Television advertising - TV commercials

Television advertising offers the advertiser the opportunity to communicate with a lot of people at once and the very fact that an advertising message has been seen on television can give credibility to the message. Although it tends to be used mainly for the long-term task of creating brand-awareness, it can also be used to create a rapid sales response. The power of the television medium is enhanced by its ability to appeal to both the senses of sight and sound and to use movement and colour to develop a sales message. Thus, the advertiser can impact viewers three ways at once with his TV advertising message: he can talk to them, he can demonstrate the product in action and he can overlap important words (like prices or his name) over the image. For example, a lawn-mower can be shown to cut grass efficiently, or the ease of application of a paint can be demonstrated with television spots and commercials. This capability of television advertising to combine colour, movement and sound means that it is often used when brand image building is required. What can be said here is that it is easier to create an atmosphere using television than other media that lack its versatility. Television as an advertising medium has, of course, its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of television advertising

•  Realism . Because of the combination of colour, sound and action, television has assets no other medium can offer (except cinema which no longer has the big audiences which existed prior to television). With these advantages, the advertiser can show and demonstrate the product. Thus, if it is packaged food, pack recognition is established so that the buyer knows what he or she is looking for in the shop, or there is quick recognition even if the advertisement has been temporarily forgotten. Ingenious effects can be achieved by computer graphics.

•  Television ads allow the advertiser to reach large numbers of people on a national or regional level.

•  Television is a medium that enhances a company's image.

•  Receptive audiences . Being received in the home in an entertainment atmosphere, commercials are well received, especially as they are produced to high technical standards and the presenter is often a well-known personality or at least a good actor or actress who presents the product authentically.

•  Repetition . The advertisement can be repeated to the point when a sufficient number of viewers have seen it enough times for the advertisement to have impact. A good advertisement should be capable of being shown again after a rest without boring its audience.

•  Zoning and networking . An advertiser can use one or any combination of stations, or network them all if he or she wishes.

•  Appeal to retailers . Television advertising can reach retailers as well as consumers, both because retailers watch television just like anyone else and because commercials can be addressed solely to them. Retailers know that if something is advertised on television there will be demand and it will sell.

•  Linked with other media . The television companies can also offer telephone enquiry services and computerised ordering facilities, the number being given in the commercial.

Disadvantages of television advertising

•  Although advertisements can be repeated over a short time period, television is a transitory medium, so that consumers cannot refer back to the advertisement once it has been broadcast.

•  Television advertising tends to reach mass audiences, whereas one can be much more selective with the press.

•  Creative and production costs can quickly mount up. Because of this, there are thousands of advertisers who appeal to smaller markets and cannot justify the cost of television. The high starting price for television advertising reflects not only high production costs, but also the difficulty in segmenting television audiences.

•  If a lot detail is required by prospective buyers, the press is more efficient than television.

•  Preferred items are sold out far in advance.

•  Little else can be done while watching television, compared with radio, although ‘zapping' is possible when irritated viewers eliminate the commercials or at least the sound, or switch channels. If they are playing recorded programmes, they can jump the commercials by ‘zapping', that is using the fast forwarding button on their remote control - an escalading problem of TV advertising.

•  The short duration of an ad (of about thirty seconds or sometimes even less) limits the amount of information the advertiser can communicate. Thus, most ads communicate only one major selling appeal, which is the single most motivating and differentiating thing that can be said about the brand.

•  Television does not lend itself to urgent advertisements as it takes time to produce a commercial.

•  In countries where there are either many TV stations, or small audiences, airtime rates may be low enough to permit long or many commercials which bore viewers with too much advertising.

•  Sometimes, using the same presenter as a number of other advertisers can be both boring and confusing, and the audiences may ask themselves: ‘Who is advertising what?' (David J. Bangs, 1993)