How to Sell TV Air Time

Advertising space can be sold at a premium if the space you have available is viewed by large or targeted audiences. This article is written assuming that you have a television program that you're airing and you wish to sell ad space within that program. If you're looking for a how-to article to sell TV air time within a television station or network, just look for articles on basic sales techniques for advertising executives.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Phone
• Internet Access
• TV

1. Talk to the advertising manager at the station that you're broadcasting on. By looking at your program's time slot, the advertising manager should be able to give you a basic valuation of your program's ad space. Programs with better time slots generally have larger audiences and can therefore charge more for commercial ad space. Programs that air in less commonly watched time slots have ad space that generally sells for less.

2. Determine exactly how much ad space you actually have available within your program. You should have approximately 12 minutes of commercials (24 thirty-second spots) within a 30 minute block of programming. Adjust according to the total length of your programming block.

3. Have an attorney write up a basic sales contract for you to present to clients who want to purchase advertising space. The contract should be a basic agreement stating what your responsibilities are to the client and the client agrees to pay you a set amount for advertising spots during your program. You may also want your attorney to include clauses in the contract like allowing only one commercial per advertiser per commercial break (so you don't get back-to-back-to-back spots from the same company), and a clause stating that the advertiser must create their own commercial which meets your broadcast standards, etc.

4. Once you have your sales contract, hit the street and the phones and start soliciting your ad space. Try to target companies that would be a good fit for the type of program that your running. Be able to give potential clients a basic overview of your program, the type of audience it attracts, and some basic audience numbers (if possible).

Tips & Warnings

• Build a website to advertise the fact that you're seeking advertisers.
• Don't price yourself out of the market. No matter what advertising professionals tell you your ad spots should be worth, ad spots are only worth as much as what someone is willing to pay for them.