Scheduling Television

Advertising

CASE ANALYSIS
PRESENTED TO:
Dr. R. Jagadeesh

PRESENTED BY:
GROUP 10, SECTION - B
Name
Akshat

PGDM No.
Kumar 14013

Goel
Gulliet Raju

14060

Meghanath M

14079

Prateek Jain

14107

Shivam Verma

14145

V H L Kasyapa

14172

CASE FACTS
United Broadcast Network (UBN)
Sells commercial advertising slots
Timeline:
Spring announces Fall TV line-up
Soon after begins selling inventory
3rd week of September fall season begins

Slots are mostly 15 seconds and 30 seconds in duration

Detailed sales plan is developed for the entire year
Monthly, bimonthly, 6 week, or quarterly

UBN sells slots based on a performance score elated to the popularity of

the show and primarily determined by demographics and audience size
Primary objective of UBN and the advertiser is to develop a sales plan
that will develop the highest total performance score
There are a minimum and maximum number of advertising slots during
each of the 6 weeks

Nanocom
Business software development firm
Want to purchase 15 second and 30 second slots on several shows for
this coming fall

Audience:
Older, more mature, upper-income audience that is likely to
include many high-tech businesspeople

Several shows (provided by UBN)

Bayside,
Newsline,
The Hour,
Cops and Lawyers,
The Judge,
Friday Night Football,
and ER Doctor.

Problem

The following table shows the costs, performance scores, and available inventory
of advertising slots for 15- and 30-second commercials for each show:
Show

Bayside

The Hour

Newsline

Cops and Lawyers

The Judge

Friday Night Football

ER Doctor

Commercial Length
(seconds)

Cost ($1000s)

Performance Score

Available
Inventory

30

$50.0

115.2

15

25.0

72.0

30

41.0

160.0

15

20.5

100.0

30

36.0

57.6

15

18.0

36.0

30

45.0

136.0

15

27.5

85.0

30

52.0

100.8

15

26.0

63.0

30

25.0

60.8

15

12.5

38.0

30

46.0

129.6

15

23.0

81.0

Weighting factor for each week

Minimum and maximum slots per week
October
Week

November

1.1

1.2

1.2

1.4

1.4

1.6

Minimum

Maximum

Weight

The Objective Function

Assist UBN in developing a sales plan for the 6 week
period to maximize the total performance score for
Nanocom.

Constraints
1. Nanocom wants at least 50% of the total number of
advertising slots it purchases to be on Newsline, The
Hour , and Friday Night Football.
2. Advertising budget is $600,000.
3. There should be a minimum and maximum number of
advertising slots during each of the 6 weeks.
4. Nanocom should have at most only one ad slot (either
15 or 30 seconds) per show per week.
5. All decision variables is in binary.

Contd

Constraint
6. Total number of ads
allowable in each slot (i.e.
30 or 15 sec.) for each
show.

Allocation of the advertisement slots

Show
Bayside

Newsline

The Hour

Cops &
Lawyers

The Judge

Friday Night
Football

ER Doctor

Commercial
Length (sec)
30
15
30
15
30
15

October

November

30
15
30
15

30
15
30
15

Solution
With the budget of $600,000 we spent $597,650. So,
there are $2,350 left i.e. extra. One may be tempted to
invest this amount further in other advertisement slots
but he can do so only after breaching at least one of the
constraints. In the end we want to say that only demand
(because of extra money of $2,350) is not enough,
presence of supply of supply (here advertisement slots)
is also necessary.

Alternate Solutions

If we dont have the constraint of at most only one ad slot per show
per week, then spending will become $600,000, but total performance
score is decreased to 1842.7511.
If we dont have the constraint on the minimum number of advertising
slots, then spending will become $600,000 & total performance score
is increased to 2082.4.
If we remove the constraint on the maximum number of advertising
slots, then there is no change in the spending (i.e. $597,650) as well as
on the total performance score (i.e. 2075.5).

Recommendations

As seen from alternate solutions, the total performance score

is improved, if we dont have any condition on minimum
number of advertising slots in a week. Hence, we suggest that
Nanocom has to remove the constraint on the minimum
number of advertising slots in a week.

THANK YOU