Channel 35, the newest
and also the smallest of the television stations in the Cleveland -
Akron area has one distinctive edge over the other stations: Pro
Wrestling. Believe it or not, Pro Wrestling has one of the highest
average ratings of any national sport. Advertising 22 of your 30 second
commercials during Pro Wrestling will cost $286.00 per week. Outside of
Pro Wrestling, the cost for 35 of your 30 second commercials is $525.00
per week. All though channel 35 offers a discount of over 50% by
committing to advertise for a period of one year, the cost to run 35 of
your 30 second ads per week for one year is still $12,740.00! That’s
over $1,000.00 per month for spots on the smallest TV station in the
area! I can’t imagine what some of the other networks might be charging!
Generally, TV stations
seek a time commitment for running ads to offer free production of your
commercials. These vary dramatically across the TV networks, but in the
example used, channel 35, the time commitment is two weeks, and the
commercials MUST be aired during the Pro Wrestling schedule. Again, with
market research, contacting the desired TV station, meetings, and actual
production, TV ads are a very time consuming and costly process.
I can not emphasize
enough the principle of running ads over a long period of time. Though
television is a medium that reaches people of all ages, it too will
prove to be ineffective if enough time is not given to reach a
significant level of market penetration. Giving these ads time to work
is astronomical in cost, considering how much it is for one lousy spot.
However, anything less is just a waste of money!
