tv production cost control

Welcome to 2006. With much of the trade press talking about the battle between the TV networks to secure revenue in a declining market, we thought we would kick off the year with a focus on ways to control the cost of your TV productions.   In this P3 e-news... - exactly how much does a TV advertisement cost? - new year, new brochure - new address for P3Melbourne - connect breakfast a success

exactly how much does
a TV advertisement cost?

The perennial $64,000 question. Or in many cases a damned sight more. The fact of the matter is that it usually costs whatever the budget assigned by you - the client. In many instances, it costs more.

How often do you brief your agency to provide a TV concept within a given budget, only to have the estimates on the approved concept come in at 5%, 10% or even 50% higher? Or, how often do the estimates come in within a few thousand dollars of each other and within the budget? Does this really equate to the actual cost of the TV production?

What drives TV production costs?

The first driver is the concept itself. There is always a minimum production cost for producing a commercial, but theoretically, there is no upper limit. Often, the agency and film company will arbitrarily continue to add enhancements, contingencies and experimentations into the process, thereby driving up the cost - if there is no set upper limit.

What drives the upper limit is your budget or at least the upper limit of what the agency believes you are prepared to pay. This will be based on either the stated budget, or in the absence of this, previous budgets for similar executions, the level of importance which you assign to the campaign, your level of experience in such matters, and a range of 'mitigating' circumstances.

So what's the solution?

At the outset, set a firm budget - before you brief the agency. This should be calculated upon an ROI projection, the projected media budget for the first year or phase of the campaign, the category in which you conduct your business, and the importance of the particular task.
 
P3TV has comprehensive industry benchmarks for assisting you set realistic budgets based on these factors.

Having established your budget, you should have your proposed productions benchmark costed at the concept stage using P3TV's Bid Authentication Service.

How does P3TV's Bid Authentication Service work?

Once your agency has responded to the brief with the concepts you are considering for approval, but before investing any more time or money in concept research or testing, contact P3TV and we will provide you with an independent and qualified assessment of the cost of producing one or all creative concepts.
 
Our qualified and quantified estimates are provided within 48 hours of receiving the creative concepts and normally cost less than 1% of the your production budget - a worthwhile % investment in anyone's language. But more importantly, it is invaluable in ensuring you have a realistic expectation of the real production costs. It enables you to control costs without compromising the quality or integrity of the concept before final sign off, which results in an avoidance of unforeseen budget overruns once production has commenced.

In short, you know precisely what you're up for up front and minimise any unforseen financial variations.

For more information on the P3TV Bid Authentication Service click here,  or email clive@p3.com.au or contact Clive Duncan on 03 9682 6800 or 02 9279 4997.