How much is it to advertise on television?

Why do television companies allow rival companies to advertise on there commercials?

• It is odd why do they have that? Also why do they advertise there own commercials on there broadcast you already bought it?

• Answer:

  When an ad agency goes to buy spots on TV, they have lots of choices on how to buy. They can buy spots during a particular TV show, during particular times on a particular station, anytime on a particular station, etc. They can also buy spots regionally or nationally. For example, let's say the agency's client is DirecTV. They want to promote their services to a particular age group (let's say mothers in their 30s-40s) so they buy time on Good Morning America. Even if your local cable company is something different, you'll still see that commercial for DirecTV during Good Morning America. And the DirecTV didn't buy the commercial space from your local cable company, they bought it from ABC where Good Morning America airs. I hope that makes sense. The reason why you'll see commercials for your own cable company even though you already bought it is because of the same reason. They either bought the space on networks, or they have free spots and just fill it with one of their own ads. Let's say you're watching NBC and NBC didn't sell all their commercial time so there's an empty spot. Your local cable company often fills that spot with one of their own ads to make up for it.