Cable advertising comes in many forms. The local breaks you see on channels like MTV, ESPN, and Lifetime are the kind most people think of first. But with fees to produce your commercial and airtime rates, a series of commercials on cable can cost a fortune, even in smaller markets.
Most small business owners don’t have thousands of dollars to bank on a series of TV commercials, but a budget of less than $10 a day might be more doable. There are other ways to reach cable subscribers that are often overlooked.
Option #1: Cable Crawls
Cable crawls are that scrolling text you see at the bottom of the screen on news channels. These are some of the most affordable ads you can purchase.
The Weather Channel ad crawls have been advertising businesses for over 20 years. Surprisingly, though, ad rates for crawls have remained very low.
Rates depend on your city’s size, of course. Ad rates on a Chicago cable system are going to be higher than those in a suburban Georgia system.
Crawls run every 10 minutes during the local forecast, beginning with the eighth minute of the hour: 11:08, 11:18, 11:28, 11:38, 11:48, and 11:58.
The Benefits of Cable Crawls
You should experience high viewership for low rates with this type of advertising. Some cable companies offer crawl advertising on The Weather Channel at a daily rate. Most ads will run at least 24 times in one day. Whenever a viewer checks out the local forecast and tunes in on the 8th minute…there’s your crawl.
Another advantage is that you don’t have to be a copywriting genius to prepare this type of ad. You’re allowed a certain number of characters, just like for a newspaper ad. Keep it simple. A few words about your company, the company name, your phone number, and a website address can be very effective.
