Is Cable TV The Best Bang for Your Buck? Part One

I called the local Cable TV Company about running some commercials. I wanted “just the facts.” I asked for reach, frequency cost, production fees, etc. Since I own a small business and also represent several clients in the area, I inquired about buying ads on the show Nashville Star. It’s very popular locally, and aired during primetime (7 p.m. – 10 p.m.). I asked how many people watched and told me how many subscribed, but I wanted to know of those subscribed, how many watched the show. The Cable rep replied that there was no way to tell. “Do you have any idea, or even a guess?” I asked. She said, “No,” because they didn’t subscribe to Nielson. She also told me that the average household has 100 channels and that Comcast could put commercials in only 24. Some of the ones I wanted ads in, I couldn’t buy.

There are 11 cable companies in the total market coverage (about 1,000,000 people) and all cable companies together receive a 1% share of the market. During the news, the NBC station has 59% of the 16 surrounding counties watching. There is a place for all media in the marketplace, but if you look at cost per thousand, cable may be the highest in my area. A 30-second commercial on the NBC station was $400 during the evening news. Most small business could not afford very many of those each month. I was planning to spend $1000 a month. So buying TV advertising put me in a quandary: Cable looks very inexpensive, but there are not very many people watching because of the hundreds of channels, not to mention Dish Network, DirecTV, TiVo and DVR. Broadcast TV reaches a lot of people, but I could only buy two ads a month during the news. That’s just not enough frequency.

Another concern is:
When a local commercial runs after national commercial the local ad sometimes looks homemade. Local ads cost $400-$500 to produce. Most national ads are done on film, like in a movie, with professional actors, and cost between $500,000 and a million dollars.
On the positive side, some local small business say Cable works very well for them. Also Cable does go right to the local folks a small business is trying to reach. Locally commercials are $35 for prime time in one county or $52 per commercial for 52,000 homes in the 4 or 5 surrounding counties. Most small business owners like me would say: “Well, I’ll give that a try, if it don’t work I’m not out much money.” I know because I have done that on many occasions. The best bang for your buck would be to run on a specific program, during prime time, on the same show each week.