Welcome to AMIC.COM - Media Guru

Guru Search Results: 2421 matches were found

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 #7799
dear guruF what is the difference between coverage(000) and reach(000)

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, August 29, 2010 ):
Coverage is equivalent to a rating, a one-time audience. Reach is a net unduplicated accumulation of audience from multiople advertising occasions. The reach of a single occasion is equal to its coverage.

Friday, August 06, 2010 #7795
what are the best resources to measure media spend, share of voice, and access competitive spend and creative applications?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, August 09, 2010 ):
Nielsen Monitor+ and Kantar's CMR (Competitive Media Reports) are the traditional standards.

Friday, August 06, 2010 #7794
For digital media planning, what are the most valuable research tools? Are there preferred media planning/buying platforms?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, August 09, 2010 ):
Research:
comScore or Nielsen//Netratings are the sources to check these data.
Planning tools: try our own eTelmar

Sunday, August 01, 2010 #7792
I am putting together a media plan with only print media vehicles. I am looking for a guideline as to the minimum media weight that I should be keeping in mind as I work this plan out. Maybe a minimum number of GRPS per month or maybe another measure more suited to print advertising. Another way of saying this is a minimum media weight where my investment makes an impact and is not wasted. A threshhold media weight.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, August 01, 2010 ):
In print, better to think of what percent of the target do you need to reach and how often in a month. For example, if you want to reach the majority of your target at least three time per month ("50% reach at 3+"), you would build a plan that achieves that. GRPS are less used to establish print levels; the number for a plan that delivers a reach / frequency goal can vary widely, depending on whether you are using broad reach, general coverage vehicle or highly targeted, focused vehicles. Different target groups also build reach in different patterns.

Thursday, May 27, 2010 #7786
Good day,we have been approached by a company that has placed cell phone battery charging stations in major malls,train stations,taxi ranks here in South Africa(www.cellchargemedia.co.za). I need some clarification as to how will this be an effective advertising meduim and what specfic products would work best.The client has to pay R2 to have his phone charged and waits for no less than 5 minutes for his phone and thus he will see the advertising as he is captive. what is your veiws on this type of advertising and how can we calculate the effectiveness?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, May 27, 2010 ):
Clearly this is a form of out-of-home media. It seems comparable to signage one would find at the cashier's stand in grocery stores.

Friday, May 21, 2010 #7783
Dear Guru, In your opinion, what is appropriate information to share with a client's new agency during a transition? It seems that media plans, buys and internal checks & balances would be proprietary to the incumbent agency. Thanks in advance for your response.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, May 21, 2010 ):
It should be obvious that plans belong to the client, not the agency. Buys, likewise, assuming the agency has been paid by the advertiser to do these. Internal processes of the agency might well be proprietary.
Since the plans and buys are presumably already in the hands of the client they could be shared by them with the new agency. If the incumbent agency is no longer in the employ of the advertiser, it's a matter of what kind of reputation the agency wants to have with the advertiser and whoever in the industry they might speak to about the incumbent.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 #7776
what is the proper calculation for applying cable zones? Will the client expect to see a decrease in the population or the rating when zoning is applied?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, April 26, 2010 ):
The question is rather unclear.
But the Guru will make the following asssumptions:
You are looking at NSI DMA ratings of cable networks
You are considering how the audience metrics will differ if you try to apply subscriber counts of specific zones of an MSO
Therefore you may expect:
Populations will be smaller since you are only considering a portion of a DMA
The sum of all the zones impressions is not theoretically equal to the DMA impressions, because satellite audiences are in the reporting of networks' audiences but not in any MSO zones. Satellite can account for about 30% of "cable" network sunscribers
THe ratings will be higher because you are reducing the denominator of the ratings equation to a smaller population.
So your equation might be audience within the zone ÷ subscribers in the zone. The Guru cannot recommend an accurate way to get the first piece.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 #7775
what is a formula that can be used to calculate reach and frequency in just one newspaper?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, April 14, 2010 ):
If you mean reach and frequency for one insertion in one newspaper, the reach is the daily coverage divided by the relevant population (Metro, DMA, Trading area, etc). The GRP is equal to that and the frequency is 1.0.
If you mean multiple insertions in one newspaper, it is more complex to calculate.
You need a computer with software such as that offered by Telmar.
The calculation is extremely complex. For example, in print, as input, you need average issue audience, duplication between issues of the same publication and duplication between each possible pair of different publications. These must be combined using a complex formula such as the Beta-binomial function. There are variants of this formula, which might be preferred, depending on media type and other variables

Thursday, April 01, 2010 #7770
Hi, We are a local advertiser and looking into when it makes sense for us to buy network instead of spot...the tipping point analysis. I have my network CPPs and my spot CPP's. I want to make sure I do the analysis correctly. I've been told to weight my Spot CPP's based on the size of market. I don't think that I should do that and think just summing up the spot CPP's to get our aggregate 'Spot CPP' across our universe of markets is right because the CPP's are already reflective based on the market size. But what I would weight the CPP on is how we typically spend by quarter. Am I right to not weight the Spot CPP's based on the population size for this analysis?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, April 01, 2010 ):
You are right, just sum them.

Thursday, March 11, 2010 #7769
Hi Media Guru, I'm trying to do a post-campaign evaluation. I can only access audience ratings for a typical week, i.e. Monday to Sunday from a 7-day self filling diary information. This is what is available in my market. I do not have panel data. My problem is that, when a campaign runs for 6 weeks for example, I'm forced to use the 7-day diary information 6 times to take care of the campaign period. This yields high average frequency because I have to assume that the ratings would be the same week after week. Any help around this would be helpful

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, March 11, 2010 ):
Even though a diary is for one week, diary keepers are usually spread over a month or more. So, your reported average rating should work. In any case, this should not affect average frequency calculations.

Friday, March 05, 2010 #7768
hi, what are equvilent GRPs, and how can they be used?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 05, 2010 ):
Equivalent GRPs are usually :30 equivalent. These are used in evaluating competitive activity or comparing plans using different creative units.
One :60 is treated as "equivalent" to 2 :30s. Two :15s are equivalent to one :30.
Some anlayses may apply these factors to Reach and Frequency evaluation.

Monday, March 01, 2010 #7767
what is an avg. CPM for display vs. search advertising?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 01, 2010 ):
Search advertising is measured in cost-per-click. It can't rationally be compared to display cpm.

Friday, February 26, 2010 #7764
I am developing a travel directory website in a particular online niche. The directory will list various vendors and their offerings through geographic and numerous criteria search. When a site visitor clicks on one of the vendors on a results page, a details page will appear with basic info on the vendor's offering, along with the URL or, in the absence of a URL, other contact info. To start, I envision that I will offer vendors a standard click-thru rate not to exceed a flate annual rate. I have looked into affiliate programs through which users can make reservations on my site, but that is something I will have to do down the road, if I do it at all. Setting up my own reservation system would be even further down the road, if at all. I already have several thousand appropriate vendors in my database, and potential for tens of thousands more. Since hiring data entry clerks/teams and/or editors is an expensive proposition, I am contemplating contracting commission-only sales people to help with signing up vendors, providing them with a percentage of each click-through or flat-rate price for each of their accounts. I have a back-end developer who can do all the programming to track traffic, sales, and click-throughs. The questions I'm pondering are: 1) what are the going rates for PPC? (For several reasons, I am not contemplating instating a Google-style bid system.) 2) what are the going annual flat rates? (I already have some ideas from my research, and I also know that this is industry specific.) 3) what are the going rates for commissions? 4) How do I deal with the fact that I will have to advertise vendors on the site in order to draw traffic, while I will have to draw traffic in order to make sales remunerative to the sales rep, since their commissions will come to them immediately but will accumulate in time through residuals? I'm all for starting small, but don't want to grow at such a snail's pace that the site doesn't grow into at least a semi-lucrative venture.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 26, 2010 ):
You seem to have two categories of issues:
media pricing and
operating / start-up costs
. The latter are outside the Guru' purview. As to pricing, that is always in flux, especially these days. The answer is to research your competitor's prices.

Friday, February 26, 2010 #7763
hello is it always correct that the smaller the target group the less GRPs being achieved provided that all other parameters are fixed?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 26, 2010 ):
If you mean less GRP per dollar for a smaller group, that is a fair general rule. Sometimes, a given, smaller group is easier to reach than a somewhat larger group with more restricted media habits.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 #7761
Hi, I am working on the automotive segment and I want to compare share of voice for different brand names and models. Is it possible to just unify the target group on which we make the grp evaluation based on, or we use different target for different models? But then can we compare total grp figures from different brand names as total or as models? If it would be possible to compare all of them in case we can use one target group, what would that target group be? total population? or total adult population? or adults 25+? Thank you

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, February 25, 2010 ):
There are two approaches:
Are you interested in examining the competition to your brand, in which case you should look at this on your own brand target's GRP; or are you evaluating the strenghth and agressivenenss with which each brand markets itself? In that case, use each brand's own target GRP.

Monday, February 22, 2010 #7759
You're right. Maybe is important to say that this poster is into a Shopping Center near the parking lot, positioned at eye level. DEC over the principal avenue will be longer but, this "Poster" is only visible for the people in the Mall. Total Market population is: 700,000 in Trade Area. 400,000 in 5 miles radius. This Shopping Center receive average 3,000 People (18+) daily. (Maybe I ought to take this quantity of people as market population.) what do you think?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, February 22, 2010 ):
A 30-sheet at eye level is odd. Unless the shopping center customers are of special value to you, this does not sound like a good deal,

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 #7754
what is an acceptable CPP for a :30 national network tv buy? Daypart - weekend day, sports programming. Demo is A35-64.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, January 27, 2010 ):
See SQAD

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 #7753
what research tools are available to normalize results in regards to reach and frequency when combining traditional forms of media, emerging media, and interactive?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 26, 2010 ):
Our own eTelmar's new tool, Media 360, should do the trick (although the Guru is not entirely sure what you mean by "normalize.")

Thursday, January 21, 2010 #7751
Dear guru: If our client wants to know which kind of media is proper to launch in festival,such as chinese new year? how to answer this question? and what data may be used? thx

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, January 21, 2010 ):
You must first understand the media environment.
For example, in NY or other markets with large Chinese populations, there are several widely read newspapers which are very influential. There are radio stations covering the main Chinese languages (written Chinese covers all languages, spoken differs).
In the more densely populated Chinese communities, like Manhattan's Chinatown and Flushing (Queens) there will be several outdoor opportunities.
Audience data should be available.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 #7749
Hi what is the range of rates as CPM for web advertising? Thanks, Ian South Africa

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, January 13, 2010 ):
For banner ads, from under $1 to over $200, depending on target desired and targeting ability of the site.
Also depending on buying method: large indiscriminate ad networks versus selective buying.

Sunday, January 03, 2010 #7748
Hi Guru, I'm a small agency that specializes in working with surgeons. Our agency has exploded in growth and we are wanting to refine our media buying strategies. No one in my agency has ever worked as a buyer in a traditional agency. what would you recommend for us to become stronger and smarter buyers? I was wondering if there was a course that touches on the basics and advanced items and media software. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 05, 2010 ):
The Guru never recommends media buying / planning courses.
If you are exploding as you say, the obvious and best move is to hire a media buyer with relevant experience.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 #7747
Do any agencies buy radio by CPM as opposed to CPP? what would the advantage or disadvantage be for either?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, December 23, 2009 ):
Certainly some do. CPM focuses on impressions and CPP on ratings. The impressions version, which might look at listening in a broader area, is possibly a direct response approach. The ratings version is more attuned to the impact in a piece of geography, and might better fit a branding campaign.

Thursday, December 03, 2009 #7746
what are the subjective factors/qualitative data one ought to look at when planning and buying media beyond plain readership numbers?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, December 03, 2009 ):
The biggest such issue is how well the media environment supports the brand image and brand message. Others are efficiency and effectiveness in coveying the message memorably. The list goes on and on.

Thursday, December 03, 2009 #7745
what are the seven steps of media planning

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, December 03, 2009 ):
Someone might have seen the process as seven steps, the Guru finds more. See the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Friday, November 20, 2009 #7740
what is known about the effectiveness of using direct mail in conjunction with radio?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, November 20, 2009 ):
Contact Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 #7738
Dear Guru, I'm a marketing assistant on an online company that is starting to do TV marketing. I have the following questions concerning smaller sized TV-campaigns; is there any recommended value one should optimally achieve or get when it comes to GRP and OTS values? what is a good benchmark? what would be typical in Europe, for a bit smaller sized TV-campains (i.e. not always prime-time and in a limited number of nationwide reaching TV-channels)? Many thanks in advance!!

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, November 18, 2009 ):
There are many minimum theories. A minimum reach level of more than 50% of the target reached at least 3 times is one the Guru finds generally acceptable.
In different media or different countries with different research systems and metrics, the GRPs / OTS behind this level can vary considerably

Thursday, November 12, 2009 #7736
When you look at data on media spending from TNS, it listed a category called "SLN TV." It is not syndication because that is a seperate column. So what is it an abbreviation for?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, November 12, 2009 ):
"Spanish Language Network TV"

Monday, November 09, 2009 #7735
what runs on the network national feed during the time when local stations can run spot advertising? If it is more than just PSAs on the national feed, how are the GRPs on the national feed calculated, as to not overcount markets that are running their own spot ads instead?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, November 10, 2009 ):
Network time that is designated for local use can only be used as remnant time (or carry PSAs), since it is up to local staions to program it. Since it does not carry national commercials, it is not rated by NTI.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 #7731
How do you respond when the client asks "what if we spend $XX less or $XX more on this campaign"? Is there a "tipping point" on expenditure versus return?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, October 13, 2009 ):
Reach is one good metric. You can observe the point where the reach curve of your first medium begins to flatten, and then shift to the next medium. So you can determine if the next $XX goes to more of the lastt medium added or to a new one. Or do you eliminate the last medium when budget goes down. You need to think about what is the minimum level to bother wth a medium.
Your goals may not be reach. Do you add or subtract markets when budget changes? You can think about sales potential.
In short, look to your communication goals and how changes in budget move ou toward or away from them

Monday, October 12, 2009 #7729
Can one document and measure the decline, if any, in TV viewership during the Christmas holiday season? Put another way, in 2008, what was the difference in TV viewing during the cumulative weeks of 11/3, 11/10, & 11/17 versus the cumulative weeks of 12/8, 12/15, & 12/22?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 12, 2009 ):
Nielsen viewing data is available by day or week.

Monday, September 07, 2009 #7723
Dear MG!!! I've heard about TRA research. Can you explain to me how they match TV viewing data and purchase data? what do think about future of this research system? Thank you a lot!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, September 07, 2009 ):
Details of their process is on their site at TRA Global.
Other research systems combining TV ratings and scanning of purchses have neen around for years, without ovewhelming success.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 #7722
I need to convert 4 week reach into 6 week reach. I have the total GRPs and HH, but I'm not sure what the 6 week reach is or how to figure it out without media buying software and the Marketers Guide to Media only has a table for up to 4 weeks. Is there a formula I can use to figure it out? Please help! Thanks so much!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, August 27, 2009 ):
The software is the real solution. However, in general, in broad strokes, for mid-level media weights, the six week reach will not be very different than the reach of the equal GRPs total over 4 just weeks.
For easy access to real software, try our own eTelmar or call our Telmar ala carte service (Sales) @ 212-725-3000.

Thursday, July 30, 2009 #7718
I need reach and frequency on a campaign that includes 3 eighth page newspaper ads and 12 home page leaderboards. I would like to know how to calculate this as a combined campaign and what figures I would need to perform this calculation. Thanks for your help!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, July 30, 2009 ):
First, unit size is not a factor.
You need to determine the total print reach and the total online reach separately. You should have software for each medium, most likely from your audience measurement provider.
Or consider our own eTelmar. You may go here to see past Guru instructions on combining reach and frequency.

Friday, July 24, 2009 #7716
Hi - Can you tell me what "coverage area rating" means in the following sentence? Thanks. "Last night's premiere at 10PM posted a 2.1 total US HH rating, which converts to a 2.5 coverage area rating and a 4.2 HH share."

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, July 24, 2009 ):
This sentence is apparently about a cable network with subscribers (coverage area) amounting to about 84% of the total US.
The scenario is roughly:
There are 114.5 million US TV homes
This cable network has about 96.2 million subscriber homes in its "coverage area."
Apparently, the premiere had an average audience of 2.4 million, which is a 2.5% rating in this coverage area
but only 2.1% of all US TV HH.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 #7708
Guru, Can you help me with the formula to predict reach for television. i.e. what figures/stats are used within the formula and what is that formula? Your guidance is much appreciated!

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, July 01, 2009 ):
Ratings / grps are the usual input. Duplication data, at least in the form of "curve" formulas is also needed. You need a computer with software such as that offered by Telmar.
The calculation is extremely complex. For example, in print, as input, you need average issue audience, duplication between issues of the same publication and duplication between each possible pair of different publications. These must be combined using a complex formula such as the Beta-binomial function. There are variants of this formula, which might be preferred, depending on media type and other variables

Thursday, June 25, 2009 #7706
Is there an ideal DRTV schedule? ie number of spots per station/daypart? Also, what are the standard metrics for evaluating repsponse to Direct Reponse TV Schedules?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, June 26, 2009 ):
No single ideal.
If you don't have the experience to buy narrowly, order as many spots as you can, knowing many won't run. Spread your schedule as broadly as possible to find out what works best. Track orders against ads immediately to be ready to adjust schedules. Brand buying logic may drive you to prime, but that's expensiven and may not show a good ROI. Cosmetic products may do best in daytime soap opera hours, insomnia or anti depressant ads may do best in overnights.
Experiment and learn and prepare to be flexible.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 #7704
Hi Guru, I have a question about post buying. I work out of a 4 sweep market. For posts, I'm assuming that I'd use FEB for buys placed in Jan, Feb, & Mar, MAY for April, May, June, JULY for July, Aug, Sept, and NOV for Oct, Nov and Dec. what happens if I do a buy for Sept, and place it in mid August. By then, the new July 09 book would be out. So if I use the new July 09 book for planning, then what would I post Sept's buy with?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, June 24, 2009 ):
If your policy is to post Sept on the July book, why does the situation you describe change it? Posting is only affected by when the buy runs, not the date of order. You should post well this time.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 #7702
Good morning MG. We recently ran a campaign on Facebook with 3.3 million impressions and 1,127 clicks. The question now being asked is "what's considered effective regarding impressions/clicks?" The campaign ran February - June, I know this is a loaded question but I am hoping you can give me your thoughts.

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, June 11, 2009 ):
The old standard average was 0.2% click through. In reality, if you met your goals you were effective.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 #7701
May I ask "what is and how to I access a PAL INDEX"?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, June 11, 2009 ):
The Guru believes you may be referring to a proprietary media software tool of IMS Media Solutions. They would be the ones to ask.

Thursday, June 04, 2009 #7699
We have been using the following formula to add reach from month to month for our online campaigns: (R1+R2)-(R1*(R2/100))*.96. After some research on your site, the initial part of the formula seems to be the formula for random probability but I'm not sure where the multiplying it by .96 came from. Any thoughts? Could that be another estimate on duplication?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, June 06, 2009 ):
Applying a factor like "0.96" is an old technique to adjust random duplication (which, as you say, is the first part of your formula) for the fact that duplication in some cases is somewhat greater than simply random.
Between different media, such as print and tv, it is thought to be truly random, that is, there is no greater likelihood that a newspaper reader of your campaign will see your tv campaign, than any other two random events.
However, between two elements of the same medium, like two TV dayparts, there is a more than simply random chance of duplication. That is the traditional case for using a factor like 0.96.

Between consecutive time periods of the same medium, as in your case, the Guru expectss a much greater chance of duplication. You are looking at new exposures of the same vehicle, which should be represented as accumulating along one sharply flattening asymptotic curve (see below). It's a "cume," not a "combination." Random combination is far too optimistic. Unduplicated users from the first few months to the next added would probably become virtually total unless each month used unique, unrelated sites.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 #7698
How can I determine how much money I should spend in banner advertising in a given market without over-delivering? I know it's a very general question, but there aren't many tools available to small agencies that are inexpensive. It's easier with TV, as there are general TRP/Reach/Frequency benchmarks, but with online it's much more difficult. If you can provide any general guidelines that would be great!

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, June 03, 2009 ):
You seem to be mixing questions of metrics and benchmarks.
Are you asking how much to do or how to tell if you've done it?
How much to do is a matter of what needs to be accomplished. Are you looking for direct sales or driving traffic to a site? In any case web results are instantly trackable so you must stay on top of results. If you have an amount you want to run, you should be buying on a cost per thousand impressions or cost per click basis. The you get what you pay for and it's up to the sites to document delivery.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 #7694
When buying in a hyphenated market, should I buy using CPP or audience cume ratings? what factors need to be taken into consideration when buying a hyphenated market?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, May 23, 2009 ):
The "points" in CPP and cume ratings are both percentages of the same total DMA population. The hyphenated name makes no difference to these metrics.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 #7691
Dear Guru: Thank you for all your efforts it is of tremendous help to all of us here, I am sure. I had already discussed with you the issue of reach and frequency before. Now I need you advice regarding the models of calulation of the fee for a media agency. Of main interest is the labor-based model: cost of labor+overhead+profit. Can you tell me if this is a common formula and what are the normal ranges for overhead and profit. I have seen agencies charge anywhere from 70% to 120% of the labor cost for overhead. And between 5% and 30% of the sum (labor+overhead) for profit. Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, May 12, 2009 ):
You're welcome.
Your formulas seem to be within normal ranges. But norms differ from country to country, and the Guru has no way to compare Uzbekistan to Hong Kong to South Africa. Overhead can differ considerably as well with real estate, communication and benefits costs varying considerably by country.
One thought to keep in mind: with the historical 15% commission full-service agency structure (if that applies in Uzbekistan) that will likely be an upper-end barrier to fees, except in very small billings projects.

Friday, May 08, 2009 #7690
Dear Guru, what sales distribution has to have the product/brand to communicate it as national? Naturally, it depends on category, target groups etc, but is there any model showing that number? Is it ca 60% or more? Regards, Cezary

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, May 08, 2009 ):
Different players have different rules.
Media Question: In the medium you are considering, at what point does a national buy become cheaper than spot/local in all your markets?
Marketing question: How worried are you about marketing to potential consumer who cannot currently buy your product?

Friday, April 24, 2009 #7689
what type of audience evaluation measurement would be used for transit (bus wrap) advertising ?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 26, 2009 ):
Transit advertising is measured by traffic estimates. In this case the vendor would be expected to estimate persons passed on the bus route.

Thursday, April 16, 2009 #7683
what can you tell me about cost-per-call advertising for television? How do you determine the payout? Are there any specific guidelines?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 17, 2009 ):
The stations/networks which accept this deal may be few these days. The pay-out per call may be 30% of the item price on low-ticket items. A mutually agreeable specialized inbound call center usually selected by the medium is usually designated to take and tally calls. The point frequently overlooked is that the advertiser pays if a call comes in, whether there is any sale or not.

Thursday, April 16, 2009 #7682
Dear MG! Can you help me in such question - there are a lot of theories about effective frequency/reach ( Recency, Eff.Freq etc.) so what the reason to choose one of them? Or decision which theory works better depends only media planners point of view how ad is working? Thanks a lot!

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 17, 2009 ):
The decision is a judgment call, presumably based on experience. "Better" depends on the category. Recency says the most recently seen ad is most effective, but obviously this should be more relevant to the less-considered purchase, such as brand of cheese, and less relevant to a more considered purchase such as a luxury car.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 #7681
How different is media buying in the middle east then in the US? How do the agencies in the Middle East figure out there media goals such as reach, frequency and ratings?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 17, 2009 ):
It depends on data available, as well as culture. If there is a measurer of ratings and reach, then planning can be based on these criteria. In some cultures, ratings are quite high and reach develops differently than other cultures. Planning theories will reflect such differences and experience as to what works.
Planning theories everywhere are based on what is thought to work plus the business model of the media sellers. In some countries, media may sell your schedule out from under you, if a higher paying advertiser comes along. Plans must account for this as well as developing communication goals. In some cultures awareness takes second place to brand image, or vice versa. Local knowledge is always key.

Friday, April 10, 2009 #7678
Hi Guru- I am looking for a resource for finding websites. I need to find the local news sites in several cities and do not know where to begin. "Hunting and pecking" through the internet will work but it seems like a good way to miss something. Is there a resource that I am not aware of? I tried the SRDS years ago for internet but found that the sites did not really support it and it was not up-to-date...maybe that has changed.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 10, 2009 ):
First we need to define what we mean by "local news sites."
If you mean sites of local news media like raios, tv and newspaers. That's pretty simple/ They will generally name their site www.(mediumn name).com, such as Newsday or WNBC.
If you mean public interest sites, try www.(locationname).com, like Long Island

Sunday, March 29, 2009 #7677
what is the definition of MBU

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 29, 2009 ):
The Guru needs some context in which to answer. It sounds like it might be an internet ad unit size, idiosyncratically defined by a specific site.

Friday, March 27, 2009 #7675
MG- Thanks for your last response. Very helpful. Got another one for you here... Do you know how GM commercial durations compare to Spanish language commercial durations. Let me clarify...Specifically, we’re trying to show how avg. pod lengths may differ in length for English language from Spanish language network TV. Also curious if the total commercial during an average 30 minute program on network TV is different on Spanish language TV than it is on English language. Ideally trying to show that there is less clutter and commercial interruption on Spanish language network TV and therefore, more chance for brand salience. Thanks again in advance Cool, Media guru wannabe.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, March 28, 2009 ):
A: If the theory turned out to be correct, there are still so many more important reasons to advertise in the Hispanic market; better product volume / return on investment, reaching an under-served market, better CPMs, etc. The proposition then becomes almost silly.
B: There are too many issues to answer this intelligently. There are 5-6 "major" GM broadcast networks. There is really just one major Hispanic broadcast network and three much smaller ones, although these smaller ones rate, within their market, as well as most GM programs do in their own.
With varying mixes of affiliate and independent local stations and cable networks in each market, where would you make the comparisons?
Having decided to enter the Hispanic market for whatever reasons would you then base your media selection on clutter issues rather than audience measures or program content? Advertise on Mun2 rather than Univision if Mun@ had a better clutter profile?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 #7673
A hospital client has referenced recent research concerning advertising recall, that recommends doubling up on local affiliate network ads (two 30 second ads per show when possible) to increase recall significantly. Are you familiar with such research and the validity? Also, do you see any benefit for a hospital to run a Wed-Fri only schedule?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 17, 2009 ):
The Guru has not seen this research.
Obviously doubling frequency will increase recall, as wouild any increase in frequency.
Why affiliates in particular?
Wed-Fri makes no apparent sense. Grocery chains do this because of shopping days. Does a hospital have heavier days? Do they even know on what days people decide about elective surgery? Emergency admissions might tend to weekends and holidays, but how many of those would be based on advertising?

Monday, March 02, 2009 #7668
what is an average click-thru rate for mobile WAP sites?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 06, 2009 ):
The Guru has seen estimates in the 3.5 to 5% range higher for video.
Search the term "wap click rate" in Google.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 #7665
what is the Index

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, February 19, 2009 ):
Index is a ratio of one value to another. For example if the average rating of a media type is 5 and a certain vehicle of that type has a rating of 6, it's rating index is 120 (120% of the base value).

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 #7664
Dear Media Guru: I'm an MBA student, working on several marketing plans - wondering if you can provide rough guidelines (or ranges) of cost, GRPs and/or Reach/Frequency by the major media types?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, February 19, 2009 ):
Much too broad a question. what demographic? Reach / frequency for what level of budget or GRP? Calls for too much information, in any case

Wednesday, February 04, 2009 #7661
I have a question I thought I knew the answer to. We are interested in running an ad on Facebook. We are having discussions regarding whether it's best to purchase on a pay per click or per thousand. I can argue both sides but am wondering what your thoughts are.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, February 04, 2009 ):
The answer depends on your experience with facebook. If you know how many of your exposures will click, then you can judge the best option. If you don't, you can't.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009 #7660
How to calculate OTS for Print campaign

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, February 04, 2009 ):
The answer depends on two things:
what definiton of OTS are you using, and
what data do you have to work with?
OTS is sometimes used as equivalent to Gross Impressions (total exposures of the ad campaign to the target group) and sometimes as equivalent to average frequency ( the average number of times a member of the target group who has been exposed (reached) to the campain is exposed to the campaign.
So Gross OTS is the sum of all the impressions of all the ads in the campaign.
Average OTS is this number divided by the reach, expressed in the same terms, e.g. thousands, etc.

Monday, February 02, 2009 #7658
Hello - what is the simplist way to negotiate/prepare ratings projections for a TV buy that has points split between 2 ratings books? I have a TV buy that has points falling in 2Q and some in 3Q. Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, February 02, 2009 ):
The easiest way is to treat GRPs according to the quarter in which they fall.
Let second be second, let third be third.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 #7655
I´m looking for some generic numbers of average GRPs (monthly or in a year) required for reaching a national audience (80M pop.) for both a launch campaign and maintenance campaign of Diary products. Sorry for being so generic but this is for calculating number of insertions and budget in a business simulator, really just academic. The total GRPs are in a year and include both the product launch (e.g. 2 months) and maintenance. This is really an academic question, if you could be so kind to give an insight. Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 20, 2009 ):
This is indeed a generic question, so generic that it need to be greatly refined to attempt an answer.
Your first GRP "reaches a national audience" if it's in a national medium.
Begin by deciding what level of reach you want in an average four weeks in your introduction and maintentace periods.
Decide what media will be used. From these dat you can back inot numbers of GRPs.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 #7654
dear guru to define a regional activity please illustrate what does 3+ or 2+ markets. thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 20, 2009 ):
Apparently, you mean that "regional activity" means something occurring in 3+ (three or more) markets or 2+ (two or more) markets.

Monday, December 22, 2008 #7653
Hi. Further to question no. 7650, the pitch actually includes both planning and buying.Currently, the creative agency assumes the media assignment as well.I hope I used AOR in its proper context.Nonetheless, pls provide questionnaire to guide us when asking for a brief from client taking into consideration the full media service AOR service.Thanks again.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, December 24, 2008 ):
Understand that the "of record" part of the AOR phrase identifies the agency authorized to make financial commitments on the advertisers behalf. Thus the buying assumption. Nevertheless, these days an AOR may also be responsible for planning across the marketer's brands.
Considering an AOR assignment that includes planning would add these questions, among others:
what is the marketing briefing process for planning?
what is the plan approval process?
When is the planning cycle?
what is the fiscal year?
what planning staff structure is required?
With what client staff does the agency planning staff interface?
Do plans pass directly to agency buyers from agency planners once approved, or go through client controllers?
Do agency planners oversee buying or specialist client staff?
Who presents post analyses?
Is there an annual planning review of results prior to the new planning cycle?
Is there ongoing or occasional A&U research to consider or Nielsen brand tracking, etc?
Any specific software or systems required, e.g. MRI vs Simmons, Monitor Plus vs CMR, Telmar vs IMS, etc?

Saturday, December 20, 2008 #7652
Are you aware of any broadcast television stations that DO NOT pay agency commision?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, December 20, 2008 ):
It is the agency that "charges" commission, which the client pays. In the standard deal, the agency marks up whatever it pays to the station by 17.65%.
The station may or may not publish a rate card showing net rates as 85% of gross rates, but cannot dictate what the agency does after paying the station the amount that is eventually called "net."

Monday, December 15, 2008 #7650
Hi.Appreciate if you could share a list of questions we should ask a Client in briefing as potential AOR. Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 21, 2008 ):
Assuming we agree that AOR is the agency buying space and/or time for a large company, typically coordinating for multiple agencies serving that advertiser, then the key questions become, just for starters:
what media will be placed?
what spend level in each medium?
How is price emphasized versus other issues such as positioning / merchandising / cross-media opportunities?
what forms of stewardship and documentation will be required?
Pre-buy meetings to review buying platform, efficiency goals?
Frequency and style of post-analysis presentation?
what level of expertise in each medium is required / what dedicated staff?
Will AOR Media staff work directly with client Media staff or through account executives (bad option)
what is the intended compensation or is that an element of competition for the business?
Since you use the phrase "briefing as potential AOR" the Guru immagines there is a competition of sorts among various agencies serviung the client. Chose and phrase your questions with political astuteness, especially if this is an open briefing among the contenders,

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 #7649
what states are included in the Nielsen West Central marketing region? And, is there a list somewhere that I can access that says what states are in each marketing region? Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, December 10, 2008 ):
Details like this are genrally provided through Nielsen Answers which requires user names and passwords issued to clients.
Ask your Nielsen marketing rep.

Thursday, December 04, 2008 #7647
what can you tell me about a continuous media schedule?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, December 05, 2008 ):
See past Guru discussion of continuity and recency here.

Monday, December 01, 2008 #7644
I need to start an advertising campain for an amateur adult video company. online advertising, etc. where should i start?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, December 01, 2008 ):

Determine your target audience
Determine where they are (what media they consume)
Determine which of these are a supportive environment for your message (e.g. perhaps not merely porn sites, but sites about creating adult videos, or collecting amateur videos
Determine which give you best value (audience size. display position, content adjacency) for your money

Thursday, November 13, 2008 #7640
Looking into a pay-per-inquiry program on TV and radio for a client. Two questions, what would be the best steps toward setting this up; and how to figure out what price to offer stations to run these ads? Client works with homeowners on fairly high ticket services.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, November 14, 2008 ):
Since the stations will want full access to inquiry call count records, find an inbound telmarketing call center with experience and credibility with the stations.
The stations may have standard percentages. On small items they may ask 33%. On larger tickets, since you pay per inquiry, not per sale, a much lower percent should be achievable. what is the advertiser's history in conversions?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 #7639
what does TRP stand for?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, November 12, 2008 ):
Target Rating Point. When used, it is meant to distinguish from Household GRP.

Monday, November 03, 2008 #7630
what is the CPP for NBC?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, November 04, 2008 ):
Depends on program, daypart, demographic, negotiation. Call your rep.

Thursday, October 30, 2008 #7629
I am researching Bmi airlines for a university assingment, where can I find what media they chose to use for their previous campaign 'mi bmi' or more about their media planning?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, October 31, 2008 ):
Try CMR (Competitive Media Reports) or Nielsen Monitor+

Thursday, October 30, 2008 #7628
I would really like to know a few things, I would greatly appreciate any help, I am not in marketing, just creative and trying to pitch a music tour to a few companies. 1. if there is a formula for calculating gross impression for a logo that would be on the side of a bus, spending a certain number of hours driving on major highways? or a formula to figure out how many gross impressions for certain milage? can i multiply a number by the hours spent on the road, or multiply a number by the miles driven to each location, and if so what is that number and where does that number come from? 2. The bus will stay overnight in cities and be parked at Nascar events, so is there a formula to figure out how many gross impression for a event attended by a certain number of people? or by the size and population of the city? I know this is different from the usual questions, but I need to list the possible gross impressions, or views that the company's logo will receive on this LIVE tour. Thank you!!!!!!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, October 30, 2008 ):
The Guru finds all this to be unique and not within standard formulae. Perhaps companies which do this sort of bus decorating or somone in a NASCAR promotional postion has useful data.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 #7626
I am looking to initiate a coverage and frequency research project for our outdoor sites. We have a number of outdoor advertising panels on UK railway station barriers and therefore have good data on numbers of people going through. The question is how do we get to coverage and frequency with a cost effective research project and what sort of sample size would be normal to establish convincing information for media planners and buyers? We have TGI research data which has a sample of attidudes and frequency of usage of railway stations already. Up to now we have always used OTS numbers but believe a lot of our larger competitors are using coverage and frequency and we wish to be able to explain our medium's effectiveness in this language.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 02, 2008 ):
Sample size should be determined by how reliable you need answers to be and how large you expect specific critical reponses to be. In other words, if you expect to find out that 5% of your sample exhibited some important behavior, you want a sample large enough that 5% of it produces an answer with a tolerance (+/-) swing that you find acceptable. This might mean a sample big enough that a 5% answer reflects 100 respondents, or a total sample of 2000. Or pehaps you need have a reliable answer from 5% of the women 18-34.
Also consider the sample size used by competitors.

Monday, October 20, 2008 #7622
Hi, Me again #7621. I need to back up. If my frequency is 57 total spots per week - how do I calcuate the average? this is direct response - so do I divide by total days or specific time periods? When I divide by days (7)I get 8.14 - which still makes my reach terrible (4.91%). what am I doing wrong? Over a 4 week period my total GRP's are 40 and total spots airing are 57.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 20, 2008 ):
Although arithmetically, GRP ÷ frequency = reach, it does not mean you can get there the way you are going.
Reach is a complex calculation of the net number of different people exposed to your campaign, taking into account the duplication of audience between one spot and another on one station and between the audiences of different stations. Once you have determined reach, typically with a computer model, you can devide GRP by reach and get the average number of spots (frequency of exposure) seen by each of the people who were exposed at all. No manipulation of the numbers of spots you buy will get you to this average frequency that is a quotient of GRP and Reach.
You need a computer with software such as that offered by Telmar.
The calculation is extremely complex. For example, in print, as input, you need average issue audience, duplication between issues of the same publication and duplication between each possible pair of different publications. These must be combined using a complex formula such as the Beta-binomial function. There are variants of this formula, which might be preferred, depending on media type and other variables

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 #7620
I am currently working with a major fast food account. Our agency handles 3 co-ops. For the past two years I have incorporated internet into our annual plans. I started working with my media TV media partners and have also added some national sites (bought on a local basis). I look at impressions, CT's and % of CT's and of course CPCT's. Our creative messages in my opinion has been product driven and has not offered any special couponing or discounts. Our impressions have been high, but CT's have been low. I feel that if we add couponing to drive interest that will drive the CT's up. How do I need to judge my results...impressions or CT'. Also, what is the average click thru rate that I need to try to achieve. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, October 16, 2008 ):
Naturally, Click Through Rate is a much more meaningful metric than imopressions.
These days, beating 0.1% CTR is an achievement. In-page video and very large sizes are usually required to get there. See The DoubleClick research index for details.

Monday, October 13, 2008 #7617
Good day! Is there a minimum budget for an advertiser to use AOR? how do we determine whether it makes sense to use an AOR? what kind of information should an advertiser provide to pitching Agencies of record?Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, October 14, 2008 ):
The generally accepted definition of "Agency of Record" is:
an agency designated to make media or other purchases on behalf of an advertiser when that advertsier uses multiple agencies for various assignments. This could mean multiple brands at different agencies or a separation of creative from production or media.
So, if the budget is big enough for more than one agency to be involved, it's big enough to have an agency of record. If only one agency is in use, "AOR" is an irrelevant term.

Thursday, October 09, 2008 #7615
what is the average number of daily messages a consumer receives by medium. Any idea

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, October 11, 2008 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses about number of messages per day

Monday, October 06, 2008 #7613
My advertising agency is currently doing the creative work for a hospital; however, the hospital doesn't intend to switch the media buying from their previous agency because they are happy with the low rates and makegoods. what topics would be important in a media pitch to change their mind? Are there any "typical" performance standards that media firms should be required to adhere to?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, October 07, 2008 ):
How does the incumbent assure "good" rates? Constant decrease over time? Comparison to an easy-to-beat benchmark like SQAD? Are you in a position to guarantee better rates?
If your buying is really strong, you could do the buying service trick of offering to buy media for a fee of half of what you save them (net) vs current rates. That applies to the first buy. Then you calculate how far below SQAD that is, to set your ongoing benchmarks based on SQAD.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 #7612
what are the advantages and disadvantages of using ten-second commercial spots?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, October 01, 2008 ):

Cheap spot = more reach and GRP
Short spot = less retention, less awareness, less favorable placement

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 #7611
Please describe how to do a tv post buy analysis. A client's tv buy for July and Septebmer just ended. We do not subscribe to Nielsen. When should the post be done? what ratings book should be used?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, October 01, 2008 ):
At its simplest, a post buy compares what you said would be delivered, in dollar and audience terms, to what was actually delivered.
The post should be done as soon as all invoices are received, and ratings are available.
As to what book, it depends on when the market is rated. In a 4 sweep a year market, the July book is typically used for the JAS quarter. If the market has 12 books per year, each month should be rated on its own book. In a 5, 6 or 7 annual books market, you might average July and October to post September.

Friday, September 26, 2008 #7610
Media Guru, why do the sweeps always start on Thursday?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, September 26, 2008 ):
Going back to the days of paper diaries, respondents filled them out day by day. The start day of a diary was always Thursday. Why? Who knows? But what happened, according to some theories, was that repondents were more compliant about filling out the diaries at the beginning of the survey week, so the Thursday programming appeared to have the best ratings. This led to Thursdays appearing to be best viewed, and programmers would put their best programs on Thursday nights and eventually Thursday really did have the biggest audiences. So the Thursday ratings cycle start has been perpetuated.

Thursday, September 25, 2008 #7609
In our market, putting an ad in the beginning of an ad pod is roughly 50% more expensive. Given a fixed budget, would you recommend lowering the GRP level in favor of first positions or not? (Background: the client was off air for 2 years)

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, September 25, 2008 ):
Ask your self, what metric will improve by an equal amount to justify spending the extra 50%? Reach? Certainly not. Attentivenss? Probably some. But look at minute-by-minute measures to see how 1st position compares in ratings.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 #7607
what is considered to be the optimal reach/frequency for a radio campaign?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, September 24, 2008 ):
No such animal.
"Optimal" is determined by strategies in each case.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 #7606
Dear Guru, I am planning on buying 3 broadcast networks and a handful of cable networks and need to determine the reach of my total buy. Is it appropriate to take the total GRP's across all networks and divide it by my frequency to get my total estimated reach? (Using the reach X freq = GRP equation.) If not, what is the better alternative? I do not currently subscribe to a R&F program for TV and need to do a hand calculation. Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, September 23, 2008 ):
If you knew your average frequency, this would work. But how would you know it without an R&F program?
This sounds like a fairly expensive buy; why wouldn't you have R&F software if you're spending this kind of money?
Try AMIC's eTelmar on a pay-per-use basis.

Monday, September 08, 2008 #7593
what is LPM

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, September 10, 2008 ):
You are probably referring to Nielsen's Local People Meter

Wednesday, September 03, 2008 #7589
Hi Media Guru - I used to sell print advertising and understand the concept of competitive separation. I am now selling online advertising and have the opportunity to get two pieces of business from the same brand IF we can provide a sort of separation of the two campaigns online. The two campaigns can not appear on the same page. To complicate things abit, I work for a network so there will be a few sites involved in running both campaigns. Is this posssible? what would be involved? Many Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, September 04, 2008 ):
Adservers should be able to prevent the two ads ever being served at the same time on a page

Monday, September 01, 2008 #7586
Dear MG, I am the Director of Sales & Marketing for a luxury Casribbean resort. Frequently I have pop-up requests to purchase ad pages and have a contigency line in the budget for this purpose. what is the quickest and simplest way to determine if the ad is worth the money. We have an ad agency that handles the major requests so I do not want to bother them with some of the smaller ones. The most recent example would be: A partner is celebrating its 20th anniversary will be producing a unique publication in partnership with Luxury Travel Advisor. It will be distributed with the November issue of Luxury Travel Advisor and serve as a marketing collateral for recruitment efforts of luxury selling advisors in 2008 and 2009. Here’s the reach: Luxury Travel Advisor’s qualified readers: 13,000 Virtuoso’s own distribution: 5,000 Full-page congratulatory advertising messages are US $5,000 net and half page options for $3,000 net. How would you approach this?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, September 04, 2008 ):
Presumably you have a media plan which sets parameters for media selection regarding environment, audience quality and efficiency which you ought to follow.
In the Guru's experience, the agency would rather take care of the "small stuff" than have you working around them.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 #7583
Hi Media Guru, I would like to know a bit about how advertising on media sites works. If I was to sell advertising space on my website homepage, what sort of fees would be suitable? How long would the ad last for? Who would supply the ad? Many thanks for your time Evelyn Cullen evelyn@mediacontact.ie

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 29, 2008 ):
Small sites often just use small, flat fees like $100 per month.
Or, a $5.00 cpm (cost per thousand audience impressions) is not a bad starting point, if you can document your audience.
One month is a standard advertisdng period
Ads are usually supplied by the advertiser, but you can offer to create them as a service.

Monday, August 25, 2008 #7582
Media Guru, We have a client that insists that cable news ratings are higher than broadcast news ratings in his market. Unfortunately, we do not have the books to be able to prove this. We showed him the differences in the universe sizes, plus the county by county share for broadcast vs cable. Do you know of any resource I can cite to help him understand what we are trying to tell him?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 29, 2008 ):
The only resource to prove this is a tv audience measure like Nielsen. It is certainly possible that some cable news ratings are higher than some broadcast news ratings in a given market, especially when measured within a cable universe.

Monday, August 25, 2008 #7581
How would you buy both a national radio buy and a local radio buy, using the local radio buy to fill in the market? How do you figure GRPs and CPPs?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 29, 2008 ):
The concept you are looking at is "spot fill." Many advertisers have used this for years with TV plans, particularly package goods marketers. Process is, roughly:
Using local market data like Arbitron, calculate the delivery of each network's local affiliate in each market and compare to national goals. That is if your national goal level is 200 GRP per week and you find that affiliates in a market are delivering only 150, you must buy 50 GRP in that market.
Since some markets will overdeliver, the more sophisticated approach is to determine what national level to buy so that not too may markets overdeliver and your spend on local buys is correct. I.e. if buying at 175 GRP a week delivers more than 200 GRP a week in half your markets, you only buy spots in underdelivered markets, saving some of the national money. Oncve you determine the index of delivery in all markets, you set up a spreadsheet and model buy scenarios wiith national and local CPPs to see what balance of national and local buying gets you closest to an even 200 GRPs in all markets. You would probably not spot fill in markets that index 90 or 95% of national goal. It usually won't make sense to try to buy 10 GRP a week locally.

Local CPPs can scome from SQAD

Monday, August 18, 2008 #7580
Our company acquired a new client in Philadelphia where two casinos are about to be built within the next couple of years. How much of an affect would advertising of these casinos on the CPP for the entire Philly DMA?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 22, 2008 ):
If you mean will your advertising activity affect the overall cpp averages for the DMA for all advertisers, it depends on two factors;
what portion of the market's spending will you account for, and
How far from existing averages will you buy?
Unless the answer is a very large unlikely number on both issues, the effect should be negligible.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 #7579
Hello guru… currently I am working with media department and I am searching media software to improve efficiency of work. Please suggest me appropriate software for planning, implementation and operations.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, August 17, 2008 ):
For planning, our own eTelmar is recommended.
For implementation, services like Donovan Data Systems are typical.
Such services include accounting. what you might otherwise mean by "operations" is unlear.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 #7577
The situation we have is that one of our clients, a luxury hotel, is interested in acquiring data on monthly advertising expenditure of their competitors by media in Mexico and Costa Rica from 2006 - 2008.
Is there any service that would be able to provide something similar to what our client is requesting?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, August 07, 2008 ):
There are competitive expenditure services which cover Latin America. Try Research and Markets, TNS or Nielsen Monitor Plus

Monday, August 04, 2008 #7575
what are the pros & cons of running 15 second TV ads or bookend ads?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, August 05, 2008 ):
Briefly:
:15's Pros
Lower unit costs, which creates opportunities for greater reach and frequency
Cons
Less communication of message
Less awareness building
Lower recall, possibly even when all savings are reinvested in greater frequency.

Using bookends may offset some of the cons, but not without offsetting the pros. :15s typically cost more than half of a :30.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 #7574
Can you explain the concept of half-life when it comes to media?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, July 29, 2008 ):
Half-life is not a familar or standard term to the Guru. It sounds as if it might refer to the decline of ad-awareness when advertising stops. "Half"-life might mean that for each (period of time) with no advertising, ad-awareness falls by 50% of what it was in the previous period.
So, for example, if ad-awareness was at 80% when advertising ended (or went into hiatus), it would fall to 40% one month later.
As far as ad-awarenes is concerned, the Guru has seen estimates more along the lines of each non-advertising week drops ad-awareness to about 90% of the preceding week's level. This is somehat less drastic than the 50% per month theory.

Saturday, July 26, 2008 #7571
what is strategic brand review

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, July 26, 2008 ):
Not a standardized media term. In a media context, it ought to mean a re-axamination of the media strategies the barand is following, measuring their success and continued agreement with overarching advertising strategies.
There should also be an exploration of alternative strategies available.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 #7569
Hello, Guru! We are currently producing a 26-epiosde TV series (30-minute each episode), which will also be formatted as a 13-DVD set. It's an educational program, called “Global English”. Exclusive domestic and international distribution contracts have already been signed for a 17-year term, various parties including PBS seeking sub-distribution out, as well. Since English has become the new Babylonian language and the ESL training a multibillion-dollar business, it’s obvious that our program targets worldwide demographics. Thus, we decided to offer long-term media-buying opportunities to advertisers, at one-time cost, as follows: a) The advertiser(s) will be featured as closed captioning sponsor(s) of "Global English". Each closed captioning sponsor will benefit from two audio/video spots (10 seconds each) and a written credit that will become part of one episode, in perpetuity. b) We’ll present as Extra Feature on one DVD (two advertisers per DVD) the advertiser’s corporate/promotional video (up to 10 minutes and produced by themselves, or us). c) The advertisers will also benefit from collateral publicity. The "Global English" Website will link to the advertisers' Websites. Their names will appear on the DVD inserts in perpetuity. QUESTIONS: 1. what do you think the pricing should be for the media-buying opportunities that we offer? 2. Although my co-producers insist that we make direct Invitations to offer to potential advertisers including international English language training titans such as Berlitz (www.berlitz.com) and others, I opt for retaining a Media (planning/buying) Agency to do the job. In my opinion, an Agency can approach any potential awareness advertiser, including Nicky's Clothing Line. Do you think I am right? If you think I am right, do you have any suggestions as to which Agency we should talk to? Will you refer to us a few names, or would you refer my query to such agencies? 3. Do you have any ingenious suggestions regarding media planning, media buying and media management for the media-buying opportunities we offer? Thanks and do accept my superlative appreciations for the great job you’re doing!

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, July 26, 2008 ):
You first need to quantify the audience you expect, including the current langauge spoken, for each portion .Obviuosly adversing in English will be less effective in the early lessons. Consider offering opportunities in various languages. This type of advertising will have differing appeal to various advertisers based on whether they are in the travel business, immigration support services, job placement etc. (Nicky's clothing seems an unlikely choice). The adverstising you offer seems much less compelling than traditional :30 spots. Even if one country in Europe typically sold :30 TV for a cpm of €20, and that made your product worth a cpm of €10, you still must account for different countries' pricing standard and the audience you ofere in them.
Figuring this out would certainly be part of the job of your media consultant, but you do not want a planning / buying "agency." Agencies do not sell media they buy it. You want a media "rep firm," particulary one that sells multinationally.
One example is Huson International Media.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 #7568
Hello Media Guru - I am trying to figure out the best way to combine national magazine reach and national internet reach. I know that I can use the random probability formula to combine two reach numbers. However, the problem I keep running into is that my base for print reach is total US (based on MRI numbers) and my base for internet reach is total US that is online (based on comScore numbers). Any suggestions on how to combine these numbers? Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, July 17, 2008 ):

Determine what % of your target is in the online universe, say it's 70%
Multiply this factor against your internet reach. That is, if your internet reach is 50%, you are reaching 70% of that number on a total US basis. 50% X 70% = 35%
Now you can combine your 35% internet US reach with your print reach by random probability. Apply the same universe factor to GRP. Internet frequency will not change

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 #7566
Hi. Im doing a media plan for overseas market. Would you pls advise what considerations to take in so doing.Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, July 09, 2008 ):
Considerations are essentially the same as any other media plan. You need to learn the quirks of the target market. Relative media strenghts and standards of evaluation vary from country to country.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 #7565
what are your thoughts on ValPak-The Blue Envelope full of coupons?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, July 09, 2008 ):
ValPak is one of many bulk coupon distribution vehicles. The Guru does not have a basis of comparison to all the others.

Friday, June 27, 2008 #7561
Are you aware of any existing research that shows that one TV spot (vs. none) can increase brand awareness? I've seen one report on that and I am trying to see if I can get my hands on a copy. Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, June 28, 2008 ):
There may be such studies, but they are rather pointless. In what realistic situation would a schedule consist of one exposure?
There are recall or laboratory studies, which are based on one forced exposure, These are typically meant to measure something other than awareness, but may incidentally deal with your question. The best repository of such publicly availabe studies is The Advertising Research Foundation InfoCenter. For details about the InfoCenter, call 212-751-5656, extension 230. ARF materials will also be available through American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 #7560
Please describe the process of posting a tv buy. what information is necessary? Can the tv station perform the post? what is realistic in requesting makegood weight?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, June 28, 2008 ):
The process is a matter of comparing what was ordered to what was delivered. Key elements of the order are:
Cost
Message weight expressed in rating points or impressions or announcements
Scheduling specifics, such as ratings minima, equitable rotation across days or dayparts
.
So you need the details of your order, the station affidavit detailing what they ran for you and an audience measurement resource which was agreed to at the time of the order, such as a specific "book" or ratings cycle of Nielsen NSI.
As to makegood weight, bringing you to 100% of the weight ordered is reasonable, but should have been specified at the time of the order. Otherwise quibbling about the last one or two or five percent may become an issue.
The station can perform the post but it is far better to do it under your own control. There are too many issues open to judgement calls to leave it to the vendor, particularly rotation issues.

Friday, May 30, 2008 #7556
what is an IPO? and what is a corporaye plan?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 01, 2008 ):
IPO is a stock market term meaning "Initial Public Offering." It is not a media term, even if a media company is the one being offered, as Google was a few years ago.
Corporate plan can either mean an overall plan in which all the brands and products of one parent company paricipate, or a plan for the corporation itself. In this latter case, it is usually an image campaign, often aimed at investors. "GE brings good things to life" is one. Is that one aimed at having a halo effect on all products with the GE brand or is it aimed at investors? Examine the copy.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 #7555
For database tagging purposes: how can an advertiser ask a person to self-identify as LBGT or African-American. I know there are programs that work with zip codes and last names, but what is the standard way of getting the answer to this somewhat personal question?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, May 29, 2008 ):
Race is not a particularly sensitive survey question these days, though the sexual orientation one might be.
Of course, this is not a media question. The Guru's approach would be to identify a syndicated study which reports these demographic breaks and ask to see the questionnaire. These are often usually made available to the public sometimes on the vendor's website. Consider Simmons' LGBT Study.

Monday, May 26, 2008 #7553
Once again thank you for your insight. I understand your view on C-level executives and physicians etc, if we would be able to break down the demographics within day parts this may change the possible CPM. The sceens are deployed in different markets, what do you mean by selling individual screens? what is it you mean by GROSS impressions is the following what you are implying : 3,780,000 (total viewrs on all screens per week)are the unique impressions as this is measured for one ad viewed per person therefore as the viewers are captive and are there for the full 20 minute loop they see all 20 ads therefore creating 20 impressions GROSS per viewer, 20 gross impressions per viewer X 60 viewers daily X7 days X9000 screens =75,600,000 GROSS impressions weekly or 302,400,000 GROSS impressions per month, I do not believe we will be able to charge on this number, correct? Once again thank you Regards, S

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 26, 2008 ):
You should be thinking about this in terms of what you are selling to the individual advertiser.
Are you selling him 20 impressions per viewer? No. You are selling him just one, and then you will hopefully sell the same to 19 other advertisers, correct?
Although the GROSS impressions of your medium may be 75,600,000 per week, the gross for a single ad is only 3,780,000. The net unduplicated is 3,780,000 as well, but there is heavy (virtually total) duplication between one ad's 3,780,000 and the next ad's impressions in that loop.
Charges would be based on the gross for one advertiser: 3,780,000. If the advertiser buys for a week, you charge for a week. If the advertiser buys for a month, you charge for a month. The Guru would expect some king of economy-of-scale discount for a monthly advertiser.
The Guru's reference to selling individual screens is based on your prior references to "$10 per screen." If you do not intend to sell any advertiser less than all 9,000 screens, you should stop talking about $10 per screen, and only talk about the $90,000 price an advertiser must deal with. $10 is strictly an internal number for your system.

Friday, May 23, 2008 #7552
Media Guru thank you for your quick response . I understand that you are concerned with the forced exposure, however if this is not the issue, let me ask you the following questions. I understand your 20 advertisers X.50= $10.00 a week and I follow your $1.19 CPM ($4,500/3,780,000 = $1.19) And I understand charging each advertiser $4,500.00 a week arriving at $90,000. However anticipating that this amount would have been per advertiser on a national buy leaves us in a position of uncertainty. Secondly, we were anticipating charging $10 per screen per week per advertiser(I omitted to mention this) in my last e-mail. How can we maintain such a screen rate without using a multiplying factor and remain with an acceptable CPM? The answer I presume is to increase the reach within the 9000 screens deployed (but this is a constant measurement and con not be tampered with) Thirdly is the screen rate per week the important factor here or is the buyer more concerned with the CPM allowing us to charge a screen rate as desired, and maintaining a desirable CPM. Fourthly will it be easier for a media buy (and for us) for the buy to be done on a strict CPM basis? And is there an acceptable CPM for OOH, what I mean to say is there a barrier. Thank you for your insight this is amazing. Regards, S

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, May 24, 2008 ):
Unless you are selling individual screens, nobody will care about your screen rate. Total cost and cpm are the considerations. And this mjeans it's about gross impressions, not "reach."
Unless you have a special audience, such as physicians or C-level executives, the Guru does not expect a cpm much over $5.00 will be palatable to buyers of such an out-of-home medium.

Friday, May 23, 2008 #7551
Thank you for taking my question. We are in the process of deploying an OOH Digital Signage network and I have a problem to solve in regards with the CPM of which seems to be critical in the media buy. We will be deploying 9000 screens one per location, we know that we have 420 people of which will be exposed to the medium per week, 420 x 9000= 3,780,000 people will be exposed weekly. Is this number considered as the reach or unduplicated impressions? We assume it will be both. We are running a 20 minute loop of content and advertising, of which 5 minutes will be dedicated to advertising and we know for a fact through our resaerch that each individual will be in front of the screen for the full 20 minute loop. The ads are 15 seconds each therefore, there will be a maximum of 20X15 second ads per 20 minute loop. We wish to charge a per screen rate per week, for simplifying things lets say $10.00 per screen per week. We are also asuming that each individual will be exposed to all the adverts as they can not leave the environment or turn it off. Are we safe in saying that each individual will be have a frequency of 3 ads viewed minimum since there may be distractions etc.? Therefore if we are at all correct the math would be 420 x 9000 x 3= 11,340,000 impressions weekly? Therefore, 9000 screens x $10.00 per week per screen = $90,000 per week for total network,now if this is right we have to determine the CPM thus taking the total weekly cost $90,000/11,340,000 total impressions will give us a CPM of $7.93. The question remains can this formula be acceptable towards the media buy or must we completely eliminate the multiplying factor of 3, thus 9000 screens X $10 = $90,000/3,780,000 for a CPM of $23.80? If the later is the case then we would price ourselves out of the market, do you have any suggestions to my dilema? Looking forward to hearing from you. Regards,

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, May 23, 2008 ):
The scenario of forced exposure you propose is somewhat unsettling and one must wonder what the audience attitude toward the medium's ads will be. If the 420 people are all different and do not see any of the other 9000 screens, then yes, 420 x 9000 is the reach per week and may also be called the unduplicated impressions.
You do not offer any reasoning to support your minimum of 3 ad viewed out of 20 on the loop. If there are distractions, they will probably be welcomed, but that doesn't lead to any particular frequency assumption. Frequency is the not an issue here. For impressions one assumes one showing of one ad to one person = one impression. Guru would use 20 as the base of your impressions inventory, but each advertiser will only care about what impressions their own as gets. Apparently this would be 420 x 9000 or 3,780,000 as you said.
If you charge this advertiser $90,000 that's a cpm of $23.80 as you said and it certainly is too high. But if you want to make $10 per screen per week, you will only charge each of your 20 advertisers $0.50 per screen per week or $4,500 for a very reasonably cpm of $1.19. You would be charging each of 20 advertisers this way.

Thursday, May 22, 2008 #7550
Dear Guru: what is the TV Quality Rating Point definition? Is there any formula to calculate it?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 25, 2008 ):
The Guru does not believe this has become a standard measure.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 #7549
Our client has asked for help in setting advertising awareness goals for the upcoming year. what is your thinking about percentages for unaided and aided ad awareness that are considered to be a "good" score? Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, May 20, 2008 ):
1. More is better
2. It depends on the number of competitors in the market and the spending. This is not really a media question.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 #7548
I need to buy TV, which I have never done before. I work for a very small agency in Pittsburgh, PA. My previous agency in NY had Telmar, but I doubt they will ever have that here, due to the size. With that said, I know nothing about GRPs, etc. and how it relates to cable & broadcast. How would I learn this, and also, it a client is doing a branding campaign for several months, how many GRPS do you want to buy a week? Is there a book or something you could refer me to?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, May 20, 2008 ):
See AMIC Bookstore (i association with Amazon.com) and/or browse go to the Guru Archives Search Engine. Use " levels" (or whatever) as your search term.

Thursday, May 08, 2008 #7544
what is the market average click-thru-rate for interactive banner ads, 0.1%-0.2%?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, May 08, 2008 ):
Last year DoubleClick reported that "the standard CTR for image ads is between 0.1 and 0.2 percent"

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 #7543
Are cable networks able to copy-split by state (ie: different creative in California) or are they only able to split by region?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 07, 2008 ):
Networks generally can split by region. Remember they transmit by satellite, which has a broad footprint. Spot cable or CableConnect might be able to help achieve what you need.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 #7542
Good Morning Guru- I have been asked by a client to place a spots schedule in the top 20 US Markets. I notice from SQAD that this has the ability to reach 44% of the US households. Where is the "tipping point" where it is more cost effective to buy national instead of spot? In all my years, I have never bought national...how does this differ from spot and how do I learn.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 07, 2008 ):
"National" should mean network. Today we have broadcast network, e.g. NBC, ABC, Fox, CW, etc, and spot consists of their local station affiliates, such as WNBC in New York, KABC in LA, WNYW in NY and independent local stations.
National can also refer to cable networks like Bravo or ESPN, and the "spot" scenario of buying local DMA interconnects or MSOs. There are national alternatives like Telamerica Cable Connect as well.
Assuming you mean the first of these situations, you can compare buying one network announcement that covers the entire country or a spot on each of the affiliates of that network. In terms of "effectiveness" this should be more or less equal, assuming your brand is evenly sold across the country. If there are gaps in distribution or variations in sales rate, spot in selected markets or some network weight supplemented by spot in key markets could be more "effective."
But, you probably mean to ask which is more "efficient."
Almost invariably, a network spot costs less than the sum of all the local spots that make up that same audience. So, at what point in buying spot markets does the cost equal the national for only a portion of the audience value? It will probably be around 45-50% of US coverage if you are buying top markets, but there can be significant variance depending on daypart and demo.
SQAD also offers network cost tools that can allow you to make the case-by-case comparison easily.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 #7540
Can you offer guidelines for purchasing a banner ad on a local newspaper web site? The newspaper will only provide me with a monthly fee for a set number of impressions. They won't disclose any info about the number of advertisers on the site or the number of impressions purchased by other advertisers. I can't select dayparts. How do I get a sense of the reach and frequency associated with my buy?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, April 29, 2008 ):
Your reach and frequency do not correlate to the number of other advertisers nor to their impressions. The site might legitimately consider these data confidential.
You may reasonably and more usefully ask what number of page loads are required to serve your impressions commitment, what share of site impressions you are buying, what the number of ad positions on the site is, what is the overall number of unique visits and unique visitors and what the overall reach of the site is.

Friday, April 25, 2008 #7538
Will u plz tell me "what is the media planning for creating the awareness of subsidy on fertilizers by the government"?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 25, 2008 ):
The Guru does not actually do media planning in this space. If he did, the obscurity of your marketing issues as well as the fact that you appear to be inquiring from an unspecified country would be virtually unconquerable obstacles.
Inasmuch as you probably have that information, the Guru recommends you be guided by the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Friday, April 25, 2008 #7537
Will u plz tell me "what is the media planning for launching a noiseless generator"?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 25, 2008 ):
The Guru does not actually do media planning in this space. If he did, the obscurity of your marketing issues as well as the fact that you appear to be inquiring from an unspecified country would be virtually unconquerable obstacles.
Inasmuch as you probably have that information, the Guru recommends you be guided by the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 #7536
Hi Guru, My client has asked my to provide the 3+ Reach on the Post Buy. My software (Smartplus) doesn't provide the number for posts, and the tv stations say you can't do it. Any ideas?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, April 23, 2008 ):
Sort the post results into appropriate categories, e.g. GRP per daypart by station or whatever the software requires, and process through software that does give 3+ reach results, such as our own eTelmar

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 #7535
Can you please suggest some good print media innovations for a low-cost airline?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, April 23, 2008 ):
It is difficult to suggest "innovations" without knowing what you have tried already. One recent trend is pop-up ads that offer samples, play recorded sound, or otherwise involve the reader more than flat ads. Work with your creative people.

Monday, April 21, 2008 #7534
Guru i want to build channel feasibility where can i find a perfect help, or do you have a complete feasibility (Forecast) for reference on any website, appreciate your help

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, April 21, 2008 ):
The Guru really does not know what you mean by "build Television channel feasibility."
Perhaps this article in AsianMedia would be relevant.

Monday, April 21, 2008 #7533
Dear Guru, where can i find the Television Channel Feasibility.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, April 21, 2008 ):
The Guru really does not know what you mean by "the Television channel feasibility."
Perhaps this article in AsianMedia will be relevant.

Sunday, April 20, 2008 #7532
Hi Guru - I need to compile a fair-share delivery analysis of our spot tv buy for a typical QSR Fair Share co-op. As I have been doing this on an as-needed basis, I have been using what is reported by county for a M-Sun 6AM - 12M daypart and not specific to the stations or shares on buy....this, out of the nielsen county-by-county analysis. Not the best but for my immediate purposes, was ok. Now I want to step up and perform the analysis in the best way possible and for the whole 820+ restaurant system. When I worked on a competing brand in the 90's, we had a software package that allowed us to drop in points and would generate a share of viewership index by county to the full DMA. The software package also took the aggregate of entries and reported spill in and out of the DMA. This, I am pretty sure, was proprietary to the QSR I was servicing. Are you aware of anything new/available to help me with automation and/or provide more finely tuned readings? Howard Spies Senior manager - Media Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. spiesh@checkers.com 813/283-7025

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 20, 2008 ):
The Guru recalls a similar program, called "MARS," created by our sister company, Telmar, in the 80's. It may be currently available and updatable.
Nielsen now offers software to manipulate their own data but, of course, you need something that lets you overlay your chain's geographic distribution, which was a feature of the "MARS" program the Guru recalls. Start with Telmar.

Thursday, April 17, 2008 #7530
what are the components of a good media strategy/planning documents?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, April 17, 2008 ):
See the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Wednesday, April 02, 2008 #7525
what does GRPs really mean in terms interpreting it to a client or anyone. for example if you have GRPs for TV as 537, Radio as 235 and print as 105. Again what does it even mean to rationalise GRPs for 10 selected radio stations. Infact what is a good GRP?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, April 03, 2008 ):
Click here to browse through hundreds of past Guru responses about definition and application of "GRP"

Monday, March 24, 2008 #7521
Dear Guru, I need a clear concept of GRPs. I understand the terminology that it is the sum of rating points but what actually refers to it and what is the rationale behind it. For suppose, I have achieved 235 GRPs over a period of 40 days and my audience is Male - Female, 18-35, SEC- A & B. what does 235 as a weight refers to. what is the minimum threshold level of GRPs. How does the calculation works. I am clear on reach and frequency. Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 24, 2008 ):
For any given audience considered, each time there is one exposure of an ad to one member of the audience, an "impression" is generated; there are 2 impressions whether the same person sees an ad twice or two different persons each see an ad once, and so on.
If the sum of all these impressions is divided by the population base (universe) of the target audience, the result is GRP, which are expressed as a percent of the population. I.e. if the number of impressions is equal to the population size, the result of the calculation is "1" or 100%, expressed as 100 GRP.
Similarly, the impressions of a single ad, divided by the population, is the ad's rating. Thus, the sum of all ratings is also the GRPs. There is no "rationale," these are simply media terms and definitions.
Different theories and approaches set various GRP thresholds depending of marketing goals.

Friday, March 14, 2008 #7514
I work for a small advertising agency, we are looking to buy SQAD books. We buy in the ten DMAs buy i can't buy them every month. We cater to Hispanic customers and right now i have no bench mark to place my buys as far as where to get my CPP in each DMA's.what would be the ideal month or Quarter to buy this year? Should we buy the one from June or 2nd Quarter last year?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 14, 2008 ):
As long as you understand how the quarters index to each other, the best bet is probably to buy the latest available book.

Friday, March 14, 2008 #7513
Do you know what O.E.S Analsys is? Someone mention that it had to do with the amount of spots you had to have a week, in order to reach your reach and requence goal. I'm not sure, I would like to find out more infomation about it. Where can i look?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 14, 2008 ):
The Guru believes you are referring to "Optimal Effective Schedule" analysis, an old-fashioned radio scheduling technique from before the advent of PCs on everyone's desk and the availability of station-specific radio R&F software or R&F modeling programs like that of our sister company, eTelmar.
The concept was that rather than buying each radio station in your plan to some arbitrary number of spots per week like 12 or 18, it was more efficient (in building reach) to buy each station to a number of spots that generated a certain percentage of the station's cume potential. As the Guru recalls, the standard was commonly 80% of the cume potential. In this way, stations with higher "turnover" (cume potential ÷ average rating) got more spots, and the best reach of the plan was most efficiently attained. Today it is so easy to analyze reach and frequency of various schedule options that these old techniques have fallen out of use. Still, in developing schedules to test in your R&F software, the cume potential and turnover may be useful, directionally.

Friday, March 14, 2008 #7512
what is the best company contact to do national cable advertisisng to Hispanics?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 14, 2008 ):
The Guru is not sure from your syntax that you are asking about the best Hispanic cable network for national advertising to Hispanics. If so, Galavision is the ratings leader.
If you are asking about what ad agency to use, there are numerous capable Hispanic agencies. A good list can be found at ahaa (Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies)

Friday, March 14, 2008 #7511
1.what do u mean by 'pcg'and 'pcp' in TAM terminology.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 14, 2008 ):
The Guru imagines that by "TAM," you refer to Television Audience Measurement as defined by AGB Nielsen. The Guru cannot find anything corresponding to "pcp" or "pcp" in the AGB Nielsen TAM glossary

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 #7510
what is the viability of in store LCD advertising when the stores are retail chains and the advertisers are all existing FMCG producers in the retail outlet. There hasnt been a lot of research in SA but international research is deeming this hybrid media a huge success. So the question is: Would FMCG producers rally to purchase this advertising space? If yes then what would be a reasonable purchase price; Would it be in the price range of print/tv/radio or cinema?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, March 12, 2008 ):
You are asking the Guru to be a fortune teller.
Assuming you are talking about screens displaying full audio/video TV style ads, the Guru has the following thoughts:
The medium has more of the values of out-of-home or POP than other media. Exposure / engagement is casual, while the audience is doing something else or going somewhere. what will make the consumer stop to view a full message?
Placement in the retail environment will give it appeal to FMCG seeling there, but it would have to start at low pricing until proven.
It is worth some premium over static Out-of-home or POP, but not more than 100%

Tuesday, March 04, 2008 #7505
what do u mean by time spent

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 04, 2008 ):
"Time spent," as in time spent listening is the simple English meaning of the words. For example, an average audience member might spend one hour listening to a given radio station in one listening instance.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008 #7504
what is mean by universe

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 04, 2008 ):
"Universe" is the total population of the type you are considering within the geography you are considering; it is the base for rating, GRP and reach calculations. If your target is Women 18-54 in the US, the total number of W18-54 in the US is the universe.
The information is taken from whatever audience survey vendor is being used.

Thursday, February 28, 2008 #7503
I am new to media buying, especially buying radio and i was wondering what is a good GRP to look for? One schedule that a sales rep laid out for me has 42.5 GRP, 24.4% reach and 1.7 frequency for the 25-54 demographic. Is this a good schedule? Please advise.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 02, 2008 ):
Schedules are not "good" in the abstract.
Are you emphasizing reach, efficiency, frequency, content or what?
Some very generic rules of thumb:
It is standard to buy at least 12 spots per week on a station
Some buyers looking for best schedule reach buy each station up to 80% of its cume potential
Typical buys include more than one station, so overemphasizing the reach of a single station is not useful
GRP-wise, 100 per week is a common minumum buy in a radio-only plan at the outset.
24.4% reach is rather low level in a market, so mulitple stations are even more likely to be needed. Unless you are supporting a short-term promotion, evaluating reach on a four week basis is standard; the schedule you show seems like it might be a one week schedule or on a low-rated station. Talk stations and music stations have different patterns of reach building, which is why this may or may not be a "good" buy on this station. Cultural market segment stations, e.g. Black or Hispanic, typically have much higher ratings within their segments and cume much higher reaches for the GRPs. In the top few urban markets, as many as two out of three of the top stations will be in these cultural segments; their audiences are focused within these segments. You may need to add other stations to expand coverage to a broader slice of of market if your target is spread across all cultural segments. So called "spectrum buys" address such issues, whether you want to spread coverage across all age segments of the broader target, all cultural segments, all income segments, all sub-geographies or whatever other marketing issues apply.

Friday, February 22, 2008 #7501
How can I find out the ranking of broadcast tv stations in a particular market? Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 22, 2008 ):
First, decide on the ranking standard. Rating? what target? Cume? Share?
Then buy or otherwise acquire the Nielsen or other available measurement.

Friday, February 22, 2008 #7500
On his 2008 spot calendar, our media buyer shows a breakdown of total spots, total trps and total cost for a 4 week month, a 5 week month and fluff. It's the fluff that bothers me. Shouldn't the buyer be willing to pay more per spot to increase the odds it will run, rather than anticipate pre-emption and include a fluff buy? He subscribes to the theory of catfish level buying which doesn't seem to be working that well any more. Thanks for your input.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 22, 2008 ):
Wow, "fluff" and "catfish," two unfamiliar but sufficiently picturesque terms! As to your question, about "shouldn't the buyer be willing. . . ," maybe so or maybe not.
Buyers don't independently make the rules about how much efficiency to pursue, that should come from the plan and its buying platform.
Some buyers arbitrarily pursue efficiency or reach as if they were an absolute "good" instead of other qualitative values like consistent delivery levels or program mix or other metrics that should have been established in the plan. The plan must guide the buyer as to what is desired. You cannot blame the buyer for using his own judgment instead of that of someone else who didn't communicate in a timely fashion. And while that someone is at it, let him also state the standard for "not working that well any more."

Thursday, February 21, 2008 #7499
what is the difference between a DMA and MSA?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, February 21, 2008 ):
MSA is "Metroplitan Statistical Area"; a business-based population geography used by the Census Bureau, and defined by the U.S. Office of Management and the Budget.
DMA is "Designated Market Area"; a Nielsen Media Research definition of a measurement geography based on TV viewing patterns. DMAs usually have an MSA at their center but may have more than one within the boundaries. In some cases one MSA may have more than one DMA, such as Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 #7498
what is expected commission for an advertising agency for clients with an ad budget of 350K plus?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, February 12, 2008 ):
$350K is a fairly low budget unless it's all local in a smaller market. If $350k is the total available spend, $15%, the traditional commission, would produce $52.5K in commission, leaving $297.5k in working funds for net media and production.

Monday, February 11, 2008 #7497
Hi Media Guru- I need some straight scoop. As the media director pitching new accounts, I have been asked to prove both sides of this argument and I have done my best. Is it more advantagous to purchase media through a local agency than through an out-of-town agency. I understand relationships, the ability to implement local sponsoships and time differences. But, when it comes to cost, what is the truth. All things being equal, am I getting better rates because I am a local agency? I get a different answer from everyone that I talk to. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, February 12, 2008 ):
Of course you get different answers. Everyone has had a different experience; there are few solid rules here.
There are various factors:
If a station has a rep, that rep usually will have an exclusive contract to sell out-of-market and the contact may require that the station pay commission to the rep on deals local staff make with out-of-town buyers. This theoretically means there should not be a cost difference for an out-of-town agency going "direct" to the station versus a local agency.
Sometimes, stations may fudge the rules if an out-of-town agency is buying for a local client. Again, the variant is whether you are dealing with a rep or a local sales person, or the NSM of the station. The bottom line is: different people may make different deals.
Different agencies, regardless of locations have different relationships and different volume with stations.
Similarly, realtionships and volumes with rep houses vary and relationships of individual rep AE's with station managers vary.
So rules-wise, there should be no difference, but the Guru would bet that if anyone could assemble the full data, deals made directly with the station will average out a bit lower, regardless of agency location. But deals made by people with better realtionships will be better still.

Friday, February 08, 2008 #7496
Hi Media Guru, I need some broad costs for the US (across all media). Is there a website that I can access in order to get an overview? I’ve tried searching and been on some websites but I am seriously struggling to get the information, so I would appreciate any help. Thanks and kind regards S. Miller

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 08, 2008 ):
Several companies are in the business of selling these data. Apparently, you can appreciate the value of the information. Some specialized sites offer some data, depending on what you want.
If you need general cpms of media types, ad trtade media like MediaWeek or Ad Age archive articles on this subject, but even these have only limited free access.
MRI+ has magazine page rates. For significant fees, Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) has rate cards of many media and SQAD has cpm/cpp type rates of many, predominantly broadcast, media.

Friday, February 01, 2008 #7491
Hello Guru, Hope all is well. Is it acceptable to enter into a reach model "1" for an ad in both a newspaper and a magazine if they share the ride, or should it be counted as two separate insertions, one for the newspaper and one for the magazine? The geographical base is the same for both.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, February 02, 2008 ):
First, consider what you really want to know, and then what are the actual facts and their impact on measuring your media plan.
Ultimately, you really want to know how many different people see the ads and how often.
On the "actual facts" side, the Guru believes you are saying you are advertising in a Sunday newspaper and its magazine supplement, like the Sunday NY Times (ROP) and the NY Times Sunday Magazine.
At some levels, this is equivalent to advertising in two different sections of the the same day's newspaper edition. You would not add to the reach, but you would double the GRP's.
In the ROP + magazine situation, the Guru expects that there is a somewhat better chance that the duplication is less than the 2 ROP ad scenario.
However, syndicated research resources do separately measure the newspaper and magazine, and the newspaper itself may have specifically researched your scenario. Get access to these resources and then apply your best judgment as to what use of the reach model best reflects reality.
If you are instead considering a newspaper and the local edition of a national supplement that may have some additional circulation, there may be a slight difference.

Friday, February 01, 2008 #7490
We sell high dollar luxury items and advertise in seven markets on local networks. what is your opinion on pulling tv during the week prior to state primaries and the national election this year? Any other recommendations based on it being an election year?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 01, 2008 ):
The Guru does not immediately see the inherent problem of advertising high ticket items near an election.
Is your worry about negative effects of talk about problems in the economy? If so, that's not a media issue.
Is your worry about higher TV prices due to inventory pressure from political ads? If so, you just need to decide when prices are too high to buy.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 #7488
Hello Guru, I am in the middle of an argument with a friend, and we are hoping that you can settle our dispute. My friend insists that the reach and frequency of a print schedule with 3 insertions in Better Homes and Gardens in the same month will be a different reach than 3 insertions spread out over 3 months. I disagree. We both have access to R&F tools and I even showed her that the end resulting reach will be the same. She now insists that the tools we use are wrong. Please help.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, January 30, 2008 ):
Your friend is right. 3 insertions in 3 different issues will generate more reach than 3 insertions in the same issue. This should be intuitively obvious: the reach of the 3 ads in the same issue can only be the audience of a single issue, with virtually no unduplicated exposures from each additional ad.
3 different issues each have a significant number readers that the other two do not. In media research and research tools, we treat an ad in any print issue as if it were read by everyone who reads the average issue, although there is obviously some overstatement in this standard. But audience measurement actually demonstrates that different issues have somewhat different audiences, even if the majority of the audience is duplicated by the next issue.
Your R&F tools are probably not "wrong." Your interpretation of the results probably is. The Guru would be very surprised to learn that your R&F software offers a way to distinguish the inputting of a schedule of 3 ads in one issue from 3 ads in different issues. If it seems to, but gives the same reach in both cases, then it is wrong.

Monday, January 28, 2008 #7486
Dear Guru, would you provide more info on what SPILL is? I really appreciate your help! Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 29, 2008 ):
Click here to see Guru discussion of "Spill"

Thursday, January 24, 2008 #7485
I am the Media Director at a full service mid-size agency. The Interactive Director and I have been having a debate as to which department responsibilities for planning, negotiation and placement of online advertising should reside. Any thoughts on how the industry is resolving this issue? Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 25, 2008 ):
The Guru does not think there is an industry standard here. The Guru has observed that more online-only agencies are expanding to all media, and more traditional media agencies are adding online services. The Guru agrees that all media should be served from one set of goals.
Given that, is your Interactive Director a part of your media department or a separate department? If this is an Interactive Media Director, it seems obvious that interactive planning, negotiation and placement all belong to the interactive media department, or else what is its purpose? If the Interactive Director is primarily a creative and marketing department head, then media functions like planning and buying are best served by a media department. In this case the media department should have interactive specialists. Conceptually, interactive media is a subset of media. Executionally, there are at least as many differences as between Network TV buying and newspaper classified placement.
Perhaps there are other issues not clear from your question.

Friday, January 18, 2008 #7481
Dear Guru, are total weighted 30" GRPs the same as 30" eq. GRPs?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 18, 2008 ):
The Guru is not 100% certain what you mean by "eq."
Assuming it is an abbreviation for "equivalent," then it is probably not the same as "weighted."
Equivalent might be a buyers term, analyzing the total value of a buy, accounting for a mix of :15, :30 and longer form units. E.g. :15s are treated as if they had half the GRP of a :30 spot with the same rating.
Weighted :30 GRP is probably more likely to refer to averaging GRP across different markets or population groups.

