Optimizing an advertising plan involves following a sequence of simple steps.

1. Tell the optimizer how to score ad slots You tell the optimizer what you consider to be a good media plan. This can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Certain factors that you enter determine the value of each ad exposure.
2. Select an original plan that is to be optimized.
3. Tell the optimizer where to search for slots Set the parameters and conditions that determine where and how the optimizer can search for efficient ad locations. These parameters might include:
   • Date range
   • Daypart(s)
   • Network group, or network type (news, sports, entertainment, etc.)
   • Program type (sitcom, drama, etc.)
   • Minimum program demo rating
   • Etc.
4. Start the optimizer The optimizer, then, searches for possible new ad slots, and assigns to each slot a score that measures the value of each in contributing to the efficiency of the overall schedule.
5. Rank the new slots that the optimizer found based on the scores computed by the optimizer.
6. Select new slots Add new slots to your plan from among those identified by the optimizer. This is done by the media planner, and is based not only on the scores assigned by the optimizer, but also on judgment and experience.
7. Remove existing slots Interactively remove poor slots from the original plan, also based on judgment and the optimizer scores.
8. Optimize further If desired, reset optimization factors and/or search parameters, and optimize further.

For long plans For an ad schedule that span several weeks, an approach which works well is to

1. Optimize on a single week of advertising
2. Propagate that one week schedule to the other weeks.
3. Test the resulting multi-week schedule against the objectives of recall, reach, effective reach, etc.

What you get from the optimizer At the end of an optimization session, you will have:

• A detailed schedule of ad dates and times.
• Audience distribution charts and data.
• Reach and frequency tables and curves.
• Recall and recency estimates.
• Cost estimates based on unit cost or demo CPMs

Tools and functions are included in the Audience Analysis System .to guide a media planner through each of these steps.

Depending on the plan and optimization complexity, an optimization session at the computer could last from a few minutes to an hour or two.