Jack Myers Report announced Wednesday evening that Turner Entertainment
Group ranked No. 1 out of 20 cable- and broadcast-network sales organizations
with $280 million-plus in ad revenues, according to its 19th annual survey of 200
advertising executives.
Turner jumped from seventh a year ago.
There were several surprises in the latest survey, including Comedy Central's
No. 2 ranking, up from 11th a year ago; Nickelodeon's No. 3 ranking, up from
14th; and Discovery Networks U.S. at No. 4, down from the top spot last year,
Myers said.
Comedy's upsurge is 'especially notable,' Myers pointed out, since the
network, with its ad-sales force headed by senior vice president Hank Close,
'operates as a stand-alone entity without the resources of a large multinetwork
organization.'
A&E Television Networks inched up from sixth to fifth to round out the
top five in Myers' online survey, conducted in September.
Myers measures the performance of each network company in six categories
(such as sales-rep competence and effective upfront negotiation), as rated by scores of senior media
buyers and planners at ad agencies and executives at major clients.
CBS and NBC, tied at No. 3 a year ago, slid to Nos. 6 and 7, respectively.
That put CBS in a tie with Turner Sports (ninth a year ago) and NBC in a
three-way tie with CNN Networks and ESPN/ABC Sports.
Myers noted that 81 percent of the ad executives met with an ESPN/ABC Sports
executive this year, followed by 78 percent for Turner.
Fox and ABC plunged from Nos. 2 and 8, respectively, to Nos. 11 and 12,
respectively, according to Myers.
In rating these same networks by their research and promotion opportunities,
Myers found that Nick was first (up from 16th a year ago), with Turner second
and Discovery Networks third. MTV: Music Television, ESPN/ABC Sports and Comedy
completed the top five in a tie.
On Thursday, Myers released its second set of findings from its ad-executives
survey, ranking 28 midsized and small networks with under $280 million in ad
revenues.
Cartoon ranked first in this
grouping, up from No. 2 a year ago.
Rounding out the top five: FX second (catapulted from 16th last year),
Bravo/The Independent Film Channel, No. 3 (vs. 15th), Fox News Channel fourth
(unranked last year) and The Weather Channel fifth (down from No. 1).
Myers pointed out that the buyers' positive responses to
FX's and Bravo's upfront negotiating strategies were 'a significant reason' for
their upsurge in estimation.
