Execs Tell Advertisers: TV Offers Choice, Reach, But TV Everywhere Is A Bust

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NEW ORLEANS -- As ratings at some TV networks continue to fall, even though prices for ads have not, are advertisers paying more for less? A group of network sales executives on a 4As conference panel Tuesday morning said no. But they made some salient points while arguing the case.

If advertisers do pay more for less, it’s their own fault, said Linda Yaccarino, president, ad sales, NBCUniversal. “There’s more choice than ever for advertisers to mitigate CPM inflation."

David Levy, president of sales at Turner Broadcasting, agreed. Buyers and planners continue to think of cable and broadcast channels as different media. “You should buy TV,” he said. That is for advertisers looking for reach.

Jo Ann Ross, president of CBS network sales, added that no one is holding a gun to advertisers forcing them to buy either network or cable. “They can walk away if they don’t see value there,” she said.

There seemed to be agreement on the panel that the TV Everywhere initiative hasn’t worked so well. “It's awful from a consumer standpoint,” said Levy. But he is hopeful it will get better as programmers agree to commit more content to the initiative, which allows cable subscribers to access programming across an array of media.

Jeff Lucas, head of sales for Viacom’s Music & Entertainment Group, agreed. “It should be a lot better,” he said, noting that only about half of U.S. pay subscribers are technologically enabled to authenticate.

The executives said measurement needs to improve particularly on the cross-platform front. “Counting every eyeball across screens is important,” said Ross.

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2 comments on "Execs Tell Advertisers: TV Offers Choice, Reach, But TV Everywhere Is A Bust".

1. Michael Natale from MCM Media Sales
   

   commented on: March 13, 2013 at 10:30 a.m.
   It's almost like extortion. Ratings go down quarter after quarter, year after year but cpm prices go up. I love the positioning of the Networks....."you don't have to buy us if you don't want to, go try and find your scale elsewhere"... What percentage of shows bought in the upfront lasted the entire season and achieved their ratings estimates? Where else can you do a bad job and not only get rewarded for it year after year but get price increases?
2. Mike Einstein from the Brothers Einstein
   

   commented on: March 14, 2013 at 10:32 a.m.
   It is extortion - a text-book definition by any measure; enabled by the denizens of the digital ghetto who continue in their vain attempts to manage an unmanageable and infinite supply of ad space at the expense of a very manageable and finite consumer demand for content. I invite anyone who'd like to discuss this disconnect - and how to defeat it - to contact me. Serious inquiries only, please.

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