How Scatter TV Works: Your Quick Scatter Market Guide

Scatter TV makes an attractive proposition -- but for those who've never advertised on linear TV (much less the scatter market), it can be a bit intimidating.

Truth be told, though, buying ads in the scatter market doesn’t have to feel complicated.

Here’s a closer look at scatter TV, how it works, and whether or not you should go for it.

What is scatter TV?

In advertising, the scatter market refers to all advertising inventory that is not bought at the Upfronts. This unsold inventory can be bought and placed closer to the air date. Essentially, the scatter market is a lot more dynamic, both in terms of pricing and programming, so, done right, it can be less risky than buying ad slots in the Upfronts.

The further into a season a network or show goes, the clearer its ratings become. This, in turn, clarifies predictions on how an ad will perform—especially regarding reach and target audience makeup—and, accordingly, a fair price for placement. While this is sometimes cheaper, it’s more often simply less risky.

It is common for buyers to invest their budget in a mix of scatter TV advertising and upfront advertising. However, if you have never done linear advertising, you might want to just invest in scatter TV instead, as it will be more data-driven and help you run the experiments you need to collect information for the next advertising season.

While the Upfronts are physical events, scatter market placements can be done with the help of a TV buying platform, which pulls avails in real-time through integrations with a wide variety of networks. A TV buying platform like Simulmedia’s TV+ also automates order management, so orders can be placed with a few clicks of the button instead of relying on phone calls, emails, and, believe it or not, fax machines.

"Always-on scatter" gives advertisers a flexible approach to media buying. Unlike the traditional upfront model, which demands commitments for several months, advertisers can purchase ad slots a week or a month before airing.

This flexibility proves crucial in the rapidly changing media landscape, where shifts in consumer behavior and market dynamics occur quickly. The fragmentation of the linear TV market has made the scatter market more accessible, offering a viable alternative to upfront commitments. This method allows for a more agile advertising strategy, enabling brands to adapt their campaigns to current trends and audience insights effectively.

Typically, a holding company will buy upfront ads through a process that looks a bit like this:

• Beginning of Q1 (usually January), a client will come to an agency's investment team with a bunch of campaign details. The client’s marketing team and the agency will discuss the goal, the budget, the organization's KPIs, and so on.
• The planning team will estimate cost-per-point for the timeframe, including GRP (Gross Rating Point) per week goals, based on recommendations from the investment team. Every agency has its own tools to estimate CPM based on GRPs and volumes—basically, a calculator that provides the client with an estimate of how much they will pay for every 1,000 impressions.
• Once the basics are set in place, the client and the agency will go into in-depth planning on which dayparts the brand wants to reach, which networks are best to approach, and so on. Ideally, by March/ April, the entire team will have a clear overview of the plan and the budget it entails. By May, the holding company should have visibility into their entire portfolio's spending by network and network group, so they can take the information further to negotiations.
• The investment team has visibility into schedules prior to negotiations, which is the basis for their approach. In July and August, they receive plans based on specs, programming, and agency-agreed rate of change. Once finalized, these plans derive the client recommendation.
• Once the client’s team approves, the investment team will go to market and negotiate with publishers. Every negotiation is based on two main elements: a rate of change (which the networks negotiate with each agency) and a CPM. Based on these negotiations and the information the agency provides (on behalf of the client), networks will send a plan in July/August.
• In August/September, networks provide media buyers with their offers and schedules for the upcoming year. This gives agencies a comprehensive view and all the information needed to create a pitch for the client.
• To ensure they overdeliver for their clients, the investment team includes extra budget in their planning costs. If Upfront ads do not deliver the promised number of impressions, networks provide media buyers with ADUs (audience deficiency units) as “make goods” at no charge, fulfilling the same requirements as the initially purchased ad slots.

The aforementioned process is similar in the case of Upfronts and Scatter ads. The main difference, however, is that Scatter negotiations do not happen at the agency level but on a one-to-one basis (i.e., your representative will directly negotiate with each partner/ network on your behalf, rather than a team negotiating with all networks at once.)

That's the gist of it -- but making it work for you is an entirely different deal. Simulmedia’s process of buying scatter TV ads is more streamlined, data-driven, and a lot easier for you.

What does programmatic mean in scatter advertising?

In digital marketing, “programmatic” refers to the technologies used to automatically buy ad slots. In that sense of the word, the traditional TV ad industry does not have “programmatic” technologies. TV+ does, however, use data and automation to place ads faster, wider, or larger numbers, so it is better to use the term “automated” rather than “programmatic” when referring to technologies that streamline workflows in the linear TV world.

Thanks to this automated buying ad technology, advertisers can now more easily rely on reputable TV buying platforms to gain access to a large portion of the scatter market and on short notice, which improves bidding efficiency.

With automated buying, it’s a win-win: while the network that needs to fill ad slots gets the opportunity to fit an ad in, the advertiser can find a placement that fits their budget and ensures a certain level of meaningful reach and engagement with greater accuracy.

Using automated, data-driven technology, companies like Simulmedia can assess the entire scatter market landscape for opportunities that maximize strategic audience reach while keeping cost-per-reach down, increasing return on investment (ROI), and boosting the accuracy of predictability of outcomes.

Our proprietary TV+® platform includes direct integrations with over 250 linear and connected TV (CTV) networks and publishers to maximize cross-channel reach and streamline buying for advertisers and agencies. The scatter market can be complicated to navigate without the right technology to compare and contrast all of the possible options.

Balancing options with ad slots, platform, and TV audience targeting parameters, our TV+ platform and its data-driven approach means all of the possible options can be run through a patented algorithm. What you’re left with is a clear picture of the most cost-effective way forward to place your ad and a strategy that covers all variables for audience targeting and cross-channel TV placement.

