New advertisers that purchase three pages at the outset qualify for the bonus, as do returning customers that add three pages to last year's total. Magavision brings a choice between several free on-air sponsorship opportunities, including ESPN's popular "Pardon the Interruption."

While some sales executives reject the concept of "added value" -- even though it's prevalent -- on grounds that it devalues the incentive inventory, ESPN doesn't take such a hard line.

"It is added value," said Steven Binder, a vice president and publishing director at the magazine. "That's the beauty of what we have here at ESPN. We have deliverable assets that have value."

Principally, Magavision has been used to try and lure first-time advertisers to the magazine, succeeding with Liz Claiborne, Ray-Ban and Fuze. The opportunity may also prove helpful in offsetting the auto category's sharp reduction in spending, a contributor to ESPN's ad pages dropping 16% (to 576) this year, according to the latest figures from MinOnline.

Besides the cratering auto business, Binder says the page reduction is partly due to one fewer issue so far in 2008, compared to last year. Split off the auto category, and he says pages are up.

(Circulation is about flat, with subscriptions and single-copy newsstand sales coming in at 2 million and 31,000, respectively, for the back half of 2007.)

In order to get the Magavision TV bonus, the ESPN rate card calls for a first-time advertiser to spend some $582,000 for the three full-color pages, though negotiations would be expected to alter that. Advertisers such as Claiborne may not have TV creative, but the Magavision on-air opportunities don't require much more than a logo.

An advertiser can choose between sponsoring -- via a billboard and "brought to you by" voiceover -- either the morning headlines on ESPN2's "First Take" or the "Five Good Minutes" segment on "Pardon the Interruption," where the hosts interview a newsmaker. A third option is attaching a logo to the twice-an-hour strip that runs across the bottom of the screen with the latest news and scores.

Binder says the free sponsorship only airs once, given the significant number of impressions it delivers. Advertisers, however, can receive more by purchasing additional three-page increments. A marketer that bought three pages a year ago and this year increases to nine would get a second on-air position. (The sponsorship does appear again when a show episode repeats.)

Binder said it would be possible for an advertiser to select the particular day the sponsorship runs, so a retailer could opt for a pre-weekend spot.

Binder says Magavision gives ESPN an advantage vis-à-vis competitors at publishing operations without sister TV assets. "Advertisers first and foremost want more than the printed page," he said.