Advertising, Marketing & Media Issues

Business Environment

Demographics & Regions

Media Options & Channels

Sales, Operations & Tech

Verticals & Sectors

Subscribe to Media Buyer Daily

Follow us on Twitter!

Cable TV to Take $200 Million from Strike-Plagued Broadcast

Published on January 02, 2008 | Email this article

As the broadcast networks continue to be challenged - what with the writers strike, ratings shortfalls and the C3 conversion - cable television continues to be in the catbird seat.

“Money is going to shift out of national broadcast, because it just can’t take any more,” Steve Farella, president and CEO of TargetCast is quoted as saying in Mediaweek.

Cable may take upwards of $200 million from broadcast should the strike continue into the spring and summer, and could pull some $21.7 billion in ad sales in 2008, says Bob Coen, senior vp, director of forecasting at Universal McCann.

Buyers are insisting that the market, which has seen some top-tier cable networks writing first-quarter scatter deals at 50 percent over upfront pricing, will stabilize. Jackie Kulesza, vp, broadcast activation director at Starcom, says marketers will evaluate scatter and may rearrange how they plan to spend their money - with the internet benefitting most - if cable gets too rich for their blood.

Get free media planning headlines every business day in your inbox. Easy to read, easy unsubscribe

Email: