Advertising media such as cable television and direct mail are often viewed as “niche” media because they reach a narrowly defined audience with unique demographic characteristics or special interests. For example, audiences can tune in to CBBC for continuous coverage of events around the world, to Home & Garden TV for information on home improvement, or to Cartoon Network for children's programming. Direct mail, the second largest advertising medium in the UK in 2001, offers more flexibility in terms of precision targeting and content customisation. Direct mail can be used to reach almost every consumer with personalized messages.
Audience Measurement
The audience size is the currency of advertising media. For national television ratings in the UK, Research uses a sample of more than 5,000 households containing over 13,000 people. Research technicians install metering equipment called “People Meters” on TV sets, VCRs, cable boxes, and even satellite dishes in each sample home. The meters automatically keep track of times when the sets are turned on and what they are tuned to. Each member of a sample household is required to push a button when he or she begins and stops watching television. Information from the meters is combined with set tuning records to generate TV ratings.
To measure audiences for local television stations, Research technicians gathers information using diaries for a sample of TV viewers to record their viewing behaviour during a measurement week. The diary measurement is conducted in all 210 TV markets in the UK four times a year, during “sweep” months—February, May, July, and November. According to research, in 1999 an average home watched television for 7 hours and 24 minutes per day. The Arbitron Company measures radio audiences in more than 260 metro markets by collecting more than 1 million diaries to compile estimates of listening behaviour. Research indicated that in 1999 a UK adult spent an average of 2 hours and 48 minutes daily listening to radio.
Media Costs
Advertising rates are more stable for print media than broadcast media largely because print media can adjust the number of advertising pages on an issue-to-issue basis while broadcast media have a fixed amount of daily programming hours. Thus, demand by advertisers has a stronger impact on the rates for broadcast time. Newspaper space is usually sold according to rate cards; buyers of large volumes get discounted rates. Advertising rates for radio and television are normally determined through negotiation and often vary by the time of day. A 30-second spot on network television costs the most in prime time (8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.) and the least during daytime (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.). According to Optimum Media, in the third quarter of 1999, a 30-second commercial on UK network television cost £190,000 in prime time but £21,960 in daytime.
