24210 Chap.10 Media Planning: Reach and Frequency Trade-offs
Media Planning: Reach and Frequency Trade-offs
Terms and objectives
Lecture 7 defines media objectives, strategy, medium, vehicle, reach, coverage and frequency, and gives objectives such as putting the message before 60% of the target at least three times within six months.
Weight and effectiveness
Planners trade reach against frequency.
GRP multiplies reach by frequency, TARP counts only the target audience reached, and effective reach asks how many people saw the message often enough, which average frequency can hide.
Timing and fit
Schedules follow continuity, flighting or pulsing.
Coverage should reach the target while minimising waste, the medium’s mood carries into the ad, and cost-efficiency is judged per medium, with evaluation against media and campaign objectives.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Media planning vocabulary
- 02
Writing media objectives
- 03
Reach versus frequency
- 04
GRP, TRP and TARP
- 05
Effective and average frequency
- 06
Continuity, flighting and pulsing
Worked example · free
Match three products to continuity, flighting and pulsing
- 1Sunscreen: flighting, with bursts in the selling season and no advertising in the months when demand is low.
- 1Everyday bank account: continuity, a regular pattern with no gaps, because demand does not vary through the year.
- 1Chocolate: pulsing, a steady base all year with extra weight stepped up before Easter and Christmas.
Key terms
- Media Vehicle
- The specific carrier within a medium category, such as one program or one magazine title.
- Effective Reach
- The percentage of an audience reached at each effective frequency level, since one exposure may not be enough.
- Waste Coverage
- Exposure that falls on people who are unlikely ever to buy or use the product.
- Pulsing
- A schedule that keeps continuous advertising but steps up the effort at chosen times.
Media Planning: Reach and Frequency Trade-offs FAQ
What is the difference between reach and frequency?
Reach is the number of different audience members exposed to a message at least once in a given period. Frequency counts how often each of those people sees or hears the vehicle during that period. With a fixed budget, the planner trades one against the other.
How are GRP and TARP different?
Gross ratings points multiply reach by frequency and count weight across everyone reached. TARP counts only the people in the target audience reached by the buy, divided by the potential target audience and multiplied by 100, so it excludes waste coverage.
Why can average frequency be misleading?
A few heavy viewers who see an ad many times raise the average while lighter viewers see it once. Comparing the effective frequency the objective needs with the average frequency delivered shows whether enough of the target actually saw the message often enough.
What are continuity, flighting and pulsing?
Continuity is a regular pattern without gaps. Flighting alternates periods of advertising and no advertising. Pulsing keeps continuity but steps up the effort at certain times. The Week 7 tutorial asks you to name products suited to each.
What does a good media objective look like?
The lecture’s examples set numbers, an audience and a period: put the message before 60% of the people in the target at least three times within six months, or use broadcast to cover 80% of the target in the same six months. Timing objectives can also concentrate weight in particular seasons.
How is media cost-efficiency judged?
Medium by medium: the lecture judges print by the cost of reaching each thousand people and broadcast by the cost of each rating point. It also notes that the more attention a medium achieves, the less frequency it needs, which can make a dearer medium better value.
What is the difference between a medium and a media vehicle?
A medium is a category of delivery system, such as broadcast or print. A media vehicle is the specific carrier within that category, such as one particular program or magazine. Media plans choose broad media classes first and specific vehicles within each class later.
Assessment move
Write one media objective for your group campaign with a reach percentage, a frequency, an audience and a period. Practise GRP, TARP and effective reach with fresh numbers until you can explain each result in one sentence. Then choose a scheduling method for your campaign and justify it from the brand’s sales pattern.
Close by checking whether your budget can buy both the reach and the frequency your objective names, and cut one if it cannot.
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