Plan TV dayparts and programming

Start with one comparable TV ask

A useful TV RFP gives stations one market, flight, primary audience, and set of buying goals to answer. Create a separate request when the market or media type changes so each station receives the right local schedule and every response stays comparable.

The Plan budget remains buyer-side planning context. The TV RFP carries the goal lines suppliers need to price: market-local dayparts, spot lengths, weekly impression targets, goal CPM, and any programming direction that determines whether an Avail fits.

Read the schedule, not only the daypart name

Tap presents the launch TV buckets below. The exact days and hours are resolved for the selected market and frozen into the RFP revision.

TV conventions shift by market time zone. Always review the displayed market-local window. Do not assume a Prime or Late News label has the same clock time in every market.

Decide between daypart flexibility and program specificity

Use the goal grid for the buying bucket you want suppliers to answer. Use Additional notes to describe program, genre, news, sports, sponsorship, rotation, adjacency, or exclusion preferences.

Be explicit about the acceptable response shape:

• ask for an exact program when the program itself is material;
• ask for a named rotation when flexibility within a schedule is acceptable;
• describe acceptable equivalents when a station can solve the objective another way; and
• separate mandatory restrictions from useful preferences.

An overly broad request makes comparison difficult. An overly rigid one can exclude good local inventory. The useful middle is a precise daypart and audience goal with clear programming boundaries.

Set spot lengths and weekly delivery goals

Create a separate goal line for every daypart and spot length combination you want priced independently. A 15 second Prime line and a 30 second Prime line are different asks even when the audience and weeks are the same.

Choose one standard primary demographic, then set for each line:

• the spot length;
• one goal CPM;
• target impressions for each active broadcast week; and
• any deliberate week-to-week weighting.

Suppliers respond with a weekly spot rate and projected primary-audience impressions per spot. Tap uses those fields to calculate a derived CPM and, during buying, the whole-spot quantity needed to approach the weekly target.

Add the TV context suppliers need

Use Additional notes for information that changes the inventory a station should return:

• required or preferred programs and rotations;
• news, sports, genre, sponsorship, or adjacency guidance;
• separation from competitors or unsuitable content;
• acceptable alternatives; and
• any production, traffic, or creative timing constraint the supplier should consider.

Keep the request focused on the transaction. A station should be able to tell which facts determine eligibility, which shape its recommendation, and where it has room to offer an alternative.

Review before sending

Confirm the market and time zone, exact flight, response deadline, primary audience, selected dayparts and local schedules, spot lengths, weekly targets, goal CPMs, programming notes, and station list. The draft remains private until an authorized buyer approves Send RFP.