The advantages and disadvantages of television advertising: a modern guide for rational evaluation of traditional hegemony

In today's world where short videos and precise advertising are ubiquitous, a classic question has once again been brought to the forefront: how much power does television advertising, once the "king of advertising," still have? For new marketers or brands with limited budgets, is it a "brand high ground" that must be seized, or an outdated "cost trap"?
In fact, television advertising has never disappeared, but its role and value are undergoing profound evolution. Simply promoting it as "outdated" or "invincible" is biased. True wisdom lies in setting aside prejudices and systematically examining its irreplaceable strengths and unavoidable weaknesses, in order to find the most accurate strategic positioning for it in complex media combinations. This article will provide you with a rational and comprehensive evaluation guide.
Part 1: Four core advantages that cannot be ignored
TV advertising has been enduring for decades and must have a solid foundation of value. These advantages still have strong competitiveness under specific marketing objectives.
Advantage 1: Unparalleled large-scale coverage and brand safety environment
Widely reaching household audiences: Especially during popular variety shows, TV dramas, or major events, television can still instantly gather tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of viewers. This ability to ignite public attention in a short period of time is difficult for most digital media to achieve.
Family scene and shared viewing: Television is usually placed in the living room of a household, and its viewing behavior is often shared, which can affect multiple decision-makers in the household at the same time. It is particularly valuable for marketing household consumer goods such as cars, home appliances, and fast-moving consumer goods.
Highly regulated brand safety: TV content is subject to strict scrutiny, and the advertising environment is pure, avoiding the risk of brand information being adjacent to negative or low-quality content, providing a safe exposure stage for brands.
Advantage 2: Strong brand credibility and authoritative endorsement
The 'gatekeeper' effect: Being able to advertise on mainstream TV stations, especially national media such as CCTV, is already seen by many consumers as a symbol of brand strength and reputation, providing a strong endorsement of trust for the brand.
Emotional connection and collective memory: High quality television commercials (TVCs) can deeply construct brand emotions and form a generation's collective memory through touching stories, music, and visuals. This kind of deep emotional connection is difficult to achieve in short-term advertising.
Advantage 3: High impact audio-visual presentation and immersive narrative
Immersive experience on a large screen: The TV's large screen, high-definition picture quality, and stereo sound system provide the best showcase for creativity, especially suitable for advertising that needs to showcase product details, create grand scenes, or tell the complete brand story.
Compulsory attention capture: During the advertising period of program switching, despite interference, television advertisements can still forcefully enter the audience's field of view in a short period of time with their audio-visual advantages, especially for viewers in a "relaxed state", where the threshold for information reception is relatively low.
Advantage 4: Driving the "tipping point" of offline and online integration
The starting point of integrated marketing: A successful TV advertising campaign can become the "core detonator" of integrated marketing. It can set agendas for online social media discussions (such as launching new slogans, new images), bring peak brand keyword traffic to search engines, and inject confidence and customer flow into offline channels (stores, distributors).
Part 2: Three significant disadvantages that must be faced directly
Along with its advantages, the shortcomings of television advertising are becoming increasingly prominent in the digital age, and these are risks that must be carefully considered when making decisions.
Disadvantage 1: High comprehensive costs and unaffordable entry barriers
The sky high media procurement fees, especially for prime time or popular program titles on top TV stations, can cost tens of millions or even billions, directly excluding a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Expensive creative production costs: A high-quality TVC that can be broadcasted on television typically has production costs ranging from tens of thousands to millions, further increasing the total investment.
Huge waste potential: There are a large number of non target customers among the audience covered by advertisements, resulting in a huge budget being wasted.
Disadvantage 2: The dilemma of declining attention and precise outreach
Audience churn and ad evasion: With the popularity of smart TVs and online video platforms, viewers can easily switch channels, fast forward, or skip ad placements, resulting in a continuous decline in the actual reach and completion rates of advertisements.
Extensive audience targeting: Traditional TV advertising can only make rough audience inferences based on channels, time slots, and program types (such as "evening theater audiences may be housewives"), and cannot accurately target individual dimensions such as age, interests, and consumption behavior like digital advertising.
