• by John Gaffney , May 12, 2003

Adstock 2004: Buy your tickets now. You know how New York City has film festivals, like the one going on now in Tribeca? I don't think it's too much of a stretch to predict that next year at exactly this time, NYC will be the site of a Media Festival. This year they call it the upfront and its dominated by TV. But take a look at what else is happening. Clear Channel held a media extravaganza this morning to show buyers that radio and outdoor are still in this thing too. And although they're not in NYC, Starcom made a big noise last week by saying that key Internet properties should be part of the upfront. So next year, I think you'll see the Magazine Publishers Association move Magazine Day up a few weeks in the calendar to catch some of this upfront mentality. The goal behind magazine sales is to get yearly contracts, too. And let's have key Internet presentations. Let's have a major outdoor industry presentation. It makes sense with the convergent nature of media planning and buying that the upfront process and spirit should be spread out over more media. TV will still be the star. They can present uptown. And wait until you see Mediapost's 2004 presentation. We'll get a cool little loft down in SoHo somewhere. We'll rock.

Adstock 2010: If the FCC gets its way there won't be more than a few media companies to present at this grand media festival I envision. And you know what really ticks me off? Every time I read an interview with FCC chairman Michael Powell, he says one of the reasons we have to dismantle media buying rules is that the courts have already started to do it. C'mon. Nobody's a victim here. Powell clearly feels that rules in this case are a hindrance to growth for media conglomerates. I believe they're big enough, so do a lot of other people. Save the whining about the courts.

At The Buzzer: I thought the The New York Times did a pretty good job of self-flagellating over the Jayson Blair case. Then I saw the website this morning. Now their self-flagellating in multi-media.