It's probably prudent to take a tripdown disclaimer road before weget started here and state without

reservation that television is a power-ful, expedient, important part of anygood media mix for mid-size andlarger firms. It is also a very goodvalue when purchased with eyes wideopen. Thanks to the overwhelmingglut of competition created by cableand the resulting niche networks,there are plenty of choices. Theycome, they go; and they fill every tinycorner of every tiny market like a canof expanding insulation foam. That'sgood for you as an advertiser becauseyou can reach your customer withoutpaying for the "non-customers"watching a show.

The real issue here is how best togo about buying it and believe me it'slike a bucket of snakes; hard to tellwhere one ends and another begins.There are a few different ways to buytelevision and far more opinions onthe subject than that. All I can offer ismy own opinion based on some 30years of doing it and watching thesuccessful and less successful unfoldin front of me. There will be plentywho disagree with these ideas andplenty who will be downright upsetabout the way it lays out, but as BobbyBowden might say, "Dad-gum it,somebody's got to do it".

There are three common buyingmethods for getting your product ontelevision and each can contributesubstantially to your branding andsales efforts. Some would argue thatTV is the only answer to reaching theconsumer these days and that printjust won't do it. Polls, surveys andresearch galore indicate that this isnot true. Subscribers pay for and lookforward to magazines each month

and that puts their interest at a levelseldom matched by their broadcastcounterparts. Mentally numb TVviewers slip into what marketresearchers call "Level B Awareness"when commercials start, and manynever seem to shake it. Obviously, I'msupporting a media mix that brandsyour products across a spectrum ofavailable vehicles able to carry yourmessage to the consumer.

That said, we're talking TV here solet's define the three ways to buy it;Sponsorships, Spot Buys, and, for lackof a better term, Broker Buys. Mosttelevision in the hunting industry ispurchased using one of these tech-niques. Before we discuss each one ofthese, we need to understand a littlebit about cable networks. They don'toperate like ABC or NBC. They followFCC guidelines, of course, but theyalso maintain more flexibility in pro-gramming, ad sales and editorialintegrity. For most of us the best tar-geted networks are The OutdoorChannel, The Sportsman's Channel,Versus and Pursuit. Of these, two are"audited" and two (at this writing) arenot. An audited network is veryimportant in your planning becausethey have the ability to tell you howmany people actually watched theshow where your commercial ran.That's powerful stuff and you'll seewhy as we move along. The OutdoorChannel is audited, as is Versus. Theothers are not although TheSportsman's Channel is close.

Cable networks put together aprogramming grid designed to appealto a specific market or interest group,complete with shows and advertising.They then offer the entire network tocable and/or satellite companies tocarry over their lines as part of the

cable/satellite company's basic orpremium package. It's quite a bitmore complicated than this but I'mshooting for an overview here to helpyou understand what it is you mayultimately buy.

So, the networks pedal theirwares to cable companies that have"subscribers"; the customers who payfor the service at the household level.Whew! We finally reached someonewho might be a customer.

Out of this conduit of sales comeswhat I like to call "The Number". "TheNumber" is all important and it is thesum of all subscribers of all cablecompanies airing the network. Forexample: The hypothetical DeerNetwork is carried by 10 cable compa-nies and each cable company has onemillion customers. The Deer Networksales guy can look you straight in theeye and tell you they have a "potentialviewing audience" of 10 millionhouseholds. He may shorten this a bitand tell you his network reaches 10million homes. If he's exceptionallyenthusiastic he won't argue if youmake the connection that your com-mercial could be seen by 10 millionpeople..."The Number". It is misused,misquoted, misrepresented and mis-understood by most people buyingtelevision.

With some background abouthow cable television works, let's lookat the advantages and pitfalls of eachtype of "buy".

SPONSORSHIPS There is no denying the value of

product usage within a show, particu-larly if the show host is a well knownpersonality and he offers an outrightendorsement of your product (whichhe should as part of the cost of the

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sponsorship). This lends credibilityand can actually add value to yourproduct. Sponsorships, however,need to be scrutinized for the benefitthey will actually provide, and youneed to look at the way your product"fits" the show. A good examplewould be a knife company wanting tosponsor a bowhunting show. Game isalmost never field dressed on televi-sion so the opportunities for productusage are limited. If the host tells youhe'll "work it into a segment", it's agood bet your product will be seen inone show the entire season. In such acase a billboard package (your logoshown a few times at breaks duringthe show) would be every bit as effec-tive as a full sponsorship at a fractionof the cost, or the show should be will-ing to offer a much lower cost spon-sorship than it would to a bow manu-facturer whose product would beused in every show. Most shows willpresent a variety of packages offeringlevels of exposure and they are allbased on a "full sponsor" price. Thereal question is what is that price andhow is the rate determined.

This is where "The Number" re-enters the picture. You'll remember allof this from the recent 2010 ATA Showin Columbus, Ohio and all those TVsales guys and hosts walking aroundwith great deals on sponsorships. Aprogram host on one network may

cruise into your booth and matter-of-factly indicate that they reach 35 mil-lion homes. That's a lot. The sponsor-ship includes product use and a 30second commercial and, well...youknow the drill. The price might rangefrom as low as $20,000 to a staggering$75,000 or more per quarter. MyGoodness! 35 million homes...that's alot of homes!

Here's where buying from anaudited channel can come in prettyhandy. If this show runs on an unau-dited channel you really have no wayof ever finding out how many peopleactually see the show. Think aboutthat for a second. They're asking youfor a pile of money and they cannottell you how many people saw theshow last week or will see the shownext week. They simply don't know.

Audited channels, on the otherhand, use an independent firm withsophisticated tracking technologyand research to determine how manypeople actually watched the show.This "share" gives you a real numberand allows you to do some real math.So ask a couple of simple questions: Isthe channel audited and what are theratings (or share of total households)?You might want to sit down before theanswer. Out of 35 million potentialhouseholds the numbers range wildlywith some shows reaching 60,000people or less while others will have

audiences of 500,000 or more. Timeslot, day part, day-of-week, quality ofproduction, host - many things affectthis number, but the burning ques-tion is - what happened to the other34.5 million viewers you were toldabout? Well, they're watching one ofthe other 250 channels available fromthe cable company; a company thatis, in fact, reaching 35 million house-holds. If you can't determine a real"cost per thousand" impressions, youmight be throwing your money away.Then again, many companies seeexcellent results from unaudited net-works, so there's going to have to be ajudgement call somewhere down theline.

Sponsorships always seem tohave a hit-or-miss component.Whether audited or unaudited, youstill sign a contract, send money andtrust someone to do great things withyour product (including that "free" 30second commercial they'll write andproduce that may or may not con-tribute to your marketing objec-tives...but that's another article). Ihave always felt that the contractshould go both ways. There are alwaysopen-ended promises in negotiatinga sponsorship. I see no reason why anadvertiser shouldn't write down thespecifics of a sponsorship deal andask the program to guarantee in writ-ing the things it is obligated to do to

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There’s no doubt the better hunting shows attract an audience. At left is a photoArrowTrade shot at the 2009 ATA Show, where dealers have lined up to get autographedposters from TV show hosts connected with the ScentBlocker and Scent Shield brands.Above, these young visitors to the 2010 ATA Show were happy with the photos JimShockey had autographed in the Alpine Archery booth.

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earn the sponsorship dollars for aspecific product. Some powerhouseadvertisers can do this, most can't ordon't even try.

If the program is carried on anaudited network, the actual numberof viewers for each show is available.You may have to be very insistent toget this number, but it does exist. Thesales crew would prefer to talk aboutpotential but you can get to the realnumber if you hang in there. Onceyou have that you can see if your buyis reasonable.