Unidirectional dissemination, lacking real-time interaction: TV advertising is a typical "one to many" broadcasting model, where viewers cannot interact with brands, leave funds, or make purchases in real-time like clicking on web ads. The conversion path is long and vague.
Disadvantage 3: Lag and Fuzzy Effect Measurement System
Difficulty in attributing effectiveness: It is difficult for brands to accurately track how much store traffic or website sales a TV advertisement placement brings. Usually, rough inferences can only be made through sales comparisons before and after advertising or brand research, and attribution is not precise.
Data feedback lag: Audience rating data often lags behind, making it difficult to achieve real-time monitoring and dynamic optimization like digital advertising. Advertisers are unable to adjust their strategies in a timely manner during the mid-term of advertising.
The 'last exposure' bias: In the consumer conversion journey, television advertising is often in the early or middle stages of cognition, but the final conversion may be completed by a single search engine click or social media advertisement, and the contribution of television is easily overlooked or underestimated.
Part 3: Application Strategies and Trade offs in Modern Marketing Environment
After understanding the advantages and disadvantages, the key is how to leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses, and strategically use television advertising in modern marketing mix.
Strategy 1: Clarify goals and identify them accordingly
When should I use it? When your core goal is to quickly establish widespread brand awareness, launch heavyweight new products to spark discussions throughout society, or reshape/enhance the high-end image of your brand, the advantages of television advertising are most effective.
When to use with caution? When your goal is to pursue direct sales conversion, have extremely limited budget, or need to accurately reach a niche market, digital channels should be prioritized.
Strategy 2: From 'Solo Operations' to' Integrated Centers'
Role transformation: Regard television advertising as the "aerial command center" of integrated marketing campaigns, responsible for creating volume and establishing awareness.
Closed loop design: In television advertising, it is necessary to clearly guide the audience to take the next step, such as:
Oral broadcast or subtitle prompts for searching brand keywords (guiding online search).
Display QR codes or social media accounts prominently (guide private domain sedimentation).
Introduce a unified interactive topic (guiding social communication).
Strategy Three: Scientific Evaluation and Optimization of Investment Returns
Set composite KPIs: When evaluating TV advertising, direct sales should not be the only focus, but should be comprehensively evaluated based on indirect indicators such as brand search index growth, social media topic volume, and peak website traffic.
Exploring digital TV advertising: such as OTV advertising for smart TVs, which combines the large screen experience of television with certain targeted and measurable features of digital advertising, is a noteworthy compromise solution.
Part 4: Common Cognitive Misconceptions about Television Advertising
Misconception: Television advertising is completely outdated. The fact is, as a tool for building mass brands, its position remains unique, but it is no longer the only preferred choice.
Misconception: Only big brands are suitable for TV advertising. The fact is that the advertising prices of regional television stations and vertical channels (such as children's and finance) may be relatively affordable, providing valuable exposure for local or vertical brands.
Misconception: TV advertising cannot measure its effectiveness. The fact is that by designing a reasonable tracking mechanism (such as exclusive discount codes, monitoring search terms) and utilizing modern data analysis tools, its effectiveness can be relatively scientifically evaluated.
Misconception: Creativity is not as important as placement. In today's era of severe advertising evasion, a mediocre idea is easily overlooked even if it is placed at the top time slot. Creative quality is a key weapon for amplifying the advantages and resisting the disadvantages of television advertising.
Conclusion
In summary, the advantages and disadvantages of television advertising are simultaneously amplified in the digital age. It is no longer the dominant media player that dominates the world, but its core abilities of building broad brand awareness, endowing brands with authoritative aura, and creating immersive emotional experiences are still irreplaceable in the foreseeable future.
Wise brand owners should not simply 'embrace' or 'abandon' television advertising, but rather view it as a 'strategic firepower unit'. At the appropriate time (such as brand upgrade, market expansion), for clear goals (brand awareness, trust), incorporate them into the marketing sequence with excellent creativity and integrated thinking, and form a three-dimensional battle with digital channels. Only in this way can this expensive investment be transformed into a solid part of the brand's long-term assets. In a fragmented media environment, focusing on a beautiful 'mental battle' on television is sometimes still the most efficient choice.