Our auction helps small businesses save 50-95% off of local market pricing for TV commercials. If you want TV airtime in New York City at Montana prices, you’re out of luck. Think of it in terms of real estate: a budget that would get you a 1,400-sq. ft. house in Casper, WY would barely get you a 490-sq. ft. studio co-op in Upper West Side, NY – and you’d never find a real estate broker sympathetic to your complaint that “this money would buy me four giant houses elsewhere.” The baseline is the local market baseline – you can’t just pick a city/market and say “I want that price for TV airtime” unless you’re actually going to buy TV airtime there.
The proprietary document below took us over seven years and 200 combined man-hours worth of research to build. It is not an ad or a sales pitch for our auction: it’s free information to help small business owners find out what they should expect to pay for TV advertising campaigns in individual markets/DMAs.
Download the Microsoft Excel budget range document here: http://www.wholesaleairtimeauction.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/TV-Radio-Commercials-Monthly-Budgets-Internet-Commercial-Budgets-Local-Advertisers-2016-WholesaleAirtime-Auction.xls
The monthly budget ranges shown in the Excel file display a fairly large spread in most market areas. The proper budget for these areas is in the middle of the budget range, which will allow most businesses to advertise on a handful of TV stations at the same time as well as test multiple time blocks (6AM-7PM, 7PM-12M, weekends, weekdays, etc.) – perfect for running test campaigns. Unfortunately, many small businesses don’t have enough money to run proper test campaigns via broadcast TV and radio advertising, which is why the document also shows budget ranges for local online internet commercials.
Is it possible to buy a TV or radio advertising campaign below the lowest recommended budget range in any of the listed markets (which means one day per week)? Yes, but only if you stretch the definition to its breaking point. Airing 1-2 days per week on 1-2 stations is not a proper TV or radio advertising test campaign. And if you’re not going to run an proper monthly test, then you should keep your money – the stations will gladly take it from you, but you’d be better off going to a casino and betting it all on black (and this is not a joke!)
If you have any questions about the Microsoft Excel document, please visit our Contact Us page or get in touch with us via the Small Business Love Chat App. Even though we run an auction, we have live, experienced media professionals ready to answer your questions.