Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Networks Rally Around TV

This season's upfront had an odd message from the broadcasters: that most shows are still watched on TV, Advertising Age reports. With the rise of Hulu, DVRs and Facebook, network executives sought to make the case for watching TV on television sets, the trade paper says. Fox Broadcasting's Jon Nesvig led his pitch with statistics from a Council for Research Excellence study that showed 99% of video is still seen on TV.

[Jon Nesvig, Fox Broadcasting Co.'s president-sales,] dismissed cable's inroads by noting that the growth in cable ratings has been driven by news programming, rather than entertainment, and suggested broadcast TV is what marketers need to drive awareness, spur intent and lead to an actual sale.

"Viewers are more likely to take your message to heart" if they see it on broadcast, he said.

Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group, took a similar stand for the small screen at ABC's upfront. "TV remains the best platform to reach consumers," she said, citing recent findings from a test of TV ads in Disney's Emerging Media Ad Lab.

1 comment:

  1. Hmmm... Not sure that I totally agree with this. I am a Guiding Light fan (KEEP THE LIGHT SHINING!) and most of the people I know who watch it, including myself watch the show online. I think they are missing a large untapped market here, and it just sounds like another reason keep with the antiquated Nielson Ratings system and not have to look at the real problem. People's viewing habits have changed!

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