Tuning Out TV
Advertisers are using a variety of methods to grab consumers' attention
Which is not to say that advertisers won't continue to fork over millions to reach millions in one pop. "Network television is still the best medium for building brand awareness and selling products," says Adgate. Some advertisers, including Toyota and Anheuser-Busch, are even slightly increasing their prime-time spending to capitalize on big events like the Summer Olympics. On top of high drama and a wide audience, few things please advertisers more than associating with the feel-good atmosphere created by athletes pursuing their dreams.
Even so, broadcasters are worried enough about their future that for the first time ever, they have banded together to promote network television as a whole. There is a lot at stake, and not just the $55 billion that TV collected in advertising revenue last year. The entire business model that has made broadcast television a money-minting machine--sell lots of 30-second commercials for gobs of money and then use the cash to foot the bills for everything else--is in peril. "For the price of one spot in a hit show, you can buy a lot of everything else," says Robin Kent, chairman and CEO of Universal McCann, the global advertising conglomerate. "And even a 1 or 2 percent drop at the networks would have a huge impact."
Join 'em. With that in mind, the networks, too, are adapting. Although DVR s are in fewer than 4 percent of homes, their popularity is growing. And studies show that the average TiVo viewer zaps 77 percent of the commercials out of recorded shows. Since the more popular shows are the ones most likely to be recorded, it is the most expensive commercials that are biting the dust. So networks are focusing on integrating ads into shows and striking deals to keep ratings makers happy and advertisers in the mix. NBC will soon debut The Contender, a boxing contest produced by Reality TV's reigning prince, Mark Burnett, and DreamWorks Television. In an unprecedented concession by a network, the show's producers will retain six commercial spots each episode, which they can sell to advertisers who will also get to showcase their product. In another unusual deal, consumer products giant Unilever will produce six episodes of a new ABC drama and license it to the network in return for the ad time.
Not all these newfangled approaches work. Major League Baseball quickly discovered how far afield it had gone earlier this month when it agreed to allow Sony Pictures to promote its upcoming Spider-Man 2 movie by decorating bases with the Spider-Man web. Fans threw a fit, and the project was scrapped. "All sides recognize that things are going to change, but to what and in what way, nobody really knows," says Tortorici. "All we know is that whatever we think the future of TV is, we'll think differently about it a year from now."
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