Research Guides: Advertising: Broadcast Media Advertising

What is the average CPM (cost per thousand) for a daytime spot or network commercial?

Refer to reference book TV Dimensions for these statistics.

Which are more effective: 15 or 30 second commercials?

In the Warc database, click on "Topics" Index on top of the screen. Select "Media Strategy" Then "Media Planning" then Ad Lengths & formats".

WARC

General sources on the effectiveness of commercial length

Does commercial clutter on radio affect recall?

While the Radio Advertising Bureau and Warc databases will both contain information on this topic, the best source to start with is Business Source Complete. Use the terms "radio", "clutter" , "advertising" for targeted results.

Broadcast Media - Books

TV Dimensions
Call Number: HE 8700.8 .T917 Reference 2nd Floor
The go-to first source for any information regarding TV and advertising. Excellent resource of historical and current facts, figures and media study summaries on almost every aspect of television and television advertising.

Broadcast Media - Databases and Websites

Nielsen Insights
Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau
Information on cable networks, ad rates and revenue, viewership and cable advertising effectiveness.
Television Bureau of Advertising
Click on "Research, Measurement & Analytics" button. A great deal of aggregated information can be found here including TV ad rates and CPM, some viewership and reach data, as well as historical, current and forecasted ad expenditures by media. Though more and more of the data is behind a paywall, there is still a goldmine of current and historical information to be found here.

Radio Advertising Bureau
Excellent source of information on all aspects of radio including demographics, ratings and advertising effectiveness. Also contains industry overviews in section entitled "Instant Backgrounds"
To access please ask a librarian at the reference desk for a password. You will then need to create your own login.
SRDS
Online rates, data, and directory information on more than 100,000 media outlets for the advertising industry. From Standard Rate and Data Services.

Video Advertising Bureau
Data on TV, Cable, streaming platforms including information on audience measurement.

Viewership, Ratings and Reach

The Futon Critic - Ratings
Broadcast and Cable TV program ratings
Nielsen - Weekly TV Ratings
The TV Ratings Guide
Click on the "Ratings Databases" tab for ratings information on cable, broadcast, historical programming
The VAB - Video Advertising Bureau
WARC-Data-Other Data-TV Viewing Trends

Key Journals

Broadcasting & Cable
eBook