ESPNET's SportsZone has added Levi's 501 Jeans, Pizza Hut, New
Balance, Lincoln-Mercury, Microsoft and Worlds Inc. as new
advertisers on the Web service, according to an announcement by
ESPNET GM Tom Hagopian and Starwave Dir of Advertising Rich
LeFurgy. Advertisers in SportsZone get interactive banners
placed both in "franchise positions" and in rotational spots.
For example, Pizza Hut is sole sponsor of Fantasy Football '95 in
addition to having banners throughout the service. Hagopian:
"SportsZone offers advertisers an excellent opportunity to reach
a prized demographic -- young males -- in an interactive and
personalized fashion. Our current sponsors are getting in on the
ground floor and gaining enormous exposure; they will be able to
continue to reap the benefits as we grow" (ESPN). AD AGE reports
the deals are worth in excess of $1M. While the advertising
community has criticized SportsZone's ad rates -- $100,000 per
quarter and $300,000 per year -- that criticism now "seems
unwarranted." LeFurgy: "These guys (the new advertisers) are
all paying the rate that everybody thinks is too high." Hagopian
said that Levi's sponsorship is for more than one year (AD AGE
ONLINE, 9/27).
MORE WORDS FROM BRISTOL: Sports ESPN and Sports Australia,
two 24-hour sports networks in which ESPN has an equity interest,
were launched in Australia last week by Sports Vision, a division
of Optus Vision. Sports ESPN features the U.S. and global sports
properties carried on ESPN, while Sports Australia features ESPN2
programming as well as sports of interest to Australians. ...
Designed to increase awareness of the ESPN's Sunday Night NFL
coverage and to leverage the current Art Donovan ad campaign,
ESPN will launch the "Football Phone-atic Sweepstakes" sponsored
by Visa. ESPN Senior VP/Consumer Marketing Judy Fearing calls it
their "most ambitious NFL effort to date." Fans answering
questions during the November 5, 12 and 19 games become eligible
to win ESPN merchandise and will be entered in a drawing for a
trip to Super Bowl XXX. Local affiliates can also customize
their own promotions (ESPN).
WORDS ABOUT BRISTOL: In the current issue of ELECTRONIC
MEDIA, Publisher Ron Aldridge congratulates ESPN on reaching 70%
penetration of the U.S. TV audience. Aldridge: "By any
yardstick, ESPN is second to none and ahead of most when it comes
to covering and televising sports." ESPN's lesson, according to
Aldridge: "Do something that needs to be done and that you know
how to do, do it well, and stick to it" (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 9/25
issue).
