What is Media?
Media is the term we use
to refer to different types of media that provide us with important information
and knowledge. Media has always been part of our society, even when people used
paintings and writings to share information.
Mass media refers to media technologies used
to disseminate information to a wide audience.
The key function of mass media is to
communicate various messages through television, movies, advertising, radio,
the internet, magazines, and newspapers.
Management’s, producers, promoter’s advertisers, etc know
about their products or services.
The person to communicate may be:
Customers, so that they may become aware of/get interested in
and be attracted to what is on offer from the communicator,
Employees, so that they may know how the organization has
grown and proposes to grow: what their own prospects may be and so on; and at
the same time feel a sense of belongingness or pride in their organization and
contribute more
1. Enthusiastically.
2. The general public, suppliers etc. so that they may know
the organization’s products, activities and impact and may feel favorably
inclined towards it.
Organizations use 'media' to communicate messages hat inform,
attract attention, create interest, generate desire and persuade others, that
inform, attract attention, create interest, generate desire and persuade
others, that the communicator and his products (the products may be goods or
services) are worthy of support and patronage. Such communications through
media are known as promotion.
Promotion is done through media and the idea
is to communicate a message to a potential user of tourism services. All such
messages are referred to as "advertisements" in this unit. Although
some, like window displays, may not be called advertisements in common
parlance.
Types of Media
The goal of media is to convey an advertising message to the
audience through the most appropriate media channel for their product.
In general, you can classify media in three main categories.
1. Print Media
2. Broadcast
Media
3. Electronic Media
Print Media
This type of news media used to be the only way of
delivering information to the public. For the generations of the 80s and 90s,
print media was the only media of entertain. People relied on newspapers and
magazines to learn everything, from recipes and entertainment news to important
information about the country or the world. It also comprises of daily
newspapers (morning, evening), weekly newspapers; periodicals; magazines of
general or special interest to sports fans, women, children, literary minded
tourist, fashion designers, gardeners, wildlife enthusiasts etc; or trade
journals of interest to different business. These carry articles, news items
and advertisements, for example the hospitality is the media of the hospitality
industry and its producers use to communicate with their customers to provide
information to tourists. Print media, particularly newspapers and magazines,
still dominates the scene.
For example of Print media includes:
1. Newspapers: Printed and distributed on a daily
or weekly basis. They include news related to sports, politics, technology,
science, local news, national news, international news, birth notices, as well
as entertainment news related to fashion, celebrities, and movies. Today’s
parents grew up with this type of printed media.
2. Magazines: Printed on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or
annual basis. It contains information about finance, food, lifestyle, fashion,
sports, etc.
3. Books: Focused on a particular topic or
subject, giving the reader a chance to spread their knowledge about their
favorite topic.
4. Banners: Used to advertise a company’s
services and products, hung on easily-noticed sights to attract people’s
attention.
5. Billboards: Huge advertisements created with
the help of computers. Their goal is to attract people passing by.
6. Brochures: A type of booklet that
includes everything about one company – its products, services, terms and
conditions, contact details, address, etc. They are either distributed with the
newspapers or hand over to people. Check this article to learn more on how
to ease the brochure design process here
7. Flyers: Used mostly by small companies due
to the low cost of advertising. They contain the basic information about a
company, their name, logo, service or product, and contact information, and
they are distributed in public areas.
Broadcast Media
This comprises of radio and television. Messages are
transmitted by these media through the atmosphere and received by the viewers
and listeners at their respective places. They carry sports sponsored
programmes and commercials etc. for example the BBC TV programme to travel
motivate a number of tourists.
