Last month an Adweek/Harris poll was released with over 2,500 respondents that said TV was still the most helpful medium for making purchase decisions. TV beat the runner up (Newspaper) by double!
37% of Americans say that commercials on television are most helpful when making a purchase decision and only 17% said that newspaper ads were the most helpful. What’s even more shocking are the results of internet & radio. 14% said that internet search engines were most helpful and only 3% of respondents listed radio as the most helpful. Ouch! The bottom of the barrel was internet banner ads with only 1% indicating them as the most helpful for making a purchase decision. Those banner ads were also listed as the type of advertising completely ignored. 46% said that they tend to ignore banner ads. (CableSpots 7/6/09)
In a year where business owners are trying to save a buck or two this kind of information is incredibly valuable. I hear the kind of deals that are out there for web advertising and I’ve been at the radio stations and know what kind of sales antics are used to get people to advertise with them. It’s even worse now in the current economy. When taking a hard look at where you can cut back and where you should spend more, it is apparent that TV is still the most effective medium available.
If a banner or radio ad falls in the forest and no one is there to see or hear it, did it actually happen? I bet the radio or internet company will still bill you for it!
