Mass media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, and television are especially well suited for delivering advertisements---as well as news, entertainment, and educational content---to a widespread general (or mass) audience. Mass media are valuable to advertisers because they offer special advantages :
1. Such media are able to deliver large audiences at relatively low costs.
2. They can deliver advertisements to special kinds of audiences who are attracted to each medium's editorial or programming.
3. They tend to develop strong loyalties among audiences who return to their favorite medium with a high degree of regularity.
If planner wants to reach a special kind of audience repeatedly within a certain time period, some media vehicles will be better suited for this purpose than others. Recent research suggests, for example, that certain types of broadcast programs create higher degrees of viewer interest than other program types, thus offering better environments for commercials.
Like other media, however, mass media have limitations in delivering advertising messages. The most serious is that mass media audiences do not see, hear, or read a medium solely because of the advertising content. Media also vary in their ability to expose both editorial and advertising material.
Newspaper offer their readers news, entertainment, information, and catalog values. A newspaper generally has excellent readership of local news, editorial, and advertising material, serving as a buying guide for readers who are looking for many different kinds of products. People often check newspaper ads immediately before their regular food-shopping day to find the best grocery bargains. For frequently purchased products, where prices are prominently displayed, newspaper can be a very effective selling medium.
Magazines, on the other hand, are much different in their ability to expose ads. Some, such as fashion, home, and special-interest publications, are bought as much for their advertising as for their editorial matter. General-interest publications, such as newsweeklies and personality and sport magazines, appeal to readers who are looking for interesting articles and stories, rather than product information.
Consumers are least likely to turn broadcast media, such as radio and television, for the advertisements alone. Broadcast commercials have an intrusive character, breaking into the play or action of a program and compelling some attention to the advertising message. Whether any given viewer will or will not watch a particular commercial depends on more ingenuity and value of the message than its appearance on an interesting program.
The internet is primarily an information-delivering medium. People go to the site that contains the information they looking for, whether that is weather, sports, news, airline schedules, or the fact sheet on a late-model automobile. This makes the Internet a highly efficient medium for delivering sales information to consumer who are planning to buy, as well as offering the ability to place an order directly online.
Obviously, the effectiveness of the advertisement to communicate affects its impact on the consumer and the number of consumers who will read, see, or hear it. This is true regardless of which medium is used.
