining how much
advertising and promotions expenditure will be necessary when the return might be expected.

Competitive Framework
In a market with a large number of competitors and a high advertising spending, a brand must
advertise more heavily to be heard.

● Market Dominance, Market Coverage

To get a good market share in comparison to their competitors, the company should have a
better product in terms of quality, uniqueness, demand and catchy advertisements with resultant
response of the customers. All this is possible if the advertisement budget is high.

Despite the empirical relevance of advertising strategies in concentrated markets, the

economics literature is largely silent on the effect of persuasive advertising strategies on pricing,
market structure and increasing (or decreasing) dominance. In a simple model of persuasive
advertising and pricing with differentiated goods, we analyze the interdependencies between
ex-ante asymmetries in consumer appeal, advertising and prices. Products with larger initial
appeal to consumers will be advertised more heavily but priced at a higher level that is,
advertising and price discounts are strategic substitutes for products with asymmetric initial
appeal. We find that the escalating effect of advertising dominates the moderating effect of
pricing so that post-competition market shares are more asymmetric than pre-competition
differences in consumer appeal. We further find that collusive advertising (but competitive
pricing) generates the same market outcomes, and that network effects lead to even more
extreme market outcomes, both directly and via the effect on advertising.

● Media Cost
Media cost is the price you pay display, run, or present your advertisement or campaign during a
specified date range or campaign period. There are many different ways to price media
including points, impressions, flips, clicks, leads, actions, days, weeks, months, etc. Media Cost
excludes the cost to create the advertisement (copy or artwork) and other costs.

● Market Task
Marketing management has to do a set of tasks necessary for success in marketing. The basic
tasks of marketing are as follows:

Develop marketing strategies and plans

Creating marketing information system
Build customer relationship
Build strong brands
Determine marketing mix
Deliver value
Communicate value
Create long-term growth
Implementation and control

● Pricing
Advertising costs are a type of financial accounting that covers expenses associated with
promoting an industry, entity, brand, product, or service. They cover ads in print media and
online venues, broadcast time, radio time, and direct mail advertising.

Advertising costs will in most cases fall under sales, general, and administrative (SG&A)
expenses on a company’s income statement. They are sometimes recorded as a prepaid
expense on the balance sheet and then moved to the income statement when sales that are
directly related to those costs come in.

Advertising costs are typically not a surprise to a business owner. In fact, many will have
budgeted for a certain amount of advertising costs. The U.S. Small Business Administration
notes that most companies set their marketing budget based on revenues.

● Frequency of Purchase
Purchase Frequency is the number of times an average customer purchases a good or service
from your store in a specified time period.

Purchase Frequency = No. orders / No. unique customers

Remember that some businesses won’t typically have people buying from them regularly. Online
stores that sell larger, high-value goods can expect to have a lower Purchase Frequency than
businesses selling consumable products.

Importance of Media Budget.

● Check on Media expenditure

Media budget helps to have a check on advertising expenditure. Depending upon the budget,
the advertiser will utilize the right funds to achieve the advt. objectives. There will be no wastage
of funds by over spending on advertising the right amount will be spent to achieve the
advertising objectives.

● Approval from top management

The framing of Media budget will enable the advertising manager to obtain approval from the
top management. If the top management feels that the budget amount is more, then the
advertising manager may have to provide necessary justification for higher budgets.

● Balanced focus
The ad budget is prepared taking into consideration the requirements of the products that are to
be advertised. The right product is to be allocated the right amount of money. Again, there will
be proper focus on the right place & the right period of advertising.

● Facilitates Planned Execution

The right amount will be spent on the right product in the right media at the right period and
place. This will enable the advertiser to achieve ad objectives.

● Provides direction for drafting of Ads

The Ad budget provides a proper direction for drafting of ads. Depending upon the budget, the
ads will be filmed or drafted. When there is a large budget, the advertiser may think of selecting
popular personalities, shooting the film at exclusive locations, using sophisticated computer
graphics & so on.
 ● Selection of Media
When Media budget is large, the advertiser can select rich media mix which includes television
channels, various magazines, newspapers & even outdoor media. However, if the budget is
small, the advertiser has to be very selective in the choice of media.

Methods of Setting Media Budget -

Status Quo
When a company’s owners feel that they have captured a strong market share they can
realistically hold on to, they may attempt to maintain the status quo instead of expanding into
other areas. This strategy is usually a temporary adaptation to circumstances rather than a
long-term stance.

The status quo approach is one of several adaptive strategies in business. Adaptive strategies
are responses to circumstances that may be localized or temporary and are therefore subject to
change if the situation changes. If a company has a good, consistently profitable product in a
competitive business but no obvious way to claim a larger market share, the owners may decide
to concentrate on holding the line until something changes. They will defend the company’s
existing market share, but won’t try to introduce new products or locations. This strategy is also
referred to as active waiting, because the owners try to maintain the status quo while waiting for
an opportunity.

Inflation Adjusted
Inflation is the decline of purchasing power of a given currency over time. A quantitative
estimate of the rate at which the decline in purchasing power occurs can be reflected in the
increase of an average price level of a basket of selected goods and services in an economy
over some period of time. The rise in the general level of prices, often expressed as a
percentage, means that a unit of currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.

Shifts in demand

A shift in demand can occur for the following reasons:

A change in government spending

A change in consumption
A change in taxes
A change in the monetary rule
Advertising Sales
Persuading clients to buy advertising space or time.
Finding out who controls the advertising budget in target organisations and contacting them.
Explaining the benefits of your medium, using statistics on readership or viewing figures.
Offering a price and negotiating around it.
Closing the deal and recording the details.
The Ad Sales Process

Selling advertising space to other companies requires a great deal of patience and planning in
order to be effective.

The first step in any ad sales process is proactively prospecting for potential clients. This step
isn’t optional if you want to be successful in the sales world, and the ultimate goal is to build a
sales pipeline by consistently connecting with potential customers.

When reaching out to prospects, many factors come into play. Not only targeting the right
segments, but your sales positioning and the timing of your outreach. 64% of customers are
more willing to have a conversation when they have dollars available in their advertising budget.

In order to connect with the correct decision-maker at precisely the right time, we recommend
following these six tips:

Define your audience

The idea of prospecting can be overwhelming, but defining your audience is the ideal place to
start. By defining the characteristics of your ideal partners, you can narrow the field to a more
manageable search of who exactly your target audience is and the best way to reach them.
Winmo revs up prospecting efforts with powerful sales intelligence that allows you to source
leads quickly and accurately. Our team of researchers works to find contacts at hard-to-reach
agencies, provide sales predictions, and stay on top of what media clients are buying, and we
house all of this information under one roof in our platform.

Personalize your outreach

In order to stand out from the crowd, it’s imperative to personalize your outreach. Shooting out a
generic email to a big list of contacts is not the way to go. Rather than sending emails with your
fingers crossed hoping to get a response, make your efforts count and provide relevant and
interesting information in your prospect’s inbox. Personalization demonstrates your willingness
to speak directly to a prospect and work a little harder for the sale.

Strike while the iron is heating up

In business, timing is everything. It’s critical to pitch to a prospect when they’re ready to buy. In
order to stay one step ahead of your competition, prospect proactively and keep an eye out for
business triggers such as new hires, new funding, spending shifts, and product launches to
name a few. We will break down each of these and more later on in this article.

Make prospecting a habit

Prospecting is not optional if you want to be successful in the sales world. In order to keep it a
priority, we recommend blocking time out each day to update lists, craft emails, and follow up
with potential prospects. Prospecting is important because it creates opportunities, and we’ve
got the numbers to prove it.

Find commonality

It’s a known fact that people are hardwired to like people who seem similar, so be sure to do
your homework on the prospect’s current work, interests, and how your service or product could
potentially meet their needs. Taking the time to personalize your outreach in this way will set you
apart.

Track rejections

While it’s essential to stay positive in prospecting, it’s also grave to keep track of contacts that
said no, and their reasons for doing so. Why? So you can improve future pitches and be
prepared to address common concerns. Successful ad sales reps understand the value of
rejection in the selling process. Rather than taking rejection personally, use it as an opportunity
to receive constructive criticism and determine how you could make your outreach better in the
future.

Case Rate & Advertising Margin Method

In the world of business and finance, a margin is the difference between two values or sums of
money. Marketing involves a company’s attempt to inform potential buyers of its product or
service, drawing attention to it in such a way that an audience will be willing to purchase it. A
marketing margin applies to a company that buys a product with the intent to resell it.

When companies buy a product to act as a distributor or retailer, it must sell the product at a
higher price than that at which they purchased it. In such situations, the marketing margin of a
product is the difference between what a company pays for the product and what it charges for
the product.

Share of Market
The Market Share Method is yet another sales forecasting method, wherein the company first
works on the industry forecast, then applies the market share factor and then finally arrive at the
company’s forecast. Simply, the company’s sales forecast is deduced from the data gathered on
the industry sales and from the market share of the company.

The market share of the firm is the key factor in this method, and it can be determined through
the past sales records, company’s present position its plans for future, competitor’s sales
records its plans and marketing strategies, customer’s brand preferences, etc.

Yardstick Method
Yardstick method is an approach in which the company or business entities use in estimating
the new operation challenges or damages, mainly through performance comparable guidelines
for example the damages experienced in an agreement breaching.

Define criteria by which to choose a solution. This may mean including or excluding aspects of a
solution. The criteria must be specific enough to narrow down the solutions. For example, the
criteria for choosing an advertising method might include limited funds, broad appeal, and a
desire to direct people to a website where they are able to purchase the specified product.

Compare each solution to the criteria. It is important that the analysis of each option be
thorough and clearly explained. For example, television advertising would be expensive, but
targets a wide range of people. Newspaper ads would target only a specific region of people,
but would cost less. Internet ads would target a wide range of people and the budget can be
adjusted as needed. Internet ads can also send people directly to website. Radio ads can reach
a wide variety of people, but only in a specific geographic area and can cost a good deal of
money. Billboard ads can be made cheaply with small roadside signs, but the size is limited and
people driving by may not remember the web address.

Decide on a solution and make a recommendation. At this point, the facts should make the
recommendation clear.

Effective Frequency
In advertising, the effective frequency is the number of times a person must be exposed to an
advertising message before a response is made and before exposure is considered wasteful.

