An extra $52,000 a year in revenue would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?
Well, it could be just the beginning — you could turn that $52,000 into $104,000 a year, or even $208,000 — if you start thinking creatively.
I’m a big believer in yield management, mostly because it helped rocket our stations to an unanticipated, and delightful, level of profit when it was applied correctly. What was amazing to me was that the managers of other markets in our group were reluctant to embrace a method that was obviously producing results. Don’t close your mind to new ways of generating more revenue.
Most stations have an abundance of unsold air time. The percentage of unsold time might range from as low as 10% to 50% or more, depending on your market and station. Right now, you’re getting zero dollars for that unsold time. Unlike a retail merchant, you can’t warehouse time. Each day, you receive a full allotment of 24 hours of which so many minutes each hour are reserved for commercial announcements. At the end of the day, any unsold minutes are lost.
But what if you could sell all your commercial minutes? What would that do to your cash flow?
Let’s assume you air 12 minutes of ads each hour. Friday afternoon at 3 o’clock, the traffic department tells you that 40% of your ad time from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday is unsold. That’s approximately 345 30-second ads that are producing no revenue.
Your salespeople man the phones and contact your best customers first and work their way down their account lists. The offer: every fourth unsold 30-second ad on the station from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday for $250. Secure four clients and suddenly your unsold time producing zero dollars has been transformed into a profit center. Do this once a week for 52 weeks and add $52,000 to your bottom line.
For stations in larger markets or with higher rates, divide the unsold time and sell it to four (or more!) clients in rotation for $1,000 each (or whatever your market will bear), and multiply your return.
Once you’ve started selling out weekends, look at other time blocks, such as early week, or Monday-Thursday 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Wherever you have a large percentage of unsold time, figure out creative ways to package it to produce revenue without impacting your regular advertisers.
Everybody loves a bargain, and you would certainly love to bring in cash for the air time that is otherwise unsold. It’s a win-win situation that can add significantly to your profitability. And you’ve got nothing to lose but your spare time.