The importance of choosing the right medium to carry your advertisement is critical - the aim is to reach as much of your target audience as possible while keeping costs within budget. The absolute cost is important but so is the cost per member of the targeted audience reached.

So, although advertising the release of a new film in the local newspaper might be a lot less expensive than advertising in Empire magazine, the latter is much more likely to reach a large audience of people interested in the product.

By being very clear about who you are trying to reach, you have a better chance of choosing the appropriate medium/media.

Television, Cinema and Radio

Television
Both in terms of production and buying time slots in which to show the advert, the cost of advertising on television is very high but because of the large audiences that popular programmes can draw, it can be extremely cost effective. On the downside, the audience will usually be poorly defined and as such it is likely that the target audience will only make up a modest proportion of the total audience. There is also a great deal of other advertising to compete against so the advert will have to stand out if the target audience is going to actively it.

Cinema
Like television, cinema is able to use both sound and picture to create a powerful advertising message. Often adverts shown in cinemas are also seen on television, spreading the high production costs and widening the reach of a television campaign. The cinema audience is in an environment with few distractions, no reason to ‘pop out’ while the adverts are on and no ability to change the channel. The audience demographics suggest a predominance of teens to mid twenties, so if the target audience falls into this age range then cinema could be a good choice.

Radio
Due to the proliferation of stations offering different output, the audiences tend to be more narrowly defined than in television. As such it is often a highly cost effective way of reaching a target audience and the absolute cost is relatively low. However, without the ability to show images, a radio advert needs to work harder to leave a lasting impression. Added to this is the fact that many people have the radio on in the background whilst doing something else, so attention may be low.

Newspapers, Magazines and Billboards

Newspapers
With a wide variety of titles, each having its own well defined readership, newspaper advertising can provide the means to focus on a target audience. Local or regional newspapers can offer geographic selection in advertising. Newspapers, however, are generally read quickly and then disposed of, so an advert usually only gets one chance to catch the reader’s eye. Also, certain groups rarely read newspapers, so this may not be a viable option in all cases.

Magazines
An excellent way to advertise selectively to a distinct group. Magazines tend to be kept for a significant period of time and are browsed longer and often repeatedly, unlike a newspaper. Magazines are usually printed using high quality methods allowing a strong visual impact to be made. One disadvantage with advertising in magazines is that adverts have to be booked months in advance. Another drawback is that the cost can be high, so selecting the right title to match the target audience profile is critical if the reach is to be maximised.

Billboards
Because billboards are situated for all to see, often alongside roads, this tends to mean a large potential audience but a poorly defined one. A billboard’s sheer size can make a powerful impression but as most of the audience will be moving past at some degree of speed, a strong image with minimal text is advisable.