The subject on effective frequency is quite controversial. Many people have their own definition
on what this phrase means. There are also numerous studies with their own theories or models
as to what the correct number is for effective frequency.

The following are some key examples:

Advertising Glossary defines effective frequency as “Exposures to an advertising message

required to achieve effective communication. Generally expressed as a range below which the
exposure is inadequate and above which the exposure is considered wastage.”
Business Dictionary defines it as “Advertising the theory that a consumer has to be exposed to
an ad at least three times within a purchasing cycle (time between two consecutive purchases)
to buy that product.”
Marketing Power defines it as “An advertiser’s determination of the optimum number of
exposure opportunities required to effectively convey the advertising message to the desired
audience or target market.”
John Philip Jones says “Effective frequency can mean that a single advertising exposure is able
to influence the purchase of a brand. However, as all experienced advertising people know, the
phrase was really coined to communicate the idea that there must be enough concentration of
media weight to cross a threshold. Repetition was considered necessary, and there had to be
enough of it within the period before a consumer buys a product to influence his or her choice of
brand.”
Reach Method
In the application of statistics to advertising and media analysis, reach refers to the total number
of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period.
Reach should not be confused with the number of people who will actually be exposed to and
consume the advertising, though. It is just the number of people who are exposed to the
medium and therefore have an opportunity to see or hear the ad or commercial. Reach may be
stated either as an absolute number, or as a fraction of a given population (for instance ‘TV
households’, ‘men’ or ‘those aged 25–35’).

For any given viewer, they have been “reached” by the work if they have viewed it at all (or a
specified amount) during the specified period. Multiple viewings by a single member of the
audience in the cited period do not increase reach; however, media people use the term
effective reach to describe the quality of exposure. Effective reach and reach are two different
measurements for a target audience who receive a given message or ad.

Since reach is a time-dependent summary of aggregate audience behavior, reach figures are
meaningless without a period associated with them: an example of a valid reach figure would be
to state that “[example website] had a one-day reach of 1565 per million on 21 March 2004”
(though unique users, an equivalent measure, would be a more typical metric for a website).

Reach of television channels is often expressed in the form of “x minute weekly reach” that is,
the number (or percentage) of viewers who watched the channel for at least x minutes in a
given week.

Reach can be calculated indirectly as:

Reach = GRPs / Average frequency

Margin Analysis
The marketing margin, characterized as some function of the difference between retail and farm
price of a given farm product, is intended to measure the cost of providiing marketing services.
The margin is influenced primarily by shifts in retail demand, farm supply, and marketing input
prices. But other factors also can be important, including time lags in supply and demand,
market power, risk, technical change, quality, and spatial considerations. Topics for future
research include improved specifications for margins and demand and supply shifters,
retail-to-farm price transmission of retail demand changes, and impacts of vertical integration
and policy interventions.

The limitations of the market share method are:

The conversion of industry forecast to the company specific sales forecast is quite tedious and
hence requires the expertise.
It is a complex process as the entire business environment is scrutinized before reaching to the
final forecast.
The wrong information about the marketing environment may result into a wrong sales forecast.
ROI Based Approach
In the percentage-of-sales method, advertising budget depends on the level of sales. But
advertising causes sales. In the marginal analysis and S-shaped curve approaches increase in
advertisement budgets may lead to increases in sales. In other words the advertisement budget
can be considered as an investment.

In the ROI budgeting method, advertising and promotions are considered investments, like plant
and equipment. In other words investments in advertisements lead to certain returns. Like other
aspects of the firm’s efforts, advertising and promotion are expected to earn a certain return.

To many the ROI method is an ideal method of setting advertisement budget. But in reality it is
rarely possible to assess the returns provided by the promotional effort-at least as long as sales
continue to be the basis for evaluation.

Experimental Approach

Traditional marketing was designed to create a message and distribute that message as
efficiently and effectively as possible. Experiential advertising uses modern forms of
communication and interactivity to approach marketing from a different, more personal angle. It
combines salesmanship with the ability to connect with consumers and give them something to
encounter and interact with, rather than just see or listen to. “Experiential marketing reaches out
to the consumer prior to the actual purchase event in a retail store and gives them enough
information about the product to motivate them to go to the retail store to make the purchase,”
according to Augustine Fou of Marketing Science Consulting Group.

Experiential advertising became possible in the 1990s and began to develop in the 2000s as
businesses sought new ways to reach out to consumers in meaningful ways. Too often,
consumers ignored traditional ads, commercials, radio spots and other marketing techniques
that had oversaturated the market and become easy to dismiss or forget. To make marketing
memorable again, companies began to seek innovate ways of displaying messages to
customers so that their engagement or direct involvement was a necessary part of the
experience.

Break Even Planning

Marketers need to understand break-even analysis because it helps them choose the best
pricing strategy and make smart decisions about the short- and long-term profitability of the
product.

The break-even price is the price that will produce enough revenue to cover all costs at a given
level of production. At the break-even point, there is neither profit nor loss. A company may
choose to price its product below the break-even point, but we’ll discuss the different pricing
strategies that might favor this option later in the module.

Break-Even Price = Costs / Units

Break-Even Quantity (in terms of units) = Costs / Price

Components
Fixed Costs

Fixed costs can be defined as the business costs, which are directly related to the business but
not directly associated with the level of production. Therefore, whether your production level is
zero or at its highest capacity, the fixed costs are going to be there. For example, you are
supposed to pay the rent of your factory building, whether there is no production going on for
about a month.

The followings are examples of fixed costs.

Taxes
Salaries and wages
Rent of the building or lease charges
Energy cost
Depreciation cost
Marketing costs
Research and development expenses
Administration cost
Variable Costs:

Variable costs are the costs that are directly associated with the level of production. That means
the variable cost will reduce with the reduction in the production and will become zero when you
cease the production process. For example, the cost of raw material required for the production
of goods is directly related to the number of units produced in the production process.

The examples of direct variable costs.

Cost of raw material

Cost of wages of workers hired, especially for production work.
Fuel consumed
Packaging cost
Indirect Variable cost

Direct variable costs are the costs that are directly associated with the production of goods but
does not get affected by the level of production. For example, depreciation cost, machine
maintenance cost, and Labour cost.
Semi Variable cost

Semi variable costs are the costs that have characteristics of both variables as well as fixed
costs.

Initially, these costs are fixed, but later these costs vary with the expansion of business or with
the complex nature of the business.

Media Buying: ∙ Meaning, Role of Media Buyer, Objectives of Media Buying,

Media buying is a process used in paid marketing efforts. The goal is to identify and purchase
ad space on channels that are relevant to the target audience at the optimal time, for the least
amount of money. Media buying is a process relevant to both traditional marketing channels
(television, radio, print) and digital channels (websites, social media, streaming). When done
effectively, media buyers achieve maximum exposure among their target market for the least
amount of spend.

Media buying is the act of acquiring real estate or inventory where advertisements may be
placed. In television buying, a variety of factors must be considered, such as time, space, rates,
lead demand, and more. The price of a television media buy will depend on the specifics of the
advertising campaign, such as whether it will appear in a single city, regionally, or nationwide.
On a website, the price for media buys would be determined by factors such as where the ad
will be placed on the page, how many pages of the website the ad will appear on, how large the
ad will be, how many days the ad will run for, how much traffic the website receives, and the
website’s user demographics. The more exposure the advertiser is expected to receive, the
more expensive the media buy will usually be. A media buy is different from earned media and
owned media in that it is purchased.

Tools used

Online Advertising Research Tools: Alexa, comScore, Nielsen Online, Quantcast, SimilarWeb,
Thalamus, SpyFu, SRDS, and Compete.

Online Advertising Competitive Intelligence Tools: comScore, Integral Ad Science, MOAT,

Adbeat, Whatrunswhere, Keywordspy.

Demand-side Platforms: Doubleclick Bid Manager, Turn, AppNexus, Adobe Media Optimizer,
Rubicon Project.

Offline Advertising Research Tools: comScore TV, Nielsen Media Research for TV Audience
Measurement GRPs, Nielsen Audio for Radio Measurement (previously known as Arbitron),
SRDS by Kantar Media for Print Advertising Ratecards.
Media buyers often use the following tactics to execute on media plans:

Programmatic buys: AI and algorithm enabled real-time bidding on ad space that matches
consumer profiles (e.g. fashion designers leveraging a platform that will automatically bid on
and place ads on fashion-oriented channels).
Manual bidding: Bidding on ad space and managing bids directly through an ad platform such
as AdWords.
Direct buys: When a media buyer negotiates ad rates and run times with a specific advertiser
(e.g. fashion designers working directly with the Vogue team to place ads on their site /
magazine).
Role of Media Buyer
A media buyer is a person who places and negotiates the price of all the ads on different media.
This media can be television, print, radio, or digital.

They ensure that the ads are placed on relevant and favorite sites. They have to consider the
length and size of the placement of the ad on the website.

They are also responsible for ensuring that the budget does not exceed the budget for the
advertising either while preparing the ad or while placing the ad on the website. They ensure
that the advertisement reaches the maximum number of the target audience and is within
budget.

The media buyer may work individually or with the advertising agencies. These days freelancing
media buyer has become a popular trend in the advertising industry.

Having knowledge of digital marketing is essential for media buyers because media in digital
marketing is not only economic compared to other forms of media but also has a wider and
specific targeted reach.

A media buyer is expected to have exceptionally good communication skills in both verbal as
well as written communication. Graduation in marketing and or communications is required to be
eligible for the role of a media buyer.

Apart from communication, a media buyer is expected to have good negotiation skills, and
networking skills are mandatory for this role.

Different Roles:
Negotiations

The media buyer is also responsible for contacting the media representative to establish a base
price for the advertisements and negotiate for them. The media buyer has to have contacts in all
of the media space where advertising can be done.

Media management
Planning the media for the customer and managing everything related to it is one of the most
important roles of a media buyer. The media buyer makes a plan related to the ad placement,
along with the estimated target audience and the reach of the media.

This is planned within the budget sanctioned by the client. Necessary changes may be made to
fit the requirement of the client. The media buyer should prepare a detailed estimate giving
delivery prices and the final budget required by the client.

Business Partnership

Media buyers establish business partnership with their media representatives and pull an
extensive amount of business. There may be a mutual understanding between the
representative and the media buyer, and some commission might be passed on to him, but the
fact remains that media buyer is the primary business generator for the representative.

