Thursday, June 16, 2005
Turner Still Holds Out for Market-Beating Increases
Source: Cynthia Turner While most cable networks are settling for rate increases in the lower single-digits at best, Turner Broadcasting is continuing to demand more in its upfront talks with advertisers and some observers are wondering if media buyers will eventually just throw up their hands and move on. Turner, which has not commented on its position, is looking for CPM increases in the 4%-6% range (on par with most of the broadcast networks), according to media buying sources. "It's counter-intuitive to a lot of the marketplace," said one agency executive. "My sense is a lot of agencies are going to look at [Turner] and say, ‘We're going to negotiate with your competition." Still others close to the talks say that while agencies are sounding ominous in their "deep background" statements to the media, it's unlikely the stalemate will last indefinitely.
Turner could elect to hold back more of its inventory for the scatter market, especially in the wake of the strong ratings TNT gathered for its Into the West miniseries and The Closer police drama in the past week.
Cable is struggling because "they allowed the broadcast networks to keep the vast majority of their share," said one buyer. "The cable networks went in too aggressively and thus didn't want to write early business and steal share." When ABC and CBS wrote early business, there was little left for cable. How much cable will steal from broadcast is still unclear. "I'm sure in the planning process some money shifted to cable. The question is did it happen in the negotiating process," another buyer said.
# posted by ATN @ 12:32 PM 
