Media-specific returns to generic advertising: The case of catfish

Abstract

A key decision faced by managers of generic advertising programs is the allocation of the budget among media (e.g., television, radio, print). In this article, the economics of media allocation are addressed using catfish as a case study. The hypothesis that demand responds equally to all media was rejected. Further analysis indicated that the media with relatively modest expenditures (newspapers and television) had no reliable effect on demand, which suggests that scale is important. Losses sustained from the apparently ineffectual media were more than offset by gains from the effective media (magazines and radio), so that returns overall, net of opportunity cost, were positive. The historical media allocation, however, was inefficient in the sense that a different media mix would have resulted in greater industry profits. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.