• by John Gaffney , February 27, 2003

If He Was A Rapper, We’d Call Him ’15 Percent’: Viacom’s Mel Karmazin broke out the street swagger yesterday, predicting that the approaching upfront process would give his company a 15% lift in ad prices. Personally, I love that kind of talk. It shows a lot more confidence in programming than the cautious tact taken by most media executives. It continues the confidence in the ad market that CBS continues to reap rewards from. But is 15% too high? Not for CBS. It has aligned itself with events, award shows, sitcoms and quality news, without an undue reliance on reality TV. Yes, there’s Survivor, Big Brother and Star Search. And you could argue those three shows may have run their course. But it’s not the lead strategy for CBS. And by not being the lead strategy it has played TV programming right down the middle of the strike zone. 15%? I like their chances.

Their Eyes Were Watching Oprah: The big O is bringing back her books club with a “focus on the classics.” So you can bet that Zora Neale Hurston, maybe Jane Austen and maybe Eudora Welty will show up as selections. I mention this in the context of advertising because book clubs and other entertainment recommendation methods have become an important part of media. And by the way, Essence magazine’s book club has been way ahead of the curve in working the classics as well as a the cutting edge into its recommendations.

Parting Shot: There was absolutely nothing newsy about George Bush’s speech last night. If I was a cable channel, or even a network, that covered it as a breaking news event I’d feel duped.