Thursday, January 17, 2008 #7480
Dear Guru: Our client is not as big as some Major Networks but a local two-tier City TV. what i want to say is would you please give me some indication on how to execute the zero storage management,thank you Wednesday, January 16, 2008 #7478 Dear Guru: we are doing some consultant work for a local TV network in China, one of our work items is zero storage management,mainly focus on some aaaa clients that of the rating point garantee policy with TV station, these clients may take a great part of the total yearly ad spending, but, they take too much avails at the lowest price, do you have any advice on doing this work? i mean for NBC ,FOX,ABC ,do they have a system on managing these clients.would you please list some steps on doing this work. Very appreciated. The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, January 17, 2008 ): Major networks do not necessarily give the biggest advertisers the lowest rates, just to avoid too much inventory being committed at rates too low.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 18, 2008 ):
The Guru deals with Media planning/Media buying/Media research/Media department management questions.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 #7477
what method can be used to combine frequency between billboards and transit

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 15, 2008 ):
The Guru is not clear as to your meaning when you say "combine frequency." Assuming you mean the combined average frequency of the total schedule;
in any media combination, the combined average frequency is determined in the same way;
Calculate the combined reach, whether by using Sainsbury as in your two previous queries of yesterday and today, or any other method
Sum the GRPs
Divide the total GRPs by the combined reach to get average frequency

Monday, January 14, 2008 #7474
TRP levels change from one market to another and countries. With the globalization, US clients many times don't understand that what works in the US not necesarly works in other countries. My question? Do you have a comparison between effective TRP levels in the US vs other countries? Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, January 14, 2008 ):
Even within the U.S., TRP levels' effectiveness vary across market segments like Hispanic vs Black consumer vs B2B vs general market. E.g. the reach/ frequency results of the same radio GRP can be quite different in Black of Hispanic radio than general market radio.
Even other countries have significant ethnic submarkets, for example Boers in South Africa, English in China, etc. Media types is another kink.
Your question would have 1000+ answers if it even made senst to attempt it.

Saturday, January 12, 2008 #7473
Dear sir, currently I am pursuing my MBA in Marketing.Could you please suggest me a specific topic in media which could be taken up for my summer project. Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, January 12, 2008 ):
How about:
what is the tipping point at which digital media will overtake traditional media as the dominant form? what are the marketing factors that will drive this change? How and why will this vary by category?

Tuesday, January 08, 2008 #7469
Hi Guru, any idea of what was the average TV rating 25 years ago vs today?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 08, 2008 ):
"Average" is meaningless without detailed labeling. The Guru hopes it will help you to know that the average broadcast network Prime Time Household rating of the top 10 programs in the 1982-1983 season ranged from 26 for 60 Minutes down to 20 for The A Team.

Friday, January 04, 2008 #7468
what is recency

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 04, 2008 ):
Click here to see Guru discussion of Recency

Thursday, December 27, 2007 #7462
DearGuru: How to evaluate a radio media chance? Quantity analysis and quality analysis? How to? would you please give me a main structure for doing this work? thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, December 29, 2007 ):
This question is somewhat unclear. If by "chance," you mean a specific buying opportunity, such as a given station's promotion or event, then there are both quantitative and qualitative elements to consider:
Quantitative:
what are the CPP or CPM figures?
How do these compare with other opportunities or standard buys you have made?
Is the frequency and duration adequate to your promotional needs?
Are reach needs met?
Qualitative:
Does the event engage the right audience in the right way?
Does it support the Brand?
Does it fit the rest of the marketing effort?

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 #7456
We're trying to raise unaided brand awareness for our Insurance client. Do you know of any research that proves that increased reach positively impacts unaided brand awareness scores? It seems like a "no-brainer" but I know in the past you said that brand awareness is a trickier subject than ad awareness. Please let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, December 06, 2007 ):
It certainly does seem like a no-brainer, but try The Advertising Research Foundation InfoCenter. For details about the InfoCenter, call 212-751-5656, extension 230. ARF materials will also be available through American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007 #7455
Hi what is effective cover? Is it the same as effective reach?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, December 04, 2007 ):
"Effective cover" is unfamiliar. Effective coverage might be a term you have seen abbreviated that way. Adding the word "effective" to another media metric like reach means that there is some limitation to the measurement, as effective reach means that we are counting only the portion of the reach that has received some designated amount of frequency of exposure.
Coverage is generally used in one of two ways:
The portion of a demographic group that is in the audience of a single issue / episode of a media vehicle, most often a print vehicle, or
The portion of a media market with the opportunity to see a media vehicle issue, most typically newspaper coverage, calculated as circulation ÷ households.
The limitation that might be intended by any particular use of "effective coverage" is unclear. Often cable and syndicated tv programs use coverage to describe the portion of the U.S. in the markets where the programming is available, regardless of whether or not everyone in those markets subscribes to that cable network or ever choses to view the program. In such a case, "Effective coverage" might be one way to put it.

Friday, November 30, 2007 #7454
in internet buy, what does the term mean "ad book (lifetime)"

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, December 01, 2007 ):
The Guru does not recognize this as a standard term. It may have idiosyncratic significance for the site on the buy where you found the reference.

Monday, November 26, 2007 #7453
what is the current practice for calculating the most effective daypart mix? Are there new media tools or research to do this analysis?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, November 29, 2007 ):
Optimizers have been around for 20 years or more. Reach and frequency analysis is even older.
But you have to define "effective" first. Is it based on reach, frequency, efficiency, sales, awareness, recall, etc?

Friday, November 23, 2007 #7452
what is the average ROI for newspaper advertising? Where can I find this info?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 25, 2007 ):
The question is inherently unanswerable and the answer would be virtually useless if found.
There are far too many non-advertising variables involved, on top of the many, many advertising variables that would make almost any result non-applicable to another scenario.
On the media side, size, coloration, coverage, budget, schedule and use of other media if any, are variables are too complex to allow any result to apply to any other situation. Just for example, effectiveness typically follows a bell-like curve: lesser effectiveness at the low spending end, before enough reach, frequency and awareness is built and again at the high when wear-out and exhausting the supply of new prospects may set in.
In other advertising issues, the strength of the copy, the "offer" and price are critical variables.
On the non advertising side, the price and profit margin are crucial. How could you expect any relevance of the ROI of a retail frozen vegetables campaign to apply to a national luxury auto campaign? Seasonality and promotional periods also muddy the waters.
Beyond all this, since ROI is specific to brands and thus proprietary information, it is not likely one could get ROI on enough of the various campaigns to average anyway.
Nonetheless, try The Newspaper National Network for possible useful information.

Thursday, November 15, 2007 #7449
Dear Guru, Would it be valid to use the Arbitron cume audience ratings to compute a frequency distribution for a flight spanning periods of various lengths? For example: 1) a flight of four days, and 2) a flight of four weeks? Thanks in advance.... MM

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 18, 2007 ):
The Guru is not clear on why you would want to use cume ratings here.
The Guru would use AQH to compute reach and develop frequency distribution within your reach system. Cume ratings aren't used to compute reach, because they are artifacts of stations and dayparts, not of advertising schedules.
As to applicability of frequency distribution to analyzing flights of various lengths, the Guru supposes it depends on what conclusions you might make from the results. Offhand, the Guru says "why not?" Assuming the flights are not greatly separated over time, that is.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 #7448
what are the latest difficulties and problems do advertisers face in the present day?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 18, 2007 ):
From a media perspective, which is all that the Guru addresses, the biggest "problems" are
Keeping current on understanding the impact of new ratings systems, such as "C3" in TV and personal people meter in radio
Audience fragmentation and
Keeping up on web advertising trends
Certainly there are many other current media issues, but these are the ones the Guru sees as "problems."

Monday, November 12, 2007 #7445
Still love your website...you have been very helpful. (The archives are awesome) Here is our question: what are C3 ratings, and how do they impact programming in regard to the writer's strike? what was the impact of the last strike (and what was the fallout)? Thank YOU!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, November 12, 2007 ):
C3 ratings are the commercial ratings in programs, counting live viewing of the commercial plus commerical viewing on DVR recordings up to 3 days after original broadcast. See also past Guru responses about "Live plus three"
The Guru does not perceive any particular relationship of C3 ratings and the writers strike. All ratings are likely to be lower if repeat programs are broadcast. If unscripted programs replace scripted programs they may do better or worse.
To learn about the last strike, see trade media archives, at Ad Age and AdWeek.

Monday, November 12, 2007 #7443
How do you determine what the added value dollar value is for: 1. advertising within online streaming? 2. banners 3. pop-ups, ect?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, November 12, 2007 ):
The Guru imagines you are asking about these 3 types of media given free when you have bought other media from the vendor. The vendor should be able to give you current selling prices for these positions.

Friday, November 09, 2007 #7442
what is definition of CTA

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, November 09, 2007 ):
CPA is cost per action, an inrternet transaction metric, but CTA is unfamiliar to the Guru. what is the context for "CTA?

Tuesday, November 06, 2007 #7441
I want to test high profile TV & Cable in 3 mid sized markets. what are good A35-54 GRP levels just in Prime? what kind of R/F will that deliver?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, November 09, 2007 ):
"Good GRP levels" is a nebulous term.
100 per week is a nice round number. That might deliver 78 reach in 4 weeks. Short term promotions call for higher levels, continuous maintenance needs lower levels.
what are you really testing? Something versus nothing? or TV / cable versus alternate media?

Monday, November 05, 2007 #7440
Is there an industry standard or formula I can use to estimate length of time it would take to brand a new company in small regional areas from a media standpoint. Is there a goal to set for GRPs or impressions? I understandn the short answer is probably "no" with so many variables to take into consideration but I am hoping for maybe some parameters and goals to shoot for. thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, November 05, 2007 ):
You are right that there are many elements here beyond duration of media exposure.
Your biggest issue in looking for formulas is quantifying your terms.
First off, how do you quantify "to brand?" what factors define a "branded" company?
There must be awareness, certainly (how much?)
The awareness must be positive and relate to the brand character desired.
The latter depends on creative as much if not more than media. The creative must say something positive about the company, it must say something that supports the branding message and it must be memorable.
From a media perspective, awareness correlates strongly with reach and frequency. Ad awareness will never be greater than the reach level achieved, and will not equal that level without sufficient frequency. This is why some planners look only at reach at 3+ frequency or some other frequency level judged effective.
Using the best media, whether described in terms of environment, "engagement" or other impact descriptors, is important.
Budget is also a controlling factor. Time-wise, "branding" would be likely to be achieved sooner if higher GRP levels were used.

Thursday, November 01, 2007 #7436
what is combined reach and frequency?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, November 01, 2007 ):
Assuming the Guru correctly understands your question, combined reach and frequency refers to the overall reach and overall average frequency of a schedule consisting of two or more media, such as televison and print. Click here to see an example

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 #7435
Guru, I was hoping to know what the top children's entertainment/educational publications were last year? I am attempting to compile a list of the best children's books that were made for children, not for parents to better understand their children. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, November 01, 2007 ):
Assuming you are asking about lists of children's entertainment or educational magazines, in hopes of learning about children's paperback / hardcover books, try Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS). If on the other hand you are inquiring directly about books, that is not a media question.

Thursday, October 25, 2007 #7434
Could you please, explain definetely what is GRP Wieving in Outdoor advertising. Is it daily potential reach (%)or cumuilative audience (GRP,s)calculated basing on estimated D.E.C.? It'll be so usefull in case you demonstrate some formulas and examples of GRP Showing calculation. Thank you for the co-operation.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, October 26, 2007 ):
As in all media, GRP's are impressions ÷ population base. DEC may be used as the daily impressions figure for outdoor.
GRP's are neither reach nor reach potential. Outdoor schedules' GRPs are typically in the several hundred to 2000 - 3000 per month range while reach can only be up to (theoretically) 100%.
Typical outdoor buys are 25, 50 or 100 GRP ( or "showing") referring to GRP per day.
100 GRP outdoor buys do approach 95% reach per month.

Friday, October 12, 2007 #7432
If I wanted to explore the possibilities of enhancing my clients advertising reach through the use of the Internet as a new media, barring that I will be only utalizing the route of Information and Entertainment and I am reaching persons in Jamaica, what suggestions would you give as I venture along this journey?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, October 12, 2007 ):
Begin by learning about internet users in Jamaica. The Guru suspects internet penetration is low, but your target may be atypical.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007 #7427
what is the Starch Study? How can I get access to some of its findings?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, October 09, 2007 ):
Gfk Starch measures several aspects advertising response, best known for print ad "noting" and readership measures.

Sunday, October 07, 2007 #7425
what ACV distribution level should be met by a new product introduction in order to warrant national media support? 50% ACV? 60% ACV? Higher?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 08, 2007 ):
This is not simply a media decison. But, from a media perspective, it depends on the geography contributing to the percentage of volume. Your question makes it seem like you are looking at markets which would contain the specifed ACV%, rather than distribution channels for the ACV%.
In this case, if your markets were the top 25 by population to get 60% ACV, then it might well make sense to use spot media and concentrate all efforts where sales are. If the markets in question were a scattered 100+ small markets, national media might be more efficient in covering them. A specific cost analysis is necessary.
If, however, you have distribution everywhere geographically, but in stores which only account for 50 or 60% ACV, this is not a media question, but turns on other marketing issues.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007 #7424
what are internet usage rates in canada for people between the ages of 18-24

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, October 03, 2007 ):
See MediaMetrix Canada

Tuesday, October 02, 2007 #7423
Can you tell me about cable "fushion" ratings. what are they and how are they measured?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, October 02, 2007 ):
Cable fusion ratings are estimates of local cable ratings in non-people-meter markets, based on combining Nielsen's local HH meter and national people meter demographic ratings.
This is done using a model created by NCC. Details are available at SpotCable.com "Fusion"

Friday, September 28, 2007 #7422
Hi guru: what does the "roster agency" refer to as it appears in media area? i wanna know which kind of agency it is. such as in the context" *** consolidated its global media chores at roster agency ***" thank you

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, September 28, 2007 ):
In this context, it appears to mean that the agency was one of several with which the advertiser did business, i.e. agencies which were "on the advertiser's roster," and has moved all media assignments to one of them.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 #7419
Dear Guru, Can you tell me what a "spot load" buy is within cable? And when would would you purchase cable utilizing this method instead of against your GRP goals?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, September 28, 2007 ):
"Spot load buy" does not seem to be a standard cable buying term, at least among the Guru's major cable-player associates. The implication is that it refers to buying spots in high volume, most likely in cases where locally concentrated promotional frequency is mandated or where the cable outlets are too small or too localized to have ratings available.

Monday, September 24, 2007 #7418
Is there any measurement of the value of a promotional item? Eg how many impressions does a t-shirt create? what's the value of a key-chain with a brand logo? Thanks, Guru

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, September 25, 2007 ):
Promotion is not media. This is why it is treated separately in marketing budgets.
However, promotional items are frequently included as value added in media programs. They are to increase impact, not audience. Trying to calculate impressions genrated by tee shirts being seen is a waste of time. These items are a part of that currently overused concept of engagement, they are more of a reminder to the recipient than to others and are aimed at solidifying loyalty and other such Brand relationship issues.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 #7412
Dear guru : First , i d'like to say i love this website so much.it has been 7 months since i first came here and almost every day i came here to find something, thank you for all your kindness. i want to ask some Pricing question on TV station. In our city, the rating measurement wil be change from Dairy to peoplemeter. it is said that the rating will decline. our company will offer some advice to one of our client, a Local TV station,to make some adjustment on its pricing sysytem. Because The TV station sighed the order with its client according to a projected GRP,if the rating declined ,TV station will lose some bebefit,what do you think how to adjust the Price, to waht extent we should adjust? thank you

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, September 12, 2007 ):
Thank you for your comments.
First of all, examine the specific terms of the deal. If the deal is based on a specific ratings system, it should be judged on that ratings system. Typically, ratings services keep an old system running in parallel to a new system for some months to allow subscribers to determine what differences are artifacts of the measurement.
Going forward, the station should change its cost per GRP according to the new system so that cost per spot remains constant. Advertising value of a spot has not changed, merely its measurement. change

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 #7409
Our client is a franchisee of a national company. He has asked us (in so many words) what is the local penetration of national cable into his markets (GRPs or reach/frequency). Can you let me know how to calculate this. thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, August 29, 2007 ):
GRPs or reach are results of buying a schedule, not factors of market penetration. what your client should ask is
what is the local cable coverage of his market (what % of markets' TV homes are cable subscribers?
or, less usefully, what is the reach potential of cable in these markets?
In either case, consult a spot cable vendor like SpotCable

Monday, August 20, 2007 #7407
Hi.We're in the process of enhancing research services of our medium-sized media agency.Would you pls advise necessary next steps.Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, August 20, 2007 ):
The Guru can't fully answer without knowing where you stand at present.
But start with your resources; library as well as online. what do you have, what do you lack in tools for any imaginable service you would provide.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 #7405
Can you tell me if the following thing is true? It comes from an article in the economist.com, which I've seen reprinted in a few places, including here: http://doublefusion.com/posts/economist.com--the-ultimate-marketing-machine24.php The article is all about how the internet is making advertising less wasteful. There's one particular sentence that I must be misunderstanding, which seems to say advertisers are paying for a CPM of $500 to get their ads on a website that comes up in a search. Here is the relevent section: "By contrast, the new advertising models based on internet technologies amount to innovation. Instead of bombs, says Mr Tobaccowala, advertisers now "make lots of spearheads and then get people to impale themselves." The idea is based on consumers themselves taking the initiative by showing up voluntarily and interacting with what they find online. In its simplest form, this involves querying a search engine with keywords ("used cars", say), then scanning the search results as well as the sponsored links from advertisers, and then clicking on one such link. In effect, the consumer has expressed an intention twice (first with his query, then with his click). The average cost to an advertiser from one such combination is 50 cents, which corresponds to a CPM of $500; by contrast, the average CPM in traditional ("exposure") media is $20. A consumer's action, in other words, is 25 times as valuable as his exposure. " Am I reading this right? Is this some kind of typo or drastic miscalculation? I've never seen anything like a $500 CPM anywhere (I'm not too confident on the $20 CPM for traditional media either, but it's the $500 that shocks me). Do $500 CPMs exist anywhere at all? Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, August 15, 2007 ):
Search engine results should not be compared to other media on a cpm basis.
This is a highly advanced form of direct marketing. In ordinary media, such as magazines, cpm is based on a theoretical "opportunity to see," as if every reader of the magazine not only saw your ad but was shopping for the product when they saw it and then decided to call for information or visit your store. what percent of a magazines audience do you imagine would qualify on that basis? Probably less than 0.1%.
So a magazine with a $20 cpm would deliver a $20,000 cpm on that basis, to compare to your $500
In search engine results, you only pay 50 cents for those people who have decided to shop for what you are selling and then have visited your your online "Storefront."
So it's a good deal, and traditional cpm is an irrelevant measure in this case.
Isn't a consumer who actually browses your catalog or visits your store 25 times more valuable than one who may or may not have even seen your ad, much less cared about it?

Monday, August 13, 2007 #7404
I am placing an online ad campaign and some sites require that we use a 3rd party adserver. Can you tell me a bit about this and what I can expect it to cost? We are creating the ads in-house. Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, August 19, 2007 ):
Third party ad servers are systems that store your online advertising materials and manage their display ("serve them") to sites where you have placed ad schedules. They also provide information about the number of times the ad is displayed, clicked on and post-click activity.
Examples are DoubleClick, Acceleration (a DoubleClick reseller) and AtlasDMT.
You might expect to pay an average cpm in the 25 to 75 cents range, varying greatly according to volume.

Friday, August 03, 2007 #7401
We are being offered a bonus advertorial page based on a paid ad schedule in a trade magazine. Are we better off running the advertorial opposite our paid ad to create a Spread execution? Or should we place the advertorial and paid ad in separate sections of the magazine opposite editorial? Which placement will generate higher awareness overall?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 03, 2007 ):
As a rule of thumb, multiple smaller ads generate higher recall than equal space in one esingle ad. It somewhat depends on ad style and placement of course. In one test, three One- column (outside edge) ads on consecutive right hand pages far out-performed a single full page ad of similar content.

Monday, July 23, 2007 #7394
Thanks for answering my previous question. In my previous question " forecast" means forecast. I would like to know if there is any way to find out future GRP figures for channel on the basis of channel share or reach figure. i.e if we have 100 grp for 'x' channel in this schedule now when i am planning for the same brand and this month on the basis of channel share or reach figures can i calculate have actual GRP figures. example if 100 GRP are planned for 'X' channel then what will actual number of GRP I will have in next month or next two month... Thanks in advance

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 29, 2007 ):
The usual process is to estimate ("project") rating for each program in the schedule, typically using latest program share and usage levels of the time period for the season, tweaked with judgement.
Reach will not come into it.

Thursday, July 19, 2007 #7393
Hi Guru, Can we forecast GRP figures using any variable like reach, channel share or TVR. If yes, then could please let me know which formula i should used?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, July 21, 2007 ):
It is not clear what you mean by "forecast." GRPs are a sum of TV ratings in a schedule.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 #7392
I'm curious as to how I find out what the demographics are for viewers that watch the Olympics.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, July 21, 2007 ):
See Nielsen

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 #7391
Hello Guru: Might you able to provide or direct me to online revenue model mathematical formulas/calculations etc? so I can figure out how much revenue my site will bring in and how much to budget for doing a campaign to launch my site So for example, what is the formula/calculation for "benner ads", "Query Based Paid Placements", "content targeted advertising" etc.? As far as CPM's go what is the hierarchy of CPM's from broadcast television through to websites? Thanks so much for your help.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, July 21, 2007 ):
As far as formulas for revenue go, the simple factors are price of unit, expressed as CPM; number of impressions available to sell and number of units (placements) available. CPM X impressions X number of units gives a ball-park estimate of revenue potential, assuming you can sell all your inventory. You would want to separate the calculations for the various units with different CPM pricing.
Online CPMs can vary from under $5 to over $200, depending on the narrowness of site targeting (audience rarity) and the type of ad unit; simple button gifs are lower priced and large, complex animated materials like Eyeblaster full video is at a premium.
Generally, Television CPMs are relatively high, Trade magazines, next, general magazines next, radio and newspapers next and outdoor relatively low. General online averages might come in around the radio and newspaper level.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 #7390
I am inquiring about live plus (1) day, or live plus (3) day, or live plus (7) day? I just recieve an e-mail from a rep. in the Atlanta market and she asked the following question, "There is some debate over Nielsen’s Live Plus Data. We’re trying to get a feel for what some of our agency clients think...Do you accept live plus (1) day, or live plus (3) day, or live plus (7) day?" I am not familiar with Nielsen's Live Plus Data. Could you enlighten me?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 22, 2007 ):
"Live plus" refers to counting viewing measured for the live broadcast of programs plus "timeshifted" viewing of DVR playback within a specified number of days. In April, Nielsen first released live viewing alongside live plus viewing of playback within seven days
The issue arises primarily because of the ease of zipping commericals in recorded playback. Broadcasters woould like to sell based on live plus seven. Advertisers and agencies would prefer live only or live plus fewer days.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007 #7383
Question: what are the currencies used to plan/buy Canadian media? what's the equivalent to the U.S. MRI/Simmons/NSI? From: ldawson

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, July 03, 2007 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses about Canadian media research resources.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 #7375
what information is required from the broadcast operators to plan for local television advertising. If we have a poor budget which is effective cable or broadcast?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 01, 2007 ):
You need, at minimum, ratings and prices. Demograpihc analysis of the audeinces is also useful.
Cable is usually cheaper, out-of-pocket than broadcast but has lower coverage / reach, and is usualy less efficient.

Thursday, June 14, 2007 #7367
Again Guru, I have been asking questions out of much curiosity as im studying and need to get such answers to increase my knowledge base, So to ask you again, I know the calculation of GRP's but I dont understand its relevance, A rating point is reaching one percent of the universe, GRP is sum of all the rating points. My query considering this formula is, what would a 100 GRP per week plan mean ? This obviously does not mean reaching 100% population as the duplication is not considered. But what does a certain level GRP plan mean? How is the efficiency of a medium being recognised on the basis of GRP ? Thanks again

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 17, 2007 ):
Let us agree that the definiton of a rating point is "a number of impressions equal to 1% of the population" and never use the word "reach" in defining rating point or GRP, because this can carry misleading implications.
So a 100 GRP per week plan would have a weekly gross number of impressions equal to 100% of the population.
GRP only describes weight. The reach will vary depending on the media mix included.
"Efficiency" is defined as either cost of a GRP ("CPP") or the cost of 1000 impressions ("CPM").

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 #7363
A metrics-obsessed client has asked what it would take to move the needle of consumer awareness (on a particular issue) about 2%. They want to know literally how many impressions it would take. I've been told for paid media the answer is roughly 1000 GRPs over 2 weeks. But I'm at a loss to find the answer for earned media. I know this is a bit far afield, but do you know of where I might go to find this? Anyplace that's done this type research?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, June 13, 2007 ):
Hey! The Guru loves metrics, and it's a good question. Whether it can be answered as a media issue is quite another thing.
Saying that 1000 GRP will move consumer awareness 2% over 2 weeks is a ludicrous oversimplification. If current awareness is nil, 1000 GRP in 2 weeks will get you much more than 2% in, all probability. If awareness is already 90%, 1000 GRP might get you nothing in added awareness. Since you can't buy "earned" media, the question is pointless in the Guru's opinion. In any case, the Guru is not aware of any link between earned media and awareness impact. It's not an advertising question.

Monday, June 11, 2007 #7362
Media Guru- First of all, this is a great site! Your answers are very informative. I have been out of the buying arena for a while and cannot remember how to request avails...ie, if I was completing a buy for 3Q07, what books would I use for HUT/Share. I do not remember the formula. I want to say the current book for Share (Apr in Chicago) adjusted to HUT from NOV06? Please help.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, June 11, 2007 ):
3rd quarter is July-August-September so those are the months of (averaged) HUT to use with the latest book for share.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007 #7357
Hi guru, what is the bench mark with respect to reach and frequency in a television plan for a grand opening of the retail store. what would be the ideal GRP or Reach and Frequency we need to acheive for such a plan,It would be great if you can ans similarly for other mediums as well i.e outdoor, radio and internet Thanks Again

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 10, 2007 ):
For a retail opening, more is better. 90+ reach at 3+ frequency is great if you can afford it.
Simply aiming for those numbers, they will be cheaper in outdoor, depending on how you define your coverage area. Radio can reach those levels, and internet cannot (only 146 million U.S. active home users in April '07, according to Neilsen//Netratings). Reaching even 90% of those on line is unlikely and potentially ruinously expensive.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007 #7356
what is the average return/ctr when purchasing internet remnant space? Have any studies been done on the value of internet remnant space? Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, June 06, 2007 ):
There is no reason that ctr should vary according to how you paid for the space. For some CTR benchmarks, see DoubleClick Knowledge Central.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007 #7353
I know "it depends", but is there a "back of the envelope" number of annual US hh grps that you can achieve for $1 million in today's market. Assume all national buys. what about a reasonable range?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, June 05, 2007 ):
In ballpark, round numbers, about 40 Prime Network points, or about 140 daytime. Other dayparts will genrally fall in between.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007 #7352
Who do you determine ROI for a print buy

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, June 05, 2007 ):
First set a standard for what return you seek. Suppose it's sales dollars.
Then determine what incremental sales may be attributed to the print advertising (one assumes there are some sales without the print). The the ratio of print advertsing cost to incremental sales gives ROI.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007 #7349
Is there a mechanical spec that is common accross all the Broadsheets and Tabloids, IF yes then what would be the normal size of a broadsheet and a tabloid newspaper. Also is there a common size for magazines as well. Thanks in advance

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, June 05, 2007 ):
There are many, many variations in all three categories. It's best that determine a size that works best across all the publications on a schedule. It might be a magazine full page that becomes a broadsheet half page and a tabloid three-quarter or two-thirds. Some resizing or floating will generally be necessary.
General rules:
a common broadsheet standard is a full-page newspaper size with an image area of 11.5 inches wide by 21.5 inches deep.
Tabloid is generally half that but may be larger, 11 x 15 or so. Common magazine size is 7 x 10.
See standard ad sizes at Newspaper National Network

Monday, June 04, 2007 #7348
what are the names of the companies which sell 10 second game/talk show ids.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, June 04, 2007 ):
Start with GameShowPlacements

Sunday, June 03, 2007 #7347
Hi guru I am planning to start working from home can you tel me it is good to start with ad words on line

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 03, 2007 ):
The Guru asks, "start what?"