Broadcasting media includes videos, audios, or written
content that provides important or entertaining information shared by different
methods:
a) Television: In the past, there were a few
channels sharing various types of content, whereas now we have hundreds of TV
channels to choose from. Each channel delivers a different type of content, so
you have a separate channel for news, drama, movies, sports, animation, nature,
travel, politics, cartoon, and religion. It’s the number one broadcasting media
due to its reach to the audience.
b) Radio: Uses radio waves to transmit
entertaining, informative, and educative content to the public. Due to its high
reach to the audience, radio is widely used for advertising products and
services. Radio is one of the oldest means of entertainment, and today people
often hear it to find out the weather and traffic while commuting.
c) Movies: Film, motion picture, screenplay,
moving picture, or movie has world-wide reach ability. It’s the best type of
mass media to promote cultures and spread social awareness. Movies have always
played a huge part in the entertainment world.
Electronic Media
This comprise of audio and video tapes. These are used by
tourism departments, tour operators etc. for promotional purposes. Audio tapes
are now being used more and more for guiding services also in museums etc.
This comprises of:
a) Hoardings (also called bill boards) which are printed and
located at public places like busy streets or parks,
b) Illuminated signs which may remain steady or keep flashing
and changing,
c) Wall paintings and posters (which are printed bulletins) put
up at railway stations, airports, offices or carried by person on the streets,
d) Panels which are small, painted or printed and attached to
kiosks on lamp posts, buses (inside as well as outside), railway compartments
taxis; exhibitions, trade shows and fairs, signs and banners at retail outlets,
e) Window displays,
f) Sky balloons and skywriting,
g) Banners on boats anchored at water fronts, etc. Another way
of classifying media is in terms of:
h) Audio comprising of displays print, cinema slides, etc. that
make sound,
i) Visual comprising of displays print, cinema slides, etc.
j) Audio-visual comprising of video tapes, TV cinema.
Media like,
newspapers, cinema, radio and T. V., which are managed by people other than the
advertisers are known as 'Above the line' media. Other media like direct mail,
exhibitions, demonstrations, posters, bulletins etc., are referred to as 'Below
the line media. This distinction is because of a practice of some agents to
bill for the first type of media used, draw a line below, after providing for
commission on them and then billing of the costs of the other media, below the
line.
Functions of Media
Media has been one of the most significant forces in modern
culture. All types of media communication whether written, broadcast or spoken
reach a larger audience thus creating a massive impact. Here are the important functions
of Media:
1) Mass media plays a crucial role in
shaping how we view the world.
2) Intensive use of mass media has
resulted in the world to appear smaller and closer.
3) It also promotes the distribution of
goods and services.
4) The fundamental objectives of mass
media are to inform, educate and entertain the masses.
5) It is known to be an important
player in democracy and the smooth functioning of the nation.
6) Media is the watchdog of society.
7) Media works to transmit heritage and
cultural values.
8) The rise of new mass media creates a
global platform to bring people together.
Why
is media important?
Preferred
movies on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, news
on TV and radio, articles in newspapers and magazines make mass media an
integral part of our everyday life. Since it has a vast influence on people all
over the world, brands use various platforms to appeal to their leads and
customers and pitch their goods.
Companies
run an endless marathon to reach success with the help of mass media. Brands
use either traditional or digital media to connect with their target
audience and build brand awareness. Entrepreneurs consider various
platforms to convey a company’s image and create a good reputation. With mass
media, brands can effectively promote their goods and services, reach broader
audiences, boost brand engagement, and increase sales volume.
At the
present, when you know about the importance of mass media technologies, let’s
proceed to their functions.
Media Terms
While discussing media and its
uses certain words are usually used. These words have specific meanings which
may not be the same as commonly understood.
Hence, such words and their
specific meanings are explained below:
Advertisement: Is the use of space in a
publication or time in a broadcast, which has been paid for, to convey a
message. Direct mail is also advertising because the space, though not in
publication, has to be paid for by the advertiser.
Audience: Refers to the people who
see or hear or read the messages in the media. Audience profile refers to the
characteristics of the audience it terms of demographics and other factors like
literacy, attitudes and interests, social and economic location, etc. This
profile varies. For example, those who read national newspapers might act or
behave differently from those who read regional newspapers or professional
journals; those who like to watch super story on TV may not be the same as
those who watch izozo. Those who may see the posters in the airport are not the
same as those who may see the bus panel.
