I am sure this is very market-dependent, so for what it’s worth we’re talking local Indianapolis.
If you go to a tv station, say “we’ve got this commercial we made, and we want to air it on your station,” how many days, weeks or months would it generally be before the ad can actually air?
Back when I did traffic (scheduling programs and commercials) at a radio station (although not Indianapolis), we had clients on year-long “fixed time” contracts (i.e., your commercial will air at a fixed time throughout the contract, as opposed to “run of schedule” which means we’ll run it when we have an open slot), although most of the contracts were much shorter. We also usually had open commercial slots the day before, although not at times anyone wanted.
The advertising/marketing agency I work for scripts, produces and edits TV spots on behalf of many clients. We also buy the time for them on local TV stations and cable networks, as our long-term relationships with their salespeople allow us to get a better deal, as well as a schedule that makes the most sense in terms of reaching the client’s target audience.
In most cases, we buy a schedule that lasts a minimum of a couple of weeks, usually longer. The schedule is set up to start on a certain day and end on another. You have to balance the factors of wanting your spots to air in or adjacent to a particular program (which costs more but is more targeted) vs. getting a greater number of spots for your money but not being able to dictate exactly when they air (as kunilou says, “run of schedule”).
To answer your specific question, how quickly a spot can air is all down to the station’s “avails,” or the availability of open slots. In theory, a spot could begin airing within hours of the station receiving it, assuming there were open slots in the schedule. But this will vary greatly from station to station. The time of year makes a big difference too; during the holidays or a month before elections (when the schedule is filled to the brim with political ads), forget it. And finally, stations with higher ratings will naturally tend to have fewer slots available at any given time.
If as an advertiser I want a spot to air very soon for whatever reason, and I’ve dropped the ball and haven’t made arrangements well in advance of that date, I will pay a premium for getting it on the air with that short of notice.
I’m in a small market, and when I run ads, it’s usually for a month at a time. Due to budget constraints, I’ll buy a small number of slots in certain targeted programs…say 2 times per week in one program, and 3 times per week in another program. I control the program my ad runs in, but not which particular days it runs. Sometimes I’ll buy a “floating” spot…the ad will run at some point during designated hours, but I don’t get to pick the exact time or show. If I wanted to pay more, I can get as specific as I like…my ad could run in the first local break of a particular show, for example.
As far as how long the delay is between placing the order and the ad running, it varies. It could be as little as a day or two…again, small market here…but I usually like to start a run on the first of the month to simplify billing.