For example: The program youare interested in reaches an audited100,000 households per week and thesponsorship is $50,000 per quarter. Ina 13 week cycle (a quarter), your com-mercial will make roughly 5 millionimpressions. Impressions is anotherTV word indicating that they cannottell how many people are watching asingle TV or how many new viewersare seeing your message for the firsttime. So, 5 million impressions for$50,000 is $10 per thousand impres-sions. Magazines average a cost of $15to $25 per thousand, so you could belooking at a good deal.

In the case of an unaudited pro-gram, you have the inherent uncer-tainty of the sponsorship plus theinability to track how many peoplesee the program...know when to hold'em, know when to fold 'em. It couldbe the best deal you ever made; or not.

SPOT BUYS A "spot buy" is straightforward

and quantifiable in most cases and isbasically a direct network buy. Youcan pick and choose with spot buys,but you do so at a premium price.Buying from the network allows youthe glorious opportunity to get almostexactly what you want. There aresome hurdles to maneuver aroundbut it can still be a very efficient wayto buy television. Networks are one ofthe few media still honoring a 15 per-cent commission to legitimate adagencies so you can actually get a proinvolved to plan, negotiate and lendsome experience to your buy and itwon't cost you a penny. The networkis willing to discount the schedule toan agency since the agency will domost of the work with the client to

develop the strategy and supply thecommercial. In many cases you'll endup with a better commercial, whichmay cost more but will likely sell bet-ter and reflect your brand strategy,and a more productive buy.

I really hate to do this, but there'sanother side road to take here thatwill help you better understand whatyou're in for on a spot buy. You see, adtime is limited and there are a num-ber of folks lined up to get it. The ruleof thumb is 16 minutes per hour, 12minutes for national advertisers and 4minutes for local ads. In a typical halfhour show you have 8 minutes total; 6national, 2 local.

Where does all the ad time go?Sponsorship ads are first in line.Here's why.

The half hour of time used tobroadcast the program you've decid-ed to host is actually purchased by theprogram. Got an idea for a show? Putit on the air! It's simple really. You addup all your overhead for travel, cam-era equipment, employees; just likeany other business venture, and thenadd the cost of buying a half hour oftime on the network. The total is yourbreak even. Add a profit if you want to.Divide the total by the number of fullsponsors you can handle, maybe fiveor six, sell the sponsorships and"bam", you are a television star withyour own show, hunting across thenation in some really terrific placesand getting paid for it. Sounds goodbecause it is! It's also the reason theoutdoor networks have stacks of pro-grams to review, literally hundreds, tosee which of them have the produc-tion quality they need to maintain thestandards of the network.

The programs that make it to airarrive at the network with the spon-sor's ads already taped into the showand that's why they come first in thecascading ad sales game. Next in lineis the network, and they insist (con-tractually) that the program tape hasa certain amount of open time in it sothey can get in on the ad sales action

as well. These minutes (usually 2 or 3of the 6 minutes available per halfhour) are reserved for network adsales. There's your Spot Buy. Everyshow has available time. At least intheory. The network often won't letyou advertise say, a competitive gamecall in a show owned and produced bya game call company, but they'll sellyou a spot real close to it.

I wish I could say this is the end ofthe tunnel but there's one more levelthat you should be aware of. There arestill a couple of minutes saved for thelocal cable affiliate to serve the imme-diate market area. That's why you seelocal car dealership ads and carpetcleaning specialists in your favoritehunting show. The local cable compa-ny needs its chance to make moneyon ad sales as well, so don't expectthose chiropractor ads to go any-where.