Campaign: Refers to a planned
programme to communicate or promote, using media (one or more), with repetition
and/or variety during a specified period of time.
Circulation: is the number of copies
(of newspaper or journal or magazine) sold.
Commercial: Is an advertisement
message broadcast on T. V.
Copy: Is what appears in an
advertisement by way of words and illustrations. The copy translates the
abstract ideas and concept of the advertiser’s message into a tangible form.
Coverage: Refers to the number of
persons from the target audience that sees, hear or read the message. Coverage
is less than 'exposure', because not all who see a message may in fact see it.
Cumulative Audience
(Gross): Is
the sum of exposure to all media in a campaign.
Demographics: Refer to the description
of a population (market or audience) in terms of sex, age, family size,
occupation etc.
Duplication: Is the overlap between
media because of difference media reaching the same persons.
Exposure (or Reach): Refers to those of the
target audience having an opportunity to see or hear or read the message in the
medium in a period of time. For example a specific T. V. programme may not be
seen by all persons having T. V. sets. But only some of them will be the target
audience. In the case of a newspaper also exposure can be more than the
circulation.
Flexibility: Is the scope for
variation in regionality, timeliness and creativity'. Some media allow more
scope for creativity in terms of colour, sound or movement.
Frequency: Is the number of times an
audience has an opportunity to see or hear or read the message over a period of
time. This will depend on the number of times the media has carried the message
according to the schedules.
Image of a medium: Is the public perception
of the medium's modernity, honesty, quality of content, etc. The image affects,
positively or otherwise, the message carried by the medium.
Impact: Is the effect on the
coverage in terms of recognition, recall or memory and influence on the
audience.
Intensity: Is the degree of
thoroughness with which the audience sees, hears or reads.
Jingle: Is an advertisement
message set to music, usually broadcast on radio.
Layout: Refers to the manner in
which the advertisement space has been used, the manner in which the copy has
been presented in the advertisement. It includes size of letters and spacing of
words and illustrations. The copy and layout together make the impact.
P. O. P (Point-of-Purchase): Refers to the displays at
the retail outlets. Reach is the same as exposure. It indicates the capability
of the medium to reach the target audience.
Schedule: Is the programme of use
of the media like sequence, dates, time, etc.
Selectivity: Means the ability of the
medium to reach a target audience specified by geographic, demographic or other
factors.
Spots: Refer to the time for
advertisement in a radio or T. V.
Visual: Refers to the
illustrations in the copy.
Media Differences
There are considerable
differences between the different media, in terms of coverage exposure,
flexibility and other characteristics.
Some media go to where the
audience is, for example, print and electronic media. Some of the display
media, hoardings for example, or cinema do not move. Hence exposure is limited
to those who go to where the medium is. Some media like radio, T. V. or some
magazines, have an international or a nationwide reach, while others are
exposed only to audiences within a limited geographical linguistic or
professional boundary.
Some media are also pursued at
the convenience of the audience, while some present the messages according to
the conveniences of the media owner. If the messages are not noticed, when
being shown, they are missed. They cannot be recalled for a fresh look. If the
message is not clear, one cannot ask for a repeat. If you are watching a video,
you can ask for a repeat, but not while watching a T. V. or listening to a
radio broadcast unless you have recorded it yourself. If the medium is a
newspaper or a magazine, you can read it even after some lapse of time.
The print media, particularly
newspapers, have very large exposures. Advertisements for newspapers are
relatively easy to prepare. Newspapers and magazines may carry exclusive pages
as supplements. Newspapers are heavily crowded with all kinds of
advertisements. Coverage could be poor despite large exposure, unless the
advertisements occupies a lot of space and/or is appropriately positioned.
Magazines range from weeklies
to biannual. They are read repeatedly.
