CBS, ESPN Credit Favre's Move To Jets For Flat NFL Ad Sales

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

CBS, ESPN Crediting Favre's Move To Jets In Helping NFL Ad Sales Keep Up Record Pace

CBS and ESPN are crediting Brett Favre's move to the Jets for helping NFL ad sales remain flat with last year's record number, despite the sluggish economy. CBS executives said Favre's move to the biggest media market -- and the AFC, which it covers -- has generated interest among ad buyers. "We have Dolphins-Jets to lead off the season -- a game that wasn't generating huge interest until Favre moved to New York," said CBS Sports Exec VP/Sales & Marketing John Bogusz. Similarly, ESPN/ABC Sports Consumer Marketing & Sales President Ed Erhardt said his network has seen some money shift to its Week 3 Jets-Chargers game after Favre was traded. He also highlighted ESPN's first "Monday Night Football" game, which will be the Packers' first game without their longtime QB. Sales execs from CBS, ESPN and NBC said their NFL ad sales for the upcoming season are tracking similar with last year, with CPM increases in the high single digits. A Fox spokesperson said the network also is "on par, perhaps a bit ahead of last year's sales pace." "We still have to write business in the fourth quarter scatter market," CBS' Bogusz said. "Overall, it's a more challenging ad marketplace." ESPN has limited avails left in its September games. Much of ESPN's sales effort has been to sell what it is calling the "Game Around the Game," meaning shoulder programming that accompanies its "MNF" game. "We want to elevate the whole concept so advertisers can own part of it," Erhardt said. NBC also said the NFL brand has been showing its strength in the current economic climate. "We're delighted with what we see so far," said NBC Senior VP/Sports and Olympics Sales & Marketing Seth Winter. "The NFL brand is impervious to most shifts you see. It remains the gold standard of sports programming."