Around the Net

Buyers Want Full Value As New Shows Return

  • TVWeek, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:30 AM
As scripted series return to the airwaves with the conclusion of the writers strike, media buyers will be making sure that their clients get the spots in programming they bought in last year's upfront. As fresh episodes vanished over the last few months, buyers have tried to make sure their ads were still reaching the same number of viewers the networks guaranteed. But now it is back to the original plan.

For instance, when a top show unexpectedly goes into reruns, buyers had to negotiate adjustments -- in some cases, commercials in other shows to make up for viewer shortfalls. But for shows now returning to the airwaves, advertisers that originally had units in a program should presumably still have them, although it's not always so clear-cut.

One factor is whether viewers will return to the networks to see the new original episodes: "We are going to have to revise our estimates given the disrupted and highly altered schedule," says Shari Brill, vice president of programming at media buyer Carat. "The landscape is very different versus what was announced last May."

advertisement

advertisement

Read the whole story at TVWeek »

Next story loading loading..