Revenue generator

A media buyer who is associated with an organization has the primary job of revenue
generation. More often than not, the media buyer associated with an advertising firm or a media
planning firm.

Their job is to bring different clients to utilize their advertising media and sell the advertising
space in order to generate revenue. The media buyer also generates revenue for the client
indirectly.

Mediator

Media buyer should have contacts everywhere in the industry right from market research to
market planner. There are times when media buyer has to analyze market information and get
the demographics data or other relevant data which is required for an advertiser to planners
advertising.

The media buyer may have important inputs for the client regarding the advertising demand and
the reach to the customers. This information can be collected from the market research team,
which is why the media buyer has to remain in contact with them.

Campaigning

In some cases, media buyer helps in campaign preparation of the marketeers by providing
technical information and being the missing link between the advertisement department and the
market.
In the case of the inhouse advertising department, the media buyer, along with other teams of
advertising and marketing plan as well as execute the campaign.

Objectives of Media Buying

Best slots assured

Media buyers understand how to achieve the highest level of engagement. Several events, such
as the Olympics, political affairs, are held throughout the world, and as a result, ad impressions
might be influenced.

Media buying guarantees that the ad receives the exact engagement and conversion that the
company desires. While these events are receiving the most incredible attention, the transaction
can be impacted little. But media buying doesn’t let the profit be influenced.

Ensure Best deals

Experts in media purchasing can assure excellent negotiating and the ultimate price of ad
space. This undoubtedly leads to higher conversion rates for the company. These experts may
promote their ad as a value-added procedure to media outlets.

At its finest, it may result in an impression tacked on a contract, which is a less fee agreement.
This is portrayed as a win-win situation for both the company and the media outlet.

Higher ROI

When it comes to media buying, it involves more than just exchanging money for advertising
space. Firms’ relationships with media houses improve when they maintain ties with them for
outlets.

This makes it easier to reach out to media companies in the future and to receive the best
prices for posting advertising. As a result, the ROI is projected to rise with time.

Buying Process:

Stage 1: Pre-Launch

This stage of media purchasing involves arranging the activities that must be done before the
campaign’s debut. In this stage, the business investigates every facet of the following
advertising. This step is further subdivided into many tasks:

Get knowledge about the target market

The expected outcome of media buying is to reach out to more target audiences who can be
consumers. However, if the ad is not effectively designed, it will be presented before the wrong
leads, failing your campaign. Thus, first, identify your brand’s target demographic and then
research their lives and concerns.

Keep track of which websites they visit, whose social media pages they use, if they click on prior
advertising displayed on that particular media source, and so on. This extensive investigation
will guarantee such losses are avoided in the future.

Understand competitors strategy

When it comes to marketing, it is all about standing out from the crowd.

As a result, media buyers must conduct extensive research into what the various companies or
rivals are doing in this sector or reach out to their target demographic.

Ask yourself several questions about the rival and attempt to obtain answers to every one of
them.

Make a media strategy

After the media buyers have completed their analysis of who the target audience is, their
interests, and the competition, they develop a perfect plan for the media companies.

This step entails deciding whether to employ traditional or digital advertising tactics, which
channels will be beneficial and so on.

Create obvious goals

The firms’ aims must be explicit when selecting a media outlet to print the advertisement.

After launching this campaign, the company should be confident of what it wants to achieve.
Thus, these achievements need to be made clear in the beginning.

Negotiating the prices

The media procurement procedure aims to achieve a higher ROI in the future. As a result,
media purchasers must negotiate prices with media firms exceptionally successfully.

As previously said, proposing a strategy to the media houses that may benefit both
organizations would significantly reduce the cost.

To prevent continuously entering into discussions, the contract must always be long-term.
Having strong media connections may aid in intensely negotiating and pricing and guarantee a
solid profit.

Stage 2: Launching the campaign

This step entails the process of launching the campaign and subsequently tracking impressions.
This stage is also divided into different phases of media buying:
Media Delivery
Following the delivery of the advertising, the media buyer must monitor the reactions of the
target audience. This entails addressing a few questions, such as:

Are there any follow-up responses from the audience?

How do these audiences interact with the media?
What impressions does the advertisement create?
Is the audience not enjoying it?
Track and change
There may be times when the strategy does not follow the path that the business anticipated. As
a result, the launched campaign must be tracked.

If the audience does not like it or wants modifications, the company must immediately alter the
movement.

Stage 3: Post-launch

This step ultimately comprises analyzing the campaign’s performance. Before beginning each
new campaign, ask if the previous campaign had any flaws.

What was the audience’s reaction to the advertisement? And how much were the costs and
subsequently ROI at the end of the campaign?

Analyze the Effectiveness of the Campaign

Collect as much data as possible, and review statistics and granular reports to see the strong
and weak points of the campaign.

Analyze the effectiveness of the media space and whether it generated revenues that were
expected. Check how the audience interacted with the product, and assess consumer behavior.
Evaluate the return on investment, and mark errors that have been made to avoid them in future
advertising campaigns.

Collect Data

When you have all the data, it is time to use it. In digital advertising, data is used to build
algorithms that help optimize advertising campaigns and provide better targeting. Data is a
marketer’s best friend, so look at it carefully. Aggregate data, and look for major and minor
trends.
Draw Insights

Don’t look at singular points, especially when they change the direction. Search for relationships
among variables or correlation and dependence patterns that help understand the logic.

Finally, look at the data from different angles. Invite others to examine the data and discuss your
impressions.

Buying brief: Concept & Elements of Buying Brief, Art of Media Buying – Criteria in Media
Buying

The activities involved in buying are called buying process. The activities involved in buying
process are buying elements and sub-functions. The process of buying starts from buying plan.
But it ends with actual buying and experience from the use after buying.

The sub-function of buying involves in buying process can be divided in four types as making
buying plan, making contact with, talking for agreement and contracting.

Describe your company

Provide context and background information on your company to help the designer or creative
team get a better understanding of your business. Who are you and what services and/or
products do you offer? Include links to your website and any other background material that
might be helpful.

Summarize the project

What is the project? And why do you need it? Do you need a corporate identity kit for your new
company? Are you refreshing your company’s Facebook and Twitter pages for a new season?
Describe what the project is, what it entails, and why you’re doing it.

Explain your objectives

This is probably the most important part of the brief, and it’s essential that you think through
your strategy and objectives completely before you get the project underway. Why do you need
this project? What are you hoping to achieve with it? What are your goals? Is there a problem
you’re trying to solve? How will you measure success? For example, if you’re developing an
eBook, you might measure success by the number of downloads. These details will help the
designer understand your goals and come up with solutions that address them.

Define your target audience

Who’s your customer? Who are you trying to reach with this project or campaign? Share
demographic information about who they are and any behavioral insights you may have on
them.

Outline the deliverables you need

Do you need a one-page brochure? A batch of 10 banner ads? A logo for print, just for the web,
or for both? Be sure to include the file formats you need (i.e., JPG, PNG, PSD), size information
(i.e., 300×250 pixels), and any other important details needed to deliver the right assets.

Identify your competition

Who are your competitors? You may want to include an overview of the competitive landscape
and any trends or market conditions impacting your industry. For this project, what are your
competitors doing as a point of comparison and as a point of differentiation? For example, if
you’re refreshing your logo, what types of logos and colors do your competitors use? These
details can greatly help inform the direction the designer will go in (they’ll do additional research
as well). You can also include a few examples of designs you like or don’t like.

Include details on the tone, message, and style

The style and tone should be consistent with your brand and will also hinge on what the project
is, what you’re trying to achieve, and what action you want your customers to take. To help
inform the messaging and ensure it aligns with your objectives, be sure to include your strategic
positioning and the key messages that need to be addressed. For example, if you’re creating a
landing page for a contest, you’d probably want the messaging and design to be lively and fun
to inspire people to enter. If you’re developing an annual report, you’d most likely want
something that looks and sounds more formal and professional to instill trust and confidence. If
you have a brand style guide or examples of past campaigns or related projects, be sure to
share them with your designer. And also provide any other factors or requirements that might
affect the creative direction.

Provide the timing

If you have a timeline in mind for your project, include it in the brief. During your kickoff meeting
or initial conversations with your designer, make sure to discuss the timeline and agree upon a
completion date. It’s also a good idea to talk about the overall creative process and discuss if
edits and how many rounds of them are possible and whether or not they’re included if it’s a
fixed-price contract.

Specify your budget

If you have a set budget for the project (which is often the case), include it in the brief and
discuss it with your designer. If the designer’s estimate exceeds your budget, talk it over and
agree upon realistic expectations, deliverables, and project costs before getting started.

List the key stakeholders

If other people on your team or within your organization need to be included in the review
process, provide their contact information. You can also include how you’d like to receive
deliverables and provide feedback. On Upwork, the Messages tool makes it easy to
communicate and share files.

Elements of Buying Brief

Planning For Buying
Planning for buying is the primary function of buying process. At first, the buyer realizes need of
goods. Then makes plan for buying of goods, finally takes decision to buy the goods. Planning
begins is buyer’s mind from want or desire for goods. Then the buyer decides when to buy,
where to buy from, how to buy the goods. Such decision depends specially on buying situation,
buying motive and buying behavior of the buyer.

Hence, need of buying is realized in buying plan. Budget for buying is estimated. Then decision
for buying is taken. Finally, buying plan is ready for the combined form of mental and physical
activities.

Contact Function

After making buying plan, the customers think from where and which source the goods to buy.
For this they should search for suppliers and identify, prepare their list and establish contact with
them for supplying the goods. This is called contact function. The customers may contact the
suppliers through correspondence or visiting to their supply sources. Generally, if a large
amount of goods are to be bought, the buyers contact supplier or sellers personally and find out
the capacity and possibility of the supplier for supplying the necessary goods.

Before selecting supplier of necessary goods, the buyers think about different matters such as
price of the goods, delivery schedule, transportation cost, quality, capacity of the supplier,
means and resources, after-sale services, promotional policy, credibility and responsibility of the
supplier, terms and conditions of selling, buying plan etc. Only then, proper supplier should be
selected and contacted.

Art of Media Buying Negotiation in Media Buying

Another important function of buying process is to reach the decision to buy and sell goods or
services through negotiation. After buying plan has been made, perspective supplier has been
identified and contact with seller has been established, negotiation is held between buyer and
seller. Such negotiation is held on terms and conditions of supply, price of the goods, discount,
mode of payment, time, delivery schedule, means of delivery etc. and then selling and buying
reaches the conclusion.