Very few people read a magazine
from the beginning to the end in one sitting. Magazines may also be referred to
after some time and they have longer lives than newspapers which are usually
discarded within a few hours.
The reach of the direct mail is
as good as -the mailing list. Mailing lists can be compiled from directories,
sales personnel, customers or membership (of clubs and associations). Target
audiences outside the mailing list are ignored. Direct mail has a personal
touch and can use more words and illustrations than other print media. It is
read at leisure. Cinema and film slides shown in theatres have high memory
value. Using colour, sound and movement they can carry a wide range of
communication at a time.
However, the limitations are:
1. They are expensive and
wastage is high
2. There is very little
selectivity in terms of target audience
3. The audience profile
for cinema is changing over time. It also changes according to the film being
shown
4. Advertisements are
shown only at the beginning of the show or at the start after the interval.
These timings being known, the audience can avoid viewing. On the other hand
ratio of coverage to exposure is low but the impact is high. The involvement of
the audience in cinema is considerably more than in T. V. In T. V. the
attention to the small screen is less concentrated and less consistent. There
are distractions also in the case of T. V. because of being watched at home.
T. V has become the most
important medium because of its accessibility in more households than of any
other medium. Exposure and coverage are both increasing even in the rural
areas. Selectivity is possible if the audience profile is carefully determined.
Audience profile changes according to the programme of the broadcast, as well
as the time of the broadcast. Impact depends partly on the position of the
advertisement in the sequence of commercials preceding and succeeding. As a
medium, it overcomes the handicaps of illiteracy.
Commercial costs a lot to
prepare and the charges for medium usage are also very high. Audience tends to
relax while watching T. V. commercial combines attributes of storytelling and
demonstration. It can convey demonstrations and messages on how to use. Hence,
it is considered the fasted and the most dynamic medium for selling brands and
services, the impact being more through the visuals.
Radio has a wider exposure than
the print media and perhaps also more than the T. V. outside urban areas for
the present. Flexibility is less than.
T. V. as only sound can be
used. The jingles become popular and are often sung by listeners. Messages can
be detailed and made appealing in the form of dialogues using local slang and
jargon. Selectivity depends on the programme and timing as in the case of T. V.
it reaches all social strata and overcomes the problem of illiteracy.
Radio is not confined to a
place as it moves along with the listener. We must remember that for a
listener, the message is not durable and it may also be ignored.
The value of outdoor media,
like hoardings, posters, signs etc. depends entirely on the location. They have
long life and are seen repeatedly by audiences. They have a high geographic
selectivity but demographic selectivity is poor. The message can be varied very
frequently. Messages have to be brief. They must be capable of being seen and
read from distances in a short time as one passes by. Nobody stops in front of
these to read. If the angle of the hoarding to the direction of traffic is not
proper, passersby will not even notice it. They are relatively less expensive,
but the space will have to be bought for on a long term contract.
Exhibitions and Fairs can be
conducted by hiring out stalls in an event in which other exhibition where
there will be no other exhibits. Either way, the visitor to an exhibition comes
specifically for the purpose of viewing the exhibits, combined perhaps, with
some entertainment.
The attention of the viewer is
therefore almost complete to the messages being conveyed through the:
1. Panels
2. Personal
explanations
3. Pamphlets
and leaflets
4. Samples
5. Working
models
6. Films
7. Audio and
video tapes.
The exhibition provides an
opportunity to combine a variety of media into a single location. Messages
therefore can be detailed and useful.
The world of media is also
changing today. Video and cable T. V. etc. are replacing the cinema theatre.
The audience is also becoming larger. For example, household viewing of
satellite T. V. had increased tremendously in the recent times. Similarly,
satellite viewers are increasing. Also, the numbers of satellite channels are
increasing.
Satellite transmissions are viewed
in about 40 countries.
Very often, advertisements in
video cassettes are totally wasted as copies of the cassette are made
eliminating advertisements. The viewers may also 'fast forward' what they do
not want to se.
