Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising on Local (Spot) Broadcast Television, 2002-2005

As evidence mounts that alcohol advertising affects youth drinking intentions and behavior,^1-3 there is a need for greater precision in measuring and monitoring youth exposure to alcohol advertising. Nielsen Media Research^* measures television audiences in 210 local markets. While all of these markets receive national (broadcast and cable network) advertising for alcohol, the amount of local (spot) advertising for alcohol varies by market and by month. To document this variation, the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth^** requested Virtual Media Resources (VMR)^*** to calculate youth and young adult exposure in each market to alcohol advertising placed directly on local broadcast stations (data are not available for cable advertising bought at the local market level) for the years 2002 to 2005.

Findings of this analysis may be summarized as follows:

• During the period under analysis, alcohol company expenditures for local (spot) broadcast advertising were falling, as companies moved more of their advertising onto cable networks.

Figure 1: Total Spending on Alcohol Advertising on Television, 210 Markets, 2002-2005

• Youth exposure to local broadcast advertising for alcohol varied considerably by market. Nearly three-quarters of the markets received fewer than 100 youth (ages 12 to 20) gross rating points per average month, while two markets (Los Angeles and Chicago) received more than 500 GRPs per average month.

Table 1: Average Youth Exposure to Broadcast Spot Alcohol Advertising, 2002-2005

• Local advertising exposure varies by month. Beer and ale brands tend to concentrate their advertising in the late spring and early summer months, and since they have been the largest advertisers on television, youth exposure to alcohol advertising spikes in these periods. Figure 2 shows these spikes.

Figure 2: Youth Impressions (Millions) from Broadcast Spot Alcohol Advertising, 210 Markets, 2002-2005

• Average exposure by demographic varies. On average, monthly gross rating points (GRPs) for females were higher than for males, and monthly GRPs for young adults ages 21 to 24 were higher than for youth ages 12 to 17 and ages 18 to 20.

Figure 3: Average Monthly Youth and Young Adult Exposure (in GRPs) to Broadcast Spot Alcohol Advertising, 210 Markets, 2002-2005

The local markets data tool above provides gross rating points for each of these demographic groups by market and by month.

Methods

Data on youth exposure to alcohol advertising are provided per month per market for the years 2002 through 2005. The analysis was done for all alcohol advertising, and was not broken down by category (e.g. beer, distilled spirits, wine), parent company or brand. The data were developed using occurrence and audience data licensed from Nielsen Media Research and analyzed by VMR. VMR evaluated 725,474 alcohol advertisements placed on broadcast spot television, based on audience ratings data for each advertisement placement for all male and female viewers in the ages 12 to 20, 12 to 17, 18 to 20 and 21 to 24 age groups.

Definitions

Impressions. An advertising impression occurs when one person sees or hears an advertisement. If this advertisement is seen by five different people, that counts as five impressions. If a particular advertising medium, such as a magazine or television program, has an audience of 100,000 people, an advertisement placed in that magazine or during that program generates a number of impressions equal to the audience size - in this case 100,000 impressions.

Gross Impressions. The sum of impressions for a given advertising campaign, or for any other combination of advertisements, is called gross impressions - so-called because they include multiple exposures for some or all of the people who are exposed to the advertising. If five people see the same advertisement five times, this counts as 25 gross impressions. For a national advertising campaign, it is common for an advertising schedule to generate 500 million or more gross impressions.

Gross Rating Points (GRPs). Gross rating points (GRPs) are a standard measure of advertising exposure. GRPs measure advertising exposure for a particular population, relative to the size of that population, and are therefore calculated by dividing gross impressions within that population by the number of people in the population.

References

¹ R.L. Collins, P.L. Ellickson, D. McCaffrey, and K. Hambarsoomians, "Early adolescent exposure to alcohol advertising and its relationship to underage drinking," Journal of Adolescent Health. 40, no. 6 (2007): 527-534.
² L.B. Snyder, F.F. Milici, M. Slater, H. Sun, and Y. Strizhakova, "Effects of Alcohol Advertising Exposure on Drinking Among Youth," Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 160, no. 1 (2006): 18-24.
³ A.W. Stacy, J.B. Zogg, J.B. Unger, and C.W. Dent, "Exposure to Televised Alcohol Ads and Subsequent Adolescent Alcohol Use," American Journal of Health Behavior 28, no. 6 (2004): 498-509.

^* © 2007 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. Ratings and other data contained herein are the copyrighted property of Nielsen Media Research, Inc. Unauthorized use of this copyrighted material is expressly prohibited. Violators may be subject to criminal and civil penalties under Federal Law (17 USC 101 et seq.). All Rights Reserved.

^**The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Georgetown University. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the funders.

^***Virtual Media Resources (VMR) is a media research, planning, market analysis and consulting firm based in Natick, Massachusetts, serving communications organizations and marketers in a wide variety of market segments and media. VMR was established in 1992 to provide an independent research firm serving advertising agencies and has grown to service over 100 clients across the United States and Canada in retail, publishing, financial, automotive, public health and other fields.