• by John Gaffney , June 10, 2002

Disney/OMD Riffs: There’s been a lot of trash talk lately about how media synergy and cross-platform deals don’t work. Someone forgot to tell Disney. I’m always suspicious of officially reported numbers, but if this deal is anything close to the reported $1 billion, you can’t tell me synergy doesn’t work. The long rumored deal apparently closed yesterday, giving OMD a lower CPM for the huge chunk of business. It is being called the biggest deal in TV history, but let’s not focus on that. All that means is that some other media company is going to pump up a similar deal, beat that number and then it can have the biggest deal in TV history. This is efficient, innovative media planning and buying. OMD clients get “most favored nation” status for the ABC Network and ESPN. That’s Monday Night Football, other NFL games and, next season, the NBA. It also means that Disney is going to have to work awfully hard to get OMD to renew that deal. Anytime you can provide maximum leverage and maximum exposure for your client, you’ve done the job. The only concern I have is that every media company now starts to focus on the big deal. This business still needs a consistent lineup of singles and doubles. Can’t hit a home run every time. But Disney and OMD definitely did........

Magazine Riffs: Like I said, I’m suspicious of numbers. I found some mixed, but certainly believable, trends in yesterday’s PIB reports. Seemed to me that the magazine business was getting its shins kicked so far this year in the automotive and apparel categories. May automotive pages were up almost 200 pages over April. Nicely done. Apparel was down 500 pages over April. So far this year the category is down 12 percent. That can’t be acceptable. The other down categories, tech and financial services, are too tough to get back in this economy. But apparel needs to be recovered........

Picture Riffs: Our print magazine is relatively new (three issues old). We want to put beautiful pictures in it of beautiful people holding drinks, but you won’t invite us to your parties. Please send party and event notices to john@mediapost.com and we’ll send a photographer. Maybe even an editor. It’s off-the record after 8 pm. Promise.