Widespread: Broadcast television reaches virtually all U.S. households.

Time Spent: People spend a lot of time with their television sets. On average, U.S. viewers watch about 8 hours of television a day.

Mass Exposure: Broadcast TV reaches huge mass audiences with a single exposure.

Visual Appeal: Television has the ability to grab attention and create a desire for your product or service through the combination of pictures, sound and motion.

The "MINUS" side of Broadcast Television...

Audience Share: Television's network prime time audience has decreased dramatically. Fragmentation has occurred primarily because of the numerous choices (cable) available to the viewer today.

VCR's: As their use increases, the impact of TV commercials decreases because VCR users zap through them. Most U.S. homes have at least one VCR, and of all taped shows, a large percentage of viewers skip past the commercials all or some of the time.

Channel Surfing: When a commercial comes on, many viewers go surfing, zipping through other channels to avoid the ad clutter.

Restricted Viewing: Almost all television viewing is done in the home, making it virtually impossible to reach consumers close to the point of purchase.

The "PLUS" side of Cable Television...

Growth Spurt: Cable now reaches a large percentage of all homes in the U.S., and even more among households with an annual income of $60,000+.

Inexpensive: Considered by many advertisers as discount television, cable offers some of the same benefits (picture, sound, motion) of broadcast television at considerable cheaper rates.

Targetable: Most cable homes receive 30 or more channels, allowing advertisers to target specific consumer groups according to their programs of interest.

Summer Season: Cable's ratings typically increase during the summer, when broadcast television ratings decline due to re-runs.

The "MINUS" side of Cable Television...

Small Audiences: Cable audiences are considerably smaller than those of broadcast television. This is especially true during prime time.

Limited Commercial Impact: While the cost of advertising on cable television programs is less, your reach is also much smaller than broadcast TV. Even by increasing your frequency (the number of commercials aired), the impact will still be diminished by the limited number of viewers.

Ad Clutter: Cable television typically carries more advertisements per hour than broadcast TV, making commercials even more susceptible to zipping and zapping.

Commercial Quality: Local advertisers, often placed adjacently to national sponsors, are forced to spend an ever-increasing portion of their budget in an attempt to achieve comparable video quality.