Advertising Sales at TWiT - Has TWiT Turned Down New Advertisers?

TWiT has and will continue to turn down advertisers.  Why?  Because Leo and I do not believe in their products/services OR their products/services do not fit our audience OR we have current advertising partners with similar or the same products/services.


Content drives TWiT, not money.  Money allows us to hire exceptional hosts, build sets, improve our website and push our network out to every possible platform available but sales is not our number one focus.  I actually drive my sales team crazy because I say no more often than I say yes to new advertisers.  

TWiT has been selective about advertisers since it's very first netcast.  Leo did not want to consider advertisers for TWiT and wanted to create content and have it solely supported by audience contributions.  When Leo decided to allow minimal advertisers on his network he was selective from day one.  Why?  Because he only wants to consider advertisers who his audience would be passionate about and because he did not want to annoy them with too many ads.


My best advice when considering ads on your network is to make sure it makes sense for your audience.  If not, walk away and find another way to make money.  Put your content first and serve your audience first.  Money will follow.

Advertising Sales at TWiT Part Three - Why it Works

In addition to our advertising format, our sales team works carefully with our partners on messaging, show selection, offers/discounts and marketing campaigns.  It's imperative that the billboard grabs our audience and entices them to hear more about our partner's product/service.  We believe in full disclosure.  If a partner requires our audience to provide information about themselves before revealing pricing, plans, etc. then we require our partner to build a custom landing page for our audience and fully disclose pricing.  Transparency is critical.  The interstitial ad includes details about the product/service, why our audience should consider it, pricing, and what our audience receives if they buy/use their product/service.  We work closely with our partners on offer codes and urls and ask our partners to consider free trials on services and discounts on products.  We request they keep all offers intact for the duration of their ad campaign.  Consistent offers show our audience that our partners care about our network and stand behind their own product/service.

Advertising Sales at TWiT Part Two - TWiT's Recipe

Here is the TWiT recipe for ad format on a show.  Each partner receives two ads and the first ad position is also called a billboard.  The billboard is read at the top of the show and tends to be 10-15 seconds long which provides our audience with a brief overview of our partner's product/service.  The second ad position is also know as the interstitial ad and we position these ads to be 1 - 2 minutes long.  However most interstitial ads are a lot longer because hosts have personal experiences with the product/service and other hosts on the show contribute their experiences too.  Our advertising recipe works on our network and it takes a lot of our time educating partners on our format and how messaging works with our audience.

Petaluma River, photo by Lisa Kentzell

Advertising Sales at TWiT Part One - How Does it Work?

I am constantly asked about TWiT's advertising sales and the number one question I am asked is how does it work?  Before I can dive into how, we have to start with who we work with and why.

First, we only works with quality partners who have integrity and products/services we believe in.  Our goal at TWiT is to find partners who are interested in establishing long-term relationships with us.  Leo and I review all potential partners which includes researching the company and its founders.  We both have to be 100% satisfied with a new partner before we will do business with them. Why?  Because our integrity means everything to us.

Second, we are extremely selective in how many ads we are willing to place on our shows.  Our advertising strategy consists of two partner ads on a show, we do not exceed four partners on any given show, and we spend a lot of time on the messaging with our partners to critique it for our audience. Why do we do this?  Because it works!  We have tested advertising campaigns and audience recall.  We discovered there was an 80% increase in ad recall if we had two ads for each partner on a show.  Our two ad process combined with fewer ads on a show increase the effectiveness of our ads.  It's our goal at TWiT to deliver quality products/services that our audience wants while limiting the number of ads in a show.