Okay, back to the original goal,making a spot buy. The obvious andbest part of this technique is that asmaller amount of money than a fullsponsorship on a program can garnersome top notch exposure on a wellknown show. But, as I mentionedbefore, these spots will come at a pre-mium price and your budget won't goas far. To stretch things a little you canmake a day-part buy. Day-parts arepriced to reflect average viewership atgiven times of the day and you leave itto the network to put you in that day-part wherever they have time. Pricesdrop substantially and chances thatyour spot won't be in the best placeincrease. But, the discount for buyinglike this is enough to be very attractivefor many buyers. Agencies like thembecause they assure good placementand good numbers and we realizethat it's a numbers game more than a"that's-my-favorite-show-and-I-want-my-spot-there" mentality thatoften clouds the thinking of companyowners buying time. Day-partsinclude terms you've heard like"prime" and "fringe", but there areother day-parts that might surprise

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you and stretch your budget. Don'tforget weekdays versus weekend,prices vary here as well. You can jumpright in and try your hand or have anexperienced agent do it for you toearn a commission. Your choice.

Perhaps the strongest appeal forspot buys is the control it gives you tomaximize a smaller budget. If youcan't consider a $40,000 sponsorship(or even $20,000), spot buys can getsome pretty decent exposure, albeitfor a shorter period of time, for$10,000. Remember, for every swing-ing jewel out there in prime time on atop show on an audited network for$1,500 per 30 second spot, there are15, $100 spots on an unaudited net-work in the late night day-part. It's allthere, and the pie can be cut up anyway you like. Buy your favorite show ifyou can and then buy day-parts...mixand match.

BROKER BUYS There are people out there offer-

ing "discount" TV time and it's a won-derful thing for a limited budget.These folks buy large blocks of timeon a given network and the networkdiscounts it simply because theydon't want such a big fish to shake thehook. Nobody can blame them, it'slike Bass Pro or Cabela's callingyou...big order, less work; yes, we offera discount. These companies canthen offer you a 30-second spot forless and still make a little money. They

will dazzle you with the number ofspots you can buy for the samemoney you were about to spend onthat spot buy, and it will include somevery good day-parts. Just don't try tonail them down to specifics becausethey don't have them. A portion of thebuy is ROS (Run of Schedule) whichincludes any spot the network hasn'tsold in any time slot available. So,you're going to get some bad stuff, butyou're going to get some good stuff,too. Hey, an impression is an impres-sion...even at 4 a.m. in the morning!

The other thing to keep in mindwith broker buys is the preemptionclause. The network reserves the rightto sell any given spot at the highestprice it can get. Someone can come inwith a spot buy at a higher price andthe first thing bumped is the discountbuyer. The network will put that spotsomewhere else if you bid a higherprice for it. Don't misunderstand, youwill get everything promised by thediscounter, you just move to the backof the line. If you're a bargain hunter,there's no question that a broker buycan get you good exposure for fewerdollars. Some brand messages will bewell served by this approach, somewill not.

As you can see, buying televisionis not as easy as shooting the breezewith your favorite magazine guy andsigning an insertion order. There are

aspects that need to be consideredand pitfalls that need to be avoided.Still, no one can deny the power oftelevision as an important part of anymedia buy where seeing how a prod-uct works is important. Television hasalways been the demonstrationmedium and will continue to be thebest way to show customers whatyour product does or can do toenhance their outdoor experience.

In the end, as with all other formsof media, a mix of sponsorships, spotbuys and discount spots is likely thebest answer for many, where eachmethod can shore up the shortcom-ings of its neighbor. As always, duringthe battle to make sense of it all, don'tforget to keep asking yourself if thechoices you are making help YOURbrand strategy. YOUR message. YOURplans.

Editor’s Note: Jim Ising has beeninvolved in marketing and advertisinghunting products for over 20 yearsand has also owned an outdoor prod-ucts manufacturing company. Hisexperience on “both sides of the desk”makes him uniquely qualified to offeradvice and counseling to mid-sizedcompanies facing the daunting chal-lenge of being noticed in an evermorecrowded and competitive environ-ment. Jim is an avid bowhunter andaccomplished angler. Reach him at(904) 282-0780.

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