Media buyers say the price of TV spots during NFL games
"could jump as much as 20% next season, compared with last
year's 8% boost," according Beatty & Ono of the WALL STREET
JOURNAL. Some media buyers suspect that "advertisers will
grumble, but ultimately crumble." The most expensive non-
Super Bowl or playoff 30-second spots "are priced at a peak
of around $350,000" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/15). Joe
Mandese of the Myers Report, which tracks TV advertising,
predicts the nets will be able to negotiate a 10% increase
in ad rates for the '98 season (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/15).
Stacey Shepatin, a media buyer for Boston-based Hill Holiday
Connors Cosmopulos: "Advertisers are going to hesitate to
pay huge increases to support what the networks will be
paying the NFL, especially since viewership continues to
drop off" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/15). CNBC's Mike Hegedus
reported that, under the deal, ABC will pay about $27.5M per
game for "MNF." Hegedus: "If they try to recoup the price
strictly from ad sales, there will be roughly 59 30-second
commercials in each Monday night game. ... That's $466,000
per spot. Last year, it was $300,000." BJK&E Media Group's
John Lazarus: "We move on incremental increases of 10, 12%,
something like that. So you can't just take quantum leaps
and double our costs." Hegedus: "All the ad folks we talked
to think the networks involved will need help to even come
close to breaking even on this deal, at least in real
dollars" ("The Edge," CNBC, 1/14).
ONE VIEW: An editorial in today's N.Y. TIMES states,
"Somewhere in that mediaspeak lies a core belief shared by
TV executives and advertisers alike -- football is
television's only reliable mechanism for attracting a large,
steady audience of younger male viewers" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/15).
WHO WILL PAY? In N.Y., Jon Elsen writes that industry
observers say the ESPN Sunday night deal "may give federal
regulators added incentive to change rules that let cable
networks require cable operators to carry all of their shows
or none," which could allow operators to skip ESPN's Sunday
night NFL games, making them "part of a premium offering"
(N.Y. POST, 1/15). ESPN CEO Steve Bornstein said that the
fees cable operators pay to carry ESPN "will only rise 'a
few cents' per subscriber to help pay for the new deal" (AD
AGE DAILY, 1/14). In Philadelphia, Edward Moran writes
under the header, "You'll Help Line NFL's Pockets, Too"
(PHIL. DAILY NEWS, 1/15). In Ft. Lauderdale, Patricia Horn
writes under the header, "Who Will Pay Big NFL Tab? You
Will" (SUN-SENTINEL, 1/15). In S.F., C.W. Nevius: "Does it
seem far-fetched that soon, not only will we not be able to
afford to buy a ticket to see the local NFL team in the
stadium, but we will have to pay just to watch the game on
our own television set? (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/15).