What are the benefits to an advertiser of TV instead of print - Essay Example

The three traditional media platforms — radio, print and television — in addition to the emerging powerhouse, the Internet, are all effective marketing and advertising tools. This paper will examine some of the benefits in two-way comparisons. Their respective unique benefits for advertisers are primarily anchored on their own publics - their audience, listeners and viewers. These differentiated populations will explain why one is better than the others. Of course, this variable is in addition to other factors as well, including the manner in which contents are delivered.

This paper will examine some of the benefits in two-way comparisons. TV vs. Print Advertisers will prefer television than newspapers and magazines fundamentally because television can broadcast moving pictures, hence, is more effective platform to market products. According to Hansen and Christensen, television has more emotional impact as evidenced by how most people remember TV advertisements than those placed in other media (279). In addition, television viewership can surpass print subscriptions.

Statistics show, for instance, that 99 percent of the American household own at least one television (Herr). Print readership, on the other hand, is declining in the past years. For example, newspaper subscription has dropped 8.74 percent in 2010, placing the overall readership to less than 100 million (discounting readership of their online versions) (Lefkow 2010). Advertisers are increasingly becoming aware of this and, as a response, they are now purchasing advertising space in newspapers that are decentralized and specialized, meaning to reach their intended market more effectively (Cranberg, Bezanson and Soloski, 130).

The decline in readership has led to the downtrend in newspaper advertising revenue as demonstrated in the following table: Table 1: Newspaper Ad Revenue (OECD, 60) Radio and TV Although radio appears to be ineffective in advertising in comparison to other traditional media the case is actually the opposite. Radio holds significant advantage over TV in the eyes of advertisers. Shimp outlined these as: 1) the ability to reach segmented audiences; 2) intimacy; 3) economy; 4) short lead times; 5) easy transfer of imagery from television; and, 5) the use of local personalities (372).

To explain of these advantages in detail, let us consider the "intimacy" variable. Unlike television, radio is a platform that people feel closer to because they can identify with it. Radio advertising, wrote Shimp, is a personal and intimate form of friendly persuasion that has potential to increase consumers' engagement with advertisement placement in the medium (273). Then, there is also the ease by which television content could be transformed into radio broadcast. An ad can be both aired on TV and radio without any major tweaking.

Even without the visuals, consumers can identify the ad and recall what is seen previously on TV. A case in point is how Pizza Hut relies heavily on radio to leverage its TV ad spots. For instance, Garfield, the popular cartoon character, was easily transported from TV to radio ads with his personal, entertaining and informative message sandwiched between music beds that featured Pizza Hut’s one-number jingle” (Weinberger, Campbell and Brody 1994, 133). Internet over Traditional Media? Technology is actually the biggest advantage of the Internet over each platform of the traditional media.

DSL, cable, broadband, satellite, etc. - these technologies have enabled millions upon millions of users to access information at the speed and convenience never before seen. For advertisers the Internet is important because of the number of users available. More important, however, is the kind of "intelligent" advertising allowed by high-technology. For instance, softwares, applications and databases can enable advertisers to find and communicate with specific target markets. The idea is