After such negotiation, buyer decides to give purchase order and makes agreement with
supplier to supply the goods.

Contractual Function

Contractual function is the actual buying function. After the agreement has been made with
supplier on terms and conditions, buyer gives purchase order. If the goods are to be bought by
final consumers, they make agreement with seller on price at the selling place and buy
immediately. Buying may be on cash or credit depending upon their agreement. If the goods are
purchased on credit, the buyer has to follow and implement necessary terms and conditions
mentioned in credit documents.

Industrial consumers, institutional buyers, government offices etc also make agreement with
supplier to buy necessary goods. Buyer and seller both parties should follow the contract made
for the supply of goods. If any party violets the terms and conditions or does not carry out the
responsibility according to the agreement, the other party has the right to get compensation or
fine or any loss. The seller should supply the goods as according to the agreement and the
buyer should make payment of price according to the terms and conditions.

Plan Presentation and Client Feedback

Customer feedback is the information, insights, issues, and input shared by your community
about their experiences with your company, product, or services. This feedback guides
improvements of the customer experience and can empower positive change in any business
even (and especially) when it’s negative.

Customer feedback is important because it serves as a guiding resource for the growth of your
company. Don’t you want to know what you’re getting right and wrong as a business in the eyes
of your customers?

There are 5 main reasons why you would want to collect feedback.

● Customer engagement
● Understand your customers
● Product improvement
● Obtain testimonials, reviews, referrals
● Evaluate and get better things

Media Scheduling ∙ Meaning, Importance ∙ Factors Affecting Scheduling

Media Scheduling refers to the pattern of timing of an advertising which is represented as plots
on a flowchart on a yearly basis. The plots in the flowchart indicate the pattern of periods that
matches with favorable selling periods. The classical scheduling models are commonly known
as continuity, fighting, and pulsing.

Media scheduling depends upon a number of factors such as:

The nature of sales: Whether the sales is seasonal or regular.

The nature of product: Whether it is consumer usable, durables or industrial.
The product lifecycle: Whether the product introduction is in growth, maturity or decline.
The entry of new competitors in the market.
The pattern of competitor’s programs.
The availability of funds for advertising and marketing campaigns.
Flighting

Flighting involves intermittent and irregular periods of advertising, alternating with shorter
periods of no advertising at all in media scheduling for seasonal product categories. For
example Halloween costumes are purchased mainly during the months of September and
October and not the entire year round.

Advantages:

For a relatively shorter period of time, the advertisers buy heavier weight than competitors.
It results in little wastage, since this type of advertising concentrates on the best purchasing
cycle period.
The series of commercials as unified media campaigns appear on different media vehicles.
Types of Scheduling:
The advertiser has to consider two types of media scheduling problems:

Macro-scheduling:

The macro-scheduling involves allocating advertising expenditure and frequency

(repetition/reproduction of message) in relation to season or broad picture of business cycle.
The macro-scheduling problem concerns with how to schedule advertising in relation to
seasonal and business cycle trends.

The broad picture of seasonal and/or cyclical trend is considered. This is due to the fact that the
demand is fluctuated as per seasons and/or business cycle. Therefore, it is desirable to vary
advertising expenditures to follow seasonal patterns. Company, as per its calculation, can spend
more or less during the season or particular phase of business cycle.

According to experts, advertising does not have immediate impact on consumer awareness,
sales, or profits.

So, one should study relationship between:

(1) Timing of advertising and consumer awareness.

(2) Consumer awareness and impact on sales.

(3) Sales and advertising expenditure.

Advertising timing should be adjusted as per time gap exists between advertising time and its
impact. Computer-based mathematical model can be formulated to study these time relations.
Advertiser has to decide on advertising time for different types of products, such as frequently
purchased, seasonal products, and low-cost daily consumed products. Along with seasonal or
cyclical aspect, an advertiser should also consider impact of the past advertising. Many
consumers continue buying even without the present advertisement.

Micro-scheduling:

The micro-scheduling problem concerns with allocating advertising expenditure and frequency
within a short period to obtain the maximum response or impact. In other words, the problem
deals with how to distribute advertising expenditure within the given time.

For example, a company has decided to advertise specific message 60 times (that requires
approximately Rs. 500000) through daily regional newspapers in a year. Now the question is to
decide on which days/weeks/months/seasons the 60 times advertisement is to be allocated.
Similarly, the same issue is related to radio or television spots.

Alternative Scheduling Strategies:

A company has following alternative scheduling strategies to decide on micro-scheduling:

Continuous Advertising:
This scheduling involves advertising the message evenly throughout a given period. For
example, if company wants 48 television/radio spots, it will advertise 4 times in a month or once
in a week, or on every Monday.

Concentrated Advertising:
This scheduling involves giving all the advertisement in a single period. Thus, the concentrated
advertising means to spend the entire advertising budget within one flight. It is applicable when
product is sold in one season, event, festival or holiday. For example, the company advertises
48 spots within four days during Diwali festivals, 12 times a day.

Fighting Advertising:
This scheduling involves giving advertisement at specific intervals. Company advertises for
some period, followed by break of no advertisement, followed by the second flight of
advertisement and likewise. Company with seasonal, cyclical, or infrequently purchase products
follows such scheduling. Company with a limited fund prefers to advertise during a specific
season or festival only.

Pulsing Advertising:
This scheduling is the combination of both continuous and fighting advertisements. It includes
continuous advertising at low-weight level, reinforced periodically by waves of heavier activity. In
other words, the company spends certain portion of advertising fund for continuous advertising,
and the remaining fund for fighting advertisement.
For example, the company may advertise once in a day with a brief advertisement message.
And, its detail advertisement appears for a week regularly after every three months. This timing
is preferred by the financially sound companies.

Media Scheduling strategies (Methods):

It is concerned with the scheduling of advertising. Media scheduling relates to the timing of
media insertions within a specified period.

The various media scheduling strategies are:

Bursting strategy:

In this strategy advertising will be done heavily during a particular period of time according to
the plan. For example, a company when introduces a new product in a new market within a
specified period of time, this strategy specially is used by the company.

Burst-hiatus –flight strategy:

It is specially used for seasonal products. During the busy season the advertiser will make large
scale advertising & during the off-season the advertiser may not spend on advertising. For
example: during winter season winter/woolen clothes advertisement will be more than the same
in other seasons.

Flight strategy:

This strategy is used for the product whose selling remains uniform throughout the year &
advertising schedule is distributed throughout the year. For example: all consumer products of
mass consumption like tooth pastes, soaps, shampoos, etc.

Pulsing strategy:

In pulsing strategy regular advertising will be made for two to three weeks followed by low
advertising for a short period.

Alternating strategy:

In this strategy the advertiser advertises his goods & services every alternate month.

Steady strategy:

In this strategy the advertiser spends a fixed amount of money every month. It can be of any
amount which is been decided for the advertisement.

Step-down strategy:
Under this strategy as the season approaches there is heavy advertising. Advertising is reduce
when the season starts decaling, for example: when rainy season approaches lot of companies
gives advertisement related to rainy shoes, sandals, umbrella. Raincoats etc and the
advertisement reduce when the season starts decaling.

Teaser step-up strategy:

In this strategy advertisement starts on low scale when the season begins. As the season picks
up, slowly advertising increases & reaches its peak. For example products like a-c, fan, Air
cooler etc. advertisement starts with a low scale when the summer season begin as the season
picks up slowly advertising increase & reaches its peak.

Importance:
Optimum Utilization of Resources:

Advertising involves huge cost. Through media planning, the advertiser can use available
resources in an optimum manner. In media planning, such combination of media is selected and
such time is selected, that helps the advertiser in communicating the advertising message to
largest number of target audience at lowest possible cost. In the absence of media planning, the
advertiser may select costly media which may not have good coverage of target audience.

Helps in Achieving Advertising Objectives:

Media plan is a part of overall advertising plan. Media planning is designed so as to achieve
marketing and advertising objectives of the organisation. Media planning includes all such
decisions like selecting appropriate media, appropriate media mix and deciding the scheduling
of advertisement. All these decisions help the organization in achieving advertising objectives,
i.e. to communicate the message to target audience and thus to promote sales.

Selection of Appropriate Media:

In media planning, different media are compared on the basis of cost per reader, cost per
viewer, media-image, media-coverage, media-rating etc. While selecting media the advertiser
ensures that selected media matches with the features of target audience.

For example, if our target audience are teenagers, then television will be appropriate media; if
target audience are literate, then print-media can be selected; if target audience is a specific
professional group, then professional journals and magazines will be appropriate media. Media
planning also ensures that selected media is as per the message requirements e.g. if message
involves demonstration, the media with audio-visual effects (viz. T.V.) will be selected.

Selection of Optimum Media Mix:

Media planning helps to select optimum media mix. Using different media combination ensures
wide and intensive coverage of target audience. It improves the chances of achieving
advertising objectives. A single media may not ensure communication with all the target
audience. A well planned media mix ensures wide coverage of target audience at minimum
cost.

Helps in Allocating Advertising Budget:

Media planning helps to decide the amount to be spent on different media. It helps the
advertising manager in allocating the ad-budget among different media types/media vehicles.
Media plan decides the optimum media mix; this helps the advertising manager in allocating the
total ad-budget on different media in a scientific manner.

Ensures Appropriate Timing of Advertising:

Advertising can ensure best results only when ads are shown at the right time. Media planning
includes media scheduling i.e. it decides the time and space of advertisement in media. It
decides the month, day and time of advertisement. It ensures that advertisement is shown more
frequently in seasonal months and less frequently in off-season months. It also ensures that
advertisement is shown at that time when more target audience can be contacted e.g. if ad is for
school going kids, it is not shown in the morning or before noon time.

Helps in Controlling:

In media plan some standards of performance are fixed. These standards are with regard to
coverage of target audience. Such standards help the management in evaluating the
effectiveness of media, i.e. actual coverage is in accordance with the standards or not. If
coverage is less than standard, then it points to the inefficiency of media. So in future,
advertising manager can think of some other media type/media vehicle. Or take other necessary
action. Thus, media planning helps in exercising control over media.

