Post by Naj on May 13, 2006 8:53:02 GMT -5
I have no clue what this is about but...
Nine plays Games in ratings war
Email Print Normal font Large font By Paul McIntyre
May 11, 2006
THE PITCH
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AdvertisementIS THE Nine Network staging a revenue comeback?
Anyone trying to buy airtime during Cold Case in the past two weeks might think so. And it's all because Nine's crime show is getting dangerously close to regularly knocking Seven's Desperate Housewives off its ratings perch.
Last month Nine had advertising holes all over Cold Case. Today, the show is pretty much booked out until the end of June and some are saying if the ratings are sustained for another two weeks, Seven will have to start thinking hard about dropping its fixed price tag of $83,000 for a 30 second spot for Desperate Housewives.
It is too early to predict an advertising turnaround for Nine but the short-term buying market is allowing money to follow the ratings much faster than when demand is running hot. Ten's hit comedy Wish You Were Here has suddenly found two key sponsors in Toyota and Optus and it too is now fully booked.
Nine, however, has finally found a new angle to spruik to media buyers and advertisers. Against conventional wisdom, the argument goes, it has actually held onto audiences from its Commonwealth Games coverage.
Nine has been floating figures around the market that show for the past two weeks an 8 per cent lift in prime-time audiences versus its lowly figures before the Games. Not everyone is buying it as a ratings trend, yet although some accept that money might be shifting away from Seven to Ten and Nine because of Seven's higher "fill levels" and pricing.
"There is some movement but it's more because of pricing and access than necessarily performance," says Optimedia's Belinda Rowe. "Nine has improved, absolutely, so there could be some movement back because of that. But it all happens together - it will be a combination of pricing, access and performance."
Fusion Strategy's Steve Allen is not so enthusiastic. "They are spinning," he says. "One thing Nine is good at is spinning good news. Yes, they are doing better than one week prior to Easter and the Commonwealth Games but they are still well off last year.
"The outstanding performer, of course, is Ten. It's just blitzing it. It's up 25 per cent in all people during prime time, Nine is down 6 per cent and Seven is up 1 per cent."
Those figures, by the way, are for the last three survey weeks compared to the same period last year.
Of course, Ten's network sales boss, Shaun James, buys Allen's argument. "For the six weeks post-Commonwealth Games, I've got Nine showing negative ratings growth in five of them," says James.
"It's fair to say people can shuffle pretty quickly in this market when something pops up and rates well but I think what people are talking about are isolated short-term incidents rather than an overall trend."
It's no surprise that Ten won't buy Nine's revenue resurgence but there is widespread acceptance that Ten and Nine are feeding off Seven's success.
"Nine has been completely rooted," says one observer. "Their revenue has been pretty ordinary but the reality is they will probably be the number one network for the June half."
Nine's new network sales boss, Peter Wiltshire, starts on Monday and the ad feeding frenzy can only get worse.
Nine Advertising
Nine plays Games in ratings war
Email Print Normal font Large font By Paul McIntyre
May 11, 2006
THE PITCH
Advertisement
AdvertisementIS THE Nine Network staging a revenue comeback?
Anyone trying to buy airtime during Cold Case in the past two weeks might think so. And it's all because Nine's crime show is getting dangerously close to regularly knocking Seven's Desperate Housewives off its ratings perch.
Last month Nine had advertising holes all over Cold Case. Today, the show is pretty much booked out until the end of June and some are saying if the ratings are sustained for another two weeks, Seven will have to start thinking hard about dropping its fixed price tag of $83,000 for a 30 second spot for Desperate Housewives.
It is too early to predict an advertising turnaround for Nine but the short-term buying market is allowing money to follow the ratings much faster than when demand is running hot. Ten's hit comedy Wish You Were Here has suddenly found two key sponsors in Toyota and Optus and it too is now fully booked.
Nine, however, has finally found a new angle to spruik to media buyers and advertisers. Against conventional wisdom, the argument goes, it has actually held onto audiences from its Commonwealth Games coverage.
Nine has been floating figures around the market that show for the past two weeks an 8 per cent lift in prime-time audiences versus its lowly figures before the Games. Not everyone is buying it as a ratings trend, yet although some accept that money might be shifting away from Seven to Ten and Nine because of Seven's higher "fill levels" and pricing.
"There is some movement but it's more because of pricing and access than necessarily performance," says Optimedia's Belinda Rowe. "Nine has improved, absolutely, so there could be some movement back because of that. But it all happens together - it will be a combination of pricing, access and performance."
Fusion Strategy's Steve Allen is not so enthusiastic. "They are spinning," he says. "One thing Nine is good at is spinning good news. Yes, they are doing better than one week prior to Easter and the Commonwealth Games but they are still well off last year.
"The outstanding performer, of course, is Ten. It's just blitzing it. It's up 25 per cent in all people during prime time, Nine is down 6 per cent and Seven is up 1 per cent."
Those figures, by the way, are for the last three survey weeks compared to the same period last year.
Of course, Ten's network sales boss, Shaun James, buys Allen's argument. "For the six weeks post-Commonwealth Games, I've got Nine showing negative ratings growth in five of them," says James.
"It's fair to say people can shuffle pretty quickly in this market when something pops up and rates well but I think what people are talking about are isolated short-term incidents rather than an overall trend."
It's no surprise that Ten won't buy Nine's revenue resurgence but there is widespread acceptance that Ten and Nine are feeding off Seven's success.
"Nine has been completely rooted," says one observer. "Their revenue has been pretty ordinary but the reality is they will probably be the number one network for the June half."
Nine's new network sales boss, Peter Wiltshire, starts on Monday and the ad feeding frenzy can only get worse.
Nine Advertising
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