• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 9, 2005

TV is "declining in importance," and integrated marketing and channel-neutral planning is hot as marketers rethink their mix and the roles of their ad agencies within it. Those were some of the highlights coming out of the opening day of Merrill Lynch's Advertising & Marketing Conference. Presenters also indicated that online remains strong and growing, while indications for the network upfront look "soft."

While broadcast TV was characterized as "still the best guaranteed way to reach people" by Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine in a summary of the conference, she said initial "projections are that the broadcast upfront will be relatively soft, although no one really knows for sure yet as clients' budgets are not finalized." While that might sound like business as usual for early March preceding a network upfront spin cycle, the securities firm said a number of fundamental indications point to real shifts in the way marketers are thinking about media, especially broadcast TV.

"Advertisers are following eyeballs while also trying to manage the return on investment of their budgets," wrote Fine, adding, "as such, TV is declining in importance, although certainly not going away. Branded entertainment is seemingly effective, although today the ROI cannot be calculated and as a business it is probably limited in size. Print media is viewed as under secular siege as younger consumers are accustomed to getting information in different places. Advertiser panelists agreed that radio was under pressure but the reasons differed as to whether it was from satellite radio or the iPod. Local cable continues to grow but was still viewed as difficult to buy."

Characterizing the online ad marketplace as "still in early innings," the report indicated the medium still has tremendous upside as major marketers begin reallocating traditional media ad budgets, or add incremental ad dollars as part of integrated media plans. The conference also revealed that the online search marketplace remains vital and that first quarter keyword pricing is "stable with the exception of retail, which ran up seasonally in Q4." Merrill Lynch analysts said the disclosure "would seem to refute some of the recent bear sentiment surrounding Yahoo!," which the firm has given a "buy" rating.