Advertisers currently buying space in the US upfront markets are embracing the interactive and online enhancements offered by broadcast and cable networks and incorporating them into their campaigns, according to today’s Jack Myers Report.
Myers says that this is another indication of a strengthening media economy, particularly given that last year advertisers “insisted that any interactive offerings be packaged as ‘free’ value-added components of media buys”. This year, says Myers, marketers are willing to compensate networks through increases in share of budgets, direct compensation for online and interactive components, cross-promotional support, and higher costs per thousand.
The report says that the most successful initiatives are being offered as part of upfront packages by those networks that offer well defined programming genres: Discovery Communications’ Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, MTV and The Comedy Channel, for example.
Myers quotes Larry Goodman, president of News Sales for Turner Broadcasting System, as saying that around ten to fifteen percent of all upfront agreements include some interactive element. These include video streaming via the web, video on demand and interactive applications.
