F
Ferreri
Guest
Since the beginning of time newspapers have out billed radio. They sell reach. Also, they have a myriad of sizes depending on the client's budget. Most sell by column inches. That is the verticle size multiplied by the horizontal width in columns. A small guy can buy a one by one and get the same reach as a big guy on a full page. Newspaper contracts require the advertiser to buy a certain number of column inches per year or a dollar amount. Radio, since the beginning of time, sells two sizes; 60 and 30 seconds. The variables are frequency and time period when doing the cost (or investment as sales trainers prefer). Reach then is determined by the day part purchased. Call me crazy! How about selling by the second. Any duration. If you were a dollar per second a 40 second commercial would be $40 for example. Why is it that radio buys are made by demographics and newspaper by reach? Ad agencies will place a full page, full run in the paper at a tune of thousands of dollars and turn down a station because of not having the demo they want. Radio created this situation. True, radio can sell against newspaper by preaching reaching the "right " people, however, why not sell NUMBERS of people. Just like newspaper will tout "readership" (circulation times 2 because each household has two readers) why can't radio cite that at any given time a listener may very well have his/her family members of all ages in a car hearing a particular station. Yes, the radio business lives and dies with ARBITRON. The Nielsen venture into radio ratings possibly will be a good thing. At least with the "sticker" diary stations can be sure that handwriting does not enter into the equation.