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 #7344
Stupid math question... I know that the net-to-gross conversion for 15% is 1.1765, what is it for 9%? How is this figured? My method is to try about 100 different numbers until I get it right but I am guessing there is an easier way. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 30, 2007 ):
It is very simple. Subtract commission rate from 100 and divide 100 by the result.
For 15%:
100 - 15 = 85
100 ÷ 85 = 1.1765
So for 9%:
100 - 9 = 91
100 ÷ 91 = 1.099

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 #7343
Can you give me an idea what the average radio CPP is in San Francisco these days?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 30, 2007 ):
See SQAD

Tuesday, May 29, 2007 #7342
I work for a company that has a very small and focused market. There is not a lot of print media that is geared to my market but a few options that capture parts of my market. I am working on my marketing plan for next year and my boss is asking my to provide ROI on my proposed advertising spending. I understand how to do the math but have no idea how to get the numbers to justify the spending. Any ideas?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 30, 2007 ):
The key is to look at past results. what sales per dollar invested in various media channels? Use averages where you don't have results from the specific vehicle.

Monday, May 28, 2007 #7339
what is the "Sainsbury" formula and is there a difference between unique circulation and paid circulation? Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 28, 2007 ):
The Sainsbury formula is a method for combining the reaches of schedules in different media. It varies from the simple random probability method which is based on the generally accepted assumption that there is no particular correlation between exposure to one medium and another. Sainsbury varies by adding a small adjustment to account for an assumed slightly more-than-just-random probability that those exposed to an advertiser's schedule in one medium will also be exposed to its schedule in the next medium. Typically, the adjustment is about a 5% deduction from the result of the random combination.
As you will see at the link shown, we may vary in our arithmetic expression of the probability equation (for the same result), so we can express the Sainsbury formula as (0.95 x random probability).
Unique circulation and paid circulation are unrelated terms.
Paid circulation refers to the number of copies which are actually bought for money at the newsstand or by paid subscription, rather than distributed free or at such a discounted rate that the circulation auditor no longer qualifies the copies as "paid."
"Unique" is more commonly an intrnet audience term. Perhaps you are thinking of "unduplicated" audience which only counts readers once, if they read two or more issues.

Sunday, May 20, 2007 #7332
what is the cost of Google Adwords

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 21, 2007 ):
It varies depending on the popularity of keywords you choose. You bid a price you are willing to pay to display your ad in response to the keywords and set the maximum budget you will allow. It costs more to get a higher position for more popular search terms. See the Adwords cost estimator.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 #7330
Hi! Im from India, handling strategy & media for my client. My client would like to launch a product in canada targetting NRI's. what media would be suitable & what is the media consumption of NRI's in canada?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, May 15, 2007 ):
PMB (Print Measurement Bureau) provides Canadian media and product usage measurements. It offers "South Asian" as a demographic category, which includes "East Indians." If "NRI" means non-resident Indians, then you will find little information. By the nature of household media and product studies, transient populations are less well measured.

Monday, May 14, 2007 #7329
ADS

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 14, 2007 ):
Assuming you're asking what "ADS" is, it most familiarly refers to means of receiving TV other than broadcast or cable.
Currently, that's primarily satellite, but there are systems under development that would transmit tv through electric power lines.

Saturday, May 05, 2007 #7326
what is "rack rate" ?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, May 05, 2007 ):
It's the same as "list price."

Tuesday, May 01, 2007 #7321
what is the current industry standard regarding the production and installation of outdoor bulletins? Do most outdoor companies provide the initial installation of the vinyl for free or do most charge?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, May 01, 2007 ):
Installation of outdoor marterials should be included in the media price. Production of posters is separate.

Monday, April 30, 2007 #7320
I'm Marketing Director for the 3,000 Parent Teacher Associations in Texas and am launching a CMS that will allow all the 630,000 members of Texas PTA to access a customized web-site. If we're successful, I anticipate about to have as many as 200,000 unique user visits per month. This whole thing needs to be paid for via sponsorship. Sponsors would get some real - estate (smalletr than a banner) on each of up to 3,000 PTA web-sites. My question: Given our specific demographic (Responsible Texas Parents) and positive brand cache, what is that sponsorship worth on the open market? what is the appropriate unit (hits, unique visits, etc) to price in? Is there a media network(s) we should associate with?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 02, 2007 ):
Pricing these days is in ad impressions. There are many networks of sites, more or less specialized. Search Google for "online advertising networks."

Thursday, April 26, 2007 #7317
Through what media vehicles are active seniors most effectivley reached? I am targeting active seniors for a brand new retirement home in a 100,000 pop city.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, April 28, 2007 ):
First you need to develop quantitative definitions of "Senior" and "Active."
Let's imagine you decide it's persons 65+ who regularly participate in any sports.
Then you decide what you mean by "effectively reached." Is it large audience numbers (coverage), high concentrations (composition) or motivation of those reached due to advertising environment?
Then, using syndicated media research such as MRI or Simmons or Scarborough or similar, you can cross-tab that demographic with media choices to determine best coverage or composition. "Effectively" may be based on observing the successes of competitors or your own testing.

Thursday, April 19, 2007 #7316
Hello. I am planning a print and online campaign for the US and several countries (Japan, China, Canada, India, South Korea, Brazil, Germany, UK and Australia). what are my options with regard to research tools for international online advertising? Also, is SRDS International my best option for International print? Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, April 19, 2007 ):
For starters, Nielsen NetRatings operates in several countries, as does comScore / Media Metrix
The Guru himself usually starts with SRDS International for such print.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007 #7314
Do you know % of consumers who takes action as a result of seeing ad 3x in a magazine? or what % of consumers are more likely to take an action to purchase as a result in seeing ad 3x?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, April 17, 2007 ):
As a rule, the more exposure to an ad, the greater the likelihood of consumer action.
But there are many variables beyond that. An ad for a new fast food will generate a greater percent response than an ad for a new luxury car, because fast food is an impulse purchase versus a major considered decision, because a fast food choice is an inconsequential expense, and operates on different psychological drivers.
Even two different luxury car's ads may have different appeal, be more or less well targeted in various magazine titles, etc. One could calculate a curve of response rate for a given ad and environment; one could project response based on prior experience with similar ads; but stating a simple, general response rate is not realistic.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007 #7312
what is affinity?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, April 17, 2007 ):
Dictionary.com defines affinity as "a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc."
Affinity marketing is marketing based on noted behavior of the prospect, for example a direct mail which says "as a member of the Airhead University Alumni Association, we can offer you this special price for our bubblegum of the month club."

Monday, April 02, 2007 #7308
Dear Guru, I am the sales manager for a hard bound monthly magazine that is targeted to Gen Y users and expanding into several college markets through out the South East. Currently, my main challenge is to expand the advertiser base and bring on regional/national advertisers and my biggest obstacle is how to get my product in front of the proper contacts. So, do you have any advice for the following: 1. How do I know who to contact for each product/company? In some cases it is the company itself, many companies use ad agencies, some use a combination and still more use an assortment of agencies for different purposes such as reaching specific demographic audiences. So what is the best way to compile a target contact list and is there a resource available to expedite this? 2. what is the most efficient way of reaching as many media buying contacts as possible? Is there a centralized database, list serve, etc. that the industry uses or must they be approached one at a time? 3. Is there a resource available to help me figure out the client list/prospective advertisers that each agency represents? 4. Should we pitch our product line to an agency for their entire client base or should we do our research and select specific clients' from their base to pitch to? 5. I know in the online arena there are ad networks that purchase remnant ad space, is there such a thing for the print magazine industry? 6. Any other general advice you would offer to a newer but growing media company to help get its name out in front of the national advertiser base? Any guidance you can shed in these areas would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, April 04, 2007 ):

AdWeek Directories and Redbooks list advertsers and their agencies
You might use direct mail or media planners' websites, like AMIC
AdWeek Directories and Redbooks again
Pitch only to potentially interested prospects
The Guru is not aware of networks vending remnant print
Advertise, attend trade shows.

Monday, April 02, 2007 #7307
how media planer success in the business? what are the measurement

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, April 02, 2007 ):
How do media planners measure their own success? Clients' success and their own job promotions and salary increases.

Monday, April 02, 2007 #7305
what is the main duty of Media planning? and what is the process of producing commercial ads?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, April 02, 2007 ):
The main duty of media planning is to determine the best place for advertisers to place ads, including how much of each media type is appropriate. Finer distinctions, such as which ad unit type and size may also become part of the process. Marketers may involve meida planners in decisions about target and geography as well.
Production is outside the media depatment's scope.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 #7302
teach me the agency briefing.

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, March 21, 2007 ):
Look at what the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan needs for input.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 #7301
Hello Guro. I am struggling with the following: what is the residual effect of TV advertising? Meaning, if you are on for 6 weeks at a certain point level, and you go off, people will remember your message for x number of weeks later. I always thought it was about 2-3 weeks, but finding anything to support that is posing a challenge. Also, are people enerally claiming that advertising doesn’t affect them. Are they discrediting it? I feel like the answer is obvious, but finding any supporting documents is proving to be a difficult task. Any direction you could offer would be much appreciated. Thanks for all you do!

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, March 17, 2007 ):
The residual effects of advertising taper off. One very simple rule of thumb is that each week of no activity leads to a decrease of about 10% from the previous week's awareness. I.e. if awareness was 90% after a perios of advertsing, it will be 81% after a week's hiatus and 72.9% after another week's inactivity, etc.
It has long been a fashionable posture of sophistication to claim to be unaffected by advertising. Yet the people who make this claim are just as likely to use Brand name (advertised) products as other people. Correlating the market shares of brand names with ad budgets is one way to document this. Or consider brand name market shares vs generics or store brands.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 #7300
what is the best way to advertise for fundraising?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, March 17, 2007 ):
Like any other media choice, target, message environment and weight are crucial. The best choice for a youth organization might be completley different than for a politcal campaign. The answer lies deeper than simply "fundraising."

Sunday, March 11, 2007 #7298
do you have information on advertising to an older market and what the trickle down is to a younger market? ie, if we advertise to 18 to 24 year olds can we determine how many 16 year olds will be affected?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 12, 2007 ):
This is not a matter of speculation. In any measured medium, age cells are measured across a broad range of the population. If you are buying a schedule based on its 18-24 audience, you can just as easily get the audience of that schedule for other age cells from the same audience research. Single years of age however are not usually available.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007 #7297
Hi - Regarding media testing, what are the pros and cons of little usa and as it falls? why would you pick one translation over the other? Thank you

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, March 08, 2007 ):
In the Guru's opinion, it depends primarily on the media types you will use in the eventual national plan and the market allocation philosophy you follow.
If you intend to treat the test market(s) as representative of the overall national plan, and you will use local media flexibly to balance delivery, Little US is simpler and quite practical. If you will use only national media or you allocate weight to markets based on sales indices or other rleational factors, As-It-Falls may reveal more about the eventual results.
The differences can be discussed much more extensively, of course.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007 #7296
what are the factors in effective media planning

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, March 08, 2007 ):
If you are referring to "effective reach" / "effective frequency" planning, it is a matter of combining media elements to deliver a given reach at a specified minimum frequency level. For extensive Guru comment on this click here to see more than 100 past Guru responses on this topic

Monday, March 05, 2007 #7295
what TYPE OF COMPANIES BUY MULTI MEDIAS SERVICES FREQUENTLY?AND THE BEST SOURCE TO FIND THEM. THANK YOU

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 06, 2007 ):
"Multimedia sevices" is a non-standard term for the Guru. If you consult CMR (Competitive Media Reports) for example, you may discern companies which advertsie in many media types. They will be of all kinds.

Friday, February 23, 2007 #7291
what services offer demographic/psychographic/leisure time info besides MRI, Simmons, and Scarborough for cpg categories?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 25, 2007 ):
Others include Mendelsohn Media Research and The Media Audit

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 #7288
Hi Guru, Excellent Guru. Could you give name(s) of "media planning models" particularly "online media planning models". It is appreciable if you can give details and or point to any resources like what you did for the previous query. Once again thanks for precise answer. Best Regards, Shaiju Jose

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, February 21, 2007 ):
The Guru assumes that you are again thinking of reach analysis models. Try our own eTelmar WebPlanner, which is described as:
"WebPlanner - is the first software tool that lets you completely evaluate website schedules in terms of targeting, impressions, reach & frequency, cost efficiency, and timing. WebPlanner allows you to build your own site-centric audience database. You can easily import any syndicated web data that you subscribe to such as Comscore Media Metrix2 to create internet schedule buys. You can build and prototype web sites using syndicated data or create your own! "
eTelmar offers models for all media and media mix.

Thursday, February 15, 2007 #7284
what is telmar?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 16, 2007 ):
See Telmar

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 #7283
Is there any scientific formula involved in Online Media Planning? How do we decide what amount of money out of our total budget should be spend where, like search, banner ads, e-mail marketing etc? what is the logic involved in decision making?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 16, 2007 ):
No set "scientific formula." Logic depends on various factors:

Is the campaign transactional? Are you trying to generate a sale from the first click on an ad, because you are targeting someone in the act of shopping? Search might be best for this. Conversion from search is high because peole are already looking for what you are selling.
Are you trying to catch someone's attention and inform them about a product or service they may not already be considering? Then banner ads on related sites and pages might work best.
Are you targeting people interested in a category who already persue related information? Then email newsletters might be best.
what is the success record of any of these options for your marketer?

In any of these cases, there are varying availabilities on which to spend your money.
As with all media, understanding the target, the communication goals and the options are the path to the better plan. Thinking these though will allow you to build a media planning model with it's own "Scientific" approach.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007 #7281
This is regards to online. Can you elaborate on OAS ad serving platforms? what is it and how is it used in online media buying services?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, February 08, 2007 ):
This appears to be an element of the proprietary ad serving system at 24/7 Realmedia

Thursday, January 25, 2007 #7276
The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, December 28, 2006 ): You're on the right track. It's Feb '06 HUT times latest share to get Feb '07 rating. Pl refer to the above statement: what do you mean by a "HUT"?Could you pl explain this in some detail. Secondly, I am writing from Pakistan. Would you be aware of any media audit companies who could help us in conducting a media planning and buying audit?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 26, 2007 ):
The Guru didn't explain "HUT" in that answer since the query used the term. HUT is "Homes Using Television." This is the percentage of all the homes in the market universe that are watching TV in the given time period.
(Share = Rating ÷ HUT).
Try A C Nielsen for your measurement.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 #7274
what's the difference between Dish TV and Direct TV and how they are sold nationally vs. locally?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, January 17, 2007 ):
Dish TV and Direct TV are two competing satellite televison companies. They are program carriers somewhat comparable to cable tv companies. But, their content is beamed directly from satellites in orbit to consumers' homes, thus "local" advertising is not offered. This is different than cable, where the cable companies' local "head ends" receive satellite signals from networks and feed it locally to subscribers. The satellite systems have no local intermediary to insert commercials.

Monday, January 15, 2007 #7270
spot versus network breakeven analysis

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 16, 2007 ):

Rank the spot markets in order of importance to your brand.
Add market costs per point until you reach the national cpp.
what is the sum of the US Coverage percentages of the markets?

Monday, January 08, 2007 #7264
Loss leader

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, January 14, 2007 ):
The Guru asks: "what exactly is your media question?"

Thursday, January 04, 2007 #7258
Hello Guru, I know I'm asking a very simple question that everyone understands, but me. When buying can an advertiser save money buying against a demo with a lower CPP vs. the one's real target demo, but the CPP is higher? In theory is it sometimes possible just to buy many more TRPs against the cheaper demo, knowing that when converted it gets to one's real goal against another demo? Is this a possible advantageous way to buy or does this cause harm? Thank you for your help.

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 05, 2007 ):
In reality a station is selling spots. If they decide a certain spot is worth $100 and only adjust that based on the total order size, then that spot's CPP varies according to the demo you analyze, but the spot cost what the spot costs.
In essence you are saying "if I buy a demo in less demand, will the station low-ball prices to get the order?"

Thursday, January 04, 2007 #7257
Accordian insert

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 05, 2007 ):
Guru asks: what is the question?

Tuesday, January 02, 2007 #7254
what is the standard time period to measure plan delivery. Is is better to use a 4 week average or total plan?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 05, 2007 ):
4 week is the standard for reach. Total plan might be best for impressions or GRP.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006 #7251
Hi - Happy Holidays. Pricing Question. Is there a benchmark (cpm) for restroom advertising? I've been told it should be on the low end of outdoor. Putting the averages at $2.0 cpm according to www.oaaa.org, however that just seemed a little low. My company’s new display will be placed above every urinal and in every stall in some local ballparks, convention centers, and bars at first? Most of these venues get approximately 150k-400k visitors per year. The display is a new wall mounted drink holder with a 4" x 6" front space for a printed ad. The statistics state that the average person uses the restroom between 2.3-2.7 times over a 3 hour period at these games/events. If I was to price this at 200,000 annual attendance average 2.5 trips to the restroom at 500,000 impressions annually that would be $900 revenue from ad sales for the year at $1.8 cpm. To me that seems very low considering that there will be 175-225 displays in some of the venues. I complied my higher pricing figures from other signs they had in there venues bases on a direct correlation to impression figures and ad size and came up with $25 cpm. This would put all the restrooms at one of these facilities at ~1000 per month with an average 200k annual attendance. That’s more along the line of what I was thinking. Is my pricing way off. Where can I get data on this? Basically I have thousands of dollars invested in this display and 20-25 signed leases to put the displays up when they are done being manufactured next month, however if I have to sell the ad space using the lower CPMs figures I would go out of business quick. There would be no way to service 1400 displays at 22 locations for 12k per year total. Also some of the locations only have 12-15 displays but still get 225k annual attendance. Should pricing be the same or different than a larger venue possibly with less attendance based on the number of displays even though the full audience is still reached. Also is one 30 – 60 second trip to the restroom considered one impression? That could be the discrepancy in pricing? Any advice would be appreciated.

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, December 28, 2006 ):
First off, get away from outdoor cpm pricing. Ordinary outdoor is low-priced because of its enormous numbers, which are based on counting cars passing locations and multiplying by average passenger load. These are shorter impressions for a limited message and assume that all traffic sees the signage. Your positioning is more of a forced exposure and probably longer. It is a higher quality exposure than roadside billboards.
The trick will be to persuade prospects that the location has spcial value because it's in a bathroom or a stadium. The Guru himself is a bit put off by the idea of a beverage dispenser on a urinal or in a bathroom stall.

Monday, December 18, 2006 #7248
Dear Guru – We are planning to launch an automotive advertising Web portal in January serving Pittsburgh/southwestern PA. The primary income stream will come from local auto dealerships that will pay to advertise their used cars on the site. In order to justify their expense, I need to ensure that enough car shoppers visit the site to search for vehicles, resulting in sales leads for the dealers. I believe we will need to get about 1500 local visitors to the site each month in order to show enough value to the dealers. I have received much appreciated advice from the Guru in the past in which you recommended online advertising, which I plan to do using pay-per-click services through the search engines. I have also budgeted for TV and radio advertising, but you expressed concern with my planned ad frequency. Unfortunately, my budget is only about $12k/month. I currently have proposals from local broadcast TV and radio stations. Here are the stats on each medium: - Google, Yahoo and Ask pay-per-click ads, with an estimated 500 total clicks (can’t seem to get more regardless of what I’m willing to pay for each click) for about $1500. - Two-week radio schedule, 70 total spots (:15s), alternating weeks with a 5.0 frequency and 150k reach/wk (M25-54) for about $3k - Three-week TV schedule, alternating weeks with 95 total spots (:15s) and 750k gross impressions (M25-54) for about $7k My radio and TV commercials are :15s that can run independently or can be combined to create :30s. My questions are: 1) Do these TV and radio rates seem reasonable? 2) Is television advertising really worth so much more than radio advertising? 3) Assuming that the website/concept is useful and interesting, do you believe that this plan can return the 1500 visitor response that we need? 4) Would I be better off to focus my advertising dollars differently? Thanks for your help.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, December 19, 2006 ):

Rates seem reasonable
Your TV seems to cost less than radio, on a cpm basis: TV is $7,000 for 750,000 impressions / cpm = $9.33. Radio is $3,000 for 300,000 impressions / cpm=$10
The plan could generate the 1,500 visitors.
Revisit your search engines' traffic estimator. When the the Guru tested "car" and "cars" on Google in Pittsburgh, he found about 250 clicks per day available. You may need different search terms.
Consider where to find people interested in used cars. Isn't most used car advertising in newspaper classifieds currently? Consider print and online advertising in newspaper and newspaper websites' used car sections.

Friday, December 15, 2006 #7247
Dear Guru, this is my first time asking something, and because from your answers you seem a man with lots of knowledge in media, I have 3 questions. a) My TV Plans have an average 5% difference from pre-buys to post-buys evaluations, GRP's wise.Is there a procedure that can make me be more accurate in my GRP's predictions (to be right on target with 2% difference let's say)? b) I started to get very interested in Economatrics. Are there any publications in Acrobat Reader or Powerpoint to teach me how can I have at least a standard knowledge of Econometrics (to calculate the product life cycle, sales forecast, and most important what impact a media campaign had on sales) ? c) Also, were can i find Ostrows model of Frequency Effectiveness (Marketing, Copy & Media Factors) ?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 17, 2006 ):
A) 5% range pre- to post- is excellent. 10% is considered tolerable. The Guru assumes you are equally likely to be 5% under as to be 5% over. If not you can simply correct your system to "center" the estimates.
B)A Google search. for "Econometrics" will return numerous citations
C) A Google search for "Ostrow's model of Frequency Effectiveness" will also return numerous citations, as will this link to past Guru responses on the subject.

Thursday, December 14, 2006 #7246
Maybe this is a very obvious question about Television in US, but since I'm from Mexico our Television is very different from you and I would like to understand your country in this particular medium. what is the difference between what you call: Spot TV, National TV, Network TV, National Cable TV, Syndicated TV? Is there any other kind? thank you very much.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 17, 2006 ):
The distinctions are about geographic differences and how one buys.
First you must understand that the U.S. is divided into about 210 different TV markets ("DMAs"), each with its own TV stations. The division is based on assigning each county to the market whose TV stations get the major share of the county's viewing. In rare cases, perhaps half a dozen nationwide, counties are split.
"Spot TV" advertising is bought on individual local markets' stations.
"Networks" in the case of "Network TV" are sets of local stations afilliated with the large national broadcasting companies to carry their programs. These are networks like Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, or CW which transmit their programming by satellite to the stations to broadcast locally. The affiliates generally carry each program at the same time, across a US time zone. This advertising is bought from the network.
Cable networks transmit their programming to local cable system operators for transmission to the systems' cable subscribers. MTV, Bravo and CNN are examples. National cable advertising is bought from these networks.
Syndicated TV programming is broadcast by local stations which may or may not be affiliated with the networks. The syndicators have bought the broadcast rights to the programming and sell local airing rights to the stations. Advertising may be bought nationally from the syndicators. Advertising in these programs may also be bought locally as part of spot tv schedules.
"National TV" encompasses network TV, national cable and syndication.
Types you have not mentioned include spot cable; local buys through cable systems in cable network programming and true local cable; buys in locally produced cable programming such as Cablevisions' "News 12" or TimeWarner Cable's NY1

Monday, December 11, 2006 #7243
I am being offered a purchase on a media that has a private network in one of the main hospitals in Puerto Rico. The product is composed of 30 plasmas throughout different areas of the hospital were the waiting time is at least 2-3 hours. This hospital receives aprox. 186,000 people a month. what would be the best way to calcualte CPM if the 30ss monthly spot is sold for twenty cents each?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, December 11, 2006 ):
186,000 people per month seems ridiculously high for a single hospital. That's 6,200 per day, each waiting 2-3 hours. Where could they keep them?
But supposing it is accurate: Number of people exposed ( do all 186,000 see the screens?), times the number of exposures seen in 2-3 hours would be your impressions count. Now the cost is 20 cents per what? Showing of the spot? So multiply by number of showings and divide by the impressions in thousands.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006 #7241
Network and National Cable Post Buy Timing: Is there a standard turn around time for an agency to do Q'ly postbuys for these? How about reconcilliations? How difficult is it for a network to be held to delivering the Monthly desired points within the period - is that a buying guideline element? I have been hearing a wide range of answers! Thx

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 10, 2006 ):
The post buy can be done as sson as the ratings are available. You have to determine how long a work cyucle is required to deliver the report. Ten days to two weeks after ratings are available seems reasonable to the Guru.
HOlding networks to monthly levels is a negotiations point. But what do you do if the result is under, other than getting a make-good the following month. Agreed consequences will control the standards you set.

Friday, December 01, 2006 #7238
in a newspaper with 180 thousand circulation what is the minimum number of insertions that guarantees my ad is noticed by the whole 180 thousands

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 03, 2006 ):
No number of insertions assures noticing by all purchasers of the paper. An ad on the front page would probably be noticed by almost all with only two or three insertions.
An ad in a specialized section like sports or financial may never be noticed, and may well take dozens of insertions to be noticed by 90% of readers. Like reach, it is a measure that almost never really reaches 100%.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 #7237
Hi Guru, My question is what cost would you pay for an advertorial page in a women's consumer magazine? Is is valued at 1/2 the cost of a page? 1/3 cost? Also, would you pay a production cost for the building of the page from a content perspective? Thank you

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 03, 2006 ):
Advertorial pages are usually provided as added-value when one buys a schedule. Purchased on their own, they are not inherently of lesser value than regular ads, as they are meant to seem like the publication is endorsing the product. If they don't achieve that effect, then their value may well be half or less.
If the magazine is creating the ad, especially to make it seem like editorial material, then there is a value to that service. But, again, if the advertorial is added-value with a normal schedule, it should be at no charge for production, either.

Thursday, November 16, 2006 #7232
Hello Guru, I have a site that gets about 300K visitors/ month and I'd like to get our ad inventory in front of ad/ media agencies. My understanding is that we are too small to make it into @plan and other such programs. what are our options? Should we contact media buyers at various agencies? Are there listing services? Thanks for the advice, Ken

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, November 17, 2006 ):
Yes, your site is too small for @plan, etc. But, presumably, it is small because it is special, in having a particular audience draw. You need to find agencies handling advertisers which might have an interest in the focus of your audience and communicate with them. Direct mail or advertsing in media trades might be best if you have a good story.

