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Katz TV Group Creates National Marketing Unit

Katz Television Group has created a national marketing unit which it hopes will help advertisers create innovative solutions to take greater advantage of local television’s significant impact and effectiveness in engaging consumers. The new effort will be led by Ibra Morales, a long-standing television executive with deep ties to the advertising and media-buying communities.

The new group will focus on creating customized campaigns for national advertisers on behalf of hundreds of television stations across the country. The team will be responsible for leading the company’s creative charge while working in close cooperation with large national advertisers and their agencies in the earliest stages of the communications planning process.

“This new team offers us an unprecedented opportunity to champion local television’s extraordinary advertising impact, reach and flexibility to marketers across the advertising spectrum,” said Jim Beloyianis, president of the Katz Television Group. “Our goal is to utilize our vast TV footprint for the advertising community and to create customized solutions across multiple video, mobile and web-based platforms.”

Morales, who was president of Katz TV’s Eagle Television Sales from 1999 to 2002, rejoins Katz TV as a senior vice president to oversee the national marketing unit. Most recently, he served as vp of network operations at Estrella TV, 24-hour Hispanic-language network owned by Liberman Broadcasting. He’s also served as President of the Telemundo Station Group and as a senior vp of sales for Hearst-Argyle Television. In his new role, Morales will lead a team of several senior Katz TV business development executives.

TV station revenues are expected to drop 17.3% this year, according to BIA Advisory Services. TV station revenues will remain flat through 2011, and will rise to only $17.5 billion by 2013, fueled by an expected increase in online revenues from internet broadcasting, and potential regulatory efforts by the FCC to prop up local broadcasting.

The persistent drop in revenues is due to the economy and the current state of transition in the TV industry. The BIA also reveals a slowdown of transactions within the TV industry to $453 million - or 45 stations sold - for the first half of the year, only a slight increase over the same time last year, and an indication that buyers and sellers are waiting for the economy to improve.

The downward forecast for TV station revenues comes after BIA’s similarly dismal revision last month in the forecast for 2009 radio revenues. Radio revenues are now expected to fall 15% in 2009, to $14 billion. The original forecast was for only a 10.6% decline.

Local TV stations will see a return to profitability as they begin to see themselves as local information and entertainment companies. That’s because they have “extraordinary” opportunities to push local content through digital platforms. They also have the ability to use their local sales staff to cross-promote events and programs for advertisers that need to reach the community.