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| Major Media Types |
Media are the agencies, means, tools or
instruments used to convey messages to the public. When most businesses, NGOs,
interest groups consider forms of advertising that may be the best for their
company, cause, program or event television, radio, newspaper, magazines, and
internet are typically the first types of media that come to mind. All of these
media outlets do have its advantages, as well as disadvantages. These advantages
and disadvantages both are put in practice to choose the right form of media to
convey a message, spread news and motivate people to take part in an activity.
Among the above mentioned media types,
television and print media pretty much take the cake. The other media take less
proportion of interest but are still widely used because of the benefits that
they provide. Below are some benefits and disadvantages of
each of these forms of media which will give criteria of selecting the right
media for right delivery of the message with more efficiency.
Television
The average person spends nearly ten years
watching TV during their life span over a 70 year lifetime. Television
communicates with sound, action and color. The prime time is between 8 P.M to
11 P.M during which TV channels have their ratings at peak based on viewership.
Advantages:
a. Wide geographic coverage & broad
audience reach (appeals to most demographics)
b. Perceived accountability with well
accepted audience
c. Relative ease of buying and post-buy
maintenance
d. Proven success record for promoting mass
consumer products (infomercials)
Disadvantages:
a. Audience share is generally declining due
to fragmented audiences
b. Increasing use of commercial free channels
and programs is diminishing the impact of commercials
c. Typically high and rising production costs
this makes it one of the most expensive media
Radio
Radio reaches 90% of people, which makes it
very effective and widespread media to communicate and convey the messages. It
is believed that an average person with 70 year of lifetime spends 6 years of
their lives listening to radio. Radio has best times as “drive times” such as
morning and early evening.
Advantages:
a. Has targeting capabilities
b. Inexpensive compared to other traditional
broadcast media
c. Builds frequency quickly (commercials are
replayed throughout the day/evening)
d. Branded promotions offer advertisers
appealing community involvement opportunities
e. No seasonal listener erosion
Disadvantages:
a. No visual component
b. Advertisers must buy multiple stations and
formats to accumulate audience reach
c. Peak listening is during morning and
evening drive times with relatively low audiences the rest of the day
Newspaper
Newspapers are the most oldest and one of the
most effective type of media for communication, learning and advertising.
Advantages:
a. Broad reach within a defined marketing
area i.e. business, sports, shopping section
b. Large readership and a high level of
reader involvement
c. The cost is relatively low
d. Newspapers often have special sections to
advertise, to promote your cause or to motivate or inform people to any
project, market, program or event
e. Newspapers cover a diverse geographical
area, as it is available in big cities as well in small towns
Disadvantages:
a. Decreasing market penetration and
readership
b. Less interest shown by youth (people
between ages 18-24 are not reading the newspaper)
c. Short life
d. Studies show that less than 50% of readers
bother to see the ads while others skip those sections
Magazine
Magazines are mostly part of a newspaper, but
are published and issued separately with regular time intervals usually weekly
or monthly, have limited circulation and targeted audience. However it has much
less circulation than any other printing media form, but still it has its
importance for communication.
Advantages:
a. High degree of selective targeting based
on demographics, product affinity, or lifestyle (women’s vs. men’s magazines,
children’s magazines, etc.)
b. High production quality (images and
full-color printing)
c. Longer life span
d. People keep magazines longer than
newspapers
e. Focused environment with selected niche
f. Regional editions offer localized
targeting capabilities
Disadvantages:
a. Magazines offer specific issues with
limited availability to public
b. They are not produced on daily basis but
with some fixed time intervals like weekly or monthly
c. Broad market reach is difficult to achieve
because of niche readership behavior
d. More expansive than newspaper
e. Less mass appeal within a geographical area
Direct mail
Direct mail is used by business and companies
to send the newsletters, catalogs, coupons, samples, price lists, circulars,
invitations, cards and letters to be sent via mail to home of the receiver or
through electronic mail.
Advantages
a. It can be highly selective
b. It has controlled timing
c. Can be used to actually make the sale
Disadvantages
a. It has low response level
b. People think of it as “junk mail”
c. High cost
Conclusion
However whatever kind of media is used to
communicate, a look at the advantages and disadvantages must be practiced
before taking actual decision. This information may help to choose the best
available media which coincides with effective communication, better delivery
of service and helps to get properly managed feedback.
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