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The kids upfront is just getting started, with some advertisers only now registering budgets. Demand is low and inventory high, which means networks could be in for a long, slow summer.
Ad budgets are slightly down or flat to last year, and demand is weak, writes Media Life. Buyers are saying that a Merrill Lynch estimate that spending would increase 5 percent over last year is too high, and Shelly Hirsch, CEO of the Beacon Media Group in New York, believes the market is weaker than sellers want to admit.
Demand is strongest for the two months leading up to Christmas. To move inventory during the rest of the year, some networks are packaging it with pre-Christmas buys at favorable prices.
The toy category is in turmoil, which is also keeping things from moving in the kids upfront. The toys Wal-Mart chooses to push during the holidays dictates how other toy advertisers will allocate budgets, but Wal-Mart has not yet decided which toys it will promote, leaving advertisers unsure of how much to budget for specific products.
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