PBS Increasingly Open to Ads

In the face of possible reduced funding and the loss of two major sponsors, PBS has begun offering sponsors increased exposure through integrated buys that include product tie-ins, the internet, podcasts and longer-form sponsor messages.

ExxonMobil, a leading sponsor for Masterpiece Theater, has dropped the show, and Antiques Roadshow has lost Toyota, writes MediaPost. But while PBS has warmed to sponsors’ needs for greater exposure, the network’s rules of commercial engagement vary greatly from those on network television.

Sponsors, for the last two years, have been allowed to purchase 30-second spots as opposed to 15-second spots, as long as they reach a threshold of $1.5 million. That does not mean, however, that PBS is “breaking into programs,” according to Marcia Hertz, managing director of marketing and client services for PBS’s advertising arm, The Sponsorship Group for Public Television.

Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, calls PBS’s shift toward being more advertiser friendly a “death spiral,” saying that as PBS becomes more of an agent for marketing, viewer financial support will lessen and its programming will become less popular.