Upfront 2009: The Correction Year
Ad consultants say '09 may be the year networks and their agency counterparts would rather forget
By Claire Atkinson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/8/2009 2:09:30 PM
Several TV advertising executives are describing the 2009/2010 upfront as a correction year now that the majority of players have accepted that it's going to be a cut-price CPM marketplace."It happens about every ten years," one syndication executive said, "so we're due."An ad industry consultant advising marketers echoed that sentiment: "The truth is it's time for a correction. We do it every 10 to 15 years."
The last down market occurred in 2001, following the dotcom bust, and before that a decade earlier during the 1991 recession. The 2001 upfront market saw broadcast networks cutting rates at anywhere between two and eight percent.
In an interview with B&C ahead of the upfront marketplace, NBC Universal president ad sales, Mike Pilot, appeared to acknowledge this market would in all likelihood be a down market given the economy. "There's been real pressure on pricing. I think if you are a buyer in these kinds of market conditions, in any industry, you're not feeling great about paying increases right now, and we're not immune to that."
Click here to read the full blog at ADverse: Atkinson on Advertising