Scatter TV: Advantages from every perspective

Scatter TV is beneficial for both networks/ media publishers and advertisers/ businesses. Where Upfronts tend to be less predictable, especially when new shows are concerned, there tends to be less risk involved in buying in the scatter market. The performance, data-driven approach to modern scatter TV makes it a very advantageous option for everyone:

Advantages for networks

For networks and media publishers, scatter TV represents a valuable opportunity to maximize revenue from advertising inventory that wasn't sold during the Upfronts. This approach allows networks to sell ad space closer to the airing date.

By leveraging the scatter market, networks can adjust their pricing strategies, responding dynamically to quarterly shifts in demand and maximizing the value of their ad inventory. This flexibility is crucial in an era where viewing habits are rapidly changing, and the ability to capitalize on unforeseen successes or trending content can significantly impact a network's advertising revenue.

Furthermore, scatter TV advertising enables networks to establish relationships with a broader range of advertisers, including those who may not have the foresight, timing, or resources to commit to ad purchases during the Upfronts. This consequently enables them to demonstrate their reach and effectiveness to advertisers on a more flexible basis, fostering long-term partnerships and encouraging repeat business in both the scatter market and future Upfront negotiations.

Advantages for advertisers

Advertisers can reap a lot of benefits from scatter TV advertising as well, including the ability to make more agile and data-driven media buying decisions. With the rise of cross-channel viewing habits and changing consumer behavior, traditional Upfront commitments can feel restrictive and impractical for advertisers looking to capitalize on real-time trends or adjust their campaigns based on audience insights.

For instance, one TV show could do very well in one season, and Upfront pricing and placement will be decided (largely) based on these criteria. However, changing behaviors, and social and economic factors can all impact the show's popularity, ratings, and engagement, making it difficult for advertisers to rely on Upfront commitments alone.

Scatter TV advertising provides a more flexible approach that enables advertisers to capitalize on short-term opportunities or make data-driven decisions based on real-time audience insights. This method can lead to increased ROI and better allocation of ad spend based on

Scatter TV's flexibility enables businesses to pivot quickly and respond dynamically to market changes. It can also be more data-driven and cost-effective, making it a great solution for businesses just starting out with linear advertising.

Local vs national scatter TV buying

When discussing scatter TV buying, it is essential to keep in mind that local and national scatter buying are two distinct markets with their own unique dynamics. From some points of view, they can be competing (e.g., they are both perceived as lower-cost but potentially high-reward options, especially compared to national Upfronts.) However, they are distinct, and you should definitely consider both for a comprehensive, healthy, and successful advertising strategy.

Local TV buying

Local TV spots are usually sold to specific local advertisers around the country. These ads are typically limited to the local broadcaster’s specific target areas of interest geographic boundaries, which often correspond to major metropolitan areas and their surrounding suburban and rural areas. Local stations that air these spots are often aligned to specific national broadcast networks (e.g., ABC, NBC, CBS) and are often referred to as their “local network affiliate.”

For example, local TV affiliates will negotiate carriage rights to sell a percentage of the national inventory slots (around 20%). In turn, these affiliates will sell the acquired slots to local advertisers (besides the national advertisers they already have on board.)

Local TV buying could be less expensive, and it makes sense when your business is local (or local-specific/ centric). When you have a truly local business, you need to target potential customers in your area. In this case, buying national scatter TV doesn't make much sense. However, there comes a point where you need to advertise in enough markets that local may seem to make sense, but national would actually be more cost-efficient. For example, if you’re trying to hit the top 10 DMAs in the country, advertisers may actually save time and money by going national instead of ironing out separate local deals.

National TV scatter buying

National scatter is usually best suited for businesses that want a larger reach but don't want to risk spending (all) of their money in the Upfronts. Because, as mentioned, scatter buying tends to be more flexible

National Scatter TV advertising is ideal for businesses that want to reach a large audience but may not have the resources or budget to commit to an annual Upfront purchase. It can also be beneficial for new linear advertisers who want to get their brand in front of big parts of their target audience fast and scalably.

Will scatter TV advertising work for you?

Digital advertising taught everyone everything is 100% measurable and at least somewhat predictable (to some extent.)

Modern scatter TV meets this demand by being granular about the placements (e.g., how we do things at Simulmedia, scatter TV buying can be very granular too.) Depending on your budget and the length of your collaboration, buying on the scatter market may not garner an audience guarantee, contingent on audience size and flight duration. However, Simulmedia DOES provide guarantees at a strategic audience level (i.e., your ads will be seen by the right number of people – and the right people too – not limited to broad age + gender strokes) – a unique value we provide to the market.

When buying scatter with Simulmedia, we work with you on the advanced audience definitions you want to reach. That allows us to determine the best networks and dayparts to include in a client’s media plan and even pinpoint the most specific ad slots to cherry-pick within those shows. This level of control and granularity enables advertisers to optimize their campaigns for maximum effectiveness, whether targeting a specific demographic or reaching a broader audience during a particular time slot.

Will it work for you?

You can't get a catch-all answer to this question, as it largely depends on your business's specific needs and goals. However, scatter TV advertising offers many advantages for both networks and advertisers that make it worth considering in any comprehensive advertising strategy. It can help you uncover your audience, target them, build brand affinity and loyalty, and ultimately drive conversions and sales. It does that without the larger expenses associated with upfront advertising and with more flexibility and agility for your business.

Interested in exploring scatter TV advertising for your business?

Let's chat and see how we can help you reach your ideal customer.