ESPN will begin selling some ads for "SportsCenter" through "a Web-based auction," with 30-second spots airing "during telecasts on a giant video wall" on the show's new set, according to Shields & Marshall of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The move is "among the most aggressive steps yet by a TV network to embrace the automated, or 'programmatic,' ad sales tactics that have become a big force in the online ad world." Selling ads in real time and "placing them on the fly" is a "much bigger challenge on TV, where ads are often baked into shows to air in preset commercial breaks." That is why ESPN "isn't jumping in all the way," as ads sold the traditional way "will continue to run." Programmatic ads will be "additional spots featured differently during 'SportsCenter.'" ESPN will "set a base price for this inventory; if no advertisers are interested on a particular day, no ads will run and fans will just see 30 more seconds of 'SportsCenter.'" The first ads sold through the new method "will run in January," and ESPN has "already begun talking to a few clients about it." ESPN is "building proprietary electronic tools" to sell ad space during the 6:00pm and 11:00pm ET "SportsCenter" telecasts to "one advertiser each day." The ads will "run on an imposing, nearly 13-foot wide and 10-foot high video wall." ESPN Exec VP/Global Multimedia Sales Eric Johnson said that the company's technology for programmatic ads "is a work in progress." Shields & Marshall note ESPN's ad revenue increased 5% in Q3 '14, when "other heavyweights in the cable world reported minor growth or even a decline." Advertisers "are starting to shift dollars to digital outlets, because of the efficiency and, increasingly, the more precise audience targeting" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/9).
