The case for reach planning
TV advertising in India has never been more suited to fit the “half wasted” adage. With the mushrooming of channels, TV ratings have been on a mostly downward spiral, barring a few prime time serials and some major events like IPL and elections. For TV advertisers, it is a challenge to ensure that their plans deliver optimal use of their resources in this byzantine playfield.
Marketers define the communication goals of media plans using either reach or GRPs (Group Rating Points); I feel reach is one of the most important elements of the mix. Reach measures the accumulation of audiences over time, without double-counting people exposed multiple times. GRP, on the other hand, is always a comparative weight—by itself, it has no meaning as it is a summation of all TVRs for a particular media schedule. GRP counts total exposures (including double counting), while reach counts unique people exposed.
Marketers want the highest reach possible because that means more people will be exposed to the advertising, leading to stronger correlation with higher awareness and sales. They also, at times, seek high frequency—to ensure that the multiple exposures to the advertising leads to a better understanding of the messaging. GRPs are typically led by a fight for market share, giving rise to the phenomenon of share of voice or expenditure (SOV/SOE), or how much one company has outshouted and/or outspent the competition by.
Smart marketers use reach because it represents that total number of people exposed to the marketing communication and globally, there are many examples of how marketers like Coke, P&G, Kraft, etc., have made the move over the last decade to reach planning over GRPs. Sure, they may also look at GRPs, but only as a benchmark—the goal remains firmly rooted in increasing reach. For, as smart marketers, they understand that reach is truly customer led.
Building a 100 GRP plan can be done by reaching 100 people once or 20 of those (same) people watching the same advertising five times. To build a plan to reach 50 per cent of (unduplicated) people takes a lot more—building every incremental reach percentage (think about finding a unique customer who has not seen your advertising and now needs to be exposed) calls for going beyond simple mathematical tools. Reach planning is undoubtedly far more complex and challenging than planning on GRPs.
It takes a simple excel sheet to build a plan on GRPs (think about a fifth grader doing a summation exercise, till he/she reaches a pre-decided number). However, to determine the incremental reach of each unique customer, that will be exposed to the advertising, takes a far more granular and complex look at the TV audience— a task that calls for extremely sophisticated planning tools and understanding of the audience data. GRP planning almost always produces waste, something which can be effectively cut down by using reach planning, through the removal of unwanted exposures.
Are marketers and agencies of today geared up for the challenge? Or are they content being dumber than a fifth grader?
Sandeep Lakhina is COO (South Asia), Starcom Worldwide.
