Field Reports
NBC Universal Breaks Seal for TV Networks in TiVo Deal
By Thomas Haire ( thaire@questex.com)
NEW YORK — In a move sure to
embolden proponents of the effectiveness of direct response television
advertising in the burgeoning TiVo
age, NBC Universal has become the
first TV network to subscribe to
Stop Watch, TiVo’s second-by-second
commercial ratings service. The move
was announced as part of a larger deal
between NBC and the leading digital
video recorder (DVR) company that
will also allow the network to offer ads
designed to specifically lure viewers
who may watch shows hours or even
days after recording them.
“A year ago, we never would have
done a deal with ads which would
have introduced into our programming
the opportunity for the viewers to
leave the live program and enter into
the world of time-shifted viewing,”
Mike Pilot, NBC Universal’s president
of sales and marketing, told
AdAge.com. He credited the recent
shift in the media buying space to a
model based on commercial ratings
rather than TV program ratings, saying networks are paying closer attention than ever before to new ad formats that are more likely to draw in
viewers who have ever-increasing control over when and where they watch
TV.
The idea that measuring consumer
reaction — a natural byproduct of a
deal like the NBC/TiVo pact — is crucial to advertisers may be a new concept to traditional branders, but not to
DRTV marketers. Under this deal,
TiVo will allow NBC’s 14 TV net-
works and 10
company-owned
and operated TV
stations to sell its
interactive “tags” —
on-screen icons tha t
viewers are able to click to
gather more definitive information
about the product or service advertised.
The partnership will also allow
NBC and TiVo to team up on development of additional advertising products and includes revenue-sharing
opportunities. Pilot also told AdAge
that the agreement is “another experiment we are doing for research, for
learning, for insight into what kinds of
ad formats are going to be most effective in the future.”
Offering seamless integration of
TELEVISION | INTERNET | DIGITAL
Jack Myers
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Report says estimates were more difficult to make than in past years.
On the broadcast networks, CPMs
rose 11. 5 percent during morning news
time slots and 9. 5 percent during
evening news. Primetime CPMs on the
broadcast networks are up 7 percent.
Cable entertainment network CPMs are
up 8. 5 percent, with cable news up 7. 5
percent. Hispanic network CPMs
jumped 10 percent.
“Although in many cases the marketplace seemed to have commanded
high CPM increases, the net gains to
the networks when the ‘C3’ gap is factored in resulted in only modest upfront
inflation,” Andy Donchin, director of
national broadcast for media agency
Carat US, tells the Myers Report. “This,
coupled with the presently strong scatter marketplace, reaffirms our commitment to the upfront negotiation
process.”
