The Art of Advertising for an Internet Broadcast Station

The Art of Advertising for an Internet Broadcast Station
News

Running an Internet broadcast station requires a financial commitment regardless of its size. There are monthly expenditures for station operation that include : Internet access, media server bandwidth, studio equipment, computer hardware, and facilities costs.

The amount of money required to run an Internet broadcast station is dependent on the size of the broadcast operation. Some of these finances can be generated from audience donations, or program subscriptions, however this approach normally does not cover all incurred expenses.

Internet based advertising content can provide a reliable source for operating income. Broadcasters can place advertising on the station website, or within the broadcast itself. ( This advertising content can be in audio or video format. )

Internet based advertising has matured into a very profitable and respectable business sector. The advertising content can be broad or narrow based. Broad based advertising is well suited for high traffic, large audience broadcast stations. Niche advertising markets have also proven to be very profitable. Niche advertising combined with niche media content has been been able to out perform broad based, high traffic advertising in some instances.

There are several things to consider prior to committing a broadcast station to a particular method of advertising.

These include :

Which media format the station will be offering - audio or video content ?
( Advertising can be tailored to fit specific media formats. )

What is the target audience of the Internet broadcast station ?
( These demographics are based on the media content that the station broadcasts in addition to analyzing the stations web site traffic. )

Which method of advertising is best suited for the Internet broadcast station's financial goals ?
( Will this be the primary or secondary source of income for station operation? )

Broadcasters should thoroughly research and test various advertising methods before finalizing their choice for a advertising format. A time frame of sixty to ninety days should be allowed for testing different advertising formats. It is very important to document these results, as this will allow the broadcast station to choose the best suited advertising format.

A well planned and executed advertising program can provide both valuable experience and operating income to an Internet broadcast station.

Advertising content for the actual Internet broadcast

Auction advertising
Advertising can be sold through direct Internet auctions. There are several online businesses that offer online auctions.

These include ebay.com and yahoo.com

Internet audio advertising broker
There are several advertising agencies that negotiate and sell audio advertising on affiliate Internet radio stations.

These include netradiosales.com and internetradiomarketing.com.

Internet video advertising broker
There are several advertising agencies that negotiate and sell video advertising on affiliate Internet video stations.

These include vitalstream.com, instream.com and dynadco.com.

Advertising content for the station website

Video clip
( Currently Beta Testing )
Monetary compensation is based on people watching web based video clips that contain advertising.

Click to call or text
( Currently Beta Testing )
Monetary compensation is based on people contacting various business partners using Google talk or Skype. The click to call or text message links are placed on web pages.

Contextual Advertising
Banner, image, text or video advertising that is placed on websites. The website content determines which advertising is presented.

These businesses provide webmaster with contextual advertising solutions:

Adsense advertising program
Yahoo advertising program
MSN advertising program

Banner Advertising Programs

Pay Per Click ( PPC )
Monetary compensation is based on people clicking banner advertisements. Banner agencies negotiate the payment per click rate with advertisers.
( Large variety of advertising sources to choose from. )

Cost Per Thousand ( CPM )
( This method of banner advertising is best suited for high volume traffic websites. )
Monetary compensation is based on sales of advertising units per web page. Banner advertising is sold in units of 1000 impressions.

Affiliate program
Monetary compensation is generated by providing referral sales.
( Most web hosting companies provide some form of sales program incentive. )

Website co-branding
Monetary compensation is generated by placing branded graphics or text on websites.

Advertising terminology
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,290660,sid19_gci211535,00.html