Media Measurement: ∙ Basic Metrics:

Reach
In the application of statistics to advertising and media analysis, reach refers to the total number
of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period.
Reach should not be confused with the number of people who will actually be exposed to and
consume the advertising, though. It is just the number of people who are exposed to the
medium and therefore have an opportunity to see or hear the ad or commercial. Reach may be
stated either as an absolute number, or as a fraction of a given population (for instance ‘TV
households’, ‘men’ or ‘those aged 25–35’).

For any given viewer, they have been “reached” by the work if they have viewed it at all (or a
specified amount) during the specified period. Multiple viewings by a single member of the
audience in the cited period do not increase reach; however, media people use the term
effective reach to describe the quality of exposure. Effective reach and reach are two different
measurements for a target audience who receive a given message or ad.

Since reach is a time-dependent summary of aggregate audience behavior, reach figures are
meaningless without a period associated with them: an example of a valid reach figure would be
to state that “[example website] had a one-day reach of 1565 per million on 21 March 2004”
(though unique users, an equivalent measure, would be a more typical metric for a website).

Reach of television channels is often expressed in the form of “x minute weekly reach” that is,
the number (or percentage) of viewers who watched the channel for at least x minutes in a
given week.

Reach is the number of people in the Media Market that will likely be exposed to one Spot.
Estimating reach is tricky because when you run an ad multiple times, the same person may
see the ad more than once but you only want to count them once in Reach. There are many
different methods to estimate reach. Most rely on software.

Cumulative/Frequency Reach
Cumulative frequency analysis is the analysis of the frequency of occurrence of values of a
phenomenon less than a reference value. The phenomenon may be time- or space-dependent.
Cumulative frequency is also called frequency of non-exceedance.

Cumulative frequency analysis is performed to obtain insight into how often a certain
phenomenon (feature) is below a certain value. This may help in describing or explaining a
situation in which the phenomenon is involved, or in planning interventions, for example in flood
protection.

This statistical technique can be used to see how likely an event like a flood is going to happen
again in the future, based on how often it happened in the past. It can be adapted to bring in
things like climate change causing wetter winters and drier summers.

For impressions, use this formula:

Impressions = Cost / (Clicks Per Impression/1000)

And for frequency, use this formula:

Frequency = Impressions / Unique Users

Discrete & Cumulative distribution

For the different distributions which I will cover in these articles, they are classified as either a
Discrete Probability Distribution or Continuous Probability Distribution. A simple way to
understand if your data is discrete or continuous is to answer the following question: “Are the
number of your outcomes finite?”

If the answer to the above is yes, then you have a discrete dataset. Otherwise, you likely have a
continuous dataset.

To put things in a marketing perspective, imagine that you are looking at the number of likes that
your Facebook campaign generated, you know that likes are finite because you count the
number of likes as 1,2,3, …100, there is no chance of getting a 1.2 or 2.6 likes or other smaller
value that isn’t exactly 1 or 2. These outcomes are a set of values rather than a continuous
length of values.

Example of a continuous distribution would be the profit margin from your online store. On any
given day, the store may report that it’s profit margin is $320. The actual profit margin may not
be exactly $320. It could be $320.60, $320.06, or even $320.31415. All these values are
different from the other and as such as referred to as a continuous range of values.

Average Opportunity to See (AOTS)

Average OTS is the number of times on average that a member of your target audience will see
your ad. Opportunity to See or OTS is a measure in advertising media which denotes number of
times the viewer is most likely to see the advertisement. It is basically frequency of media
exposure. It is used in media planning or advertising media selection to answer the question-
how many times.

Calculation:

OTS is calculated by dividing your TVRs by your reach: At 300 TVRs we have about 70% reach.
That means the average OTS is 300 / 70 = 4.2.

Reach = TVRs / OTS. So if you are planning 50 TVRs at 1.5 OTS it would seem that your reach
would be 30%. However, reach is not easily predictable. This is for two reasons:

First with you will see that whilst the growth in TVRs is linear, the growth in reach is non-linear
i.e. it decreases as you add on every 100 TVRs. Between 0 and 100 TVRs we generate 50%
reach. But when we add on the next 100 TVRs we only generate 65% reach at 200 TVRs.

Different types of campaign on different stations, phased in different ways, with different use of
daily schedules (dayparting) will increase reach in different ways. For example, a campaign that
runs in weekday daytime between 9am and 5pm may struggle to get over 50% reach even at
more than 300 TVRs. This is because you will not be reaching the audience that is working
during the day.

Effective frequency/Reach
Frequency is the average number of times the advertisement will be presented to the Reached
Population. One way to calculate frequency is to divide the number of Impressions by the
Reach. Another way is to divide GRPs by Reach Percentage.

Reach can also be expressed as a percentage, which indicates the percentage of the
Population that is exposed to at least one Spot.

Gross Rating Points (GRPs)

Gross Rating Point (GRP) is a measure of the size of an advertising campaign by a specific
medium or schedule. GRP is calculated by multiplying the number of Spots by Rating.

In advertising, a gross rating point (GRP) measures impact. GRPs help answer how often “must
someone see it before they can readily recall it” and “how many times” does it take before the
desired outcome occurs.

Construction

“One GRP is one percent of all potential adult television viewers (or in radio, listeners) in a
market.” If they are exposed to the ad three times, then that is 3 GRPs.

GRPs are simply total impressions related to the size of the target population: They are most
directly calculated by summing the ratings of individual ads in a campaign.

Mathematically:

GRPs (%) = 100 * Impressions (#) ÷ Defined population (#)

GRPs (%) = 100 * Reach (%) × Average frequency (#)

Television Metrics

Dairy v/s PeopIemeter

A people meter is an audience measurement tool used to measure the viewing habits of TV and
cable audiences.

The People Meter is a ‘box’, about the size of a paperback book. The box is hooked up to each
television set and is accompanied by a remote-control unit. Each family member in a sample
household is assigned a personal ‘viewing button’. It identifies each household member’s age
and sex. If the TV is turned on and the viewer doesn’t identify themselves, the meter flashes to
remind them. Additional buttons on the People Meter enable guests to participate in the sample
by recording their age, sex and viewing status into the system.
Another version of the device is small, about the size of a beeper, that plugs into the wall below
or near each TV set in household. It monitors anything that comes on the TV and relays the
information with the small Portable People Meter to narrow down who is watching what and
when.

The device, known as a ‘frequency-based meter’, was invented by a British company called
Audits of Great Britain (AGB). The successor company to AGB is TNS, which is active in 34
countries around the globe.

Local People Meter

Along with changing their counting methods, Nielsen also started emphasizing their sample in
2003 in reaction to census shifts and requests from some industry sectors. Nielsen’s automated
Local People Meter (LPM) technology was introduced in New York and Los Angeles. The LPM
improved the method of measurement from active and diary-based to passive and
meter-monitored. More importantly, the LPM provides accurate measurements to particular local
markets, verse a nationwide sample from the People meter. While diary-based surveys
concentrated on quarterly “sweeps” periods, the industry has been pushed towards year-round
measurement, due to the automated LPM system.

“Nielsen introduced the LPM as evidence of the rupturing of the network-era business model
became broadly apparent, and apprehension about the future of the industry erupted on all
sectors. LPM’s more accurately reported full range of what programming viewers watched,
including what was observed when channel surfing, in comparison to the diary method it
replaced. It allowed Nielsen to maintain established measurement practices, but do them
better”.

“While Nielsen’s LPM’s presented next-day demographic analyses on television viewership in

major cities, the devices led to accusations of undercounting minorities. A lot of controversy
surrounding LPM’s was driven by News Corporation-funded “Don’t Count Us Out” alliance,
which exploited activists’ and legislators’ foreseeable mindless reactions to any suggestion of
racism”

TRP/TVR
One single television ratings point (Rtg or TVR) represents 1% of television households in the
surveyed area in a given minute. As of 2004, there are an estimated 109.6 million television
households in the United States. Thus, a single national ratings point represents 1%, or
1,096,000 television households for the 2004–05 season. When used for the broadcast of a
program, the average rating across the duration of the show is typically given. Ratings points
are often used for specific demographics rather than just households. For example, a ratings
point among the key 18- to 49-year-olds demographic is equivalent to 1% of all 18- to
49-year-olds in the country.
A Rtg/TVR is different from a share point in that it is the percentage of all possible households,
while a share point is 1% of all households watching television at the time. Hence the share of a
broadcast is often significantly higher than the rating, especially at times when overall TV
viewing is low. A low TRP can have an adverse effect on a TV program eventually leading to its
closure.

GRPs/TRPs

Gross rating points (GRPs) or target rating points (TRPs) are chiefly used to measure the
performance of TV-based advertising campaigns, and are the sum of the TVRs of each
commercial spot within the campaign. An ad campaign might require a certain number of GRPs
among a particular demographic across the duration of the campaign. The GRP of a campaign
is equal to the percentage of people who saw, multiplied by the average number of spots that
these viewers saw. Targeted Rating Points are a refinement of GRPs to express the reach time
frequency of only the most likely prospects. For example, if a campaign buys 150 GRPs for a
television spot, but only half of that audience is actually in the market for the campaign’s
product, then the TRP would be stated as 75 to calculate the net effective buy.

Gross rating point, a standard measure in advertising, it measures advertising impact. It is a

percent of the target market reached multiplied by the exposure frequency. Thus, a program
which advertises to 30% of the target market and gives them 4 exposures, will have 120 GRP.

GRPs as a measure has some limitations. People like to think of it as a measure of impact, but
that is really overstated. Impact should measure sales; these measures exposures, which is in
fact assumed not actual exposures.

Basics of TAM (television advertising measurement):

Universe: Universe is the total or actual number of people in a defined target audience.

Program Reach & Time Spent

Reach: Reach is the number of individuals from the universe who are exposed to the medium or
vehicle.

Reach is normally expressed in terms of % (percentages)

Calculation of reach:

If universe is: 1,000,000 individuals (this is approx. data, it is usually defined through sampling
through people-meter):

For a single episode of a program (30 minutes or 1 hour) If out of above 1,000,000 of individuals
600,000 saw at least 1 minute of programme then:
Reach = (600,000/1,000,000) x 100

Reach = 60%

Cumulative reach

Cumulative reach: The audiences accumulate over the time

The number of individuals within the TG who are exposed to the medium or vehicle over a
certain period of time
Total time = Total average minutes (universe) x Universe
Total time/reach = Avg minutes viewers
Net reach
Net Reach

Net reach is the summation of all audiences who have been exposed to the vehicle and
excludes the duplication of the viewership.

