Understanding conventional approaches to Media Planning

When we speak of conventional media planning, we recognize that there is no single universally accepted model. But virtually all models address concepts such as gross impressions, reach and frequency, effective reach and frequency, rating points, gross rating points, share, duplication, audience composition, households/persons using television/radio, and cost per thousand.

These concepts grow out of a relatively recent tradition, from the early 1960s, when media planning was still struggling with the basic concepts of quantitative media analysis. In 1961, Agostini published a bunch of formulas, including a reach estimation formula, which have enabled the media planners to estimate the reach (and obviously the frequency), of a media schedule. This was huge, reach and frequency were superior to raw media weight because they took into account the notion of duplicate exposure. They then addressed two major elements in media planning strategy : How many people see the advertisement, and how many times they are exposed to this ad. We still use these metrics today in digital media planning.

When computers were introduced into media planning, it became practical to begin working with frequency distributions — estimations of not only how many people were reached, but also how many were reached with various levels of exposure.v However, it was not until the launch of personal computers, and the drop in their cost, that these gained broad acceptance in day-to-day media planning. As late as the early 1980s, the popular advertising literature was filled with discussions of why frequency distributions should be used instead of simple reach and average frequency analysis.

When cheap computers arrived, media planners were faced with a catch-up game. They recognized that using reach and average frequency analysis was naïve, and that it should be replaced by an analysis of frequency distributions. Some organizations developed more complex planning systems, but the industry basically settled on the notion of effective reach and frequency, also known as effective frequency planning (EFP for the jargon lovers). This became the dominant media planning tool in the 1980s and 1990s.

While effective frequency planning is still used in the advertising industry, the concept has been shown to have major conceptual problems. It still relied on rules of thumb and did not focus enough on data. The industry will then move to different concepts such as frequency value planning or quantitative media planning. But that’s going to be for another article.

Thank you for reading,

Yacine Daoud.