Television advertising is still in demand. TV is the mac 'n cheese of media comfort food. People continue to watch television but ad buyers may still have the upper hand as the tight economy restricts spending and, as this article reports, buyers want flexibility in their purchases. For broadcast and cable networks, it's, "No good deed goes unpunished." If they rollover and allow too much flexibility, what will this mean in the coming years, especially as we see the media marketplace evolve?
Buyers Demand Flexibility Heading Into Upfronts
Networks head into the upfront facing steep dropoffs. What agencies say they need to do
March 8, 2009
Faced with the worst economy in a generation, and with ad budgets down amid predictions they will sink further as the year progresses, there is little disagreement among ad buyers that they have a lot of leverage heading into this year’s upfront television marketplace. And they will be seeking concessions including price rollbacks and significantly greater flexibility on terms and options to pull out of or reduce spending commitments made in the upfront, given the uncertainty of the economy.The networks, of course, aren’t conceding much at this point. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, however, is the only network executive so far this year to publicly predict that pricing—at least at his network—will be up this year. He also indicated last week that it is possible CBS will sell less inventory upfront this year.
Sellers at other networks say it’s anybody’s guess at this point how pricing will shape up in this year’s upfront market, which is still at least three months away. And maybe longer if buyers come to the table with unrealistic expectations, sellers said.
Click the link for the full article: http://buyerflex.notlong.com
1 comment:
It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out. The obvious play out is that the networks will fold to the demands of the ad buyers, and allow them more flexibility and cheaper rates. However, for the time being, we could be witnessing a stalemate, and we will see what exactly that will entail for TV. We have seen what a stalemate bes in between writers and actors did to our television and movies for quite a time, and I know such a thing is not as serious in this situation, but it still could cause problems. Either way, I see these rates returning to normal once the economy bounces back, whether it be in a year or a few years.
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