Asian Media CPM

I was in a new business pitch last week. The media director of the prospect company asked me why the CPM of the Asian media was ridiculously high and how it justified. While he was the only one I met so far raised the question, I bet many other general market media professionals share the same thought.

I must admit Asian media CPM is relatively higher than general market, range from 1.5 to 10 times more depending on the market segment and media type. Why does it still make sense? Here is my defense.

1. Asian media are very targeted. The more narrow targeted a medium is, the higher its CPM is. That is the nature of the business. Higher CPM but less waste, money well spent.


2. The attentiveness of Asian media are much higher than average. Audience is very involved with the media/programs/contents. You’d rather pay higher CPM on one designated medium than to pay lower but share audience’s attention with other media at the same time (eg. TV & Internet).


3. Response rate of some major Asian media are enormously high. Since the audience is very involved, they pay attention and take action accordingly. Place a small announcement in an Asian pager for a cultural activity, you will easily find full house the next day.

For the above reasons, Asian media demand higher CPM. But come on, give me a break. Our media budget has been – still – just a drop of bucket. Asian marketing tend to overdeliver.

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