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Time-Shifted Ratings Worth Less Than Live Ratings In Upfront?

  • Ad Age, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 11:16 AM

With time-shifting growing more prevalent by the day, can TV networks continue to charge advertisers premium prices for viewers who are watching shows on DVRs and mobile devices, possibly fast-forwarding through commercial spots--or skipping them entirely?  That's the question increasingly confronting sellers and buyers alike. And now a number of cable channels, spotting an opportunity, are trying to take advantage of the situation by telling advertisers they will negotiate prices exclusively on live ratings. It's a possible competitive advantage in the upfronts, but it also makes for a dicey negotiation in those instances where cable channels are owned by conventional broadcasters. Ad Age: "While most broadcasters--particularly ABC and NBC--are insisting they get paid something for time-shifted viewers as well as live viewers, a handful of cable networks are talking to buyers about doing deals based exclusively on live viewers. Hallmark Channel and the Weather Channel have discussed a live-only scenario. Discovery Networks is also seriously considering negotiating based on live-only ratings....  In the marketplace if these guys come out and say we’re talking just live, clients could very well say, ‘That’s where our heads are at, let’s talk,’” one media buyer tells Ad Age.

 

 

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