Ads In Context

Advertisements in Context

Almost everyone has a favorite show they like to watch at least once a week, or nightly, or whatever the case. We sit down with a snack in the most comfortable place we can find and prepare for a good half an hour or hour's worth of entertainment. Sounds like a good time, except for the only downer: advertisements. When those commercials breaks come on, suddenly heading to the bathroom or refilling your drink seems like a good course of action, because they are interrupting the program. Commercials are largely disregarded as irrelevant junk and people just trying to sell you things you really do not want, but is it possible that these advertisers go a little deeper than you think? A look at the context in which these commercials are placed can lend some insight on this matter.

The evening news is a prime opportunity for advertisers, for a number of reasons. One must examine several factors. The first is the audience that the news holds. A stereotypical news-watcher is someone who wants to be informed of what is going on in their world at several different scopes: local, regional, national, and global. It is likely that this person has a decent amount of money and is most likely a full grown adult, capable of making big purchases and decisions on their own. Another factor advertisers must consider is the content of the stories being presented in that broadcast. Advertisers will pay more money to have their commercial aired before or after a segment that is related to their product, service, or whatever they are trying to advertise. With these factors in mind, it is easy to understand exactly how the commercials that air are selected.

During a broadcast of what one might consider the "normal" news, there is a selection of commercials aired that one might consider stereotypical. The most common types of commercials by far are automobile commercials. An interesting observation about these commercials, however, is the price range of these cars. Generally, the cost of the cars advertised during a news broadcast ranges between medium to high, anywhere from the $20,000 range to $50,000. This is by no means a static number, as there are exceptions to every rule, but the majority of the cars advertised fall in that range. This reveals that advertisers consider the largest portion of their target audience is well established in the working world, with a strong family and job, and is able to afford a more expensive car. Rarely does one see a commercial for a used car dealership during a primetime news broadcast.

Another interesting way to peer into the minds of the advertisers and how they are thinking is to consider what they are not advertising during certain shows. While watching a primetime news broadcast, it is quite unlikely that one would see a trailer for the newest teen movie, filled with crude jokes and sex, while it is far more likely that there may be a commercial for a deeper, more dramatic movie. Another example of good choices by advertisers could be for different foods. The chance of seeing a Raisin Bran or Grape Nuts commercial during the news is far more likely than seeing one for Froot Loops or Captain Crunch, because the people working in marketing know that they would immediately lose the attention of the viewer if they heard "Crunchatize me Cap'n!" right after the commercial for the new Lexus. The advertisers clearly know their target audience and pick their advertisements wisely.

On the subject of commercials in the context of the broadcast being aired, one interesting example that aired during a recent broadcast of the FOX news was a campaign advertisement for Michael Nutter, a Democratic in the upcoming race for the position of mayor of Philadelphia. Immediately after the commercial ended and the news resumed, they ran a story about the candidates for mayor of Philadelphia, mentioning that Nutter was the last of the Democratic candidates to run an ad campaign on television. It is likely that Nutter paid a good amount of money for this specific time slot during that commercial break, because airing it at that time would