Broadcast Banter - TV Is Alive & Kicking!

Having recently moved into the MEC Broadcast department I am familiarising myself with the art of TV planning and buying, turning on my charm and becoming pally with the channel saleshouse reps and getting to grips with all the TV jargon.

It's no secret that I have been eagerly anticipating my time in Broadcast as the other grads have given it rave reviews (the broadcast team players being a key element behind the positive feedback). The broadcast team at MEC have a reputation for being the loudest, most welcoming, most entertaining and most sociable department with the best banter going. So far I haven't been disappointed. Everyday starts with a hand tingling high five from one of my managers follwed by an early round of tea. In my first week I competed in a strength challenge. Each member of the broadcast team (men and women) had to lift at arms length a case of boules (metal balls) and see how long they could hold them up for. No real reason other than a bit of fun and healthy competition between the team! I am proud to say that I lasted 59 seconds beating all the girls and even some of the men! This surely calls for some kind of award?

All fun and games aside the TV department work extremely hard to make sure all our campaigns are due to deliver what air time has been bought on each channel.  Buying and managing TV ad spots is not as simple as maybe an online campaign because TV ratings or viewing figures fluctuate daily which means you have to keep track of how the campaign is progressing.

Because television is a high impact medium it delivers immediacy, mass coverage, flexibility, movement, colour and crucially, spot-by-spot accountability. The fragmentation of audiences is met by a multitude of digital channels from E4 to Eden ensuring that an advertiser's message reaches a chosen target audience in an effective but cost-efficient way. I'm not denying the fact that the advertising industry has seen dramatic change (increases in social media and online spend), but global cross-media studies (by Milward Brown) have confirmed the following key facts:

• Multimedia campaigns deliver more than any single media channel can on their own, but TV often delivers the bulk of impressions and brand response.
• TV advertising is still an extraordinarily important channel for changing awareness, attitudes and sales.
• It still delivers vital mass audience reach and can prime other media to make them more effective.
• TV also surpasses other media in terms of communication power.

The fact is no matter what area of advertising I end up working in, my knowledge in Broadcast will always be useful as so much of  a client's budget is spent on TV. It is a medium suited to every target audience and I personally can't imagine an advertising industry without the presence of TV.
Long live TV!

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