Not Everyone will be happy all of the time....or so the saying goes is appropriate in the advertising world this time of year. The national television upfronts will be in full swing next month but some networks, TV groups have already started the ball rolling with the advertising community.
While some find it difficult to understand, when ratings goes down that doesn't mean pricing goes down too - a conversation had almost every year with some clients. In the article below, you'll see that Fox is going to reduce commercial loads in some areas - so less units to buy will likely cause YOY costs to increase. BUT, the viewers should be happy. There has been a lot of discussion, mostly with the cable networks about reducing commercial loads - a focused way for the networks to keep people tuning into their channel not moving over to other subscription services.
Stay tuned to see what happens - always an exciting time of year.
While some find it difficult to understand, when ratings goes down that doesn't mean pricing goes down too - a conversation had almost every year with some clients. In the article below, you'll see that Fox is going to reduce commercial loads in some areas - so less units to buy will likely cause YOY costs to increase. BUT, the viewers should be happy. There has been a lot of discussion, mostly with the cable networks about reducing commercial loads - a focused way for the networks to keep people tuning into their channel not moving over to other subscription services.
Stay tuned to see what happens - always an exciting time of year.
Buyers Balk At Fox’s Price for Less Clutter
Source: Media Buyer & Planner Today 4/18/18
While Fox plans to shrink commercial loads within episodes of its Sunday night animated comedy block by as much as 40% next season, it does have to make up that lost revenue somehow. While advertisers will get to run commercials in a less cluttered environment, those ads will cost more. A lot more, according to ad buyers who spoke with Ad Age, with one stating Fox’s initial pricing is “more aggressive than what they indicated it would be.” In some instances double or triple the price of a traditional Sunday night ad. And on top of that, Fox has told buyers they will not be getting viewership guarantees for the ads run in the less cluttered environment – i.e. no makegoods for soft ratings. Some ad buyers are critical of Fox’s plan to sell branded content blocks of some three minutes long in between Sunday shows. Says one, “There aren’t a lot of advertisers out there who have something interesting to talk about for three-and-a-half minutes.” And he adds, “So you create a better viewing experience during The Simpsons and then you put three minutes of commercials at the end of it and lose people going into Family Guy.”
WHY THIS MATTERS: It’s the ad buyers that Fox and other networks looking to reduce commercial loads need to convince about better alternatives. And right now the jury is still out. There is no easy solution. Dave Campanelli, executive VP and manager partner of video investment at Horizon Media says, “Conceptually, improving the commercial experience on linear TV is a great idea. It’s a no-brainer. But how you do it is the real challenge.”
WHY THIS MATTERS: It’s the ad buyers that Fox and other networks looking to reduce commercial loads need to convince about better alternatives. And right now the jury is still out. There is no easy solution. Dave Campanelli, executive VP and manager partner of video investment at Horizon Media says, “Conceptually, improving the commercial experience on linear TV is a great idea. It’s a no-brainer. But how you do it is the real challenge.”