Advertisers Gamble on World Series
Series still likely to draw viewers, even without big-market teams.
Oct. 27, 2010 -- With the elimination of the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies in the league championship series last week, baseball fans and advertisers alike were surprised to see two underdog teams still standing.
Advertisers and Fox, which will carry the World Series, must hope the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers play captivating baseball, since their primary fan bases are only the sixth and fifth largest television viewing markets, with secondary markets in Sacramento, Calif., and San Antonio Austin, Texas.
The top six markets are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Ft. Worth and the San Francisco Bay Area, according to the Nielsen Company.
"Despite not having two big-market teams on the calendar, people will watch this," said Brian Steinberg, television editor with Ad Age. "Live sports are more attractive to advertisers these days than sitcoms and dramas."
The Nielsen Company does not forecast figures for viewer audiences and television analysts will not be sure what the actual ratings will be until the series takes place.
Buying ad time ahead of a sporting event can be somewhat of a gamble. Fox sold all its advertising spots for games one to five in early October, before the either league championship series had finished.
The average cost of a 30-second television spot for the World Series is around $450,000, more than Sunday Night Football's average estimate of $415,000, according to Steinberg. "American Idol" hovers around $467,000.
He said the World Series figure is surprisingly high, just under the price tag for ads run during the Oscars and finales of popular television series.
But while new recording technologies, the Internet and a weak economy have all made television advertising less effective, advertisers are attracted to live sporting events to grab fans who want an immediate viewing experience.
"Sports are generally TIVO and DVR proof," Fox Sports Networks spokesman Lou D'Ermilio said. "We've been fortunate. The marketplace is fairly strong."
