• by David Goetzl , March 7, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- An undercurrent at the AAAA conference this week is whether advertisers will be successful in their redoubled efforts to convince the Big 3 broadcasters to abandon their policy of charging integration fees. The 4As and ANA recently joined together to again lobby the networks to at least discuss the matter, arguing that marketers unnecessarily pay some $125 million a year.

The figure comes from an analysis by TargetCast tcm. The agency's head Steve Farella said Thursday that the number is solid and based on "simple math."

He said the agency calculated the number of prime-time spots that ran over a 12-month period and multiplied the figure by the estimated $550-a-network charges per spot. It did the same for the other dayparts, where the fees are in the $250-$275 range.

"Our numbers are good," Farella said at the AAAAs conference.

TargetCast has been working with the ANA for several years to build the case that the three networks charging the fees--ABC, CBS and NBC--are essentially gouging advertisers. Their argument: decades ago, the fees existed to pay for the physical slotting of the ads in rotation---a practice now abandoned.

"It's a nuisance fee," Farella said, echoing his fellow buy-siders, some of whom have used harsher language.

Farella said on one level, the cost of monitoring and paying the integration fees is costing his agency more than the fees themselves.