Cable T. V. operators, however,
provide effective local advertising which is not part of the video cassette.
These will have geographical selectivity but not audience selectivity. They can
be repeated several times in a day depending upon the operator.
Media Research
As a tourism professional,
suppose you have to plan a campaign to promote your product. This could be a
tour, destination, hotel, emporium etc. as a first step in this regard you would
decide on:
1. What media to use?
2. What is to be presented in the
media and how oft en?
Besides, the characteristics
mentioned earlier as well as details on exposure, coverage, usage etc. have to
be also taken into consideration while choosing the media for the campaign.
Media selection has to depend
on answers to questions like:
a)
How
many people see it?
b)
What
kinds of people see it?
c)
How
much does it cost?
d)
What
is the impact, etc?
You would not like to advertise
if it is not read or seen by people of the kind you want to address. For
example, a souvenir issued at the time of a special event contains many
advertisements. However, experience has shown that nobody seriously looks at
them. Hence such advertisements are not intended as communication. They are
intended to provide support to the publisher of the souvenir i.e. the organizer
of the event where the souvenir is released. On the contrary, an advertisement
on the big screen behind the batsman in a cricket test match is seen by
thousands present in the ground or millions watching the T. V. telecast of the
match. Naturally you may go for the latter option provided you meet the costs,
etc.
Similarly, while going for a
campaign in a newspaper (which may frequently be there at local destination
level one has to take into account various considerations. For example, all
readers do not notice all the advertisements in a newspaper. Some skip through
the headlines. Some do not look at certain pages at all. Many people do not
look at advertisement at all, unless it is very big or the visual is very
striking. Sometimes the smallness of the type in the midst of a lot of empty
space attracts attention.
Pick up any newspaper and you
will see that there are some pages reserved for special kinds of
advertisements. For example, tender notices will appear only in specific pages.
Similarly, employment notices, entertainment schedules, trade notices, legal
notices shipping news, etc, will appear on particular pages. These pages will
be gone through by those who are interested in such matters.
Better knowledge about
readership patterns and behaviour helps make more valid decisions on the choice
and use of media. It is here that through media research one gathers this
knowledge.
Media research provides
estimates of:
1. Readership or
viewership of average issue or pro gramme profiled by age, sex, class, exposure
to other media, purchasing patterns etc.
2. Where, when, how and
how much do they read (see or hear)
3. Response function,
which is an expression, usually in numbers, of the value to the advertiser of
repeated advertisement exposures; how much forgetting occurs between exposures
and what is the nature of this decay in terms of time; additional impact of every
subsequent advertisement, may be the same, more or less, more for the second
and/or third and diminishing thereafter. This will depend on the interval
between advertisements.
4. Effectiveness of
different sizes of posters, or of colours on them
5. Site evaluation of
hoardings, etc.
There are several problems in researching media
For example, Readers may be casual, flipping through, or thorough, hence distinguishing them is difficult,
Readers who read the same or
past issues repeatedly inflate the readership figures, a reader may be regular,
but may not have read any
issues during the period,
although he may never have seen it before, and one may listen to a radio
programme, without recognizing the station broadcasting it, etc. Media research
provides estimates of numbers and types of people in particular segments. They
can be reached by any of a variety of ways using the media for a given cost. It
is a specialized and costly study but of great help for advertisers to plan
their campaigns. At times, media owners themselves provide research data. But
mostly these are arrived mainly to establish the competitive superiority of the
media they own. The total advertising budget is very large and increasing.
Media owners are interested in enhancing their share of this budget. In the
case of newspapers, for example, the cost of production of the daily issue is
met substantially by the advertisement revenue, thus keeping the cover price of
the issue low.
An owner can levy higher
advertisement tariffs if he can establish superior reach and impact over other
media. Advertisement agencies need the research data to be able to advise their
clients properly, independent agencies conduct media research and supply the
findings to whoever is interested at a price. Some do so, on specific requests
to answer specific question. Some do it on an ongoing basis. The studies are
done on sampling methodologies in selected areas. The findings are good enough
to make decisions although the same size may be less than half percent.
