a block of time moved toward $650.
However, the total number of timeslots
did not reach the projected 475,000
missing by more than 25,000.
I credit this fluctuation to the
aforementioned writers’ strike. My
predictions were based on the cooling
of the economy from the winds of the
impending recession, a slowdown in
the housing sector and rising energy
costs. However, the writers’ strike
caught me completely off guard, as
it did much of the DRTV industry.
With fewer new television programs,
one would have expected a glut in
available time, thus forcing costs
down considerably.
The DRTV industry failed to completely capitalize on this opportunity.
As viewers were turning off boring
repeats or flipping through the channels for a new infomercial, the industry failed to deliver. This was the
prime moment to launch every new
campaign in the pipeline and turn
the late night audience into
your customer.
Instead, the same infomercials
were being repeated and viewers lost
interest. Revenues could no longer
justify costs, and the glut was further
exacerbated. The good news is that
the strike is over and Hollywood
is back to business as usual. The
bad news is the uncertainty that
2008 holds. Will the recession and
the change in late-night viewing
habits be the iceberg that sank the
Titanic? ■
> > Fig. 4
Fourth-Quarter 2007 Long-Form
Media Distribution
NATIONAL
CABLE:
$141,247,700
47.6%
BROADCAST:
$136,473,800
45.9%
SATELLITE:
$19,323,700
6.5%
Source:
Response
Magazine
Total: $297,045,200
> > Fig. 5
Number of Time Slots and Percentage of Total
Time Slots Purchased in Fourth-Quarter 2007
NATIONAL
CABLE:
105,214
23.5%
BROADCAST:
312,693
69.8%
SATELLITE:
30,153
6.7%
Source:
Response
Magazine
> > Fig. 6
Source:
Response
Magazine
Average Cost of a Half-
Hour Block of Time
Purchased in Fourth-
Quarter 2007:
$662.96
Long-Form Media Indices are conducted
quarterly by the staff of Response.
It represents in-house, non-brokered
media billings for all agencies and
marketers known to have purchased
long-form ( 30 minutes) media during
fourth-quarter 2007.
Companies that couldn’t or wouldn’t
reveal their media billings by press
time were estimated based on previous
responses to surveys on the quarter in
question and based on projects they
were known to be involved with.
For the survey, the top 10 markets include: New York; Los Angeles; Chicago;
Philadelphia; San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose; Boston; Washington, D.C.;
Dallas-Ft. Worth; Detroit and Atlanta.
The next 10 markets are: Houston;
Seattle-Tacoma; Cleveland; Minneapo-lis-Sarasota; Miami-Ft. Lauderdale;
Pittsburgh; Denver; Phoenix and St.
Louis.
The numbers 21 through 30 markets
are: Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto;
Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne;
Baltimore; Indianapolis; Portland;
Hartford-New Haven; San Diego; Charlotte; Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
