I'm surprised we're even talking about an upfront this year. The economy is hanging by a thread and marketers are spending their budgets sparingly and judiciously. Maybe that's the point. The old tried and true. You can't go wrong placing your chips on network television. Low CPMs, and the ability to use the upfront market to lock into the networks most promising programs. Right? No.
In a consumer contraction it becomes even more important to reach the right consumer. There's even more waste than ever because folks are buying fewer cars, less clothes, less of everything. I don't even think clients and their agencies are suffering from counter-intuition. Everyone knows this. Then why act against one's interests?
They just don't have enough reasonable options. While the TV industry debates CPM, CPP, C3, one currency, etc., the lifeblood (clients) are dying. The perennial dance will go on.. and it's the best we can offer right now. There's ample behavioral data that can be applied geographically and through program targeting that should have already rendered A18-49 useless and obsolete.
Hopefully we can do better soon.
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