The television industry delivered another blow to the advertising community yesterday when NBC announced that they would be “giving advertisers cash back for prime time ratings shortfalls from last season.” Along with the writer’s strike, this represents the perfect storm – television inventory is lower quality AND now in lower quantity.
This is a horrendous outcome for all parties involved. Clients miss key marketing opportunities in the most important marketing period of the year, agencies miss their targets which is a disservice to their clients and tv networks miss out on significant revenue opportunities.
Additionally, this problem is only going to get worse. The writer’s strike has negatively impacted television content quality and ratings, but the real hit in both categories has yet to come. Many shows have strung along previously filmed content but are about to reach the end of that rope. If money is flowing back to agencies this quarter, expect a large chunk to be searching for a new home in Q1.
Fortunately, not all media channels are struggling. At BrightRoll, our video inventory is growing in both quality and quantity. We have significant Q4 and Q1 inventory available for broadcast buyers who have budgets previously allocated to under performing television placements.
Although we expect advertising dollars to follow their audience online regardless – sometimes it takes a shock to the system to accelerate the adoption.