Advertising Your Business on TV

Is TV advertising still useful for your industry?

To see which industries TV advertising is still useful for, you only need to watch the ad breaks in your favourite shows. Although these will vary depending on the content, and the time of day you’re watching, you’ll most likely see the following products: FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), for example shampoo and yoghurt; financial services products, such as loans and mortgages; and big ticket items, like cars and furniture.

With the advent of on-demand content and products such as Tivo and Sky+, viewing habits are changing, which means that advertising is becoming less powerful, particularly among a younger audience. However, if your product or service is aimed at a fairly mature audience, with more traditional viewing habits, you may still find TV advertising to be effective.

Advertising on cable TV

In the UK, cable TV is primarily provided by Virgin Media. Channels available via cable include all the digital terrestrial channels along with pay TV channels, such as Sky Sports and Discovery Channel.

Advertising on these pay TV channels can be very worthwhile compared to other mediums because it’s generally cheaper than advertising on terrestrial channels and the demographic of the audience is usually much narrower. This means advertisements can be much more targeted and effective. It could also be cheaper than advertising in some print magazines or on nationwide billboards.

However, compared to advertising online, cable TV can be considerably more expensive.

How regularly should TV ad content be changed?

How regularly you should change your TV ad’s content will depend on a variety of factors. To decide on this, you need to ensure you’re tracking your advert’s performance in depth. Monitor how much revenue your ad is bringing in over time. If it seems like a lot initially and eventually decreases significantly, it’s probably time to change your content. If you don’t notice more interest initially, give it some time to see if there’s a trickle effect, and if not, you should change your ad completely. If your ad seems to consistently bring you custom, you should wait longer to update it.