Stickiness Index
An engagement metric indicating the degree to which a program is viewed. The percent of
program that has been watched. The greater the percentage of the program viewed compared
to all programs of the same duration in a certain time period, the greater the stickiness index.

Sticky content refers to content published on a website, which has the purpose of getting users
to return to that particular website or hold their attention and get them to spend longer periods of
time on this site. Webmasters use this method to build up a community of returning visitors to a
website.

Examples are chat rooms, online forums, webmail, Internet games, weather, news and
horoscopes.

Sticky content is also sometimes called sticky tools or sticky gear, and websites featuring sticky
content are often referred to as sticky sites.

Product Stickiness Ratio is the ratio of (Daily Active Users) DAU and (Monthly Active Users)
MAU. It is one of the widely used metrics for product engagement and tells us how sticky a
product is. It was popularised by Facebook and was used by it to understand the true stickiness
of the Facebook app.

Daily Active Users (DAU): DAU is calculated as the total number of unique users who use your
product on any given day. In other words, DAU is the total count of users who use your product
at least once in a day.
Monthly Active Users (MAU): MAU is calculated as the total number of unique users who use
your product in a month. In other words, MAU is the total count of users who use your product at
least once in a month.

DAUs and MAUs are standalone absolute numbers which can’t be compared for various
businesses because the definition of active users varies for different companies. However,
DAU/MAU is a holistic metric that speaks about product success. Since it is a percentage, it can
be compared for various companies as well to understand their success in reaching their user
engagement goals.

Marketing Team:

To segment the users on the basis of DAU/MAU ratio and increase usage of for the segment
with low DAU/MAU ratio through strategies such as push notifications, educational email
campaigns etc.

To create a lookalike audience of the segment with high DAU/MAU ratio since this segment has
the least likelihood of churn.

Retention Team:

To pitch plan upgrades to customers by segmenting them on the basis of DAU/MAU ratio.

To create a retention plan for customers with low DAU/MAU ratio since customers with low
average DAU/MAU ratio have higher likelihood of churn.

Ad Viewership
It refers to the number of viewers that have the opportunity to view an ad during a given time
period. Advertising sales executives usually have extensive data about the reach of a show’s or
network’s programming, which they then use to make decisions about when and where to air
their commercials. In addition, reach is a primary component in calculating gross ratings points,
which is a metric often used to evaluate broad TV ad campaigns.

Measuring Reach

The Nielsen company rates the number of viewers watching TV programs for networks, and
also breaks the results down demographically so businesses have more detailed information
about who those viewers are. Nielsen measures audience through different survey methods,
including sophisticated set-top boxes, and categorizes results based on demographics like
gender, age, race and income. Nielsen then distributes to TV networks and advertisers data on
reach, including details like the percentages of the viewers in specific demographic groups,
weekly and monthly averages, and the estimated total number of viewers. Business owners can
usually get this information from advertising sales representatives or ad agencies.
Gross Rating Points

Advertisers, media buyers and marketers evaluate ad campaigns by looking at both reach the
medium offers and the frequency at which the viewer sees the ad. The tool they use are “gross
rating points,” which are calculated by multiplying the audience reached by the frequency of its
exposure to the message during a given period. According to Digiday, a rating point is one
percent of the potential audience, meaning a show that has a rating of 10 points gets 10 percent
of the viewers. So, if a TV ad has a reach of 30 percent of its target audience, and the ad shows
four time, the ad campaign has 120 gross ratings points.

Effective Reach

Another way to measure the usefulness of an ad is to measure the effective reach, which tracks
the percentage of the possible audience that sees an advertisement and how often that
advertisement is viewed. Advertisers use effective reach to judge the quality of the exposure to
the ad. Ideally, an advertiser wants many people to see an ad at least a few times. However, if
the frequency is too high, the ad is thought to produce diminishing returns. Some advertisers
believe an ad must be seen a few times before it becomes effective and must balance
frequency with the risks of overexposure.

Using Reach

Advertisers use information about reach to target the consumer demographics or groups that
are most likely to buy the product. For instance, a toy maker would want to air ads during
children’s programming rather than on late-night talk shows. To make this task easier, in addition
to gender, race and region, Nielsen separates ratings into the 12-17 age group, 18-49 age
group, and the 55 and older age group. For larger ad campaigns, marketers often test the ad
with focus groups before broadcasting it or conduct surveys after its broadcast to determine its
effectiveness.

Radio Metrics: Arbitron Radio Rating

Arbitron’s syndicated radio ratings service collects data by selecting a random sample of a
population throughout the United States, primarily in 294 metropolitan areas, using a paper
diary service 2‑4 times a year and the Portable People Meter (PPM) electronic audience
measurement service 365 days a year.

The term commonly used in the radio industry for these ratings is Arbitron book, a carryover
from the era when ratings were published in a softcover report that was mailed to clients.

Print Metrics:

Circulation
Circulation is a count of how many copies of a particular publication are distributed. Print
circulation is the average number of copies of a publication. Number of copies of a
nonperiodical publication such as a book called usually print run. Circulation is not always the
same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some issues are distributed without
cost to the reader. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the
assumption that a typical copy is read by more than one person.

Print circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. In many countries,
circulations are audited by independent bodies such as the Audit Bureau of Circulations to
assure advertisers that a given newspaper does reach the number of people claimed by the
publisher. There are international open access directories such as Mondo Times, but these
generally rely on numbers reported by newspapers themselves.

In many developed countries, print circulation is falling due to social and technological changes
such as the availability of news on the internet. On the other hand, in some developing countries
circulation is increasing as these factors are more than cancelled out by rising incomes,
population, and literacy.

Average Issue Readership (AIR)

Readership is an estimate of how many readers a publication has. As most publications have
more than one reader per copy, the NRS readership estimate is very different from the
circulation count.

Readership estimates also show:

The demographic profile of readers.

What else they read and do.
The relationship between readership and circulation is known as readers-per-copy.

AIR is no of copies read within the period equal to periodicity of Publication. AIR might be
bumped up by a special issue that everyone goes out and buys. TR may include a lot of
subscribers. They might be the same revenue and the same numbers for a given period, but TR
may be more indicative of sustained readership.

Total or Claimed Reader

Not loyal readers of the publication but have consumed it in the past. Lower the gap between
TR & AIR; more loyal the readership base of the publication

Sole or Solus reader

They read only 1 particular publication in that frequency. Most dedicated and loyal readers of a
publication.

OOH Metrics: Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB)

Measuring OOH Impressions

With OOH, you can measure with great accuracy how many people will walk or drive past your
advertisement and see its content. Impressions can be measured using travel surveys, data
modelling and census data, amongst others. However, today, there are even more accurate
ways to calculate impressions that can provide information to advertisers in real time. This is
achieved through Location Data or location based mobile data.

Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB)

OOH advertising is predominantly measured in four different ways.

Demographics: Census information and surveys are used to provide demographic and
psychographic information that measures OOH advertising. The data is modelled into millions of
trip paths, which helps advertisers understand who is being reached by their content.

Impressions: Impression’s gauge who your ad is reaching, and are typically provided in the form
of weekly figures. Impressions measure the average number of times an individual consumer
views an advertisement. Impressions include information about traffic data, which helps
estimate the number of vehicles that have passed an advertisement. Impressions may also
include travel surveys, data modelling, and census data.

Digital trails: Digital trails are a simple way to track OOH advertising. They include things like
promo codes, social media accounts, links, and other online information that is incorporated into
an advertisement. Each of these items can be tracked based on the number of people using a
promo code, for example, or following a social media account.

Visibility research: Visibility research is calculated using contact zones that determine the
distance from which an advertisement can first be seen and how fast traffic moves past the
advertisement each hour. Another calculation is the time in which people “dwell” in an area while
sitting in traffic, waiting for a train, or waiting for a bus. Visibility research helps to determine a
person’s likelihood of actually noticing an ad based on their opportunity to see it.

Measurements:
Slogan Analytics

If you used a particularly catchy slogan or phrase on a recent OOH advertisement, you can use
slogan analytics to get an idea of the ad’s effectiveness. Look on your website’s analytics tool to
see how many times the keywords or tagline from your slogan has been entered into search
engines.
While people might not be able to remember a promo code or a website, if the slogan stuck with
them, they may try to find your brand by searching for the words they remember.

Hashtag Metrics

Hashtags are a great way to measure the success of a billboard or wildposting campaign.
Include a campaign-specific hashtag on your ad and check for its use on different social media
platforms.

If you notice people starting to engage with the hashtag, you’ll get an idea of the impressions of
your advertisement. Hashtags also enable you to search across social media platforms to get
an idea of the number of people connecting with your brand.

Before and After

If you’re only running one OOH advertising campaign at a time, the before and after method is
an obvious way to measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Take a look at sales
immediately prior to starting a campaign, and then look at sales after the campaign begins. If
you notice a significant increase in sales, it’s likely due to your OOH advertising campaign.

The tricky thing about using the before and after method of measurement is that it requires you
to keep all other forms of marketing the same. Otherwise, the variability may be attributable to
other campaigns.

Promo Code Campaigns

Adding a promo code to a billboard or flyer helps to measure the impressions of your OOH
campaign. Assign a campaign-specific promo code, discount voucher, or QR code to the
campaign, and run the promo code only during the period of the campaign. This will enable you
to track the number of people who enter the campaign-specific code on the website, giving you
an idea of how many sales your campaign has generated.

Campaign-Specific URL

Placing a campaign-specific URL on your OOH advertisement is another way to measure

impressions.

Survey

Perhaps the simplest measure of all is to give customers a short survey during or after a
purchase that asks them where they heard about your brand.
If they tell you that they first learned about your company on a billboard, then you have your
answer about the effectiveness of your OOH campaign.

Benchmarking Metrics:

Medium selectivity medium selectivity refers to the extent that a medium is directed towards the
target Group. Medium selectivity can be represented by a selectivity index showing how well the
target group is represented in the medium reach, relative to the universe:

Selectivity index = (% of the target group in total reach / % of the target group in the universe
Selectivity index) * 100

Selectivity index < 100:

The target group is under-represented.

The vehicle is not selective on the target group.
Selectivity index = 100:

The target group is proportionally represented.

