Media Planning:

Media Planning, in advertising, is a series of decisions involving the delivery of advertising message
to the targeted audience. Media Plan is the plan that details the usage of media in an advertising
campaign including costs, running dates, markets, reach, frequency, rationales, and strategies.

An advertising agency undertakes media planning for their client. They help to select best
combination of media for advertising of products that will reach maximum number of prospects at
minimum cost. Proper media planning enables to design effective ad campaign.

After choosing the message, the advertiser’s next task is to choose media to carry it.

The steps here are deciding on desired reach, frequency, and impact; choosing among

major media types; selecting specific media vehicles; deciding on media timing; and

deciding on geographical media allocation. Then the results of these decisions need

to be evaluated.

Factors considered while selecting media

1) The nature of product: A product such as hair oil, toothpaste,

washing powder etc. are used by masses / every household. In

such case mass media such as print, broadcast, outdoor media

etc. can be selected. Television media can be used for products

requiring demonstration such as electronic goods. For Industrial

products, print media such as catalogue is more suitable.

2) Advertising Objectives: Objectives of advertising are the

prime considerations in media selection. Advertising objectives

may be to inform, remind, convince, create prestige, or to

increase sales and profits. Those media capable to meet

company’s expectations are likely to be selected.

3) Cost of Media and Company’s Financial Position: Media

selection decision is highly influenced by media costs and firm’s

ability to pay. Company has to pay for buying space and time in

media and preparing advertising copy fit for the media to be

selected. TV, radio, films are costly in terms of buying time and

preparing advertising copy. Print media are relatively cheaper in

both space and preparation of advertising message. Some

outdoor media are quite low in cost.

4) Management Philosophy: Management philosophy

determines which media should be selected. If company’s top

management philosophy is not to spend more money for

advertisement and to offer the product at a low price, it may go

for cheaper media.

5) Competitor’s Strategy: The advertiser should consider

competitor’s media selection strategy. After considering

competitor’s media strategy, advertiser can take decision about

his media selection.

6) Type of Buyers: Buyers can be classified into various classes

such as age, occupation, income, gender etc. For the firm, it is

important to know whether the target groups can be exposed by

the particular medium. For instance, to target housewives, TV

can be the best media. For old age audience, newspaper can

be the best media. For college students, internet can be the

best media.

7) Media Circulation/Coverage: The area covered by the media

is an important criterion. Some media are capable to cover the

globe while some can cover only the limited locality. For

example, the local newspapers cover limited areas, the national

newspapers like The Time of India and The Economic Times

cover the whole nation. Similarly, certain magazines have

national and international circulation. And, the same is true with

broadcasting and outdoor media.

8) Credibility and Image of Media: Credibility and image of a

media can affect selection decision of media. Advertising

message appears in the reputed newspapers or magazines

carry heavy impression and effect than substandard media.

People don’t trust the appeal published in the lower standard

media. Prestige of media becomes the prestige of advertiser.

9) Past Experience: Company’s own past experience may be

instrumental to decide on advertising media. For example, if

company has satisfactory past experience of using a particular

media, there are more chances to use the same media again

and vice versa.

10)Type of Advertising Message: If a message is simple and

easily understood, print media are sufficient. If a message is

complicated, and the company wants to demonstrate and

explain, broadcasting media suit the needs.

11)Expert Opinion: Marketing experts or consultants who work on

professional basis can be consulted to suggest an appropriate

medium to carry the message. These experts, on the basis of

analysis of market situations in relation to products to be

advertised, can recommend the suitable media. Since they have

experience and expertise in the field, they are in better position

to judge the suitability of each of the media in relation to product

and company’s financial position. They charge fees for their

consultancy services.

12)Media restrictions: Products like cigarettes, wines and alcohols

are not allowed to advertise on radio and television. For such

products posters can be used in local shops.

Media selection involves finding the most cost-effective media to deliver the desired number of
exposures to the target audience. What do we mean by the desired number of exposures?
Presumably, the advertiser is seeking a certain response from the target audience—for example, a
certain level of product trial. The rate of product trial will depend, among other things, on the level
of audience brand awareness. Suppose the rate of product trial increases at a diminishing rate with
the level of audience awareness, the advertiser seeks a product trial rate of (say) T*, it will be
necessary to achieve a brand awareness level of A*. The next task is to find out how many
exposures, E*, will produce a level of audience awareness of A*.

The effect of exposures on audience awareness depends on the exposures’ reach, frequency, and
impact:

■ Reach (R): The number of different persons or households exposed to a particular media schedule
at least once during a specified time period.

