MODULE THREE – PLANNING & BUYING TV

Maths Questions

Use the following questions to test your knowledge and deepen your understanding of how TV’s
media maths works. The below chart provides you with the example CPTs and Universes you will
need to complete the questions.

(Please note whilst these examples are semi-accurate, they should not be used in a real planning
scenario. For CPTs speak to your broadcaster representative and visit BARB for updated universes).

Univers
Monthly Station Average CPT
Audience e
(000) Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Adults 51,000 5.51 6.04 7.06 6.20 7.11 6.58 6.31 6.36 7.32 7.56 7.49 5.97
14.1 15.8 15.4
ABC1 Adults 29,000 18.17 16.19 18.75 17.50 17.30 17.51 18.77 19.56 19.32
3 4 5
Housepersons 27,000 8.39 9.23 10.79 9.50 10.71 9.80 9.31 9.50 10.97 11.43 11.46 9.18
21.7 24.5 24.3
ABC1 Housepersons 14,500 28.18 25.32 28.90 26.55 25.89 26.44 28.82 30.07 30.40
9 0 4
39.9 45.0 44.3
ABC1 Men 14,000 50.53 44.66 53.91 52.00 52.74 50.62 53.54 55.96 55.26
4 2 4
94.0 99.6 115.1 105.2 118.6 120.5 127.3 114.5 117.7 117.5 108.3 94.7
1634 Men 7,000
2 6 2 5 7 6 0 5 5 6 7 0
36.9 39.2 36.8
1634 Adults 14,000 46.86 42.29 47.08 46.82 46.95 45.82 46.61 46.30 41.88
9 9 9
46.5 48.5 47.1
Housepersons w/ Children 7,000 59.39 55.00 59.07 56.30 55.33 59.36 56.60 58.66 51.50
7 2 3

1) Calculating TVRS = (Budget ÷ Universe ÷ CPT) x 100

a. A car company has been given a budget of £300,000 for a 30” TV campaign to promote
their new Family car launching in November, targeting housepersons w/ Children. How
many ratings can they afford?

(__BUDGET__ ÷ _UNIVERSE_ ÷ ___CPT____) x 100 = ___TVR____

b. A production issue means the car is no longer ready for launch. The company are
forced to push the campaign back by a month. How many ratings can they now afford?

(__BUDGET__ ÷ _UNIVERSE_ ÷ ___CPT____) x 100 = ___TVR____

2) Calculating Budget = (TVRs x Universe x CPT) ÷ 100
a. To achieve your marketing objectives, you have identified that you will need to run a
4-week campaign at 100 TVRs a week. You are buying ABC1 Men with a 30” advert
and will have one week of activity in March and three weeks in April. How much
budget will you require?

(___TVR____ x _UNIVERSE_ x ___CPT____) ÷ 100 = __BUDGET__

b. The campaign launches with a spot in a live football match predicted to deliver
6.5TVRs. How much is that spot predicted to cost?

(___TVR____ x _UNIVERSE_ x ___CPT____) ÷ 100 = __BUDGET__

3) Calculating CPT = (Budget ÷ TVRs ÷ Universe) x 100

a. In June, I bought a 30” all adult campaign achieving 250 TVRs with a spend of
£750,000. What was my CPT for this campaign?

(__BUDGET__ ÷ ___TVR____ ÷ _UNIVERSE_) x 100 = ___CPT____

b. Last year my I could only afford 230 TVRs across the same period, how much more
expensive was my CPT last year?

(__BUDGET__ ÷ ___TVR____ ÷ _UNIVERSE_) x 100 = ___CPT____

CPT increase

4) Calculating Time Length Factor (TLF) 60” = 2.0, 40” = 1.33, 30” = 1.0, 20” = 0.80, 10” = 0.5
a. If Question 1a was based on a 30” campaign, how many TVRs could they afford if they
changed their advert to a 40”?

__30” TVR__ ÷ ___40” TLF____ = ___40” TVR____

b. If question 2b was a 10” advert, how much would it cost?

__30” BUDGET__ X ___10” TLF____ = _10” BUDGET_

5) Calculating Impacts = (TVR x Universe) ÷ 100
a. How many impacts would be delivered in question 4a?

(___TVR____ X _UNIVERSE_) ÷ 100 = __IMPACTS__

b. How many impacts are predicted by the live football match in question 2b?

(___TVR____ X _UNIVERSE_) ÷ 100 = __IMPACTS__

ANSWERS ON THE NEXT PAGE

 ANSWERS

1)
a. TVR 83.2 = (Budget £300,000 ÷ Universe 7,000 ÷ CPT £51.50) x 100
b. TVR 90.9 = (Budget £300,000 ÷ Universe 7,000 ÷ CPT £47.13) x 100

2)
a. March Budget £707,420 = (TVR 100 x Universe 14,000 x CPT £50.53) ÷ 100
April Budget £1,875,720 = (TVR 300 x Universe 14,000 x CPT £44.66) ÷ 100
Total Budget £2,583,140
b. Budget £45,982 = (TVR 6.5 x Universe 14,000 x CPT £50.53) ÷ 100

3)
a. CPT £5.88 = (Budget 750,000 ÷ TVR 250 ÷ Universe 51,000) x 100
b. Last year CPT £6.39 = (Budget 750,000 ÷ TVR 230 ÷ Universe 51,000) x 100
Difference £6.39 - £5.88 = £0.51(8.7%)

4)
a. 40” TVR 62.6 = 30” TVR 83.2 ÷ 40” TLF 1.33
b. 10” Budget £22,991 = 30” Budget £45,982 x 10” TLF 0.5

5)
a. Impacts 4,382,000 = (TVR 62.6 x Universe 7,000,000) ÷ 100
b. Impacts 910,000 = (TVR 6.5 x Universe 14,000,000) ÷ 100