Selectivity index > 100:

The target group is over-represented.

The vehicle is selective on the target group.

Plan Metrics: ∙

Gross Rating Points (GRP)

In advertising, a gross rating point (GRP) measures impact. GRPs help answer how often “must
someone see it before they can readily recall it” and “how many times” does it take before the
desired outcome occurs.

Gross rating points are a measure of the impact by a campaign using a specific medium or
schedule. It quantifies impressions as a percentage of the target population, multiplied by
frequency. This percentage may be greater, or in fact much greater, than 100.

Target rating points express the same concept, but with regard to a more narrowly defined
target audience.

GRPs are used predominantly as a measure of media with high potential exposures or
impressions. Nielsen Media Research is an example of a company which uses GRPs.

With “today’s fragmented media world” the value of GRP is, according to the Advertising
Research Foundation’s Journal of Advertising Research, even greater than in the pre-Internet
era. Since “the required frequency changes with the product and the competitive climate it is in”,
the purpose of the GRP metric is to measure impressions compared to the number of people in
the target for an advertising campaign. GRP values are commonly used by media buyers to
compare the advertising strength of components of a media plan.

For conventional media such as radio and TV, multi-tasking has reduced the value per GRP,
and a measure named Persuasion Rating Point (PRP) was proposed in mid 2020.

“One GRP is one percent of all potential adult television viewers (or in radio, listeners) in a
market.” If they are exposed to the ad three times, then that is 3 GRPs.

Gross Rating Point (GRP) is a measure of the size of an advertising campaign by a specific
medium or schedule. GRP is calculated by multiplying the number of Spots by Rating.

GRPs are simply total impressions related to the size of the target population: They are most
directly calculated by summing the ratings of individual ads in a campaign.

Mathematically:

GRPs (%) = 100 * Impressions (#) ÷ Defined population (#)

GRPs (%) = 100 * Reach (%) × Average frequency (#)

Two examples:

If an average of 12% of the people view each episode of a television program, and an ad is
placed on 5 episodes, then the campaign has 12 × 5 = 60 GRPs.
If 50% view three episodes, that’s 150 GRPs.
Gross Impressions (GI)
Gross Impressions (GI) is a quantity denoting the number of GPRs in thousands. GPR (Gross
Rating Point) while expressing the cumulative viewership of a specific ad in a given target
group. Advertising agencies often place an order with a number of GIs with advertising space
providers, usually paying for every thousand impressions.

Gross Impressions are used to track ads and serve as an easy way to negotiate terms when
purchasing an ad. Unique user who have viewed the ad are counted as units in the GI, while
duplicate impressions are not counted. Measurement methods may vary from company to
company, so when concluding contracts, you need to be interested in the way measurement
results are obtained.

AQH x number of spots in a schedule.

AQH persons estimate as a percentage of the population.
Share of Voice (SOV)
Share of voice (SOV) is a measure of the market your brand owns compared to your
competitors. It acts as a gauge for your brand visibility and how much you dominate the
conversation in your industry. The more market share you have, the greater popularity and
authority you likely have among users and prospective customers.

Divide a target metric that represents your brand by the total in your market or industry. Multiply
that number by 100 to get your percentage of market share for that particular metric.

Your brand metric / Total market metric x 100

Examples of metrics to calculate for SOV include:

Organic keywords
Pay per click (PPC) keywords
Impressions
Reach
Revenue
Mentions
Hashtags
Pros of Measuring Share of Voice

Perform competitive analysis on a market-wide scale. Get the big picture of how competitive the
market is and whether you’re an up-and-comer or the dominant player in the industry.
Use SOV as a way to segment your target audience. Calculating SOV is a powerful way to
analyze your audience, but you can take further steps to organize this data into segments for
more insight into your strengths and weaknesses. Look at your SOV within crucial regional
markets, demographics and more.
Evaluate the success of your marketing campaigns. If you launched a campaign recently,
determine whether you made gains in your SOV that indicate your marketing message and
tactics were effective.
Improve future campaigns based on findings in SOV reports. Use the insight from your
analytical reports to expand your reach, get involved in social conversations and ensure your
voice is amplified across marketing channels.

Evaluating Television Media Buying:

● Dysfunctional Card Rate, Secondary and Effective Rate

A rate card is a document provided by a newspaper or other print publication featuring the
organization’s rate for advertising. It may also detail any deadlines, demographics, policies,
additional fees, and artwork requirements. The smaller the publication, the less information that
may be available on the rate card.

Some larger newspapers may have a rate card for a particular kind of advertisement. They may
have their rates broken down by classified ads, retail advertising, and even national ad rates.
Rate cards help the retailer understand what types of ad sizes, discounts, and other advertising
the publication have to offer. When choosing a newspaper or print media, you can use rate
cards to compare ad rates based on circulation before you buy advertising space.

Before placing an ad, be sure you understand the terms and conditions of advertising with the
publication. In many cases where there may be a conflict between the insertion order and the
rate card, the rate card will be the deciding factor. This does not mean the prices on the rate
card are fixed. Most retailers will find the paper’s sales rep will offer special rates for first time
advertisers or other discounts.

If you’re interested in advertising within a particular publication, check their website or call the
office and ask for a copy of their current rate card. Many newspapers and magazines have their
rate cards available online in a PDF format for quick reference. Of course, these rates are
always negotiable.

● Deal Composition
It is not just enough to evaluate effective rates but the structure of the deal or buy plays a very
important role as well. Composition of a buy such as prime time second age deals for an
Advertisers & Weekday vs Weekend split. Weekday primetime shows get highest TRP followed
by weekends throughout the day, afternoons suitable for female TG, News channel morning
slots work more efficiently than an afternoon on weekdays.

● Cost Per Rating Point (CPRP)

Cost per rating point measures the price paid for GRP’s delivered. Eg: 2 media buys with the
same total rates may have varying CPRP’s. One may have second age in all prime time shows,
another may have second age in only shows. Technically afternoon slots deliver ratings even in
male TGs. While some buyers deliver CPRPs regardless of the time slots, but an efficient
planner decides not to take time slots on blind attempt but to consider CPRP on time slots.

● Reach Delivered by the Buy

Reach and frequency buying is an alternative method for buying ads that lets you book
campaigns in advance with predictable, optimised reach and controlled frequency.

A high-frequency strategy may be beneficial for brands that are new, have a low market share
or are running shorter campaigns. Many factors influence the effective frequency level. Your
market, message and media should be considered during the campaign planning process.

Reach and Frequency campaigns are fixed reservations, with set costs, dates and reach. The
aim of this type of campaigns is to fulfil the prediction, but you will be unable to change these
parameters under any circumstance. This is also true for bids. The only change allowed for this
type of campaign is at the creatives level. Any other change will cause an alteration in the
reservation.
Keep in mind that Reach and Frequency campaigns don’t ensure a final cost per results or
CPM, but a determined cost and reach within set dates.

● Visibility Spots
A plan often delivers the reach, but the spread of the message about their campaign is
important. This is very true for low budget brands who need to maximize their on-air presence.
For instance, a small FMCG brand to be able to follow a large FMCG brand’s 52-week
advertisement scheduling strategy, it too will need to maximize its presence as much as
possible. Hence it chooses a low-cost afternoon TV spot to maintain a constant presence along
with bursts of mass channel activity to increase its potential reach.

● Bonus Percentage
Also known as “value adds,” this term is relevant to sites that sell their display ad inventory
directly to advertisers. Generally, bonus media is a consideration only for line items priced on a
cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) basis.

It is relatively common for advertisers or agencies to request that publishers include bonus
media wherever possible in order to make the most competitive proposal possible when being
considered for a campaign. These are basically $0 CPM (i.e., free) ad impressions that a
publisher includes with paid media in order to maximize the appeal of the overall proposal.

In some cases, a proposal template will have a column marked “Bonus Media” or “Value Add.”
In this case, the appropriate value is either Yes or No, depending on whether or not there is a
cost associated with the line item (this column is somewhat duplicative, since any line item with
a CPM of $0 would be bonus media).

There are pros and cons to including bonus media on an ad proposal, regardless of whether the
advertiser or agency explicitly asks for it to be included. Giving away something of value (ad
impressions) at zero cost obviously results in a direct loss of revenue. But in some instances,
the inclusion of bonus media may make the overall proposal including paid line items seem
more appealing.

Some advertisers or agencies focus on the overall effective CPM of a campaign when
evaluating the competitiveness of a publisher. If this is the case, a strategic use of bonus media
can help to make your proposal seem like a great value to the advertiser.

● Upgrades and Spot Fixing

Another brilliant way to sweeten a media deal is to fix ROS (Run of the site) spots for direct
buying to ensure higher deliveries. Advertisers do not specify the position of Ad placement in
return for low rates. Ads may be placed randomly in unsold, less valuable portions of the target.
And spots in a particular category can be upgraded to a higher category time slots based on the
Ads previous results. Upgrades and spot fixes are done as it adds value to a deal.

● Sponsorships
Program sponsorships are added on to a deal in order to deliver added value. The value of
sponsorships is benefitted when the brand name is used in the program content Eg: Honda Star
Voice of India. These programs are promoted throughout the day and people remember the
name of the show along with sponsor name. (Vivo IPL). A program on a TV can have multiple
sponsors apart from the main sponsor who acts as an associate sponsor.

Evaluating Print Media Buying

Discount on Rate Card

This is one of the primary parameters, the quantum by which the card rate is lowered or actual
savings for the client. For print Ads, the market-leading publications offer lesser discounts when
compared to the comparatively newer publications. Due to extreme competition, even the
leading print publications have come up with attractive discounts nowadays.

Negotiated Rate
Discounts alone are not the deciding factor for buying the print plan, instead inflation in the costs
are to be closely considered as well. Certain publishers price cards at a higher rate & offer large
discounts, thus monitoring inflation & increasing costs are supremely important. A good print
buy has lesser inflation in negotiation rates than the inflation in card rates.

Cost Per Thousand (CPT)

The best way to judge a print buy is to pivot on the delivery vs cost. The CPT reached in print is
calculated by the number of print publications in which Ad communication is carried & not the
actual number of people the Ad message has reached through those publications.

Market Share Incentives

Readership v/s Circulation Track

It gives an idea of total copies in circulation and the number of readers per copy. Fortnightly
publications & magazines have more readers per copy than in daily newspapers.

