What is the best position for a spot in a commercial break? I've always thought (and still do) that the listener pays the most attention to the first announcement in a commercial break and as each announcement is aired, the listener mentally tunes out. A local station is playing their local spots after they air 3 or 4 sixty second network spots. The first network spot is mandatory and the others are filler if the station doesn't cover the network spots. It is my opinion that the local advertiser isn't getting the full benefit of their advertising when their spots run so deep in the stop set. I was wondering what others think of this type of programming strategy?
I know some companies where the policy is 60's play first in the stop set. I don't understand the logic in this. A lot of stations have a policy where competitors' ads don't play next to each other so that can influence position.
I do think it helps to be earlier in the stop set. As a matter of fact, when I was a media buyer I often paid a premium for my clients to be first in the stop set.
I like the Chuck Woolery school of radio traffic management: "We'll be back in two and two." Basically, no more than four thirty second ads at a time.
He was referring to his syndicated show's practice of two national thirties, then two local thirties. But I'd suggest the national makegoods run last.
From my days of working in television operations, I think Chuck's two and two means 2 minutes and 2 seconds. 2 minutes for the ads, and 2 seconds to fade out to the commercial break and fade in.
