TV Ad Production: How Long Should My Commercial Be?
In television advertising, there are a variety of campaign styles to consider. Once you’ve identified the core message and call to action for your ad, you can evaluate the various lengths and schedule options to help drive maximum results. Today, we’ll highlight a few benefits of various ad length campaigns to help you through the process.
The 30 Second Commercial
The most common length for television ads is 30 seconds. You’ll find most stations and broadcasting outlets sell their air time in blocks of 30 seconds as well. In this amount of time, you’re allotted an ideal amount of time to craft a solid introduction, featured content, and call to action. You essentially can never go wrong with the 30.
The Bookends
While most businesses work within in the 30-second parameters, you’re certainly not obligated to do so. Some take advantage of creating ultra-brief 15-second commercials, with precise calls to action. These shorter time frames also generate a sense of urgency within the message itself and are great for seasonal sales, hurry before it’s too late type messages. You can structure your ad buy to use your 15s spot as bookends. Your commercial can air at one time, and again within the same commercial break, later. This reinforces the message and increases frequency to your audience. Get creative and create two different 15-second commercials and tell a story across each commercial break in which they’re featured!
The 60 Second Informational
If you have a great deal of information to convey, you may consider creating the 60-second television ad. Usually, these ads provide insight, are more informational, and may feature multiple products or services. Because you run a higher risk of overwhelming your audience with too much information, be sure your calls to action are prevalent throughout. Repeating phone numbers and websites continuously to offer next steps is crucial.
If you’re not sure how long your commercial should be, contact us! We can help you by designing the campaign and production process for the best results!