Advertisers Have Gripes, Abruzzese Has Answers

Cable World,  March 21, 2005  

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By Shirley Brady

Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, must have experienced writer's cramp last month as he listed his beefs about TV advertising on his blog. Under the headline "Who's Killing Television?," Liodice writes, "For decades, television was the Great Brand Builder...but we're killing the damn thing." We asked Discovery Networks ad sales president Joe Abruzzese to address Liodice's (and, by extension, ANA members') complaints.

Liodice Hates...: Clutter: "How many more commercials are we going to jam into
the pod? Aren't we inviting consumers to run out of the room or hit the remote?"
Abruzzese's Comeback: Let's make a deal: "We only offer eight minutes an hour,
whereas the [broadcast] networks are into 12 to 14 minutes an hour."

Liodice Hates...: Cost: "Network prime [time] CPMs are out of control.
[Advertisers] have had it--and they will continue to shift dollars to friendlier
media alternatives."
Abruzzese's Comeback: No kidding: "Television is one landscape, as opposed to
'cable vs. broadcast,' which means that we can raise our prices while the
networks have to lower their prices."

Liodice Hates...: Network integration fees: 74% of ANA members say this
surcharge, a holdover from the days when broadcast TV commercials had to
manually be placed in sequence, are unfair.
Abruzzese's Comeback: Cable nets don't charge them: "Why are marketers still
paying [broadcast networks] for them when the cable guys have nothing of the
kind?"

Liodice Hates...: Ratings: "Why can't marketers get their hands on affordable
commercial ratings data? Buys are based on inflated program ratings rather than
realistic commercial ratings."
Abruzzese's Comeback: Choose your battles: "I'm in favor of [measuring
commercials]...but I don't think it's going to happen. [Nielsen] should work on
what PVRs are doing, as opposed to commercial messages."

[Copyright 2005 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

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