Agencies See a Window to Alter the Business of Television part2
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¡°Now, this business is about big ideas,¡± Mr. Farella said, ¡°leveraging your buy with an ¡®event¡¯ show, with a hit series, with programming marketers want to make a big deal out of.¡±
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¡°We dearly need the writers for that,¡± he added, ¡°because the strike has proven that the networks don¡¯t need the writers to get a 1.7 rating¡± ¡ª a mediocre level of viewership.
More time to create new shows would also benefit sponsors of what is known as branded content, the industry term for integrating products as intrinsic elements of plot lines. Examples include the Applebee¡¯s restaurant chain on ¡°Friday Night Lights¡± and Nissan cars on ¡°Heroes.¡±
¡°The smarter players are going to get back in the content game as soon as possible,¡± Mr. Rutman of MPG North America said. ¡°Making up for lost time is important.¡±
Indeed, an executive at one agency said Monday that a major branded-entertainment project from a large marketer, which ¡°had been in limbo until now,¡± is being given a green light with the settlement of the strike, ¡°and should start moving forward¡± for a debut in April. The executive spoke on the condition of anonymity because the project is only now getting under way.
If the hidebound network schedule was to change, it would logically follow that the annual springtime rite of selling commercial time after glitzy, elaborately staged upfront presentations would change, too. NBC, for one, has already suggested that it will scrap its upfront dog-and-pony show.
Mr. Cohen of Horizon Media described ¡°this dream I have had for a long time,¡± of being able ¡°to accommodate clients by their fiscal year¡± rather than the upfront schedules of the networks.
Mr. Rutman called himself ¡°a fan of advance buying, because there are benefits there,¡± like ratings guarantees and an ability to cancel orders.
¡°But I¡¯d like to do it on a calendar year¡± instead of on the networks¡¯ schedule, he added, ¡°because it better aligns with the majority of businesses of our clients, which tend to be on a calendar basis.¡±
One issue that will linger in the aftermath of the strike is the growing prominence of reality series on the schedules of the broadcast networks. Among them are ¡°American Gladiators¡± on NBC, ¡°The Moment of Truth¡± on Fox and the first winter appearance of ¡°Big Brother¡± on CBS.
¡°These shows do tend to get an audience, but you¡¯re not necessarily getting as upscale an audience as you get for an intense scripted drama,¡± Mr. Scanzoni of GroupM said.
To help dramas supplant the rising tide of reality, he suggested there be fewer dramas with serialized story lines that viewers must follow from week to week and more with episodes that can be watched stand-alone, ¡°which you can pop in and out of.¡±
Another issue that concerns Madison Avenue is how many viewers who popped out of the broadcast TV habit during the strike will pop back in.
¡°There are always some viewers you lose, who will never come back to broadcast,¡± said Steve Sternberg, executive vice president for audience analysis at Magna Global, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
¡°But most of them will,¡± he predicted. ¡°They¡¯re waiting for their shows.¡±
Even if, as Mr. Farella put it, ¡°it¡¯s a Barry Bonds season, a season with an asterisk.¡±
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