Accountability and Advertising

Accountability is important for all advertisers. Advertisers must know where, when and how their promotions are being run. There are several means to measure the success of promotions, yet some advertisers have no idea how these ads are being managed. Advertisers turn to ad-buying firms to place promotions in the media. Ad-buying firms “typically uses its marketplace leverage to buy ad time for the best prices possible” (Steinberg, 2010). This strategy may allow advertisers to know where their ads are being placed, but not when.
Advertisers could be losing the attention of their targets as well as profit, because they are left in the dark. When an ad-buying firm places an ad on a certain channel, the firm rarely looks at how long the commercial breaks are or at what programming is being aired at the time of the ad. This overlook by the firms can have negative results for the advertisers.
When an ad is placed in the middle of a nine-minute commercial break, the consumer may lose focus and disregard the ad. Firms will place the same ad multiple times during one program, “a practice that many ad buyers will tell you can lead to a condition known as "commercial wear-out" in which viewers get so burned out on the ad they stop listening to what it says” (Steinberg, 2010). The same mistakes occur online as well.
Advertisers need to have a tighter grip on where and how there ads are being managed. It takes a lot of time, money and creativity to develop an affective ad, so there is no sense in letting an ad slip by the target. Advertisers need to know not just where there promotions are being placed, but they also need to know when and in what context those ads are being placed.

Source:
Brian, S. (2010, Sept. 13). Do you know where your commercials are?. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/advertising-marketers-commercials-run/145858/