Advantages of Television Advertising
- Television reaches very large audiences — usually much larger than the audience your local newspaper reaches, and it does so during a short period of time.
- Since there are fewer television stations than radio stations in a given area, each TV audience is divided into much larger segments, which enables you to reach a larger, yet, more diverse audience.
- It has the ability to convey your message with sight, sound, and motion, and can give a product or service instant validity and prominence.
- You can easily reach targeted audiences. Children can be reached through cartoon programming, homemakers during daytime programming, and insomniacs after
Disadvantages of Television Advertising
- When you advertise on TV, your commercial is not only competing with others, it is also competing with the viewer’s environment as well.
- Even if your commercial is being aired, viewers may never see it unless it is intrusive enough to capture their attention.
- A minimum amount of airtime provides a limited length of exposure and ad clutter.
- The message comes and goes, and that’s it! Unless you buy additional time, the viewer doesn’t see your commercial again.
- Multiple exposures are required to achieve message retention and consumer action. If you don’t reach your viewer at least 5-7 times, you are just throwing money away.
- No station loyalty; Viewers have little or no loyalty to the station itself — especially since cable and Internet can bring dozens of viewing alternatives into the home. For example, viewers will watch a given channel for a program they know will be aired at a specific time. If a football game, popular movie or some other preferred form of entertainment appears on another channel, the viewer will not hesitate to switch channels without leaving the couch.
- The introduction of DVRs and other program recorders often allow viewers to avoid
- Even when watching “live,” during a commercial break the viewer may choose to get a snack, go to the bathroom, check social media, or have a conversation about whatever they were just watching.
- Because of a larger “area of dominant influence,” the relative cost will be higher — both the terms of airtime and production.
