• by November 2, 2000

According to Competitive Media Reporting (CMR), one of the nation's leading reporters of advertising intelligence, while the New York Yankees may have been the winner of this year's World Series, financial services companies took the prize when it came to total number of commercial minutes.

Throughout all five World Series games, companies such as E*Trade, American General Finance and Merrill Lynch racked up large blocks of commercial airtime overpowering even the technology, beer and automotive industries.

With advertisers clamoring to gain greater market share, sporting events such as the World Series and the Super Bowl are tremendously important to advertisers trying to reach key target audiences. Nowhere is this trend more apparent than in the break out of total advertising minutes. The industry leader was the financial services sector with over 150 commercial minutes out of a total of almost 500, the majority of which can be attributed to E*Trade with 25 minutes, American General with 23 minutes and Mastercard and Merrill Lynch tied at 20 minutes apiece.

"This is a perfect example of the type of advertising we are expecting to see during such high profile sporting events," stated David Peeler, President and CEO of Competitive Media Reporting. "While there is always the possibility of smaller, less established companies trying to gain market share, the majority of the advertising will be attributed to more established companies."