Monday, November 13, 2006 #7227
Hello Media Guru. Again another question. My company new to the out of home industry. We essencially provide non traditional OOH opportunities such as wall scapes and building wraps. I was wonder what would be ways in which I can be of better service to agencies/advertisiers. How could I be of greater value than just calling and trying to get the buyer/planner to purchase from my inventory? Thanks!!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, November 13, 2006 ):
Understand the unique elements of your offereing. what does it have that traditional OOH does not.
Understand what the specific locations offer. Are they facing someone's key target company?
In other words, use your unique qualities.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 #7224
Can you please tell me what it is you do exactly as a media guru and why you exist. I was asked to do a small research on you and I was having a bit of trouble placing it all together. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 12, 2006 ):
The Guru is a highly experienced media practitioner. His primary function here is answering these queries. Browse through the current Guru answers

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 #7223
I was wondering what the normal commission/pay structure is for big name publications (such as Cosmo, Maxim, People, etc). I know most local publications probably pay their sales reps 15%, but it cant possibly be that high when you are talking about agreements that are EACH worth over $150,000 per month for an ad (sometimes higher). Thanks so much!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 12, 2006 ):
It varies, according to individuals' base/commission deals. Certainly well below 15%. But this is outside the Guru's area. The Guru deals with Media planning/Media buying/Media research/Media department management questions.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006 #7222
what is the potential in terms of numbers and $ of teenage girls who will be purchasing online games in the next two years and how to target them?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 12, 2006 ):
Click here to see Guru comment on online games

Friday, November 03, 2006 #7221
Hi GR- I am working on an annual TV buy for a client and I have a few questions for you? what are good levels of GRPs, Frequency and Reach % to go by as guidelines/benchmarks? The client's target is basically everyone (A 25-54) in this market. This year (2006) he had light spot TV schedules on every major network in the market as well as some infomercial spots-all year, with no hiatus weeks. I feel like he can't be on every station with the given budget and make a impact. Please help me if you can--I just need some guidelines to consider. I have bought much more radio than TV and the TV I have bought has been very limited (small % of spot and majority cable). So this is somewhat new to me and I am beginning to panic because I am not sure I can make my budget work if I use the levels I think I need to make an impact. My client is somewhat well branded in this market but last year he pulled budget dollars from his primary market and put it in outer markets so he lost his awareness in this market. In 07 he wants to build his primary market back up, what levels do you recommend I try to work towards to refresh his awareness in this market? He also wants to break into a few new markets-what levels of GRPs do we need to break into a new market. Thank you advance for all your help.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 05, 2006 ):

In radio, people listen to stations; in TV people watch programs, so don't use the radio share of voice = impact approach to allocation of TV stations.
Start by thinking about what reach level you want to achieve. Reach does not neccessarily = awareness, but ad awareness will never exceed reach.
Put some frequency behind your reach to make sure the message is digested. How much depends on whether you have a point-in-time need for impact or you have a constant-purchase product where recency outweighs other factors.
Infomercials are aimed at immediate response so leave those out of your reach thinking.

Thursday, November 02, 2006 #7218
How much can you safely weight endorsement radio spots?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 05, 2006 ):
The question is very vague.

Weight for what? Attentivenenss, effectiveness, impact, awareness?
Weight GRP or another factor?
How relevant is your endorser? An expert in the field of your product, like a NASCAR driver endorsing your tires or merely a popular spokesperson, like Shakira endorsing your orange juice?
The simple answer might be 200%, but there are a lot of steps to get there.

Monday, October 30, 2006 #7217
I plan to buy local/spot cable in 8 DMAs. We will likely be using :15 DR spots (bookends)-I heard something along the lines of, "DR doesn't work on cable." Is this true or to be ignored?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 30, 2006 ):
There is a lot of DR on local cable . . . a lot. One thing about DR is certain: the practitioners know what works, they wouldn't be back if something didn't work.
The Guru would note that :15 seems like a short time to complete a sell and give contact info. And short bookends around cluttered breaks seems questionable too, especially if it's a divided sell / contact info message.

Friday, October 27, 2006 #7216
what are the differences between spot, cable and network television buys and which is best for a smaller budget and limited markets?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, October 29, 2006 ):
Broadcast network television buys cover the entire US (or major regions), delivering commercials simultaneously (or same time by time zone) through all the local broadcast affiliates of the network.
Spot television buys are placed with local broadcast stations. which may be network affiliates or independents. These stations each generally cover a single one of the US's 200+ Designated Market Areas (DMA's).
Cable has network and local options as well. Network cable, such as CNN or the Comedy Channel covers the entire US that subscribes to the network, which may be as many as 90+ million homes. One may also buy local cable through the various system operators in a specific market or spot cable which delivers all the cable operators covering a particular DMA or group of DMA's. There are sales organizations which sell local cable on a DMA basis.
When a marketer's distribution area is much less than national, spot options are a more effective investment. There is always a point at which network becomes more efficient to buy. This may be 50-75% of the US, depending on which markets are on your coverage list and your target demographic.
On an out-of-pocket basis, buys of single local cable systems are least costly. If you are supporting retail locations in small definable areas, this can be an effective apporach.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 #7212
what does it mean Adstock & how to calculate it?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, October 24, 2006 ):
Wikipedia offers Broadbents' explanation.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 #7209
When you consider reach and frequency levels, what are considered the upper and lower levels for reach and frequency?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, October 29, 2006 ):
In recency theory, 30 reach weekly, on a continuing basis is considered a minimum by some pratitioners. 95 is the highest many will consider reporting.
Obvioulsy 1 is the irreducible minimum frequency. Some practitioners like a minimum of three (these are not the "recency" theorists). Upper limits are not really to worry about unless one is considering copy wear-out.

Saturday, October 14, 2006 #7207
Hi Media Guru, Ours is a newspaper publication. i work for the Online version of our newspaper.I would like to know the current trends in The online advertising market. As in what do other companies; news paper publications or media related companies plan up for thier online advertising strategies for thier clients. and also what is the general trend when it comes to advertisers needs and demands as of now? what colud be the differnt ways in which we could also promote our website among the public. But my my main concern is as what are companies doing regarding thier online advertising strategies?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 16, 2006 ):
This question is very broad and very vague. The answer could be a year's reading of Media magazine.

Friday, October 13, 2006 #7206
Dear Guru, Can you tell me the names of media audit companies that track internet advertising spending for pharmaceutical brands. I'm looking for data that includes where a specific brand is spending their money, how much, and what types of online promotion they are doing (banners, site-lets, logo sponsorships, resource centers, etc.). I'm looking for online promotional activity to Physicians as well as Consumers. Thank you! -Debbie

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 16, 2006 ):
Try CMR (Competitive Media Reports) and Monitor Plus

Friday, October 13, 2006 #7205
what is the pass along rate for newspaper?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, October 16, 2006 ):
See The Newspaper Advertising Association. Go to the "Research" tab.

Thursday, October 05, 2006 #7202
I have gross impressions from a cable buy for an Adult 35-64 traget. My client has me to convert that into impressions against a Men 18-49 target. what media formula can I use to do this?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, October 11, 2006 ):
If you assume that the programming has the same appeal among M18-49 as it does among A35-64, it's easy.
Calculate A35-64 GRP: A35-64 impressions ÷ A35-64 population = A35-64 GRP
Assume you have the same GRP among M18-49
M18-49 GRP X M18-49 population = M18-49 impressions

Keep in mind that GRP are percentages, so 50 GRP is treated as if it were 50%.
Now the assumption of equal appeal among both groups will probably be erroneous, so you should really investigate the actual ratings for M18-49 in your schedule.

Thursday, September 07, 2006 #7192
Hi Media Guru. I have a question that I'm looking for a general answer (I know that there are many different situations that would allow for many different answers- but please try!) If I am building a media plan using TV as part of a media mix (including radio and print) can you give me a very general answer as to how many points per week over how many weeks would be a MINIMUM. Target is Men 35-64. The client is only interested in news dayparts. I'm having a hard time wrapping my hands around this. I'm saying for a maintenance type schedule, we could run a minimum of 75 points per week because the dayparts are so concentrated and news viwership is loyal. the client is insistent that they've been told by their old agency they need 120 GRPS per week. I'm thinking they would be correct if the dayparts were more open. We're getting additional reach through radio and print. Any thoughts? Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, September 10, 2006 ):
You're saying 75 for "maintenance," but what's the rationale for the 120?
These issues always come down to what the communications goals are. Is it a reach level or a frequencey level or an effective frequency level? You can't argue against someone else's unsupported recommendation any more than you can support your own without goals and rationales. Your 75 seems reasonable to the Guru in a multimedia, "maintenance plan."

Thursday, August 31, 2006 #7190
I have a client who is using a corporate trade/barter company for their print and online placements. I have a feeling that most publishers would rather be paid in cash instead of script or trade credits. what do you think?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, August 31, 2006 ):
Certainly they would. But your client is probably turning overpriced assets into value, getting rid of excess inventory and making this look good on the books. Click here to see past Guru responses about barter

Thursday, August 17, 2006 #7185
Hi, im Anup,working as Account Manager in advertising agency firm Dubai, I want to know how can i prepare a media plan, what all i have to include in that,i have doubt about the strucher.can you plese help me by sending a template, that will be great. thanx Anup

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 18, 2006 ):
See the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Monday, August 14, 2006 #7184
what is the processes that needs to be in place when buying a rich media ad?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, August 18, 2006 ):
This question is unclear. To buy a rich media ad, you merely need to negotiate with the site where it will run. To create a rich media ad you need the appropriate software. To display the rich media ad, you may need a contract with the authoring software provider, such as Eyeblaster or Pointroll.
These latter two points are not media questions.

Friday, August 04, 2006 #7175
what is an agency of record

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, August 07, 2006 ):
The agency officially designated to negotiate and make committments for an advertiser. The concept apparently arose when advertsiers beghan to have several creative shops but designated one to negoriate TV another to negotiate print, etc.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006 #7172
what is the industry average/standard CPC & CTR for an awareness (banner only) campaign?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, August 03, 2006 ):
The Guru does not think these data are available, but the best source of relevant information would be DoubleClick

Wednesday, August 02, 2006 #7171
How would you understand the demo skew of a particular competitor?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, August 07, 2006 ):
Extensive analysis of the demographics of of every placement in the schedule will give you a sense of target. Male vs female may be easy. Younger vs older is somewhat easy. aArrowing to a specific cell like 18-34 vs 25-34 will be more difficult.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006 #7170
what is the process for estimating a program?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, August 07, 2006 ):
The simple answer is:
Look at TV usage for the seasonal time period and adjust the most recent share of audience according to your judgemnt of the programs potential for success versu what has been in the time period

Sunday, July 23, 2006 #7165
I read the response to my question. I was hoping the guru could give me a little more specifics. what is my chance of that? - Ron

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 23, 2006 ):
If you mean "is $10-$36 the actual range in web pricing," the anwer is no, the range runs much lower and much higher. The key variable is the value of the audience, usually based on how hard they are to target. Sites selling boxcar eyeballs of no particular distinction might be priced well under $5 cpm.
Sites that can deliver an audience of Treasurers / Chief Financial Officers of Fortune 500 companies east of the Mississippi might charge well over $200 cpm.

Monday, July 17, 2006 #7163
Hi- I was wondering if you could help set me straight on an issue. The issue has to do with the calculation of GRPs for multiple-market schedules. what is the correct concept for multiple-market GRPs? Would the advertisers look at average GRPs over the markets? Would they look at total GRPs? Or, something else? Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, July 17, 2006 ):
You use a weighted average of the markets.
The weights will be market size.

Friday, July 07, 2006 #7160
Hi Can you please tell me what the current (2006) average click through rate is for banner ads? All of the data I'm finding is rather dated (2004) Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 09, 2006 ):
The standard source for this metric has alays been DoubleClick, the largest adserving company. However they have not publicly reported such data since 2004, when the averagfe banner ctr was 0.2% and had been stable there fro some time.
More recently, ctr info has been about search and email. Simple CTR has become a somewhat scroned metric.

Thursday, July 06, 2006 #7159
Dear Guru, INTEGRATED PLAN ARE THE MANTRA OF PRESENT DAY MEDIA PLANNING, could you please tell me for a FMCG product how to allocate budget to different medium if I have to define it manually . As you know there is a model for effective frequency ,can that same apporoach be adopted for this,if yes what all parameters can be considered for this

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, July 07, 2006 ):
Please restate your question in simple, goal-oriented language. It is not clear what exactly you need.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 #7158
what are basic key points on tv copy length influence on campaign effectiveness? Naturally, creation is crucial, as well, but - assuming that creative affairs are "stable" and cost aspects are also foreseen (shorter copy is nominal cheaper)- are any findings how copy length influences on pure media campaign effectiveness indicators? Could you give some short points on it, please? Thank you in advance, Cesear

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, July 07, 2006 ):
When you say "shorter copy is nominally cheaper," the Guru imagines you refer to production not media time costs.
Typically, longer copy has more impact, better recall and better awareness generation than shorter copy. . . on a unit-by-unit basis.
But typically the cost of shorter copy is also less than longer copy by a margin that exceeds the advantages above, and therefore, reach, frequency, awareness and other campaign metrics work out better for shorter copy.
Obviously, you should work out these numbers with specific reference to your own copy and media buys.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006 #7157
If you only have enough money for 2 ads in a 12 month publication would it be best to schedule them 2 months in a row or spread out over 6 months?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 02, 2006 ):
Too thin, either way. "Best" depends on issues like seasonality and what else in your plan.

Monday, June 26, 2006 #7153
Every year there is a new buzz word - previously it was recency. This year it's engagement. Can you please define this newest trend.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 02, 2006 ):
Engagement is the way in which an audience member is involved in what is being read / viewed / heard. Current thinking seems to be that the responsibility belongs more to the copy than the medium. Visit Ephron On Media for thoughts on "Engagement"

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 #7146
A client has asked asked us to evaluate a direct mail couponing opportunity. what's the industry standard for coupon redemption rates? what metrics do you consider when you are evaluating direct mail proposals? Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, June 06, 2006 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses about response rates

Monday, June 05, 2006 #7145
how do i calculate ROI on ad spend?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, June 06, 2006 ):
The key issue is defining your "return" metric; you know the spend.
Are you looking for sales, or awarenss growth or change in intent to purchase?
Then set a base level: what would sales or awareness, etc. be without the advertising?
This might come from sales trends or a pre-campaign survey of awareness.
Then you can show that the net change in sales or awareness is attributable to the advertising and is the Return On Investment.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 #7142
How do I do TV post buy analysis when actual spends data is missing (we just took over the account from other agency)? what I have only pre campaign GRPs, 1+ Reach and Frequency and Post GRPs and R&F

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, May 25, 2006 ):
Obviously, the client won't be expecting you to analyze data you don't have, assuming you have requested the budget and been told it can't be provided. Still you can provide a comparison of all the pre / post data you do have and even compare achieved CPP to SQAD or other standard used by your agency.

Friday, May 19, 2006 #7139
1. Is Below The Line Activity part of Media Jobs ? 2. what kind of tools to maximize our media planning ? Thank you very much

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, May 19, 2006 ):
"Below the line" is generally promotional activity, which may or may not be part of media.
Events and street teams, for example are not ordinarily media activites.
Competitive spending tracking, reach and frequency analysis, syndicated data tools are among primary keys to media planning.

Saturday, May 13, 2006 #7136
Dear Media Guru, Please could you help with the following request. I currently reside in South Africa and would like to find out exactly all the media available in the United Kingdom and what a media planner/strategist should know when seeking employment in the Uk as such. How do they split target markets, what research systems do they use that i should be afae with etc. Please help.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 14, 2006 ):
The Guru can't give you a few years of experience in the UK in one answer. Find someone to talk with who has that experience and spend a few hours in conversation.

Friday, May 05, 2006 #7134
Media Guru: I have read Erwin Ephron's writings on engagement, however, I cannot find actual examples/data on how marketers/agencies actually calculate these adjustments - based on current media conditions, i.e., clutter, program attention, etc. Is this proprietary agency info or is it available from a source such as the ARF or Journal of Advertising Research?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 07, 2006 ):
Most of what the Guru sees from Erwin on engagement rather pooh-poohs engagement as a media plan metric and offers better ideas. See, for example, The Ephron Letter from January 2006 and Eprhon on Media from April. The Guru agrees that "Engagement" is more a repsonse to message than to media.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006 #7133
dear guru..what should be included in a sales pitch of tv channel and from where i can get information about TV channels in United Arab Emirates..

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 07, 2006 ):
A media pitch always needs to show why the vehicle answers marketing needs of the prospect, whether it's about audience delivery, program environment or other elements that have relevant benefits.
Start with the BBC country profile on the United Arab Emirates for information regarding TV channels there.

Monday, April 24, 2006 #7130
I am beginning to plan for one of my TV clients and want to allocate a portion of my GRP's to cable. Is there a "rule of thumb" as to what % should be cable vs. regular television? I have heard 10-15%. How do I need to approach this? thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, April 24, 2006 ):
An early rule of thumb was 10-15% (circa 1985). These days roughly half of all viewing is to cable. Make your decision based on the standards of composition, coverage, reach, etc that you would use for other programming decisions.

Thursday, April 13, 2006 #7128
what is the best source for data on the canadian media market place with particular emphasis on out-of-home media?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 14, 2006 ):
Try CARD (Canadian Advertising Rates and Data)

Thursday, March 30, 2006 #7125
Hi MG ,This may be a stupid question ,but could you please tell me how to decide on which will be my lead medium for a given product category, Given the media reach levels and clutter. In many cases it seems like TV and Print are giving almost equal reach where as advertisers prefer a particular medium only .I belive there comes the qualitative factors such as the perception and execution ,however what all parameters I can take to decide on the lead medium.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, April 01, 2006 ):
It's certainly correct to consider qualitative factors.
Your objectives and strategies should be built to guide you to the proper priority.
Is reach the number one priority or is it something else, where adverrtising environment takes precedence over absolute reach or reach efficiency?
If reach alone were the overriding goal everytime, outdoor would be everyone's lead medium.

Monday, March 27, 2006 #7121
Hi Guru, I am trying to find a media superstar to help oversee both our long and short form direct response departments in a 15 person ad agency. It would also be nice it they could help with new business. what are your thoughts about the best places to advertise to capture someone of this nature?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 27, 2006 ):
Start with Mediapost or NY Times Online

Monday, March 27, 2006 #7119
My client, in the home building services, has asked our agency to do a point of view on "lead generation". what are my best resources to pull information from? The DMA (Direct Marketing Association???? I have no idea where to start.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 27, 2006 ):
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is a good starting point.

Friday, March 24, 2006 #7118
I'm planning media for a reputed airline brand in a market that has the competition dominated by about 4 key players - 3 general (premium) airline brands & 1 LCC's (Low Cost Carriers). Whilst my brand’s media spends has been a low constant over the years, they are very keen to sponsor day parts (morning drive-time, evening drive-time & mid-day day parts) on radio as almost all competition dominate these day-parts in form of sponsorships. Some competitors carry on-air calling promos regularly to attract listeners to the station/ promo. Sponsoring the entire day-parts such as 0600 to 1000hrs in the morning is an expensive proposition hence a two-week on air call-in promo was looked at in a station not having a major reach in listenership figures – where two air tickets with accommodation was the prize offered. Client was not too happy with the outcome but the actual response for the promo was higher than the usual response for the station. Client is very keen to how best to use radio in this context. Personally I feel based on the inherent attributes of Radio such as passiveness of the media, perish ability of the media that radio is best used for tactical activities such as promotions & competitions perhaps but not for strategic usage – which is what most of the competition here is using radio for (except for the on-air or calling-in promo they do once-in-a-way). Please advice in a context like this what are the kind-of tools or ways we could best use radio – creatively?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 26, 2006 ):
The Guru believes the question is not how to use radio, but what medium to use to achieve goals. But your goal is not clear. Is it simply to sell air tickets? Many direct response media options might do this effectively. Is it to build awareness? Other media and mixes might be best, with a reach emphasis.

Sunday, March 19, 2006 #7116
I have created a networked system of over 8,200 city websites for the US market. This system allows me to place banner advertising on just one city, several cities, or all 8,200 cities at once. How or where can I find out what pricing I should charge for advertising on such a precision ad targeted system?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 20, 2006 ):
The best basis is the pricing of similar sites. Try Internet.com for relevant reports.

Saturday, March 18, 2006 #7115
Thank you for providing this great resource! I come from a bioinformatics (biological computing) background and had a lightbulb go off ... applying energy minimization and simulations to spot cable (media) scheduling. I'm not the first to have a "this will solve everything" idea ... my question is: what's the success rate for these types of ideas? Is it "ain't [sic] broke, so don't fix it?" Or is there an audience for way-out-of-the-box methodologies? Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 19, 2006 ):
The Guru has no idea what issue your idea is meant to solve nor whether it's a good approach. Various optimization algorithms have caught on with larger buyers in the past decade or so.

Saturday, March 18, 2006 #7114
guru...can you tell me what is the role of a media traffic controller in a news channel and how is it different in advertising comapany..

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, March 18, 2006 ):
A media traffic controller at a media company receives ad copy and integrates into the schedule that has been sold to the advertiser. At an advertiser or agency, the comparable person sends out the copy to the relevant media vendors with instructions as to how to integrate it into the schedule purchased.

Friday, March 17, 2006 #7113
what is direct marketing?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, March 18, 2006 ):
Direct marketing is intended to make the sale or generate the inquiry in immediate response to the message. Direct mail and magazine bounce-back coupons are examples.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 #7111
guru..can u please tell me what should added in a media plan and media schedule..

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 14, 2006 ):
See the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Saturday, March 11, 2006 #7110
We are launching an Internet web portal for advertising vehicles for sale. The site will initially focus on our local area, so we plan to use local radio and broadcast TV ads to drive users (car buyers) to the site. My question is: what type of response can we expect from the advertising? I have heard that a "typical" TV ad response rate is 1%-3%, but I couldn't find anything specific to driving visitors to a web portal. I also could not find any estimates for radio advertising responses, and I am very concerned that radio advertising might not be as effective for a web based business since listeners do not necessarily have access to the Internet while they are hearing the ad. Any help or direction would be appreciated. Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 12, 2006 ):
The Guru would expect TV or print to have the advantage of making your URL easier to remember. You shouldn't count on any medium causing a user to drop everything and get right on line. 1-2% response rates are related to "Direct response" ads, not ads about shopping resources or other retail. If the Guru were promoting a web site, he would start with online ads, especially if you want people who are exposed to your ads to have ready access to your site when they get the message.

Saturday, March 11, 2006 #7109
guru is there any web site from where i can get concepts or theories on media planning??

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 12, 2006 ):
That's what AMIC and especially the Media Guru Section are all about. One of the Guru's favorite other sites is Ephron on Media

Friday, March 03, 2006 #7106
Dear Guru! I have taken up a freelance direct marketing project to do email marketing campaigns/provide consulting advice to a .com jewelry retailer. I will be starting by doing an email blast thru a company called top button sales and then designing an average of 1-2 campaigns a month and sending them out to our database. I have two questions: 1. I am a newcomer in this business, especially on the freelance site. How much do these services cost? Is there any website or bureau I can look up this informatnion? I know I can't charge over the top since I'm only starting out, but I really want to know what the market prices are. 2. what are some good ways to build an email subscriber database, besides people acutally signing up for emails? I know you can by mailing lists, but it seems to be illegal to buy email lists?! Would you have any suggestions? Thank you!!

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, March 03, 2006 ):
The Guru will focus on the media aspects of your question:
It is legal to buy email lists.
Typically, vendors sell a use of a list rather than handing over the list itself
You do want to be sure you are buying lists of emails that have given permission to be sent marketing messages
You can build your own lists by creating a registration option on the websites of your clients.

Thursday, March 02, 2006 #7105
Our client has asked for a POV on SIP's versus general market magazines. They have a limited budget and feel they should first do a good job in SIP's before going into the larger, more expensive consumer titles. Do you know of resources on SIP readership? what is your general opinion on using SIP's?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, March 02, 2006 ):
Special interest publications are potentially very powerful with a very select group. If your product finds all or most of its prospects within such a group, it makes sense to begin with these publications until they don't provide a good return on investment. If, on the other hand, your product is aimed at a demographic that merely happens to be well represented in the audience of some SIPs but is not related to the SIP's content then there are probably good reasons to broaden your magazine selection.
Such publications tend not to be reported in the syndicated research, but publishers should have lots of audience information, especially for the SIPs that are spin-offs of broader titles like the Better Homes and Gardens spin-offs at Meredith

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 #7103
Regional Advertising: what are the best sources to find regional magazines and newspapers across the country?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, March 01, 2006 ):
The Guru would start with Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS)

Monday, February 20, 2006 #7100
Dear Guru, Thanks for your reply. Could you also explain how to develop impression based pricing structure for our new website.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, February 21, 2006 ):
The Guru primarily sees things from the buyer / planners' side. Given that, he sees these impressions-based pricing issues for you:

what revenue do you need? Of course, you may be willing to operate at a loss to get started.
How much inventory will you have, i.e. given the number of visitors and number of ad positions, how much inventory do you have available to sell?
Where and on what bases can you charge premiums?
E.g. special audiences / special topics / special space / certain rich media, etc?
what are similar sites seeeling for?
Do you have an attractive site that presents advertisers as well as / better than buyers' other options?.
Assuming you can sell all your inventory, what must it be sold for to make your revenue goal?

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 #7096
Is it possible to buy radio based on narrower demos than the norm? i.e. 25-34, 35-44, or 35-54. I'm trying to determine what age range the client should target and which demo would be most efficient. Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, February 15, 2006 ):
You can buy any demographic for which you and the seller can agree on the audience; i.e. any measured demographic.
For examples see this list at Arbitron

Tuesday, February 07, 2006 #7093
Is there a way to look up DMAs by County? Right now I'm using a cable based software that only works if the zip, city or county is covered by cable. But I have a few that aren't and I'm not even sure what market they're in! I checked my regular resource websites but didn't see anything searchable by county. Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, February 11, 2006 ):
Your best tool might be Nielsen's DMA map or its data file

Friday, February 03, 2006 #7090
I have been reading about blogs in the media...just what are blogs or what is a blog. They sound like an animal...are they alive? Please help!

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, February 04, 2006 ):
Oh, Virginia. An old friend of the Guru need not feign ignorance here.
Blog, short for web log, was originally sort of a diary posted on the web and the concept has grown into web-based streams of consciousness, rants and pseudo journalistic postings by writers of widely ranging competence and authority.
Blogs are not ad media per se, but sites that host blogs are often ad-supported. Like many cultural phenomena that interest the media far more than they interest "real people" blogs have a lot of trendy buzz these days. Recent reports indicate that about 20-25% of web users visit blog sites overall. Audiences of individual blog sites are far smaller than that.

Sunday, January 29, 2006 #7086
When I refered to proper Grips for Hogs on The High Seas I was referring to each specific DMA I ran a cable schedule in with a target of Adults 45-64 using STRATA to measure. Each DMA we chose had a high percentage of motorcycle owners in that age group. So are you suggesting a direct mail piece to all the news mediums or a direct mail piece to potential cruisers?? My target market for this campaign are retired 45-65 motorcycle owners on the west coast.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, January 30, 2006 ):
Your previous query asked about how to get media coverage for your charity. Direct mail to these targets is what the Guru recommends for this goal per, your specifications.

Thursday, January 26, 2006 #7084
what associations should a new media buyer be a part of?what seminars,or additional resources are worthwhile?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, January 28, 2006 ):
There are some associations for online planners and buyers and sellers. Most of these are local, not national. More use comes from your agency's membership in larger organizations like American Association of Advertising Agencies or The Advertising Research Foundation.
The Guru never endorses any seminars.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 #7080
Hi. Could you pls elaborate what needs to be considered in choosing between national channel and local channels? Also,could you share how other markets get to track viewing behaviour in non-rated markets?

