College football broadcasters have been "confidently watching the advertising dollars mount on the scoreboard," according to Jon Lafayette of BROADCASTING & CABLE. Nielsen data shows that regular-season ad spending on college football was $508M in '10, up 6% from $477M in '09, and "this year could be even bigger." Initiative Senior VP Kevin Collins said, "College football in this past upfront marketplace was the hot commodity. The SEC on CBS was very hot. They were done pretty quickly and early. ESPN did very well. And I believe for the first time in a few years, Notre Dame on NBC is virtually sold out as well this early." ESPN President of Customer Marketing & Sales Ed Erhardt said, "We're pacing ahead of last year, and last year was a pretty good year." At CBS, "pricing and volume increases" were in the double digits. CBS Exec VP/Sports Sales & Marketing John Bogusz: "We literally have very little if any inventory remaining." Lafayette notes the NFL lockout "didn't seem to have much effect." Bogusz said, "Some regular college football accounts just increased their spending." While longtime advertisers "held on to most sponsorship packages, there were new openings at Fox Sports, which will air games on FX this fall." Fox Cable Sports Exec VP/Ad Sales Todd Siegel said, "There wasn't a lot of inventory for new sponsors who were interested in college football, so we were fortunate to be there with a new package in a relatively tight market." The 14 FX games are "just about sold out in the third quarter and nearly 90% sold out in the fourth quarter, with some units held back until ratings start coming in" (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 8/22 issue).