■ Frequency (F): The number of times within the specified time period that an average person or
household is exposed to the message.
■ Impact (I): The qualitative value of an exposure through a given medium (thus a food ad in Good
Housekeeping would have a higher impact than in the Police Gazette).

Audience awareness will be greater, the higher the exposures’ reach, frequency, and impact. The
relationship between reach, frequency, and impact is captured in the following concepts:

Total number of exposures (E): This is the reach times the average frequency; that is, E=R x F. This
measure is referred to as the gross rating points (GRP). If a given media schedule reaches 80 percent
of the homes with an average exposure frequency of 3, the media schedule is said to have a GRP of
240 = (80 x 3). If another media schedule has a GRP of 300, it is said to have more weight.

The media planner has to figure out, with a given budget, the most cost-effective combination of
reach, frequency, and impact. Reach is most important when launching new products, flanker
brands, extensions of well-known brands, or infrequently purchased brands, or going after an
undefined target market. Frequency is most important where there are strong competitors, a
complex story to tell, high consumer resistance, or a frequent-purchase cycle.

Media planners make their choice among media categories by considering the following variables:

■ Target-audience media habits: For example, radio and television are the most effective media for
reaching teenagers.

■ Product: Women’s dresses are best shown in color magazines, and Polaroid cameras are best
demonstrated on television. Media types have different potentials for demonstration, visualization,
explanation, believability, and color.

■ Message: A message announcing a major sale tomorrow will require radio, TV, or newspaper. A
message containing a great deal of technical data might require specialized magazines or mailings.

■ Cost: Television is very expensive, whereas newspaper advertising is relatively inexpensive. What
counts is the cost-per-thousand exposures.

SELECTING SPECIFIC VEHICLES WITHIN EACH MEDIA:

The media planner must search for the most cost-effective media vehicles within each chosen
media type. The advertiser who decides to buy 30 seconds of advertising on network television can
pay $154,000 for a popular prime-time show such as Law and Order, $650,000 for especially popular
programs like Frasier and ER, or $1.3 million for an event like the Super Bowl.28 The planner has to
rely on media measurement services that provide estimates of audience size, composition, and
media cost. Audience size has several possible measures:

■ Circulation: The number of physical units carrying the advertising.

■ Audience: The number of people exposed to the vehicle.

■ Effective audience: The number of people with target audience characteristics exposed to the
vehicle.

■ Effective ad-exposed audience: The number of people with target audience characteristics who
actually saw the ad.

Media planners calculate the cost per thousand persons reached by a vehicle. If a full page, four-
color ad in Newsweek costs $84,000 and Newsweek’s estimated readership is 3 million people, the
cost of exposing the ad to 1,000 persons is approximately $28. The same ad in Business Week may
cost $30,000 but reach only 775,000 persons—at a cost per thousand of $39. The media planner
ranks each magazine by cost per thousand and favours magazines with the lowest cost per thousand
for reaching target consumers.

DECIDING ON MEDIA TIMING:

In choosing media, the advertiser faces a macro-scheduling problem and a micro-scheduling

problem. The macro-scheduling problem involves scheduling the advertising in relation to seasons
and the business cycle. Suppose 70 percent of a product’s sales occur between June and September.
The firm can vary its advertising expenditures to follow the seasonal pattern, to oppose the seasonal
pattern, or to be constant throughout the year. Most firms pursue a seasonal policy.

The micro-scheduling problem calls for allocating advertising expenditures within a short period to
obtain maximum impact. Suppose the firm decides to buy 30 radio spots in the month of September.

The timing pattern should consider three factors.

Buyer turnover expresses the rate at which new buyers enter the market; the higher this rate, the
more continuous the advertising should be.

Purchase frequency is the number of times during the period that the average buyer buys the
product; the higher the purchase frequency, the more continuous the advertising should be.

The forgetting rate is the rate at which the buyer forgets the brand; the higher the forgetting rate,
the more continuous the advertising should be.

In launching a new product, the advertiser has to choose among ad continuity, concentration,
flighting, and pulsing.

Continuity is achieved by scheduling exposures evenly throughout a given period. Generally,

advertisers use continuous advertising in expanding market situations, with frequently purchased
items, and in tightly defined buyer categories. Concentration calls for spending all the advertising
dollars in a single period. This makes sense for products with one selling season or holiday.

Flighting calls for advertising for some period, followed by a hiatus with no advertising, followed by a
second period of advertising activity. It is used when funding is limited, the purchase cycle is
relatively infrequent, and with seasonal items.

Pulsing is continuous advertising at low-weight levels reinforced periodically by waves of heavier

activity. Pulsing draws upon the strength of continuous advertising and flights to create a
compromise scheduling strategy. Those who favour pulsing feel that the audience will learn the
message more thoroughly, and money can be saved.