Some of the considerations in
choosing media are qualitative and intangible. You must remember that audiences
attribute values to advertisements that appear in different media according to
the media image. This is the reputation for honesty or class of a particular
media. For example, a product advertised in the national magazine is perceived
as having grater prestige, value and/or reliability than one in a regional
newspaper with limited local circulation. A hoarding in an important commercial
centre conveys high class than one in the market place. The costs of the media
vary according to these differences but do not fully reflect the differences in
quality.
Media Costs
The cost of using media is an
important consideration while planning a campaign. One must utilize the budget
for the campaign for maximum benefits.
You must know that every medium
has fixed rate tariffs for carrying advertisements.
These rates vary according to
the space or time used. For example:
a) Cover pages of
magazines cost more than inside p ages,
b) Colour ads cost more
than black and white ads,
c) Classified ads
pages cost much less than display ads in other editorial pages,
d) National newspapers
cost more than regional newspapers.
e) Newspapers which publish
simultaneously from man y centres offer concessions if more than one edition is
used.
Similarly, Radio and T. V.
charge differently according to the time. Prime time costs more than non-prime
time, the distinction being according to the exposure at any time.
Cost efficiency is more
important than the actual cost of using the medium. Cost efficient is usually
defined as the number of exposures which the ad in a particular medium will
deliver for a given budget. This indicates value for money.
Cost efficiency is usually
calculated as cost per thousand. The question to ask is, 'how much does it cost
to reach 1000 of the target audience?' it can be argued that coverage is more
important than reach, in which case the cost to get a coverage is more
important than reach, in which case the cost to get a coverage of 1000 can be
calculated.
A further refinement is to work
out the impact of an ad and then work out the cost per thousand. The cost on
the basis of a 45 second T. V. commercial will work out differently from a 15
second commercial, because the coverage and impact will not be only
proportional to time (3 times). The cost on the basis of a one-page ad in a
newspaper will work out differently from a 4-inch 2-column ad.
Cost efficiency comparisons
should ideally include audience estimates relating to the same time period.
Media that vary significantly in flexibility are not easy to compare. Costs
include cost of production of ads, which in turn have differential impact. It
is not easy to separate the impact due to the medium from the impact of the
creativity in the message itself.
Cost efficiency data are
obtained from research agencies who study audience profiles for different media
through surveys, interviews and other researching methodologies. The impact
however is dependent on specific ads. Those who use media rather heavily could
benefit by studying the impact of their own campaigns.
Some of the relevant factors to
note while calculating cost efficiency are, cost of inserting the ads,
readership target segment exposed etc.
Cost of advert per full page,
half page, 1/4 page etc. are usually advertised in some Nigerian dailies.
Media Planning
These are the stage of Media
Planning. It involves the determination of:
1) What media to use?
2) Frequency of use, and timing or
space.
Planning decides on:
a)
Details
of media schedule,
b)
Desirable
extent of duplication if more than one medium is used,
c)
Whether
the ads should be spread evenly through a period or intermittently with thrusts
of heavy ads and periods of relative inactivity,
d)
Options-descriptions
of ad characteristics, other than the copy and artwork,
e)
How
budget is to be allocated between the media.
While doing so the
considerations are:
a) Exposures (how many, how
intense)
b)Segmentation effect (who is to
be exposed, what percentage of target)
c) Media option source effect
(qualitative value of media option, relative impact).
d)Response function (related to
class like T. V. better than magazine; option like full page better than
column, etc.)
Today computer software is also
available which can help decision makers evaluate and correlate the several
data with the advertiser's objectives. The programme would suggest the
combinations of publications and insertions that would most nearly meet one's
requirements in terms of reach, frequency of exposure and cost.
It is difficult to incorporate
so many considerations and arrive at judicious decisions on media planning.
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