Viewers’ attention is bought not with the size of the budget but with the precision of the planning. Here is how it works, using TV advertising as an example.
Many advertisers reason like this: whoever has the most money on air will be remembered. That is partly true — you can’t get on TV without a budget. But between the figure in the contract and the number of times people actually see your commercial lies a whole chain of decisions. And it is those decisions that determine whose voice ends up loudest in the category.
Two metrics that are often confused
Media planning has two indicators with similar names and completely different meanings.
| Metric | What it measures | How it’s calculated |
|---|---|---|
| SOS, Share of Spend | What share of all the category’s advertising money the brand has invested | Brand budget / total category budget |
| SOV, Share of Voice | What share of the actual on-air presence the brand has received | Brand GRPs / total category GRPs |
The advertiser pays for the first, but the viewer notices the second. If you mix the two up, it is easy to conclude that a campaign was a success because a lot was spent, when in fact the brand sounded quieter than its neighbours.
Why money doesn’t equal contacts
Let’s compare two approaches using a hypothetical example. Brand A advertises only on the most popular national channels and only in prime time — where every minute costs the most. Brand B spends the same or even less, but allocates its budget differently: some spots go on channels where audience contacts are cheaper, and some in time slots when viewers are still watching TV but airtime sells for noticeably less.
As a result, Brand B’s share of spend may turn out smaller, while the campaign’s total rating is higher. It gets more impressions among the right audience for the same money.
Hence the core principle of professional media planning: a campaign’s results are measured in GRPs, that is, accumulated rating points, not in somoni spent. The budget is what you put in. GRPs are what you get in return.
What the gap between SOV and SOS tells you
Comparing the two shares is a simple test of planning quality. If a brand’s share of voice clearly exceeds its share of spend, the money is working efficiently: each unit of budget delivers more contacts than the category average. If the two figures are almost the same, the campaign is simply running at the market rate, with no gain. And when SOV is below SOS, the brand is overpaying for attention.
That is exactly why a company with the second- or third-largest budget in its category can quite easily end up first for on-air presence.
Three levers that increase share of voice
Target ratings, not budget spend
When a team reports in GRPs rather than the amount spent, the logic behind every decision changes: they choose the channels and slots where a contact costs less while still reaching the right audience.
Distribute weight flexibly across channels and formats
National and regional channels, prime and off-prime, spots of different lengths — these are all settings you can manage. Regional TV often delivers noticeably more contacts per unit of budget and lifts the campaign’s overall weight.
Manage the campaign as it runs
Television airtime is constantly changing: programme ratings fluctuate, competitors come and go. If the placement was bought as a single package and never looked at again, part of the money will almost certainly end up in low-return slots. Regularly reshaping the schedule based on actual data makes a tangible difference. To do that, you need to see not only your own campaign but the whole category — and that picture is provided by advertising monitoring in Tajikistan.
Questions to ask your agency before launch
- What is the plan optimised for — the amount spent or GRPs? The right answer is ratings.
- What share of voice do you forecast for our share of spend? If the numbers are almost equal, the plan needs revisiting.
- Who monitors the campaign while it is on air, and how often are adjustments made?
The answers to these questions will tell you a lot about how well your media partner can turn money into attention.
More presence for the same budget
The biggest budget in the category is not a prerequisite for brand awareness. What matters more is how skilfully it is allocated. SKY Central Asia handles media planning, TV airtime buying and broadcast monitoring. Learn more about this area on our media services page, or discuss your project via the contact form.
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