Reach is overrated
It might be the biggest misconception in all of advertising.
The Super Bowl has reach.
Google has reach.
Radio has reach.
So?
Why do you care if you can, for more money, reach more people?
Why wouldn’t it make more sense to reach the right people instead?
To pick an absurd example, you can use a giant radio telescope to beam messages to the billions or trillions of aliens that live in other solar systems. Worth it?
I read an overview that pointed out that one of the cons of Amazon advertising was that they didn’t have the reach of Google.
This is wrong in so many ways.
Reach doesn’t matter, because your job isn’t to interrupt people on other planets, with other interests. Your job is to interact with people who care.
Running an ad on the most popular podcast isn’t smart if the most popular podcast reaches people who don’t care about you.
Perhaps it makes sense to pay extra to reach precisely the right people. It never makes sense to pay extra to reach more people.