More than half of the ad executives surveyed by Beta Research--56%-- said they plan to spend more on ESPN over the next 12 months.
The survey also had good news for Discovery, HGTV, Food Network and the Discovery Channel finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in the study.
Rounding out the top 10 were ESPN2, History and three AT&T networks, CNN, TBS and TNT.
In the survey Disney Advertising Sales, which represents ESPN, ABC and other networks, and NBC Universal Advertising Sales earned top marks for providing creative and innovative multi-platform opportunities for advertising clients. Discovery and Viacom’s ad teams also got a lot of recognition from the ad executives.
ESPN also finished on top when buyers were asked which networks provide a desirable programming environment for advertisers and which organizations provide creative marketing and promotion opportunities.
The ad executives said HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, Bravo, Freeform, Hallmark Channel and MTV provide creative marketing and promotion opportunities. They liked the programming environment at Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, ESPN2 and NBC Sports Network as well.
Beta conducted 225 telephone interviews with advertising executives, 163 from ad agencies and 62 from advertisers. The interviews were conducted from July through October.