Growth Incentives
If the print publication agency gains substantial growth after the Ad campaign in their
publications, the publishers offer additional discounts to the brand and makes its relationship
stronger. Growth incentives can come in the form of free ad space on the newspaper which the
Advertiser can utilise within a specific time period.

Combination Rate Incentives

Most of the print buy deals are an effective combination of several chunks of discounts. From
discount on card rates to differential discounts on colour, growth incentives and upgrades, the
savings for the brand, therefore, is a factor of all these elements.

Full Page Discounts and Size Upgrades

Discount for Colour Ads
Color Ads carry a higher price tag than B&W ads. But in the last few years, some of the major
publications have reduced the price gap between B&W ads and colour ads, some publications
even offer all colour advertising patterns as well. Publications offer better discounts on the
colour Ad space since it nets better realisations than the B&W ones for the publications.

Date Flexibility Incentives

Positioning
Position of the Ad placed in the print publication plays a stupendous role in noticeability of the
Ad. Publishers charge premium rates based on which page advertisers need their Ad to be
placed. Front page Solus ad can cost 3X more than an inside page Ad. A regular Ad can be
upgraded to a special position to ensure higher noticeability as well.

Innovations
With increased competition in all forms of media including print, publishers are obligated to
adapt to more innovative strategies for Ad placements. At the highest level of adding value,
innovations help brands stand out in the cluttered environment. There are several innovations
possible now such as layout based, format based, editorial supported, exclusives etc. Clients &
agencies approach innovations from different angles to get most of their campaigning process.

Evaluating Other Media Buys:

Radio Buys
Radio offers both a massive audience and a complex and changing pricing system. Clients rely
on Capitol Media Solutions because we help them access the former and navigate the latter.

Determine formats and top stations to target in each market.

Explore native advertising in news, traffic, and weather reports (live-read or recorded.)
Recommend spot lengths for promotional, branding, and informational messages.
Establish target rating point (TRP) ranges for different types of spots.
The first step in effective radio media buying is understanding a client and a client’s marketing,
advertising and overall business goals. Why do they want to advertise on radio and is it the best
fit for their business goals? A media buyer will walk them through the process, and may
compare the benefits of different types of strategies so that clients have a better idea of what
they are working with.

If a client is committed to doing radio to start, a media buyer will do research based on the
client’s target audience and demographic. It’s essential to find out which types of listeners are
most likely to convert on radio advertising. This process helps narrow the field of opportunities
for clients so that buyers can focus on negotiating with certain channels and networks only.

There are many different metrics that can be used to measure a campaign’s effectiveness. An
essential part of a radio media-planning process is understanding the metrics that will be used
to determine success. What should be measured and how does it relate to overall business
goals? Once this metric or metrics have been established, it will be used as a success
determiner throughout the life of the campaign. It will be used during the testing process and
eventually the roll out.

Messaging and Radio Media Buying

The web copy (or ad copy) is another part of the buying process. Messaging is everything to the
effectiveness of a campaign, so copy review is a must. Media buyers can put an advertiser on
all of the right shows and in front of the right markets but they won’t take action without strong
copy. If the messaging is convoluted or ambiguous at all, it will fall on deaf ears.

The copy for the ad(s) and for the website needs to be tweaked, tested and refined so that the
client can get the best level of success for the investment. There may also need to be several
different versions of the same messaging. It’s important to remember that 15-second, 30-second
and 60-second spots need their own unique spin so that the messaging gets through without
any important pieces missing.

Outdoor Buys
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor advertising, outdoor media, and
out-of-home media, is advertising experienced outside of the home. This includes billboards,
wallscapes, and posters seen while “on the go;” it also includes place-based media seen in
places such as convenience stores, medical centers, salons, and other brick-and-mortar
venues.

OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, transit, and
alternative.

The OOH advertising industry in the United States includes more than 2,100 operators in 50
states representing the major out of home format categories. These OOH media companies
range from public, multinational media corporations to small, independent, family owned
businesses.

A lower cost per impression than other mass media.

Targeted geographic reach.
A constant broadcast of your message.
High-impact, low-competition advertising.
Cinema Buys
Cinema advertising shouldn’t be confused with movie trailers the “coming attractions” that
immediately precede the main feature. Movie ads come before the trailers, and they have been
a presence in theaters since the first one opened in 1902.

This means that your parents or grandparents probably have fond memories of movie ads, too,
if only for their comedic value. In the early days, movie ad montages were put together
somewhat haphazardly, sometimes with slides appearing upside down or with sketchy lines
blocking an advertiser’s phone number.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting with someone who sells cinema ads, you may want
to prepare yourself for the distinct possibility of hearing how Americans love movies and,
perhaps even more intensely, the movie going experience.

They have a point. Aside from newly released movies that you can see only in a theater, there is
no doubt that watching a movie in a theater offers some distinct advantages over watching the
same movie on even a jumbo screen at home. A theater offers:

There are several advantages:

Huge cinema screens give a ‘larger than life’ impact to the message.
The audience is a captive audience since they cannot switch channels/flip pages of a print
advertisement and are unlikely to walk out during advertisements.
In-cinema advertising is viewed by an audience which is likely to be paying close attention to the
screen or the cinema hall area.
In-cinema advertising guarantees better attention span for the message to be communicated
convincingly.
Cinema, with its huge localized reach pan India, makes it suitable to reach out to a small
geography as well as the entire country.
Internet Buys
Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or
web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver
promotional marketing messages to consumers. Many consumers find online advertising
disruptive and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a variety of reasons.

When software is used to do the purchasing, it is known as programmatic advertising.

Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media
marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile
advertising. Like other advertising media, online advertising frequently involves a publisher, who
integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the
advertisements to be displayed on the publisher’s content. Other potential participants include
advertising agencies who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server which
technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics, and advertising affiliates who do
independent promotional work for the advertiser.

Display advertising conveys its advertising message visually using text, logos, animations,
videos, photographs, or other graphics. Display advertising is commonly used on social media,
websites with slots for advertisements, and in real life. In real life, display advertising can be a
sign in front of a building or a billboard alongside a highway. The goal of display advertising is to
obtain more traffic, clicks, or popularity for the advertising brand or organization. Display
advertisers frequently target users with particular traits to increase the ads’ effect. Online
advertisers (typically through their ad servers) often use cookies, which are unique identifiers of
specific computers, to decide which ads to serve to a particular consumer. Cookies can track
whether a user left a page without buying anything, so the advertiser can later retarget the user
with ads from the site the user visited.

As advertisers collect data across multiple external websites about a user’s online activity, they
can create a detailed profile of the user’s interests to deliver even more targeted advertising.
This aggregation of data is called behavioral targeting. Advertisers can also target their
audience by using contextual to deliver display ads related to the content of the web page
where the ads appear.  Retargeting, behavioral targeting, and contextual advertising all are
designed to increase an advertiser’s return on investment, or ROI, over untargeted ads.

Impression Types:

CPM (cost per mille)

Cost per mille, often abbreviated to CPM, means that advertisers pay for every thousand
displays of their message to potential customers (mille is the Latin word for thousand). In the
online context, ad displays are usually called “impressions.” Definitions of an “impression” vary
among publishers, and some impressions may not be charged because they don’t represent a
new exposure to an actual customer. Advertisers can use technologies such as web bugs to
verify if an impression is actually delivered.  Similarly, revenue generated can be measured in
Revenue per mille (RPM).

Publishers use a variety of techniques to increase page views, such as dividing content across
multiple pages, repurposing someone else’s content, using sensational titles, or publishing
tabloid or sexual content.

CPM advertising is susceptible to “impression fraud,” and advertisers who want visitors to their
sites may not find per-impression payments a good proxy for the results they desire.

CPC (cost per click)

CPC (Cost Per Click) or PPC (Pay per click) means advertisers pay each time a user clicks on
the ad. CPC advertising works well when advertisers want visitors to their sites, but it’s a less
accurate measurement for advertisers looking to build brand awareness. CPC’s market share
has grown each year since its introduction, eclipsing CPM to dominate two-thirds of all online
advertising compensation methods.

Like impressions, not all recorded clicks are valuable to advertisers. GoldSpot Media reported
that up to 50% of clicks on static mobile banner ads are accidental and resulted in redirected
visitors leaving the new site immediately.
CPE (cost per engagement)

Cost per engagement aims to track not just that an ad unit loaded on the page (i.e., an
impression was served), but also that the viewer actually saw and/or interacted with the ad.

CPV (cost per view)

Cost per view video advertising. Both Google and TubeMogul endorsed this standardized CPV
metric to the IAB’s (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Digital Video Committee, and it’s garnering a
notable amount of industry support. CPV is the primary benchmark used in YouTube Advertising
Campaigns, as part of Google’s AdWords platform.

CPI (cost per install)

The CPI compensation method is specific to mobile applications and mobile advertising. In CPI
ad campaigns brands are charged a fixed of bid rate only when the application was installed.

CPL (cost per lead)

Cost per lead compensation method implies that the advertiser pays for an explicit sign-up from
a consumer interested in the advertiser’s offer.

Mobile Buys
At a data first agency, the emphasis on mobile media buying deserves its own section on our
site, despite being just one of the many media buying services we offer. While consumer’s
attention is grabbed by their mobile devices, it is our job to guide their attention to your mobile
app or mobile services, all the while, understanding their cross-device interactions.

The audience available on the mobile Web is growing rapidly. Consequently, the interest in
mobile advertising is growing rapidly. When an agency or advertiser asks about buying
advertising on the mobile Web, they typically ask questions about media buying and questions
about creative.

Advertising on the mobile Web is very similar to Web advertising. Many people try and make it
complex, but it really isn’t. The primary ad units are very similar to the ad units you are used to
buying on the Web: Graphical banner ads and text link ads.

The mobile industry varies from the add on subscription product services, to the
free-to-download and hope we land a pod of whales making in-app purchases (while frantically
trying to keep competitors off your in-app ads so you can still monetize without steering people
elsewhere!). We get it. It’s fast-paced, and it’s important that you work with a fast-paced media
agency.
Media Two offers just as wide a variety of media buying services to meet whatever need you
might have. We have campaigns that purely run on a cost per install basis. We manage the
self-serve Goliath’s of Facebook and Google’s Universal App. But it’s how we approach the
data that sets us apart.