I was just listening to AN 106.7 and during a stop set, they played only two commercials back to back. The first was for First Option for mortgage refinancing the second was for Quicken Loans for mortgage refinancing. Even primitive log generating programs in the 1990's had "category" entries to space out competing advertisers. One would think these kind of mistakes would not happen, in the same city where the corporate headquarters are located.
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Do the Sponsors care?
- Thread starter secondchoice
- Start date
I don't think they have enough sponsorship to be that picky...
You hear that kind of thing all over the place these days.
On TV, I sometimes see 2 car dealers in 1 commercial pod. They're usually for different car brands, but even so.
But let me ask this: When you look in the newspaper, you see all the car ads together in one section. And it's been that way for years. If radio shouldn't do it, is it okay for the newspaper to do it?
On TV, I sometimes see 2 car dealers in 1 commercial pod. They're usually for different car brands, but even so.
But let me ask this: When you look in the newspaper, you see all the car ads together in one section. And it's been that way for years. If radio shouldn't do it, is it okay for the newspaper to do it?
My point is it should be a simple entry when they put the commercial in the scheduling system. This technology has been around decades. I could understand competing commercials in the same commercial break in a music format with only a couple of avails an hour. One of the revenue strengths of the all news format has multiple commercial sets. AN 106.7 has breaks at least every 10 minutes, with weather and traffic on the 6's, plus the opportunity before the two network feds, and a break between the 6's (which this was) that is at least 12 an hour. If you have too many commercials to fit them all in, that is a good problem, because it is time to raise commercial rates.
I believe secondchoice is right. It should not be a problem for the traffic person to put ads in categories and let the system spread the categories out in different commercial sets. Also, I agree that if all of the sets are full and it is impossible to spread out the categories, it is time to raise the rates. 
P.S. Do they still use "traffic" or "traffic person"?
P.S. Do they still use "traffic" or "traffic person"?
BarryATL said:
To the best of my knowledge, someone needs to enter all the info.
Looking at the specific example, the first spot was local, and the second was a national sponsor, probably a Cumulus Media spot that isn't classified in the local system.
A lot of time, exclusivity is something you pay for. Same with placement. That's why the national spot is second.
atlantaboy said:
Doesn't matter. The no-brains placement of such spots makes the station sound stupid. I heard it, too - more than once.
Years ago. we would jerk all the Delta ads for 24 hrs.when there was a commercial plane crash anywhere. We lost some money, but kept the client.
And, of course, there was this thing called the Seal of Good Practice... :
The short answer to the question is..."Only if they catch you". Probably 95-98% of the time (my estimation), sponsors are ad agencies who certainly don't spend all day listening to the stations. If their client happens to hear something amiss, they will call the agency and the station usually gets the call.
Regarding scheduling, most traffic managers...the good ones, anyway...try their best to keep some type of separation between sponsors. Sadly, more and more companies are leaning away from this as it restricts the freedom to place ads. If a station has too many spots, yes, rates should be raised but my experience has found most sales reps, managers, whatever...don't because they are too afraid to lose the client. Plus, most stations partner with a radio syndicator (such as Cumulus Media Networks) and must carry a certain number of barter spots. Many times, those spots are the same ones the ad agencies place on local stations. It is becoming more and more difficult to separate advertisers so a lot of the bigger companies have simply given up trying.
Regarding scheduling, most traffic managers...the good ones, anyway...try their best to keep some type of separation between sponsors. Sadly, more and more companies are leaning away from this as it restricts the freedom to place ads. If a station has too many spots, yes, rates should be raised but my experience has found most sales reps, managers, whatever...don't because they are too afraid to lose the client. Plus, most stations partner with a radio syndicator (such as Cumulus Media Networks) and must carry a certain number of barter spots. Many times, those spots are the same ones the ad agencies place on local stations. It is becoming more and more difficult to separate advertisers so a lot of the bigger companies have simply given up trying.
Good analysis, Surfer, but I will tell you that stations do raise rates as their inventory fills up. And when they become sold out in an area, advertisers are forced to pay "bump" rates to preempt another advertiser.
As a buyer, however, there are just so many preemptions that I am willing to live with. I've been getting preempted by one of the TV stations almost enough to start giving them smaller shares of the budget. The other stations almost never preempt me.
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