According to Adage,
networks are looking double digit gains during upfront season, thanks
to decreasing overall broadcast ratings, rebounding economy and scatter
prices 40% above last year's upfront prices.
As
media buyers are privately admitting they may have to give in to
networks' lofty demands, it would mark first time since the recession
that increases would top 9%. Turner and USA are also looking to strike
big this season.
Even
with the price hike, it doesn't guarantee that the market is back to
where it once was. In 2010, marketers spent between $8.1 and $8.7
billion on the five broadcast networks, while in 2004 - the high point
for TV - the average was $9.5 billion.
Advertisers
are still pulling themselves out of the recession, and the recent
events in Japan, whose turmoil is a bane on auto marketers, are all
factors. Buyers are unsure if second quarter scatter advertising will be
as high as it was during the first. Hikes in gas and raw materials
prices could hamper marketers' third quarter plans.
Some
ad buyers are mulling over the prospect of moving money to other video
options or buying space on smaller but well performing cable networks,
in an effort to counter the upfront price hike.
