Which of the following is a media vehicle?

Magazine A has a cost for a full-page ad of $10,000 and a circulation figure of 5,000,000. Of these 5,000,000 subscribers, 40 percent are tennis buffs. Magazine B has a cost for a full page of $10,000 and a circulation of 3,000,000. Of the 3,000,000 subscribers 75 percent are tennis buffs. If you sold tennis racquets and wanted to compare the CPM effectiveness of these magazines, which would you choose?

By Barbara Bean-Mellinger Updated September 21, 2020

Some people say the panel vans wrapped with a business name, colorful logo and big phone number are advertising vehicles. While it's true they are vehicles with advertising on them, that's not what the industry term means. Advertising vehicles are the different methods available for advertising: typically broadcast, print, outdoor, direct mail, digital and social media. Each advertising medium has at least a few types of media vehicles – places and ways to advertise – within them, and there are pros and cons to consider.

Many people use the words "advertising" and "marketing" interchangeably, although they are not the same thing, explains an article on the Inc. website. Marketing includes the many ways of spreading the word about your product(s), services or business. Advertising – paying for space to spread the word – is one type of marketing. Other types of marketing include public relations, promotions, events, direct sales calls and more. Therefore, marketing vehicles and advertising vehicles are not the same. A well-rounded marketing plan includes some types of advertising vehicles as well as other types of marketing vehicles.

Television and, to a lesser degree, radio – collectively known as broadcast – has the reputation of being too expensive for anyone but big business. Certainly, Super Bowl ads are out of reach for most companies, with a $5.6 million cost for a 30-second ad in 2020, as reported at the Bleacher Report. If you have the budget for it, though, that might be a deal, considering that 98.2 million viewers tuned in for it, and they love the ads.

You get much better pricing in non-prime time, where you do 15-second ads more often than one 30-second ad. Check your local stations for good deals and consider podcasts that coordinate with your industry, such as a real estate podcast for a title company. According to Marketing Week, over 73 million Americans now listen to 550,000 different podcasts.

Print as an advertising vehicle includes publications you can hold in your hand: magazines, newspapers and neighborhood or organization newsletters. Since digital advertising became popular, though, many business owners have wondered if print ads are still worth doing.

Experts on Forbes business council say print will still work wherever there is a physical presence, such as putting a health ad in a publication that goes into doctors' waiting rooms. Of course, the larger the ad, the more it costs to produce and to run it, and color adds even more. However, with so many publications, you can realistically target your ads to your audience.

Billboards have been an example of outdoor advertising vehicles for generations, positioned along highways to tell you where to exit for food, lodging or fun. Now you can advertise on slick, moving billboards or those that rotate ads. Mobile advertising vehicles are close relatives of billboards and are seen by commuters inside and outside subways, trains, taxis, buses and their stations and depots, and airline terminals.

Digital advertising vehicles appear in the many places you can be online, whether it's a desktop computer, laptop, smartphone or any other digital device. There are many places to buy online ads such as specific websites and search engines like Google. When you buy social media ads, they pop up on the pages of people whose browsing indicates they'd be interested in what you're selling. Social media is accessed digitally and, the Pew Research Center advises that seven in 10 adults reported using Facebook in 2018 and 2019, and 73 percent used YouTube. Among younger adults – ages 18 to 24 – over 70 percent also use Snapchat and Instagram. Many businesses hire someone to handle their social media posts because it's important to post often and stay current.

A media vehicle is a specific television program, digital media, newspaper, magazine, radio station, outdoor advertising location, etc., that can be employed to carry advertisements or commercials (or any other marketing communications).

For example, The New Yorker magazine is a media vehicle in the magazine category of advertising media.[1]