Radio Advertising
Basics
Also
see How to Get Your Own Radio
Show
Trends in radio advertising
Shorter commercials A few years ago,
most radio station steered their clients toward 60 second
"spots" or commercials. Even if someone wanted a 30 second
spot, the station would charge the same price as a 60.
Now many stations have become more flexible. Not only are 30
second spots available, but now stations will sell 20 second or
even 10 second or 5 second spots. Some stations are now selling
"blinks," which are 2 second spots that quickly mention the
name of a company or product.
For instance, the American Idol TV show
recently bought a series of "blinks" that contained nothing
more than the recognizable "swoosh" sound that has become
closely identified with the program. These usually aired at the
end of a commercial break just before the station went back to
its regular programming.
Station websites have become
increasingly important for branding and income. Visitors who
come to station websites will see a variety of ads. Most of
these ads are "exposure" ads, meaning the client pays simply
for having the ads on the site. A visitor does not have to
click on an ad for the station to make money.
When to buy radio advertising time
The amount you pay for radio advertising is often negotiable
depending on how much "inventory" is available. "Inventory" is
another way of saying "airtime that hasn't been sold to
advertisers."
Retailers often bust their year-end advertising budgets by
buying up large blocks of time during the holiday shopping
season. So stations often have a lot of inventory in
January.
In February, May and November, the airwaves are often
crowded by TV networks promoting their programnming. Therefore,
it will be more difficult to drive a good bargain during those
months.
It's also hard to get airtime during hotly contested
political campaigns because so many candidates are buying up
inventory. It's also interesting to not that, by law, political
candidates must be given the lowest rates a station offers. So
candidates can get more advertising for less money than many
other advertisers.
Basic Radio Advertising Terms
Remotes A "remote" is when a station
sends a crew, a personality and portable broadcast equipment to
an advertiser's location and broadcasts commercials (usually
live) from that location.
Rate Card This is a station's
officially published advertising rates. It's usually offered in
"tiers," from higher prices to lower prices. Advertisers who
pay higher prices are guaranteed placement where they want it.
Advertisers who select prices in the lower tiers may or may not
get the best placement.
Everything's negotiable in radio. Even though the station
has a rate card, account executives and advertisers often
negotiate deals that include a different pricing structure or
non-financial considerations.
Trade or Barter Sometimes a station
will trade airtime in return for goods or services. Those goods
or services may then be used for the benefit of the station or
station employees.
Buying a block of time Stations will
often sell 30 or 60 minutes of airtime to companies or
individuals and allow those individuals to sell advertising or
secure barter on their own. These shows often run on weekends.
Some radio in siders refer to Saturday morning as
"how-to-heaven" because many advertisers choose to do shows of
this sort on Saturday morning.
Billboards Brief 5-10 second
commercials that often include a tagline like "This portion of
(program) is brought to you by (advertiser)." The billboard may
also include a quick USP or promotional reminder of some
sort.
Radio Advertising Research
Audience research, which often determines the prices on the
"rate card" (see above) is done by a company called Arbitron.
Arbitron hires a number of listeners in an ADI (area of
dominant influence) to keep a diary of their listening
habits.
There are two disadvantages to the diary method:
1) If a listener doesn't like a certain personality or
station, that listener is not likely to write down the
station's call letters in the diary even if he/she actually
listened to the station during the rating period.
2) Listeners often procrastinate when filling in their
diaries, and when they finally do sit doiwn to fill them
in, they don;t always do it accurately.
Arbitron hopes to make more widespread use of the Portable
People Meter in the future. The Portable People Meter, which
some people mistakenly call the "Personal People Meter" or PPM,
is an electronic research device which measures the number of
people listening to individual broadcast media. The PPM is worn
like a pager, and and it works by detecting and logging hidden
audio tones being broadcast by a station or cable network.
Arbitron also has research services for TV, but it's best
known for its service to radio.
Arbitron makes its money by selling its research results to
stations. Without this research, it would be almost impossible
for stations to know how they're doing, and for advertisers to
make effective judgments about the markets and audiences the
stations reach.
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