[opendtv] Re: Bottom Feeders?
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:02:58 -0500
At 8:47 AM -0500 1/31/11, Hunold, Ken wrote:
Broadcast TV viewers are "bottom feeders"? Please, Craig. I think that
the advertising providers that service the MSO/telco side (which is what
the message was really addressing) would be the ones more accurately
called bottom feeders.
This is all about demographics. The use of the term "Bottom Feeders"
to describe a portion of the Broadcast TV audience goes back to the
late '80s as broadcast ratings began their long slow decline in the
face of competition from the new non-broadcast networks. Even before
this happened, there were many stories about the decline in economic
demographics of broadcast viewers as viewers started to use
alternatives like VHS movie rentals.
It may also have a connection to the generalized belief that most TV
programming is aimed at people with an 8th grade education...
Clearly there are some cable networks that appeal to broad
demographics; and it is equally clear that there are many MVPD
subscribers in the lower economic demographics. But the major appeal
of most cable networks is the highly targeted demographics that they
can deliver, for the national/regional advertisers served by the
networks (and DBS systems) and the local advertisers served by local
cable ad insertions.
Sadly, the truth is that its a buyers market for advertising and both
the broadcasters and MVPD networks are dropping their pants to fill
less desirable inventory.
So maybe the advertisers are just "bottom fishing"...
;-)
True, the ads that are inserted into many of the national cable networks
(and NOT broadcaster signals, by the way) are largely SD, and often
hyper -local.
Yup.
Back in 1979, I was the Production Manager at the local ABC affiliate
in Gainesville. They literally gave away ads for 10 bucks and
expected the production department to create the ads - either for
FREE, or for a flat $50. I think this kind of bundling still goes on
at the local level for both broadcasters and their local cable
competitors. It's not much more difficult or expensive to produce ads
in HD these days, but there is still a premium perception about HD
that is keeping many from taking the leap to HD ad production.
I HAVE watched a lot of broadcast ads (purely for professional
purposes...) and while I don't have any hard data on the number or
percentage of HD ads, any SD ads stick out like a sore thumb on a 16x9
HD display. Many (and I might say most, even though I don't have the
numbers to back that up) of the ads that run in prime time on the nets,
and even some of the local ads, are HD. This would include NFL
broadcasts.
IMHO, for the networks it has less to do with who is watching, than
how much the ads cost to run. The production costs for the ads are
typically only a small fraction of the media buy. And the economic
demographics for the NFL and much of what ESPN runs tend to be higher
than the generic broadcast audience.
Regards
Craig
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