Part Three In A Five-Part Series. See Part One And Part Two.
Which advertising medium is growing the fastest—television or promotional products? Which advertising medium is larger—radio or promotional products? I hope you didn’t bet against promotional products. Sales in our industry grew by 7.8 percent in 2011 (the most recent year for data) compared to a negative slide for television and an anemic one-percent uptick in growth for radio. Promotional products industry sales ($17.7 billion in 2011) surpassed total advertising revenue for radio advertising ($17.4 billion in 2011) as well.
If your customers are in love with broadcast media, maybe it’s time for you to reintroduce them to promotional products and show them why it’s the fourth fastest-growing of all measured advertising media.
Stay Tuned For A Brief History
Broadcast media traces its roots to the turn of the 20th century when radio marked the end of the print monopoly of mass media. By 1928, the United States had three national radio networks. During the Great Depression and World War II, the instant reporting of dramatic events turned radio into a popular news medium. President Roosevelt quickly recognized radio’s potential and used it to deliver his famous “fireside chats” to inform and reassure the nation during the war.
Television became commercialized in the early 1950s. Conveniently, RCA, which made televisions, also owned NBC. Along with CBS, which had a strong radio network already established, the networks quickly developed after WWII. NBC soon created and spun off a third network, ABC, and these became the Big Three of TV for more than a decade. Early TV programs were modified versions of the popular radio shows and became the entertainment of choice for millions of Americans. The ability of television to bring both picture and sound into homes created a medium that could tell stories and invoke emotion, making it a powerful advertising medium.
Today, both radio and television broadcast national and local content, making them viable media for both national and local advertisers. They are a good choice for advertisers who have a story to tell and a market to tell it to. Broadcast media have come a long way since the days of three TV networks and the AM band on radio. In 1969, most homes could receive four stations; in a major market such as New York City, viewers could receive perhaps seven stations. Soon television added a fourth network, Fox, followed by community TV, public TV, cable and satellite. Today, even homes in the most remote areas can receive 150 TV channels.
In the ’70s, radio experienced a boom when it was expanded to an FM band offering clearer reception and opening up many more station licenses. Satellite radio began in 2001 offering approximately 100 new, subscription-based options for radio listeners.
So How Are They Doing Today?
Television advertising sales (network and local broadcast) have been flat or declining in recent years. In 2011 (the most recent year for data), sales were $45.1 billion—a loss of .02 percent over the previous year. At $45 billion, this puts the TV advertising industry at roughly the same size as the premium/incentive industry ($46 billion), although the latter is not considered an advertising medium.
The bright spot in broadcast media is cable TV advertising. At $22.9 billion in 2011, the industry enjoyed a 7.8-percent increase over the previous year, which places it as the third fastest-growing medium behind internet and mobile phone advertising, and just ahead of promotional products, the fourth fastest-growing medium with a 7.2-percent increase at $17.7 billion in 2011.
Don’t Touch That Dial. Television Brings It In Living Color.
Your customers probably aren’t buying Super Bowl ads, but they may be buying your local news broadcast. Here’s why they’re buying television:
TV ads can be cost effective. A well-produced ad combining audio and video can make a compelling sales pitch. It’s a great platform for telling a story. An advertiser can use one of six types of ads: 1. A topical ad grabbing attention by relating to a local news event or topic of concern; 2. An image ad to reinforce key attributes of the advertiser such as its local flavor, friendliness, professionalism, reputation or support of a cause; 3. A comparison ad showing a side-by-side comparison of products and services compared to the competition; 4. Customer testimonials featuring real people from the community of the same demographic as the target audience; 5. An “everyone is doing it” ad to let the target market know that in order to be current, they need to be shopping or eating at the advertiser’s establishment; and 6. A “proof of performance” ad showing how well the product or service has performed time and time again.
TV ads will reach a target audience. TV uses rating services such as Nielsen to determine the age, income, interests, education, home value, ethnicity and scores of additional data to evaluate who watches what and when. Advertisers can mine this data to make sure the programming viewers match up with who they want to reach. If you ever want to get a feel for who the advertisers may think you are, pay attention to the ads they are feeding you. I find that by watching the evening network news, they think I have restless leg syndrome, am willing to ask my doctor if the purple pill is right for me and that I may have a dozen other ailments that I have never heard of.
TV advertisements are memorable. If you don’t believe me, think about the TV commercials from your childhood. I will bet you can tell me the key lines from commercials for Life Cereal, Alka-Seltzer and Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. Baby Boomers can still identify the jingles and images from cigarette commercials that have not aired since 1969. I think most of you can tell me which fast-food chain asked, “Where’s the beef?”