Buying television ads through broadcast and cable networks is a lot easier these days thanks to SpotRunner.com. The old days of calling each television station, meeting with reps, shooting commercials, and paying for “branding” ads that you hoped would generate a few calls at 2:00 am are over. Certainly, cable television has changed the way network ads are bought and sold, but SpotRunner has taken it to a whole new level.

The first hurdle that SpotRunner.com solves is the lack of professional quality video for commercials. They inventory hundreds of canned commercials for all types of businesses. Just search their database by keyword or industry and watch generic videos online to find your next commercial. Once you have picked one out, you simply upload your logo and company information and SpotRunner.com customizes the audio track and puts your logo and company information in the commercial.

The second hurdle that SpotRunner.com helps you overcome is access to any and all broadcast and cable networks around the country. You can search and select networks by area, MSA, channel, and even select airtime preferences…all online! That’s right, you can become your own placement agency.

Most importantly, they allow you to place your own ads, schedule your airtime, create your own budget, and pay for the ads all online. This is truly a self-directed, or self-published, model for television commercials.

If you need some help, no problem. SpotRunner has a staff of sales people that can provide assistance over the phone. If you want to place an ad, need help creating an ad that is not on SpotRunner, or want to help Tom Britt out (who doesn’t, right?), send me a note and I can purchase your ads for you and they pay me 5%. Don’t worry, I won’t charge you to help but I can get a commercial cut for you if you like at an additional fee.