• Advertising Age, Thursday, March 12, 2009 9:45 AM

The second-quarter TV advertising market appears to be frozen--due to marketers that are unwilling to part with their dollars until the very last minute, say media buyers.

Already, advertisers are pulling back between 12% and 14% of their "holds"--the second-quarter ad time they earmarked last May during the upfront sales session. Buyers are worrying about how many of those ad dollars will come trickling back in the scatter market, where ad time is purchased on an as-needed basis near air time. Marci Ryvicker, Wachovia media analyst, says that "the scatter market has really pulled back. Advertisers want to see what happens to the economy and there are a lot of other alternatives. The only network really bullish is CBS."

The second quarter is being seen "as a sort of indicator" of how ad time will be sold "moving forward," according to Andrew Donchin, director-media investment at Carat. That could mean waiting until April. At present, buyers and sellers are locked in a "stare down," says one media buyer.

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