The amount of time pre week the average cable household spends watching cable television increased 87% in 1998-97 period (Brandweek, April 13, 1998). Furthermore, the Cable Advertising Bureau predicted that cable ad revenue would exceed $12 billion by 2000 and would break the $10 billion mark in 1999 from combined network, regional sports and local cable ad sales (Petrozello, 1998). This increasing pattern indicates that cable television is an attractive advertising medium to advertisers. IN he following section, the advantages and the limitations will be further discussed.

1. National Audience

With a projected 70 percent reach and the percentage growing each year, cable is certainly a national medium.

2. Adding Reach and Frequency to Network TV or Other Media

Although cable television can now be used instead of network TV, it can also be added to network TV and any other media chosen for a media plan. The effect of thisstrategy is to add more reach and frequency.

3. Relatively Low Cost

Although, overall, cable television rates have stagnated during the last 5 years (http://www.ncta.com/dir_avemonth.html), cable television advertising still costs less than advertising on the major television networks.

4. Regional Sports Broadcasting

Cable provides audiences with many opportunities for watching sporting events.

5. Respectable Ratings with Low Cost

There are more people watching cable than ever before. In fact, cable has been able to achieve relatively high ratings with less cost than network television (Sissors and Bumba, 1995).

6. Precisely Defined and More Specialized Target Audience

As programming develops to meet many different kinds of consumers’ needs, cable programmers have been better able to define the kinds of audience who watch their programs than have networks. This enables advertisers to focus more accurately on targets they want to reach (Sissors and Bumba, 1995).

7. More Upscale Audience

Cable television tends to appeal to an upper-income and affluent life-style audience. This characteristic gives companies selling more expensive products an appropriate target audience among the cable network options.

1. Competition From Too Many Channels

As cable continues to grow, it is possible that there will be too much variety to choose from (Sissors and Bumba, 1995).

2. Fragmented Audience

Although those who believe in micromarketing think this phenomenon is good for their strategies, many advertisers think that the fragmentation of the target audience might simply end up in audience sizes being too small.

3. Not Easy to Buy

Because there are few organized ways of selling, a spot on cable television using a variety of cable systems is difficult to buy.