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, January 26, 2006 ):
The Guru assumes you mean quantitatively. This is a fairly simple process: For the given list of local markets, what is the cumulative cost of buying the schedule you want as compared to buying the same schedule in national media. Or what is the national cost-per-point versus the sum of all the local costs-per point. At some point in adding to your market list, you will be spending more for the limited geographic coverage area than to buy the whole country. This point may come somewhere between 25% and 50% of the nation. Depending on demographics and desired programming.
Other issues, such as whether there is distribution in all areas, or consistent brand names will also be relevant.
Non-rated markets may be estimated based on the performance of the same programs in rated markets.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 #7079
what's your feeling regarding using statewide radio networks versus buying larger metro stations that provide good reach throughout the areas? I am currently evaluating the strength of the stations and cost efficiencies for both but need to know general thoughts. Thank you--I always find helpful information here!

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, January 26, 2006 ):
The Guru's immediate reaction to "statewide networks" is a set of rural stations with low reach and coverage, unlikely to include major, metro area stations. If your geographic goals are based on metros, it's one thing; if any listener anywhere in the state is a good as another, in boxcar load fashion (perhaps a lottery or governmental message?), then the statewide network might be best.

Monday, January 23, 2006 #7078
A co-worker mention last week that 50% of the advertising budget of the automobile industry in US goes to tv when recent data appoints that most people use newspaper and internet to make their desicion.He understands that the television budget must be lowered and used more on internet and print. Please comment.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, January 23, 2006 ):
Considering the auto industry as a whole is somewhat misleading.
One must consider the message, the target and the specific marketer: In the big-ticket, "considered-purchase" sphere, there are distinct phases for the buyer. We can think of them as awareness, consideration and "shopping."
During the awareness phase, consumers are learning about the available brands / products / features that could meet their needs or even learning that they have needs, based upon information presented in ads. These are messages from auto makers, dramatizing and romanticizing cars, with some detail about capabilities and features. Image and awareness are typical goals. Budgets are big and TV carries the burden. This awareness / image building phase can occur over years, leading consumers to establish general attitudes towards auto brands.
When consumers have an awareness of the brands, they begin to form a consideration set, focusing on the choices which will meet their needs. More detail regarding product capability and features is sought. Magazine and online ads can serve these messages, better targeted to the likely buyer of specific models, based on age, income, family size, interests, etc. These are also big budget, manufacturer, ads.
The consumer next reaches the shopping stage, where pricing and deals become key issues. At this point, local dealer ads and newspapers are more relevant. Yet, this decision is being made among brand choices stemming from the big budget advertsing that we discussed first.
Of course, none of these stages are pure, and messages overlap. Keep in mind that the decision / internet nexus you have identified goes well beyond the advertising arena, and involves consumers' use of manufacturers' web sites or independent product comparison sites like Consumer's Reports, neither of which involve advertsing budgets.

Friday, January 13, 2006 #7075
what is the average fall-off of awareness during subsequent TV hiatus weeks? Is there a standard weekly decline, such as 33% or 50%?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 13, 2006 ):
Formulas the Guru has seen showed (to oversimplify) 9 to 10% fall-off from previous weeks once hiatus began, but
this was from long ago when Network TV was so dominant
depended on how high awareness was and
how high advertising levels had been
.

Friday, December 09, 2005 #7068
I am trying to evaluate two non-traditional media opportunitites: advertising on the back of a box of cereal (with virtually the entire back panel devoted to the ad) and advertising on a soda can (the ad would be approx 1.5" x 2.5"). Any suggestions on a method/thought process for determining the value of each of the spaces? In particular, what traditional media opportunities would you compare these to? As you determined impressions, would you count one per package or would you allow for multiple impressions, particularly in the case of a cereal box, which would be viewed multiple times?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, December 09, 2005 ):
Interesting question. The Guru agrees that the soda can will generate one impression and the cereal box several. The vendor should be able to tell you how many occasions of use the relevant cereal box enjoys, or if you want to be strict, how many family members, on average, use the a box.
As a comparison to traditional media, it's somewhere between newspaper (read once, dispose) and outdoor in a familiar location.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 #7060
grp formula

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, December 04, 2005 ):
It depaends on what data you have to begin with. It could be:
Impressions ÷ population, or
Average rating X number of ads, or
Sum of ratings of all ads, or
reach X frequency

Monday, November 21, 2005 #7054
what are the basic factors I should consider to project an increase of share market? Specifically I was requested to provide the incremental media dollars to increase from a 12%SOM to an 18%SOM in the South Florida hispanic market?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, November 23, 2005 ):
Start with
Share of voice
% SOM increase desired
SOM of other brands
# of brands
Projected spending of competitors
Geographic opportunities
.

Friday, November 18, 2005 #7052
what are the "VTM", "RTL" and "JIM TV" networks?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, November 19, 2005 ):
VTM and JimTV seem to be Belgian networks.
RTL exists in Croatia/Hrvatska and Germany plus Luxembourg, the Netherlands and maybe more.

Friday, November 18, 2005 #7050
Dear media guru: Good day! I am preparing a correlation analysis between awareness and share of voice. could you kindly share some guidelines. if for example, the awareness survey was done in May 2005, what period should I use for calculating share of voice? Is past 6 months valid? Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 20, 2005 ):
This is a judgement call. Since you are using a static awareness measure, you can easily look at share of voice for a range of recent periods, if they differ. Why not latest 3 months, six months, and a year?

Thursday, November 10, 2005 #7042
what are the differences between research currently available for the Hispanic market compared to the general market? what are the reasons for these differences?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 13, 2005 ):
The research has become quite comparable. Nielsen for TV for TV, Arbitron for radio, Simmons and MRI for magazines and product usage, Scarborough and The Media Audit for local markets, comScore for online all measure very much the same things the saem ways for the Hispanic and General Market.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005 #7037
what media planning/buying system is available in Florida and how approx. are the rates for those systems?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, November 13, 2005 ):
Try eTelmar. Cost varies according to modules and volume.

Thursday, October 27, 2005 #7033
what are the typical stardards in evaluating a Direct Mail piece as a media opportunity? Is there a standard rule of thumb for an average CPM?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, October 30, 2005 ):
The key elements for a DM piece are the offer, the creative and the quality of the list. Only the last is a "media" decision.
The CPM combines the production cost of the piece including postage and the cost per thousand of the list. Production and postage will be the greater costs. A highly selective list might cost $100 per thousand, while the production and postage could be upwards of 50 cent a piece ($500 per thousand).

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 #7030
what would tv reach and frequency be over a 3 week period in Chicago with 4stations on buy and total A35+grps of 165.0?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, October 19, 2005 ):
Visit eTelmar

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 #7019
If the ad was the first time it was published in a magazine... when should you expect a response? what is the minimum frequency before you can expect a reaction for first time advertisment?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, September 20, 2005 ):
If the ad is direct reponse and you expect a 2% response overall, then you would see some response almost immediately; as soon as a few hundred impressions have been delivered.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 #7018
If your ads are more branding than a call-to-action, what is the frequency before you can expect a response?Is there a rule about it taking three times before they ever really consciously notice? If so what is it called?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, September 20, 2005 ):
FIrst you need to define "response." If ads are branding, what response do you expect? A change in attitudes or intent to purchase which is measurable in a survey?
The Guru would allow 8 to 13 weeks for a significant change and measure against a control market or other control scenario.

Monday, September 19, 2005 #7017
what's the minimum frequency you can have before you can expect a reaction from a magazine ad in a trade publication?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, September 19, 2005 ):
One will do it, three is better. The power of the ad matteres a lot.

Monday, September 19, 2005 #7016
what is the earliest response you could get from a magazine ad in a trade publication?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, September 19, 2005 ):
The "earliest" would be a day or two after the mailing date.

Friday, September 16, 2005 #7015
Our client is new to online arena. They would like to test the effectiveness of the medium vs newspaper. They would like to have one scenario with just newspaper, another with just online, and a third with online and newspaper. Any advice in determining which markets make the most sense to conduct the analysis.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, September 17, 2005 ):
what may be hardest is to find sites that can serve a single market or deliver the majority of their impressions in one specific market. Sites like these are often ones belonging to local news media. Othere are specifc types of shopping sites, such as restaurant info, for example MenuPages.com for New York city restaurants. After that, markets can be picked using the usual test comparison bases.

Friday, September 16, 2005 #7014
what is banana marketing

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, September 17, 2005 ):
As a media term, this is unfamiliar to the Guru. There is a website by this name, but that appears to be simply a marketing firm's site.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 #7013
Unfortunately CARD only covers print, similar to SRDS here in the states. Wondering what broadcast media planners in Canada use for rate projections like SQAD provides here in the states.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, September 17, 2005 ):
SQAD themselves might have the answer.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 #7010
I have a client whose target audience consists only of Insurance Brokers. I am planning a print campaign and need to justify it to the owner who wants to know only the ROI. I have one weekly business publication and two trade pubs in three markets. I also only have the circulation numbers and nothing else. what is the best way to calculate reach and frequency with this information? Can I also figure the percentage of awareness from these numbers?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, September 17, 2005 ):
In trade publications, circulation tends to be heavy among qualified readers, pass-along is often minimal. A conservative audience estimate is audience = circulation. Again, because of this distibution pattern, issue-to-issue cume is minimal. As far as duplication between titles, random probability is a safe estimate, but may be a bit high.
Reach becomes a maximum measure of awareness; you need to estimate the required frequency which generates awareness as well. Ad Awareness can't exceed reach.

Monday, September 12, 2005 #7008
what are grp

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, September 12, 2005 ):
Click here for over 300 past Guru responses about GRP

Saturday, September 10, 2005 #7005
Let's consider two markets; Market A and Market B. Both markets have aired a TV campaign targeting A2554. Market A is a large metro city (which has metered HH ratings), while Market B is an outer market (HH ratings non-metered), but is close in proximity to Market A. When preparing post reports for clients, how would you apply the correct A2554 rating to Market B for a special program which aired, e.g., an Awards Show, which isn't listed during sweeps? I've been shown 2 ways to do this and need some clarification: a) Utilize Nielsen NAD information and retrieve the A2554 rating from the specific zone Market B is listed under b) Use the following demo skew: Market A HH rating x Market B HH rating x Market B A2554 rating Market A HH rating Market B HH rating Is either correct? Or is the rationale I've been taught way off base?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, September 10, 2005 ):
First keep in mind that this is an estimating procedure, not science; at some point we are inferring the behavior of one set of people from that of another set of people.Then the issue is to what degree does the special program's rating vary from regular programming in the time period.
The Guru would use this approach:
Collect the time period ratings for HH and A2554 in the measured sweeps before and after the Award show in Market B
Calculate the average of these pairs of HH and Demo ratings
Collect the same data and averages in Market A
Compare the measured audiences of the Award show in market A to the averages calculated for market A.
THEN: Market A Award show HH rating ÷ Market A Before & After average HH rating = HH index
Market A Award show A2554 rating ÷ Market A Before & After A2554 average rating = A2554 index

Mulitply the Average HH and Demo ratings in Market B by their respective indices to calculate Market B Award Show ratings.

Friday, September 09, 2005 #7003
what can you tell me about buying broadcast "scatter"?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, September 11, 2005 ):
First there is "upfront" buying, when larger deals are made before the new season with commitment s across all quarters and with specifial terms of pricing and partial "relief" or cancellation.
"Scatter" refers to smaller buys over shorter durations, made later in the year.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 #6999
what is the difference between trp and grp

The Media Guru Answers(Thursday, August 25, 2005 ):
When both are used, TRP usually refers to specific demographic ratings while GRP referes to Household points.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 #6992
Media Guru, We have a client who in the past has typically purchased one tv station in each market that they advertise. We have recently taken over their advertising and are willing to work with one station in the new markets they are expanding into. However, here is where the problem lies. Their budgets are limited. If they're going to advertise with one station, we recommend that they at least heavy up their campaign and run 50-75 TRPs per week for the first weeks preceeding and proceeding their arrival into the market. They however are asking us to consider a plan in which they run as little as 10 TRPs per week so that they can be on the entire year. Obviously, we do not agree with this and are formulating are answers accordingly. what I was wondering is if you are aware of any research or can point us in the direction of something that may even further help our cause. Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, August 13, 2005 ):
There can be considerable value in continuity for appropriate, constant-purchase products and services, but some minimal level of activity is best. Failing that, as your client seems determined to do, flighting or using other media is probably more effective.
See Erwin Ephron on "recency" or The Advertising Research Foundation InfoCenter. For details about the InfoCenter, call 212-751-5656, extension 230. ARF materials will also be available through American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers.

Saturday, August 06, 2005 #6990
Hi MG - what are your thoughts on traditional media's frequency vs. the new theory of "engagement"? Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, August 06, 2005 ):
Engagement means "probably saw." This moves measurement from simple "opportunity to see," which is based on the traditional Nielsen style of audience impressions measurment onward to a value based on attentiveness or other adjustment that reflects whether a person in the counted audience actually was engaged in the commercial or left the room, started a conversation, etc. It's certainly not new, but is becoming more recognized. Marketers have been using such adjustments for at least 30 years to get more realistic evaluations of communications. Erwin Ephron writes about engagement.

Thursday, July 28, 2005 #6987
TV Wearout: what is more effective, to keep a weran out spot running or to have nothig on air? and why?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 31, 2005 ):
First you need to define wear-out. The most practical general definition is "an ad is worn out when sales decline." But for your question, the answer is an ad is worn out when it costs more to air than the value of sales it generates. Othewrwise, the Guru would say some advertising is better than no advertising.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 #6985
How to attract potential customers for information diet products and where best to advertise for information diet products.Which web sites would be the best to advertise on.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 31, 2005 ):
Google "diet" and see what ad-supported sites you find.

Friday, July 15, 2005 #6977
I am trying to determine ratings, estimate TRP's and reach for a specific target group in Billboards (OOH media). Here is the example for one location: Location A: 50,000 daily vehicles Average persons per vehicle: 1.5 Total persons for location A: 50,000 x 1.5=75,000 Target: Men 25-34 (represents 7% of the total population-Census) Estimated Men 25-34 for location A: 75,000 x 7%=5,250 what i did, is that I assumed that 7% of the total persons passing through location A are men 25-34 Rtg M25-34: 5250/250123 (total M25-34 population)= 2.1 I am not sure if I have to apply a percentage to this rating or audience to eliminate the duplication factor. I have this formula, to eliminate the duplication, but I am not if it's right. The formula assumes that: 10% of the vehicles pass 1 time = 10 10% of the vehicles pass 2 times = 20 10% of the vehicloes pass 3 times = 30 10% of the vehicles pass 4 times = 40 10+10+10+10=40 10+20+30+40=100 40/100=40% which is my duplication factor. I apply this 40% to the Men25-34 rating for location A: 2.1x40%=0.8 is my net reach. Is this a logical assumption? If I want to determine the reach for various locations, can I sum the net reach for each location and have a total reach?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 17, 2005 ):
Both math and logic seem off.
If 10%, or 5,000 vehicles pass once, that's 5,000 vehicle-passings
If 10%, or 5,000 more vehicles pass twice that's 10,000 more vehicle-passings
If 10%, or 5,000 more vehicles pass 3x, that's 15,000 more vehicle-passings.
If 10%, or 5,000 more vehicles pass 4x, that's 20,000 vehicle-passings.
So that adds up to 20,000 vehicles and 50,000 passings, alright. But as soon as you decided you had 4 different sets of 10% of vehicles, you knew reach was 40% of the gross passings without the rest of the arithmetic. And, the Guru has a hard time imaginging a location that would be passed three or four times per day (in the same direction presumably) by half of the vehicles that ever pass.

Friday, July 15, 2005 #6976
Dear Guru, i am a media planner with mediaReach OMD Nigeria. I would like to know what levels of GRP is desirable particularly for developing markets like Nigeria, we have clients that are asking. Secondly, should GRP's be calcuated nationally or reginally or by key market/locations in the country?Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 17, 2005 ):
Appropriate weight levels and their audience impact are different in every country and culture with its own media; the Guru has no expertise in Nigeria. National or reegional or local depends upon the marketing scenario.
Click here for past Guru responses about levels.

Thursday, July 14, 2005 #6974
what are the "10 golden rules" of media? (mediaadvertising)

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 17, 2005 ):
It appears that you are referring to something written or said by a specific author or expert, perhaps about planning or buying or selling. The Guru has not encountered any well know or accepted "10 golden rules" of media.
He could invent a few.

Thursday, July 14, 2005 #6973
what is the difference between TVR and Reach and How do benchmark effective levels of reach?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 17, 2005 ):
TVR is rating. The audience size of a single program or commercial announcement, as a percentage of the populaiton universe under consideration,
TVR is equivalent to the reach of this single instance.
Reach is the net accumulation of unduplicated audience, the number of different member of the population exposed to the entire set of programs or advertsing schedule.
Click here for past Guru responses about levels.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 #6970
what information needs to be included in a media opportunity recommendation/analysis.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 17, 2005 ):
If the Guru understands your query, you need to match the facts about the "opportunity" to the objectives and strategies set for your media planning. These should include audience demographics and size, cost and the how well the nature of the opportunity creates a supportive environment for your message.
For example, a NASCAR racing program is better enviromental support for motor oil than for fine jewelry, even if it matches demographics.

Saturday, July 09, 2005 #6967
what ARE THE STEPS TO BE TAKEN TO ADOPT A STRATEGY FOR MEDIA PLANNING ?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, July 09, 2005 ):
See the Guru's Parts of a Media Plan

Friday, July 01, 2005 #6964
what is the relationship between reach & frequency in the US to reach & frequency in Canada? For example, if a flight in the US has 325 GRPs and gets 38% 1+ reach and 17% 3+, how could I adjust those so they correlate to a similar flight in Canada?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 03, 2005 ):
There is no simple or specific relationship. Each country and each culture with its own media within a country (e.g. the US Hispanic market) have different reach curves. The different daypart cumes, rating sizes, numbers of vehicles within a medium, etc. contribute to reach derived from GRPs. It's not magic, it's generalizations from measured, consumer media behavior.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 #6962
Best way to get charter advertisers/sponsors for new on-line publication? what data must you provide to sell ad space, particularly when you are new? what studies must be done regularly to show advertisers the value?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, July 03, 2005 ):
Media buyers want know
what is the size of the audience?
what kind of people - demographic and psychographically?
what is the content of the site, to support advertsing messages?
The first two are the ones to support with research. Nielsen//Netratings, comScore or i/Pro are good sources for trusted audience measures.

Monday, June 20, 2005 #6958
Dear Media Guru, I am creating a media plan to reach a very narrow audience - moms looking to buy pianos for their kids. what resources do you recommend for research on the best media options to use? The client has a limited budget but needs to advertise in major markets. Thanks! Tracy, Capstone Media

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, June 20, 2005 ):
Syndicated media/marketing research studies report on purchases like pianos. Cross-tabbing mothers in households that bought pianos versus usage of various media is your starting point.
Try MRI, Simmons and Scarborough.

Sunday, June 19, 2005 #6957
what are the meaning of the following: program specifically tv, technical problem, event, spot, breaking news, commercial brake or advertisement?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 19, 2005 ):
Some of these are not media industry jargon, but everyday English:
Program (TV): A unit of content consisting of specific topical material, such as a news program, a situation comedy or a drama. Used broadly to refer to the collective existence of the program, rather than to a single episode. So, CBS Evening News is a program; the CBS Evening News on June 19th is an episode of this program.
Technical problem: typically some disruption in a station's ability to transmit, which interupts proper reception of programming or commericals
Event: no specific media meaning
Breaking news: Something deemed newsworthy, which is happening at the moment of broadcast
Commericial break: a scheduled interruption in the flow of programming to allow airing of an advertsing message
Advertisement: a marketing message presented within media

Friday, June 10, 2005 #6948
Please let me know what is the formula to calculate OTS of an advertisement in a print newspaper?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, June 11, 2005 ):
The Guru sees OTS used in two ways:
Averaage frequency of exposure of those reached, or
gross number of exposures of the schedule (persons exposed counted each time they are exposed)
In the latter case, audience of the newspaper times the number of ads gives OTS. In the former case, this calculation is divided by the net exposures (counting each person exposed only once) to yield average frequency of exposure.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005 #6946
Is there an industry standard when negotiating against SQAD rates that you should be able to come in 15-25% below low SQAD? As a media buyer, what's the acceptable percentage range I should be coming in at and how can I account for seasonality.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, June 11, 2005 ):
Many buyers set ranges of 15-25% below SQAD as a goal, depending on past experience and how much lead time they have, among other factors. Once you have your benchmark against SQAD, SQAD's seasonal variations are the seasonal index to apply.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005 #6945
what is the least expensive way of obtaining income & purchasing habits data for business owners within a specific county in Michigan?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, June 11, 2005 ):
Try the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a good place to start. Try also Michigan state government sources

Friday, June 03, 2005 #6944
Hi Guru. Can you please tell me what an "average" click through rate is for a web banner? Also what an "average" click through is for an e-newsletter ad? Thanks!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 05, 2005 ):
Simple (non-rich media) banners are recently averaging 0.2% click rate, see DoubleClick's Ad-serving reports
E-mail ads average 8.0%, see DoubleClicks' E-mail Trend reports

Thursday, June 02, 2005 #6943
Dear Media guru, I have recently heard a lot about 'receptivity' research and I am just wondering what it is. Please give me some clue. Thank you.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, June 05, 2005 ):
Receptivity is about the state of mind of the target audience when exposed to the message. It includes the idea that a consumer is more receptive to a message about power saws when reading Home HandyMan or watching This Old House or that the consumer is more receptive to car ads when about to start shopping for the next car.
For research on the topic try The Advertising Research Foundation InfoCenter. For details about the InfoCenter, call 212-751-5656, extension 230. ARF materials will also be available through American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers.

Monday, May 30, 2005 #6942
what the standard sustaining, maintenance and saturation GRP levels for a media buy? For what time period are these levels: one week, four weeks etc. And finally, what is your source for this information.... is it an "industry standard" or found in a textbook? Assume the client is an automobile dealer.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 30, 2005 ):
There is no generally accepted standard. For maintenance, some like 100 GRP, probably because it's a large, round number.
It makes more sense to think in Reach and Frequency terms, i.e how much of the target gets how many messages; then the logic comes through. It makes some sort of sense to say that in maintenance, you want to reach at lease half of your target in an average four weeks (four weeks is the standard period in which to measure R&F). Ephron has said that cency theory calls for 30 reach every week for products continuously purchased. COmpetitvew pressure migh raise these figures or call for a specified minimum level of frequency. Attaining these levels can call for very different GRP levels depending on medium and daypart selection. All this too depends on what the budget will afford.
So, clearly, GRP levels are a great oversimplification.

Thursday, May 26, 2005 #6938
I have a new client that specializes in remote control cars. Currently they are advertising in every hobbyist magazine out there. I want to tell them that this is not a smart way of spending their dollars. Are there any statistics or info that I can get to help convince the client to reallocate their dollars more effectively?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 30, 2005 ):
There are lots of statistics in the world. But what do yu want them to prove?
That the buyer of remote control cars doesn't read these magazines?
That they read something else or find information elsewhere, like online?
That after "X" number of insertions you have reached everyone who reads these books, and are wasting your money?
If you don't have a hypothesis, what will statistics do?

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 #6937
Thank you for your answer about internet grps(#6936). Another question would be, can we calculate reach for internet? and how about reach for a hispanic target

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 25, 2005 ):
Calculating reach is ususally done in one of two ways:
Using a respondent level audience measurement such as Nielsen//Netratings or comScore-MediaMetrix, one tracks the actual use by the relevant demographic within the sample against the schedule run.
More practically, one obtains a series of such measurements and builds a model, so that one can then genralize from schedules run in the future, using variable such as # of impressions, number of sites in the mix, share of page loads on the sites, etc.
The issues are what portion of the sites' reach does your schedule get and what is the duplication between sites' audiences.
For example, Yahoo might reach 40% of all those online in a month, but your buy will probably appear in less than 0.1% of all Yahoo page loads. And how many of the persons exposed to your Yahoo buy will also be exposed to your buy on MiGente.com?
Since Hispanic audience is measure by both services, the Hispanic issues are no more difficult in this scenario.
As a ballpark sort of estimate, most major sites ought to be able to tell you the number of unique visitors exposed to your schedule. This number, divided by the relevant universe will give you an estimate of reach on that site. You can combine sites' reaches by random probability unless you can get site duplication estimates from the sites.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 #6933
what is the suggested,standard proof of performance for FSIs inserted by local newspapers?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, May 25, 2005 ):
An affidavit is the current, common proof.

Monday, May 23, 2005 #6931
Hi, I want to know you point of view about what william arens says about reach & frequency

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 23, 2005 ):
The Guru has not read Arens' textbook. Available blurbs indicate it is about creative more than media issues.

Monday, May 23, 2005 #6930
what is reach & frequency?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, May 23, 2005 ):
Go to the Guru Archives Search Engine. Use " reach and frequency | reach & frequency" as your search term.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 #6927
what is your opinion about reach and frequency, and do you think its worth using this tool?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, May 20, 2005 ):
Reach tells the number of different people exposed to your campaign, frequency tell the average number of time they are exposed.
In the Guru's opinion, these are crucial campaign metrics. Effective reach considers specifc levels of reach at minuma of frequency.

Monday, May 16, 2005 #6924
Great site Guru (Abby?) I'm new to the media biz. I'm working with a technology company that has developed a unique method of allowing websites to identify the location of origin of page requests (no cookies or spyware, this is all done at the server level). Thus it will now be possible to know where a page request originates (down to zip code/postal code level). More interestingly, it will be possible for online advertisers to customize ad delivery by city (and even zip code/postal code). Online advertisers will finally be able to reliably segment online viewers by city. No more wasted cpms on eyeballs well outside the target market. My question to you: Do you have any suggestions on the percentage increase in cpm rate that such targeting would allow? what is the value of this one dimension of the cpm (geographic segmentation)? Ideally I'd like to use an analogy from other media as a reference – keepin’ it real.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 22, 2005 ):
Some sites already serve impressions on a similarly narrowly targeted basis. These tend to be larger, lower cpm sites. CPM premiums for this type of serving may be $5 or about one-third of the base price, in the Guru's experience. There are many ways of narrowing targeting including site registration data.
The Guru believes that this technology may have a better application as a third-party ad server, allowing advertisers to narrow their focus within sites that can't offer the same service, although it leaves the problem of what to do with the less desirable impressions. 3rd party ad servers' base pricing is in the 25 cents to 75 cents cpm range.

