Across the TV industry the news lately has been consistent: The TV Upfronts are on fire. Upfront pricing is up. Scatter pricing is up. Demand for TV is up. While this may be great for the Networks, it could be problematic for Advertisers.
With more dollars pouring into the Upfront and Scatter markets, inventory and flexibility decrease accordingly. Advertisers ultimately may find that delivery of their purchased TV buys will prove more difficult than ever. Even in a buyer’s market, underdelivery of TV buys is common. In a seller’s market underdelivery can be rampant.
TV buys are planned and purchased for very specific business reasons. Advertisers and their agencies need to be aggressive and proactive if they want their schedules to run as intended. TV underdelivery is often “made good” in less desirable ways, e.g. in lower profile programming, on other networks, on network owned streaming services, during timing that is in lower demand. Expecting and having a plan for underdelivery is more important than ever.
ami+partners provides independent 3rd party verification of media buy delivery including TV Upfronts and Scatter schedules. We also go a step further to analyze and verify that the media actually ran the way the Advertiser (not the Network) wanted. And we draw from our extensive industry experience and expertise to help formulate approaches to minimize underdelivery and combat those less desirable makegood options.