TV ads are effective yet charges are astonishing. Having a 30-second TV ad at the prime-time (Monday to Friday, 1855-2255) period of TVB ranges from HKD 82,610 to HKD 435,950. Budgeted customers can have other choices than prime-time period, the price range of which is much lower. Remember, wisely utilizing your budget can result in success. For example, a health care product “2036 Ganoderma Sporo-Pollen”, has occupied mid-night sessions of both weekdays and weekends to make infotainment on TVB. They never showed their ads during prime-time period. Audience is highly impressed due to the high frequency of TV ads shown. Yet, the charges are much lower than placing ads during prime-time. Potential investors are advised to investigate more in TV programming trends. For example, some popular dramas are re-airing at mid-night recently and still manage to record average rating figure, which implies mid-night timeslots are also worth investing.

Traditionally, TV ads take up 3 quarters of the advertising fee in multinational corporations. Nonetheless, other forms of entertainment like internet are gaining popularity, meaning the proportion of TV ads is likely to decrease. E-marketing will soon become the trend in advertising, especially for trendy products. A mix of television ads and internet ads is recommended to bring in freshness.

Sources:   Hong Kong Trade Development Council website (15 March 2003), “TechVantage” website (May 2002), Yahoo! Finance website,  RTHK website (17 May 2005), CNET Networks, Inc. (7 May 2004),  TVB website

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