TV networks have to be creative to sell advertisers spots

NEW YORK -- As the broadcast TV networks tout their fall prime-time schedules this week, advertisers are looking for more than hit shows.

With the economy continuing to teeter, marketers and media agencies opting to buy ads in the spring selling period known as the "upfront" — when networks sell much of the ad time for fall — are demanding unique campaigns, ever-more-specific information about viewers and multiple-platform packages to promote their brands from mobile devices to the Web.

Some trends have been building for a few seasons, but the recession has upped the demands significantly. "With the scrutiny with clients' budgets ... the upfront meetings take on a little more of a heightened importance," says Andy Donchin, director of media investments for Carat, a media buying firm. "Every advertiser is looking to see what is really working for them, where they should spend money. I think there's a little more pressure on television to prove its worth."

In the past, networks usually were able to get financial commitments for roughly three-fourths of their available fall prime-time ad inventory during the upfront period. But network ad spending was down 0.8% last year from 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

"The fact we had a decrease last year despite a large infusion of money around the Summer Olympics is quite significant," says Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research for TNS, who added that network ad spending was down 5% to 6% in the first quarter of this year vs. a year ago. Many advertisers "are just sitting on the sidelines or have sharply cut back their marketing budgets."

On May 4, when NBC held what it called its "in front" presentation of fall shows, scheduled two weeks before its peers, network executives acknowledged that advertisers were approaching this selling period cautiously. "They're evaluating the process much more carefully than they have before," Marianne Gambelli, president of NBC network ad sales, told a gathering of media. "The conversations are much deeper than they've been before."