Thursday, May 12, 2005 #6921
Dear Guru thanks you for your response on my previous question and I have another question for you. Please tell me how I should calculate reach in the diary methodology when in the diary’s there is not present question about reach of each program (meaning how many people were watching the selected program in the same time with the interviewers). Until this moment I am making media plans based on the GRP’s level on weekly basis, but I have requests from my clients to make media proposals based on reach and frequency. Is it possible to make reach and frequency media plans when the research methodology is diary, and how to do this? Second question is what is the difference between the reach calculations in the diary and reach calculation in the people meters methodology? Thank you in advance.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 15, 2005 ):
"Reach" of a program means the average (time period) audience of the program. Diary or meter, it means the same thing, although the method differs. Diaries do not "ask about reach;" reach is a phenomenon of the total sample, not the individual. Diaires require the respondent to record viewing as the measurement period goes on, just as meters record this same behavior electronically, and rating or reach is a calculation conducted by the reasearch vendor from the compilation of diaries' or meters' results. Reach models may be built based on cumes genrated in either methodology.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 #6919
Do you have any Hispanic oriented studies that speak about the effectiveness factor of 30s vs. 15s? Is it the same as the General Market?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 15, 2005 ):
The Guru has not seen comparisons of :30 vs :15 specific to the Hispanic market. As Hispanic TV may still be somewhat less cluttered, the ratio may be a bit better.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 #6918
what is the standard response to advertising rate? How does it differ by product category?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 15, 2005 ):
Response differs by medium, offer and audience in addition to category. Are you thinking about simple response to the ad, as online click rate or do you mean sales? Such broad generalities as you request are meaningless.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 #6917
Hi. I'm working on a Q4 spot tv media plan for a client in Michigan City IN. what is the best way to get a sense of what CPPs and ratings should be for the Chicago and Sound Bend DMAs for this time period? (SQAD? - If so, which time periods should I request?) Thanks in advance for your help

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 15, 2005 ):
SQAD for the time period you will be buying. SQAD offers projections.
For ratings, see Nielsen.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005 #6914
I'm building a streaming video network across several independent websites, offering original content to a targeted demographic, serving over 1 mil. streams. what average cpm would you recommend?

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, May 07, 2005 ):
The Guru does not think the streaming element affects the price as much as the target and ad type. $10 to $200 depending on the target and the ad format. Small gifs at the low end, large Eyelasters or similar rich media at the high end; broad age / gender targets at the low end; small business executive niches at the high end.

Saturday, April 30, 2005 #6909
Iam a marketing student and iam having some doubt on the following " what is fundamental difference between internet advertising vis-a-vis conventional forms of mass advertising" thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, April 30, 2005 ):
See the Guru's media strengths page

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 #6908
I was asked to present Q1 & Q2 local TV buys to my client's new advertising manager. Both buys include daytime and early news only. The Q1 buy aired Mon-Sun/8-week flight: Q2 airs Wed-Sun/8 week flight. Question #1: The new ad manager insists that the reach and frequency of the 7 days/week buy should differ from r/f of the 5 days/week buy. I say its the same. Who's right? Question #2: The ad manager informed me she likes marketron reports (because they are easy to read) and asked if I could obtain them for the current buy for her review. My reply was, "Sure I can. No problem". There is, however, one small problem. I don't know what a marketron report is. Please help!!!!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, May 01, 2005 ):
Assuming the same daypart dispersion and GRPs, the same schedule dispersed over more days should have a higher reach; there is greater reach potential in more dispersion. The typical reach model at your disposal may not have the ability to account for this level of detail in the input variables. In any case, the 5 day / 7 day difference is most notable in a one-week schedule. Over eight weeks, little or no difference would remain.
Marketron is a vendor of computer analysis systems for broadcast, nowadays more used by stations and reps than by agencies. One of the stations you buy from may be able to produce the report you need.
Sytems more oriented to agency media buyers and planners include those from our own eTelmar.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 #6907
what are the frequently asked questions about media math (formulas)

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, April 29, 2005 ):
See media math and formulas

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 #6902
Thanks for your response to my question re: media buying through an online system. I believe the WebAD.vantage site you mention below is for advertising online. My question pertained to buying traditional radio media online via some kind of internet based solution. Although your point re: posting rate cards on media sites is well taken......rates for radio stations are for one dynamic so I don't understand how a radio station could effectively post their rates in a meaningful way to buyers. Not to mention other considerations that can effect rates quoted by media companies. In a recent article Chrysler's Julie Roehm said " Buying ads should be more like buying stocks." She goes on to say "creating a more efficient electronic system for buying ad spots would free advertisers to concentrate more on developing branded content and interactive TV". Perhaps I'm just looking for something that doesn't exist yet it would seem to me there is a need for a system that leverages the internet to facilitate the buying/selling of radio media....and the efficiencies would save media outlets and media buyers and their clients time/money. If this is not available today then perhaps you can tell me what's preventing this technology from coming to market? Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, April 19, 2005 ):
The online buy/sell of media "commoditizes" advertising, that is it makes an impression just an impression; it is reduced to buying impressions or spots for a set or low-bid price. Speaking for media professionals, the Guru believes that there are important evaluative steps; audience evaluation, qualitative and quantitative, schedule refinements and actual negotiation, none of which lend themselves to handling online. Surely it is not in the interest of radio stations to support "development of branded content and interactive TV." Nor are the people most likely to have this responsibility the same ones involved in negotiating radio. They are non-intersecting disciplines in the Guru's opinion. The concept seems aimed at eliminating radio sellers and buyers, a direction not likely to be supported by agencies, and probably not by stations seeking a selling advantage, either.

Thursday, April 14, 2005 #6899
I'm interested in learning more about companies who are currently providing some version of online media buying....radio or other media it doesn't matter. Do you know of where I might find a comprehensive list of such companies? Also, how is the internet being leveraged to facilitate the media buying/selling process or is it? And what is the radio industry doing to leverage the internet to help develop/facilitate business relationships with advertisers....if anything? Thanks, Brad

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 17, 2005 ):
Googling "media buying" will find sites like Media Buy$ or WebAd.vantage
These appear to the Guru to appeal to discount shoppers looking for "fire-sale" remnant space, not to media professionals trying to execute full schedules.
Radio stations as much as, if not more than, other media rely on web sites to inform media professionals about their medium. Radio stations have the advantage of being able to fully present their medium as well as their information on line. Today, every medium is expected to have a website. The Guru can only react with surprised amusement when a medium's web site does not provide a detailed media kit for planners.

Thursday, April 14, 2005 #6897
Dear Media Guru, On Sunday, March 17, 2002 you wrote regarding media audits, "The Guru does not see that this has become a major business area; possibly because it is seen as a one-shot fix, and is most relevant to very large advertisers." Can you clarify what you meant by "one shot" and why it is just for large advertisers. Has Sarbanes Oxley changed your opinion regarding future adoption of broadcast verification services. Do you have differing opinions as to the current or future use of broadcast verification, broadcast verification with analytics, or "all-out" media audits. Why would it only be for large advertisers if they are charged a percentage of media spend (.25-.5%) and are expecting a percentage of savings (1-3%). Shouldn't any size advertiser benefit proportionately?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 17, 2005 ):
The Guru was considering media audits as evaluations of media schedule and planning quality more than verifications of schedules running as purchased and estimated.
Certainly if advertisers pay a maximum of 0.5% and are guaranteed a return of a minimum of 1.0%, there would appear to be benefit to all, but many will not find it worth the administrative effort to save half a percent of, for example, $1,000,000.
The Sabanes-Oxley issues are not at all clear to the Guru. Broadcast verification does not seem to be an obvious element of accountancy compliance.
Of course, if these services have in fact become big busiensses without the Guru realizing it, that would be a matter of fact and not a matter of the Guru's speculation.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 #6895
1.what is the difference between rating and share? 2.How you change people's perception towards #1 tv station that gradually decreasing into#3 become #1 again? 3. is it because tha programme itself? 4. how you gain people's trust and perception back to viewing that tv station again? 5. if it is due to the big promotions? HOW?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 17, 2005 ):

Rating is based on the target population's universe: what percent of all the people are watching the program.
Share is based on the people currently watching TV: what percent of those watching anything are watching the program?
Generally, people don't watch based on a perception of a station, but based on the program per se.
Only when there are directly comparable competing programs such as the evening news, is such a station perception relevant
(&5) Promotions may lead to sampling, but the program has to hold the viewers

Monday, April 11, 2005 #6891
We need to quickly learn how to plan & buy TV in Barcelona Spain. Can you provide a good source?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 17, 2005 ):
If you have NO idea at present, how can you expect to learn quickly? You need the help of someone "on the ground" in Barcelona. what is your starting point? Do you know Spain in general but not Barcelona? Do you know Europe but not Spain? Each country has its quirks and cities differ in terms of competitive climate at least. If you know nothing beyond US practices, the only quick solution is an advisor: a few tips might lead to a quick and dirty solution but not professional level work. There will be different standards, cume patterns, reach models.

Sunday, April 10, 2005 #6889
Can you clearly explain the job functions and the responsibilites of a Media Director, a Media Planner, and a Media Buyer?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, April 13, 2005 ):
To keep it simple:
A media buyer negotiates with media seller to secure the right media placement at the right price. The buyer fulfills goals set by the media plan. The buyer is likely to specialize in specific media types, such as network broadcast or magazines.
The media planner prepares the media plan which dictates which media types in what budget proportions are used to advertise the marketers' brand. Specifications may be as broad as total GRP per week or as narrow as which magazines / which issues / which positions
The media director is a departmental manager overseeing / approving the work of these two or their immediate supervisors, hiring and firing all these people and determining the resources which support their work.

Friday, April 08, 2005 #6888
Dear Guru For media vehicles that aren't measured (reach and freq aren't available), can you please tell me what measurement on can you use to show delivery to a client?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 10, 2005 ):
A basic impressions count should be available for or possible to estimate for any medium.

Thursday, April 07, 2005 #6887
Can you give an updated response to the question of how many ads the average person is exposed to every day? I read your 1997 response, but it seems that now with the Internet and so many more types of "interruption" advertising, that number must have increased. And while we're on the subject, what would the number be for the average American 25 years ago?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 10, 2005 ):
It is crucial to keep in mind that a person has only so much time in a day to experience commerical exposure, And that hasn't changed much in 25 years.
Assume a person has 16 waking hours a day, or 960 munutes.
Assume that this person works or attends class or otherwise is not experiencing significant ad exposure for 7 of those hours, leaving 9 media consumption hours, or 540 minutes. And assume that one-quarter of that time is consumed by ad exposure, or 135 minutes. And if :30 is the average broadcast ad length these days, that's 270 ads if it's all broadcast. Print must be calculated somewhat differently, but lets say one ad exposure for two minutes of consumtion here as well. If web surfing time has replaced 1 daily hour of TV time for the average person in 25 years, how many more ads per minute does the intenet present than TV? On a content site, even if it's 2 per minute, the overall effect on average daily ad exposure is minimal. The Guru would guess less than 10% change in daily ad exposures over 25 years, again because there is only so much time in which to experience ad exposure.

Thursday, April 07, 2005 #6886
Hi Guru, We get asked often by clients to plan a radio campaign with sufficient budget to achieve a minimum threshold required to sustain market share. Is there any scientific method of analysing this "minimum threshold" or do we use our own insight? Thanks very much!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 10, 2005 ):
You seem to imply that radio is the only advertising at play here.
If you assume that the only influence on share maintenance is advertising weight (which is dangerous, of course), then considerations might be:
what is the current share? Obviously it will take more weight to maintain an 80% share than a 10% share.
what is the current awareness level?
what is the historical share of voice?
what are competitors likely to do; is it a stable category or are there new entries?
In the absence of better factors, the Guru would keep reach at the current aweareness level and share of voice at the current share of market level.

Thursday, April 07, 2005 #6885
We're looking for a source on what percent of a radio buy can typically be expected back in added value. Do you know or have an "industry standard" we can source?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 10, 2005 ):
When stated as absolutely as this, the answer might be 5%, but that isn't a very useful number. Stations are much more liberal with some types of added value than others. Inherently valuable contest prizes such as vacation travel and jewelry from the "trade bin" is likley to be at the low end. Event participation or remotes will have a relatively higher stated value, e.g. a remote package which the station sells for $5,000 might be added valuewith a $30,000 schedule.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005 #6884
how do you calculate the percent circulation on regional inserts?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 10, 2005 ):
It isn't clear from your questions what data you believe you will start from, but the simplest approach would be to base calculations on the circulations of the newspapers which carry the inserts.

Monday, April 04, 2005 #6880
Hi, I wanted to know if "Want to be millionaire" as a program does better/same/worse in season 2. what has been the history in the countries that it has run in the second sesaon. what is the drop/increase in rating points for the same? karan_grover@yahoo.com

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, April 05, 2005 ):
See Nielsen

Friday, April 01, 2005 #6876
If the client servicing peolpe tell you they dont have time to fill a media brief, what do you do then?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, April 03, 2005 ):
[none] Is the issue that these people claim not to have time to fill out some official, prescribed form, or that they don't have time to provide minimum basic information around which to build a plan?
If filling out a form is the problem, then you must ask questions to determine those basic data you need, such as what is the target, the budget, the seasonality, communication strategy, etc.
If they claim not to have time to convey such basic input, it is simply laziness and you must point out that you cannot do a plan until they find the time. Otherwise you are just guessing, and will create a worthless plan, unrelated to any sensible goals. .

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 #6873
what psychographic terms best defines for target audience in 20-35 AB class live in urban metropolitan city?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 29, 2005 ):
In the UK, this sort of data is provided by Nielsen and IPSOS among others

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 #6872
I want to know more about program acquisition and revenue sharing.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 29, 2005 ):
The Guru is not certain, but perhaps you are asking about what we call, in the U.S., "syndication."
Click here to see past Guru responses about syndication

Friday, March 25, 2005 #6871
I'm from Europe and keep on seeing the term 'FSI' in American texts on media. what does it mean?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 27, 2005 ):
FSI = "Free standing insert." This is a small folio of advertising, usually including coupons, which is typically stuffed into newspapers. It is distributed by a national company which has arrangememnts with the various newspapers to carry the inserts. "Free standing" means not printed within the run-of-press pages of the newspsper.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005 #6867
what is the current U.S. household penetration of DVRs?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 27, 2005 ):
According to a recent posting on IT Facts
"Nielsen, the TV ratings analyst, estimates that 4-5% of US households that own a television own a DVR, while in some places the DVR penetration reached 10%. In April 2005 Nielsen plans to start reporting on TV watching habits among DVR owners."

Wednesday, March 23, 2005 #6866
what does "number of impressions" mean?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 27, 2005 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 #6862
Can you tell me what companies offer billboard advertising in Seattle and what their rates are?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 22, 2005 ):
Outdoor Advertising Association of America lists outdoor vendors by market. Major vendors post rates on their own websites.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 #6860
Hi Abby - You're still my guru. what's your read on a fair commission for buying, tracking and improving DRTV, for the buying agency.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 27, 2005 ):
As someone who has worked at a media buying agency would know, the first rule is "whatever the traffic will bear."
The concept of getting paid based on achievment over benchmarks could work here, say 50% of the value of the "improvement" achieved over a specified period of time.
Otherwise, on pure commission, the bogey must lie between a possible high of the "traditional" 15% and the old media service base of 5%. Surely the improvement element has a premium value over the buying and tracking.

Monday, March 21, 2005 #6859
Hello I am student of industrial engineering of polytechnic of Tehran. My thesis is writing a media planning software for media planning in Iran. In our country isn’t any media planner and we having not any software or book or manual about this subject at hand. In our country are not copywriting rules. Internet isn’t used suitable. We have not e-commerce. I want to know what software exist in the world of media planning. what is the most famous software and its parameters, variables and algorithms. I don’t have enough information about basic subjects of media planning: targeting, frequency, reach, continuity, CPM, GRP … If you may, please guide me. If you have any demo of media planning software, and if you may, please send to me. I know the value of your help. Regards; Ayoob Sadeghiani.

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 22, 2005 ):
eTelmar is media planning software from the Guru's organization, Telmar, world leader in media software. The programs are proprietary, and follow established practices in media planning. These are not likley to fit your country's practices.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 #6853
Dear Guru, what is "TV household rating", "cost per TV household rating point"? I'm confused.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 20, 2005 ):
TV HH rating is the number of homes in the audience of a program divided by the number of homes in the population covered by the program. So, if a program is watched in 2 million homes and the U.S. has 100,000,000 homes, the program's rating is 2.0.
"Cost per TV household rating point" compares this to the price of advertsing in the program. If a commercial in this program is priced at $10,000, the its cost per TV household rating point is $5000 ($10,000 ÷ 2.0)

Monday, March 14, 2005 #6851
Any idea what percentage of television programming is repeat during the summer? Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 20, 2005 ):
Assuming you mean primetime broadcast TV: the majority. In other cases, the question loses signiificance.

Monday, March 14, 2005 #6850
what might be the drawbacks of sponsoring a tv program vs buying normal tv spots

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 20, 2005 ):
Principally:
Less reach than a dispersed schedule
Less efficiency
Shorter duration of advertising suport

Monday, March 07, 2005 #6844
Hi - My agency uses the NCC DMA Fusion Cable Universe ratings and nothing else. what is the correct way to estimate cable ratings? what factors should be taken into account? Thank You.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 07, 2005 ):
To the extent possible, use the procedure you would use in broadcast spot: Look at seasonal ratings and balance against latest performance versus competition.

Monday, March 07, 2005 #6843
Hi - My agency is new to posting radio buys and we have just recently picked up a client which actually posts radio. From your experience, is it "industry standard" to post off of only one book - EVEN IF the radio buy was negotiated using 2 books? (This would take into account either the Spring/Fall average for a 2-book market or the latest 2-book average off a 4-book market.) For some reason, this dosen't seem right to me. Can you please explain the rationale behind this? Thank You.

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 07, 2005 ):
You may have bought by using estimates from 2 or 4 books to best project what will happen during a campaign you will place.
However, posting is about what did happen, so the book corresponding to the actual schedule dates is what is used.
Exception: in markets that have only two books, if the schedule ran between two books, then averaging those book is appropriate in the post.

Monday, March 07, 2005 #6842
what is the difference between Advertising and Marketing?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 07, 2005 ):
Marketing encompasses all activites aimed at selling, positioning and promoting a brand. It includes advertising but also public relations, promotion, packaging, pricing, etc..
Advertiing is essentially mass-media messaging.

Monday, March 07, 2005 #6841
what exactly is market share?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, March 07, 2005 ):
Market share is the Brand's percentage of all sales within the specified product category.

Saturday, March 05, 2005 #6839
When estimating a Q3 buy - is it correct to look at the yr to yr July books only using the tp average, or should other issues be taken into account? I've been taught that we aren't to use the other books when negotiating Q3 buys... AND In a metered market, are reps ok to use current HH trends to justify a higher rating when negotiating an annual? what index would you use to apply that to past shares/ratings?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 06, 2005 ):
The classic approach, at its simplest, is to look at TP total usage levels from same quarter a year ago and then apply most recent program shares.
Obviously, if a program or staion TP had a rating of 10 a year ago and a rating of 2 most recently -- in other words, only 20 percent of the former share, you can't begin from a presumption that the year-ago 10 is still relevant, while the seasonal usage of TV is a vaild factor.

Saturday, March 05, 2005 #6837
what are the key components to putting together a well-written POV?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 06, 2005 ):

Purpose of document
Summary of POV
Rationale.

Thursday, March 03, 2005 #6835
A small change to yesterdays question. If we know the competitors 1 year GRP'S and average reach, can we calculate the effective frequency. This is a little urgent

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, March 06, 2005 ):
There are far too many variables of media mix to accomplish this from the data you offer.
The Guru presumes you mean "reach at a given effective frequency level."
The Guru's approach would be to use R&F software that can deal with effective frequency and enter one year plan variants that include wahtever you know of the plan's components, until you find one that matches your 1 year GRP's and reach, and then see what reach at the effective frequency you have.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005 #6829
If using CPM to price web advertising, what is the going rate? I've seen anywhere from $1/cpm - $35/cpm. Is there a standard?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, March 02, 2005 ):
The range is much broader than you suggest. It depends on how broadly or narrowly you are targeting, and what your content quality standards are. Cheap is cheap.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005 #6823
what TiVo stands for?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 01, 2005 ):
It's a brand name for digital video recorders. See TiVo

Tuesday, March 01, 2005 #6819
what is a share

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, March 01, 2005 ):
Click here to see past Guru duscussion of share

Monday, February 28, 2005 #6816
squad reports

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, February 28, 2005 ):
SQAD? The Guru asks: "what exactly is your question?

Friday, February 25, 2005 #6814
Guru, we run :15 television spots as bookends in a commercial pod. My client wishes to count each :15 spot (2 per pod) as seperate commercials, i.e. counting GRPs as if each spot were a seperate :30. We do not recommend this, we recommend that two 15 spots are counted as one :30 spot. Do you have any research that proves the agency theory? Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 25, 2005 ):
It depends on what you are doing, what conclusions you will draw from the GRPs. If you are projecting reach, then you must count these the same as single :30 units. If you are looking at cpm analysis and adjust :15 for value relative to :30, then again, it's more appropirate to evalue as if one :30. Actually, the Guru would be curious to learn the client's reasoning.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 #6809
Please settle a loud discussion now taking place in my company. what is the definition of "net advertising revenue?" Thank you!

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, February 25, 2005 ):
It depends in part on who is using the term. A media seller could mean thte total ad sales income not including agency commissions paid. An agency could mean all fees and commissions collected for advertising work. "Net" is also in general use to mean income after taxes and expenses. It's all contextual.

Thursday, February 17, 2005 #6800
Media Guru, we are beginning a training program at our agency. Can you please recommend any "projects" that the assistants can complete during their official training program? Particularly, "projects" that encompass all disciplines of media. Any original ideas other than "Develop a fully integrated media plan", would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 20, 2005 ):
It is more challenging to deal with limited funds and targets.
After the "fully integrated media plan" say "now your budget has been reduced to just "20%" of what you had, how will you revise the plan? How will you project results?"
Or, the client has found that distribution will only be supported in 50 markets, some in each region of the country, how will you revise the plan?
Or, the client now believes that 35% of the product may be consumed by Hispanics and 30% by African Americans. what research will you use to confirm this and if true, how will you revise the plan?

Thursday, February 17, 2005 #6799
what is the best way to project demo ratings in markets that recently converted to LPMs.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 20, 2005 ):
Until you have one report to project a trend it is all but guesswork. One option is to average trends in several markets that have made the changeover.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 #6797
what are some facts and tricks in purchasing network television ad spots?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 20, 2005 ):
Know some things about your target that make certain spots more valuable to you than the seller will realize. These need to be spots not highest rated against your basic age/gender demographic.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 #6795
Hello Media Guru: Now that Clear Channel Radio seems to own half of the radio stations in the major markets and have established their less is more scenario, what percentage of a sixty second spot's average quarter hour rating would you attribute to a thirty second in the same daypart?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 20, 2005 ):
Rating has nothing to do with commercial length. It is the same for a :30 or :60 in the same time period.
As far as dollar value, that is negotiable. A :30 is worth between 50% and 80% of the :60. Radio has been selling flat-priced "units" regardless of length for many years.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 #6792
what is the indusrty standard on added value? I had heard 3%, but don't know which source cited this info.

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 20, 2005 ):
The usual practices vary widely from media type to media type, and above all it's negotiable. The Guru has seen "official" policies stated as anywhere from 0.5% to 5.0% and actual deals up to 25%+ depending on the cost of the deal to the vendor. Added value delivered in performance such as bonus spots, remotes, and event participation tend to be greater than added value delivered in hard good or other more concrete items like travel.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005 #6787
what is the formula for combining two R&Fs?

The Media Guru Answers(Wednesday, February 09, 2005 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses about "random probability"

Wednesday, February 09, 2005 #6786
what is a good computer software program to use for advertising budget projections, call projections, analysis, various forecasts, etc. We do national advertising on TV, radio, and in newspapers nationwide.

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, February 12, 2005 ):
This is beyonfd the scope of Media planning/Media buying/Media research/Media department management questions.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005 #6782
Media Guru: In the LPM Markets (such as Boston), what books should you use in placing buys, such as Q2: use Feb 05 acutals against Feb 04??? I work in a small agency and have just been handed this assignment. Thanks

The Media Guru Answers(Saturday, February 12, 2005 ):
LPM is not the issue. Use the same time of year last year and consider share of most recent ratings period. When monthly books are available, sue in preference to mid month sweep for the quarter.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005 #6779
who owns what

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, February 08, 2005 ):
Go to Who Owns what

Monday, February 07, 2005 #6778
what is cummulative audience

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, February 08, 2005 ):
It is the sum of all the audiences of all the announcemnts in the schedule. Someone might also use the phrase to mean the net, unduplicated audience of the schedule, i.e. counting each person only one time no matter how many announcements' audiences the person is in.

Monday, February 07, 2005 #6776
what is cummulative raitings?

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, February 08, 2005 ):
It is the sum of all the ratings of all the announcements in the schedule.

Friday, February 04, 2005 #6774
Do you have any information on the effectiveness of a 30 second TV spot over a 10 second ad. My organization is ROI driven and we seem to be doing well with the 10's. Since the cost of a 30 second spot is at least 3X, would I expect to see at least a 3X return on a 30 execution?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 06, 2005 ):
Media costs of :30 are usually well under double the cost of a :10. When they were new, many tests showed :10's to get about 75% of a :30's recall. But the longer form is more than just numbers of seconds or recall scores. Costs and effectiveness should be roughly in line, especially if you mix the formats. But you know what your standards of success are.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005 #6773
what does the GURU know about the cost of services from companies like AudioAudit and Confirmedia?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 06, 2005 ):
The Guru knows nothing about their prices, specifically. Contact these vendors.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005 #6772
Hi Guru, We recentrly presented a print plan to our client which we believed would have been highly effective in reaching Prof./Manag Men 25-54. The client then proceeded to compare our impressions against the impressions delivered by their online plan which were significantly higher (20.4MM vs. 3.4MM). Is this really an apples to apples comparison? Is there another way to compare the efficiences of the 2 plans?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, February 06, 2005 ):
"Efficiency" is cost per thousand impressions. So, if that's your only standard, that's that. But experience should tell the client something about the value of a print impression versus an online impression. Generally, online impressions are less expensive than print or tv impressions. If the two plans had the same cost and print impressions were six times as numerous as online, instead of vice versa, among the defined target you specify, then something is wrong.
If the plan is direct response, each thousand print impression might deliver 5-10 times the response of online, if it's static rather than "rich" media.
Yes, there are other standards than efficiency. what else is important here?
In short, comparing print and online solely on cpm is foolish.

Thursday, January 27, 2005 #6764
At $2.4 million per :30, what happens if the SuperBowl runs longer-- will the network "give" major sponsors the extra unsold commercial time?

The Media Guru Answers(Friday, January 28, 2005 ):
Some of the largest advertisers will have been offered the option on spots in over-run time.

Sunday, January 23, 2005 #6758
what in internet planning

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 25, 2005 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses about internet planning.

Sunday, January 23, 2005 #6757
what is media planning

The Media Guru Answers(Tuesday, January 25, 2005 ):
Click here to see past Guru responses about media planning.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 #6755
what is the optimal percentage of sales to use when developing advertising budgets?

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, January 30, 2005 ):
It depends on category competition, brand profitablity and other factors specific to you product or service. There is no useful generality.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 #6754
what is return on advertising investment

The Media Guru Answers(Sunday, January 30, 2005 ):
Incremental revenue / profit divided by ad spending.

Monday, January 17, 2005 #6744
Dear guru, I have been asked to plan the launch campaign for a brand new relocations company specialising in the UK market. Any ideas as to what might be effective? This is also my first campaign and I want to impress!

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, January 17, 2005 ):
To impress, find the research that tells you who relocates and when. Then find media to fit.

Monday, January 17, 2005 #6743
Dear Guru, Do you think that the use of electronic media has affected the political arena by creating a level playing field, for example its effectiveness in the recent US presidential elections as compared to traditional media usage?

The Media Guru Answers(Monday, January 17, 2005 ):
The last thing reliance on electronic media has done is level the playing field. It has made money (donations) all the more important in buying elections. Or perhaps by "electronic media" you mean online (TV and radio are electroninc media). Online has leveled the playing field somewhat, but not to the extent other media would indicate by their rabid reporting of bloggers.