No Takers in 2003 for Big Cross-Platform Ad Deals

Size of last year's ABC-OMD pact worked against itConspicuously absent from this year's upfront marketplace is the mega-dollar, multiclient cross-platform advertising deal, and both media buyers and network executives say it could be a long while before a pact on the scale of last year's $1 billion ABC Unlimited-OMD package is brokered again. The ABC-OMD deal, which both sides say worked out well, was not renewed this year because there is not enough upside in the current market for the network or the agency, said sources with knowledge of the talks. The deal allowed ABC Unlimited to lock in a massive amount of ad dollars in what was expected to be a down market—and with the ABC network coming off one of its worst years to boot. The Omnicom media network was able to get a reasonable rate for its clients based on the total volume of the deal. But the very size of the package worked against it, sources said. The marketplace turned out to be much stronger than expected, and ABC probably could have gotten more for what it sold if it would have waited before locking in the deal or held on to some of the inventory to sell at a later date. Ultimately, some of OMD's clients balked at producing all the dollars they committed to, according to industry sources, leaving ABC Unlimited about $100 million short of the original deal. OMD executives were unavailable for comment. An executive for ABC parent the Walt Disney Co. said the deal was not renewed "because client agendas change from year to year and brand by brand. This deal took nine months to put together, and renewing it would have taken just as long." Still, the executive acknowledged that ABC Unlimited is set up to work better when deals are done across platforms for a specific brand, not for dozens of clients with intermingled brands. "With one brand, each media unit can focus better on that product and tailor to its specific needs better," he said, adding that ABC Unlimited has dozens of multimillion-dollar cross-platform deals working right now, but most are brand-specific and not made public at the clients' requests. Buyers agreed that cross-platform deals can work only if they meet a need of a client and are not based solely on saving money. "The goal should be to solve a problem for a client or meet some sort of specific need, not just to get a discount for volume spent," said Andy Donchin, svp and director of national broadcast for Carat North America. "There is a time and a place for cross-platform deals," said a network sales executive. "But most of these deals will be for tens or hundreds of millions, not a billion dollars. And the ones that work best will be for shorter periods, like a few months. They probably would work better in scatter than being done during an upfront."

Brand Marketing

No Takers in 2003 for Big Cross-Platform Ad Deals

John Consoli

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

John Consoli