The Number Of Impressions It Takes To Reach Efficiency In A Media Campaign

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Since Luce Performance Group works with Broadcast and Traditional Media as well as Digital and Social integrated platforms or even Digital Pure Play's, having research on schedules that work across media channels is invaluable.

I know of 2 Digital vendors right now that suggest it takes 20 impressions over the course of a month delivered to each person you are targeting to be effective.  Those impressions can come from Print, TV, Radio, Billboard, Newsletters, Digital or Social Display, OTT/CTV video, Email, Text, POS, POP and more. The point is to create a integrated campaign that reaches a target audience at least 3 times in a short period like a week.  The Theory of Optimum Effective Scheduling stated that you needed to reach 50% of more of your audience 3.29 times over a week to be effective.  The Wizard of Ads Agency has suggested that has moved to 2/3rds of an audience an average of 3 times per week over 52 weeks to be effective. Knowing the strength of each medium and how it can play a part in a campaign is reinforced on a radio focussed piece that Cumulus, Westwood One and the RAB released called "How Many Ads Should A Radio Station Run?" and here are the key takeaways to reach between 34% and 78% of an audience....

"Let’s say a radio station format has a 22-weekly turnover:

• The minimum/very light schedule would require 11 weekly ads (half the turnover)
• The maintenance/light schedule would need 22weekly ads (the turnover)
• The high impact/medium schedule requires 44 ads in a week (double the turnover)
• The launch/heavy schedule would need 75 weekly ads (3.4 X the turnover)

The number of ads needed to achieve each of the four levels of radio station reach vary by AM/FM radio programming format

Agencies and sellers dramatically underestimate the number of ads needed to run the high impact and launch campaigns

An RAB study of 334 ad agencies and sellers asked how many weekly ads were needed to reach two-thirds (high impact) and 78% (launch) of a radio station’s audience. Responses revealed half of what is required!

Agencies perceived 33 weekly ads are needed to reach two-thirds of a station’s audience. In reality, an average of 51 weekly ads is required for the high impact campaign!

For some radio formats, up to 61 ads are needed to reach two-thirds of a station’s audience. Radio sellers also vastly misjudged the number of weekly ads needed to reach two-thirds of a station’s audience.

To reach 78% of a radio station’s audience, agencies estimated 46 weekly ads were necessary. In reality, over twice as many ads (102 spots weekly) are needed to achieve the launch campaign and reach 78% of a radio stations audience."

If you have a client with an integrated campaign where they are using several mediums to reach an effective schedule, know your audience numbers, what each medium delivers weekly by impression, and what they are missing to become effective.  The action plan from the study with the RAB says that sellers need to help clients in these 4 areas...

"Set the right expectations. Don’t expect grand opening results from a light weekly campaign. The number of people reached and the number of times they are reached impact results. The iHeartMedia auto dealer website study reveals the direct relationship between the number of ads and impact.

Advertisers: Examine your annual plan. Does schedule intensity match desired results? Evaluate your annual marketing calendar to ensure sales events have sufficient station reach and frequency to drive impact. The number of weekly ads needed for the high impact/medium and launch/heavy station schedules is much higher than you think. Between sales events, is there a continuous level of advertising to ensure your business is “known before it is needed”?

Sellers: Create weekly investment levels for the four campaigns. A grid can be created with the four campaigns. This one pager allows you to build proposals based on desired client outcomes, ie. if a client wants a maintenance campaign, promote a typical sales event or a major sales event, or product launch.

Don’t underestimate the number of ads needed to achieve specific campaign goals

Delivering the message to the audience and achieving the campaign’s goal is the basic role of advertising. However, the number of ads needed to achieve specific campaign goals is often underestimated."