Desired Ad Demos Set to Change
By Valerie Milano
As Madison Avenue (as ad buyers tend to be identified) entered into
the annual feeding frenzy known as the television upfronts in New York
City, the yearly controversy over what demographic is really the most
valuable, once again, provided fodder for endless industry quibbling.
For years, NBC has adamantly crowed that 18-49 was the only game in town that
mattered, the true indicated of a network's success . . . until, that is, this
year, when the net fell to fourth place in that demo.
For the WB, 18-34 became their profitable bread-and-butter demo at a time when
people scoffed at the notion you could actually make money catering to teens
and young adults. But as WB founder Jamie Kellner liked to point out, because
those ratings points were scarcer and targeted, they were more valuable to select
advertisers.
Some in the advertising business have dismissed the recent success CBS has had
in the upfront because CBS's audience, while getting younger, is still older
than its competitors'. But according to Viacom COO and CBS president Les Moonves,
that's based on a stubborn misconception. "A lot of you [people say] the
18-49 is the demo most sought after by advertisers. Please do me a favor, call
the advertisers. Call your local advertisers; call your national advertisers," he
said. "We're not dismissing 18-49. It is important. But we're selling much
more than 18-49."
His comments were based on a study conducted by Insight Express in partnership
with MediaPost, in which over one thousand media professionals from ad agencies
and buying firms participated, making it the largest such study in terms of sample
size. The study indicated that the 25-54 age demo is now the most important to
media buyers, in both the broadcast and cable universes. More surprising is the
fact that the 35-64 demo is in a virtual dead heat with the 18-34 demo as far
as advertiser desirability.
David Poltrack, executive vice president, Research and Planning at CBS Television,
said, "Many members of the media have incorrectly assumed the 18-49 age
demo is the audience segment that advertisers want to reach most; we as an industry
have fallen prey to this fallacy. But that singular focus on adults 18 to 49
in the coverage of the television ad market has resulted in a distorted view
of the economics of that market. As this definitive study shows," he said, "we
shouldn't assume that the present currency of negotiation - in this case the
18 to 49 demo - is actually reflective of what is valuable to the buyer." Poltrack
added that although NBC publicly touts the 18-49 group, it is less well-known
that NBC's upfronts have been so successful in recent seasons because the net
is, actually, the leader in 25-54.
Among the other findings of the study, which Poltrack stressed was not paid for
by CBS, was that when planning or buying TV time, income and product usage were
the next two important factors behind age and gender, and that these individual
demos are included in ad agency specification for marketing campaigns. The three
most important factors buyers point to when selecting television time were, in
order: audience composition, reach and CPM. Content was a somewhat distant fourth
consideration.
Nearly two-thirds of the respondents in the study believed that actual product
usage will be used more often in the future as the primary measurement for TV
campaigns. And over half of those surveyed believed lifestyle demographics are
more important than age or ethnicity. Likewise, nearly 60 percent believed the
population's coming-of-age will have a significant effect on their media purchases.
Based on these findings, Poltrack concluded that for the foreseeable future,
the 25-54 age segment - comprised of the younger half of the "Baby Boomers" group
and the older half of "Generation X" viewers - will be the primary
target for advertisers. "In the end," Potrack said, "from both
a cultural perspective and an economic perspective, every viewer counts."
That said, on Madison Avenue, at least, not all viewers are created equal. For
as much press as age demos attract, lower on the radar screen are the economic
demos, which really set ad rates. One reason ABC is expected to enjoy such a
bump coming out of the upfronts is not just because more people are watching
the network thanks to several hit dramas; it's because of the earning levels
of those viewers. Reaching upscale viewers has long been the secret to NBC's
success with advertisers; the more people who watch their shows with incomes
over $75,000, the more advertisers pay for those spots.
Currently, the highest indexing shows on television-The West Wing, Will & Grace and The
Apprentice - remain under the Peacock banner. But both CBS and ABC are making
a significant dent. NBC's king of the upscale mountain status has been eroded
by ratings-friendly, but far less upscale, reality shows like Fear Factor and The
Biggest Loser.
According to Nielsen, during the first month and a half of the current season,
ABC managed to tie NBC in viewers 18-49 with incomes over $75,000. CBS has quietly
secured the most viewers with incomes over $100,000. Overall, ABC and CBS have
both increased their most buyer-desired demos by an estimated 20 percent, while
NBC has tumbled. Though NBC won't concede defeat just yet, another season or
two of slumping could seriously crimp the network's bottom line - especially
if CBS remains level and ABC enjoys its anticipated growth curve.
Branding helps sell ad time too. Cable networks such as MTV enjoy advertiser
interest because the buyers know exactly whom they will be reaching. As chairman
Judy McGrath said, "MTV is the nation's number one media brand among young
adults. We have the most loyal, creative and wired viewership in the world," and
companies looking to reach that audience will gladly throw big advertising money
MTV's way.
Likewise, although UPN has often been criticized for providing blocks of programs
solely featuring African-Americans, advertisers prefer that strategy because
it makes targeted marketing so much easier. And that keeps costs down and results
high - music to any buyer's ears.
