Market size, time of day, and competition are critical factors in the cost of TV ad placements.
Market size: DFW is the #5 DMA in the United States, so it costs significant sums of money to advertise here because of the dense population.
Time of day: The daily news draws in reliable, recurring viewership and bookends primetime television watching hours. If you want your ad to show multiple times during these highly competitive hours, it's going to cost you $$$.
Competition: There are only so many available TV commercial slots that can run in a single day, so scarcity is created. Competition is fierce for the times when most people are watching TV. Desirable commercial inventory is scooped up by national brands, car makers, insurance providers, Harris & Trump political ads, etc. Then, local spots are bought by local service providers like A1 Air, Baker Brothers, Jim Adler TX Hammer, or by Cruz & Allred political ads. This scarcity and competition drive up the cost of advertising significantly.
If we don't have an aggressive ad budget to compete for eyeballs in primetime ad slots, then we'll be relegated to airing our spots in the overnight hours of 12 AM - 5 AM.
Also, TV ad spots are sold well before their air date, so it costs extra money to bump someone else and take their ad time slot. It's not financially practical to say, "Hey, we're now 4-1 and have a game next week; let's bump A1 Air's commercials that run during the 5 o'clock and 10 o'clock news!" 💸💸💸