Cable TV has increased significantly in prominence as an advertising medium, both in perception and in revenue generation. But does perception equal reality? But it's so darn fragmented, it's hard to get frequency.

  It's the liability of fragmentation that is also an asset to reach niche audiences. Cable positions itself as offering the geographic targeting of newspaper and direct mail, the pricing and demographic targeting of radio, and the visual impact of television.

   The DVRs being offered by the local cable system to their subscribers are significantly undermining the value of the commercial inventory they are selling to their advertising customers -- a phenomenon that is going to get much worse in the months and years to come.  Recent reports show that around 42% of homes regularly use DVRs and they zip right past commercials which make ad buys on cable 42% less effective.

Advantages

• Cable TV now reaches some 89% of U.S. television households. (Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, 2009) (Note: One million subscribers doesn't mean there are one million people watching.)
• Cable networks are targeted to specific demographics and clusters of people.
• Data from a variety of sources indicate that pay cable homes are considerably younger and more affluent than non-cable households. (Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, 2009)
• Low CPMs.
• One-third of cable watchers set aside time to watch specific cable programs, showing that cable is becoming appointment TV. (CAB & Knowledge Networks, 2009)

Disadvantages

• There's too much fragmentation. You can’t have large audiences for any given channel or program when there are dozens, even hundreds of channels from which to choose.
• A certain percentage of cable commercials tend to be poorly produced, creating a poor image for cable TV advertising.
• Commercial clutter is very high on some cable channels.