The Catalyst

TVB publishes a list called “Key Questions for Your Cable Guy” … a collection of things any advertiser should ask their cable salesperson when considering a local cable buy. It’s helpful, especially when you realize that local cable outfits are outselling many broadcast stations today.

Some of the questions on TVB’s list include:

• Are all customers inter-connected by one system so that all subscribers in all areas can see my ad?
• Can I see a map of this coverage area — the area in which my ad will actually run — so that I can see how it fits with my Retail Trade area?
• How many households in the coverage area are satellite TV households
• Is your proposal based on the entire DMA, the cable universe or system/interconnect ratings?
• Can I actually choose the cable networks and programs my spots will run — or do they randomly rotate through a collection of networks and dayparts?
• Will you provide a post analysis based on purchased ratings?  If so, using what methodology?

These are all good questions, and there are others on the list that demonstrate some of the shortcomings of cable advertising for the local business owner. 

Yet one question is strangely omitted, and should be the first question asked by the advertiser:

What is the cost per thousand of this buy?

Better yet: “If I were to spend this same amount of money on a broadcast affiliate, how many more people from my target audience would I reach?  How many more times would I reach them?”

If local advertisers asked either of these two questions, the decision would be simple.  Many times they do not.  And the price is paid, literally. 

This question needs to be asked. 

It’s omission from TVB’s list is indicative of an industry that, for whatever reason, is still learning to sell against an inferior competitor … one that has been around for decades, mind you.

This question needs to be asked. 

While the other questions on the list do a good job of addressing the coverage, footprint and capabilities, the biggest difference-maker here is cost-effectiveness against that coverage.  Today, local cable will cost you a steep multiple in terms of reaching an audience, when contrasted with local broadcast television.

This question needs to be asked.

And speaking of questions, one more.  Why doesn’t each local broadcast station have a listing of competitive media CPMs and capabilities prominently displayed somewhere in the building?  We don’t need a 12-slide powerpoint to answer this question.  The important points could fit neatly onto a single business card.

Our job is to simplify, to distill the information to make better decisions a clear probability.

If we want to discuss the very real prospect of grabbing another share point while enabling many local advertisers to do even more than that, it’s high-time to make this a priority. 

No, your response can’t be “we’re too busy.”  Nobody is ever too busy to make sense.

Dave Eckstein does not play shortstop and was never the MVP of the World Series. He is a partner in the firm ESA & Company, based in Red Bank, New Jersey.