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Thanks to digital spectrum and
hardware, high-definition TV has been bringing a clearer picture to many
local TV viewers. But when it came to planning media buys on local TV
stations transmitting in HDTV, advertisers and agencies have had decidedly
less clarity. Until today, that is. Effective today, media buyers can
access a new planning tool on the Television Bureau of Advertising's
TVB.org site giving them easy and up-to-date access to a list of stations
transmitting programs and inserting advertising in HDTV.
The new Web-based planning tool was created in response to a request from
Peggy Green, the top television buyer at Publicis' Zenith Optimedia Group,
which is also one of the largest buyers of TV advertising.
Green made the request after the 2009 Super Bowl -- the first to be
broadcast in HDTV -- because she was seeing more of her clients beginning
to produce commercials in HDTV. And while it was relatively easy to
determine if and when those spots were actually airing in HDTV at the
network level, Green said the picture was a lot fuzzier on the local
level, where HDTV coverage may be spotty due to the fact that stations
need to invest in special equipment to insert and transmit HDTV ads.
"It's like the chicken and the egg," Green says, noting that it may be
difficult for some stations to justify the economics of making that
investment, because there is no guarantee that they will be able to
"monetize" the investment through higher ratings or more TV advertising
dollars.
Green declined to say whether agencies like Zenith Optimedia would
explicitly move advertising budgets to stations broadcasting HDTV ads, but
she did say it improves the value for advertisers who spent the money to
produce them.
The TVB has been developing the HDTV station planning tool for a while,
says Vice President-Communications Gary Belis, but is making it live now
as part of the relaunch of TVB.org.
After previewing data on TV stations inserting HDTV ads, Zenith
Optimedia's Green says there do not seem to be any consistent patterns
among TV station groups.
"It's all over the place," she says, noting that among the major broadcast
network owned station groups, only Disney-owned ABC has made a significant
commitment to HDTV commercials.
"That makes sense given the skew of the ABC stations," she says. "Their
stations tend to be in more affluent homes."
Source: MediaPost, 01/31/2011 |