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Last September (2013), a singing contest was held in one of the biggest TV networks in the Philippines.  Based on the KBP rule on advertising, a TV station is only allowed to have a commercial load of 18 minutes per hour.  Since the said singing contest was a big event on that night, this TV network has no choice but to take advantage of its demand.  Advertisers know that many people will watch the said contest so they invested on TV spot commercials.  In other words, the 18-minute rule on commercial load wasn’t really observed because of its high demand.  Likewise, all shows can’t maximize the 18-minute commercial load if it’s not a big event or a TV show that doesn’t have a high rating.  The fair deal here should be offsetting.  The purpose of this rule is perhaps to avoid getting irritated in seeing a lot of commercials especially during a big TV event.  I think it’s not really an applicable rule.  I believe that it’s the fault of the TV network if viewers get pissed on the many commercials being aired.  Because viewers like the big event, still they will watch it.  By the way, this TV network exceeded the 18-minute rule.  Their commercial load lasted for 20-21 minutes per hour.

Given the 18-minute commercial load rule, I believe that a recall is not achievable if an advertiser will repeat its commercial less than 3 spots.  Based on “Effective Frequency,” it needs 3 repetitions on TV exposure according to Herbert Krugman who is from General Electric.  Psychologically, fourth are repeats of the  of the 3rd exposure effect.  There is a myth in the advertising world that viewers will forget your message if you don’t repeat your advertising often enough.  In addition, Krugman says that there are only three levels of exposure in psychology: curiosity, recognition and decision.

If the 3-commercial spot repetition is the key to gaining high recall, then advertisers need to increase the number of spot commercials in an hour.  The more different ads being aired, the lesser the chances of gaining high recall.  It’s called information overload.  Information overload could be equivalent to zero knowledge.  It is like saying, “The more you study, the more you know, the more you know, the more you forget, and the more you forget, the less you know.” What a waste. 

Here’s the commercial load data of the singing contest: 

          Advertisers                                                                                          Spots Per Hour

·         Creamsilk has reached the highest number of spots ………………         10

·         Nescafe…………………………………………………..…………….            3

·         Mentos ………………………………………………………………….           2

·         Globe …………………………………………………………………..            2

·         Dove……………………………………………………………………            2

·         Knorr……………………………………………………………………            2

·         Energen …………………………………………….………………….            2

·         The rest 37 advertisers………………………………………………..           1 

Good work Creamsilk...

Sports event especially basketball has less commercial breaks and spots than teleserye and singing contests.  Advertisers need to maintain the excitement of the audience watching the sport event.  Advertisements are only aired during the time out.  If commercial load can be controlled during a sports event; then why can’t broadcasting station limit their commercials.  Instead of the 15-30 second spot, insert the commercial through a moving or scrolling text, or logo/message flashing.

If advertising is done through broadcasting, we can’t really assure if people are staying on the said commercial breaks.  Viewers can still switch to other stations during commercial breaks.  What would happen to your 3-commecial repetition per hour if you can’t really come up with justified viewers?  They watched the singing contest because they have a bet singer and they also want to see their favorite judges.  This doesn’t mean that they will still stay on the channel when there’s a commercial break especially when they are holding TV remote controls.  This could be a captive market but it doesn’t focus on the commercial but on the show.  We in narrowcasting call this kind of audience, “Private Captive Market.”  Meaning, advertisers can’t see the audience watching their commercials if they are in their houses or private cars.  It should not be all about ratings of TV networks.  Advertisers must focus on the value of their ad investments.  Are they really being watched by their target market?  This is why John Wanamaker quoted, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."  So if an advertiser bought a number of spots worth Php10,000,000; then value of its investment is only Php5,000,000.  In selling, the value of the product or service should always be higher than the price.  You should tell the value of what you are selling by mentioning the benefits and features that sounded very expensive but the price when asked by the prospect is very low. 

Now going to audio or cadio advertising through narrowcasting, I would suggest the 4-spot repetition within the average staying time of people in different establishments.  People in commercial establishments like malls, supermarkets, restaurants, and other places don’t really listen.  Hearing is the usual thing in narrowcasting.  Strategically, the goal is to come up with high attention getter commercials so that people might listen.  

On TV, people are attentively watching the show but not the commercial.  On cadio, people are hearing the commercials strategically.  Which one is better?

Reference: Effective Frequency – Wikipedia and 18-minute rule - KBP…





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