TBS Mixes Football, Movies To Boost Local Ad Sales
Byline: ANDREA FIGLER
In an attempt to boost advertising revenue, TBS Superstation plans to announce today a local-ad sales promotion to help cable operators sell spots for its college football games and subsequent new movie franchise, the Movie Bowl.
Starting Saturday, Movie Bowl will feature a blockbuster movie directly after each game of the Big 12 and Pac 10 college football conferences. A live host will comment on the game’s outcome as well as the intricacies of the following blockbuster movie in an effort to keep the college football viewers locked into the network, potentially boosting local ad time by four to six minutes.
This week, the local ads will begin to run using TBS Superstation’s offer to fly a winning contestant to Atlanta to be featured on Movie Bowl in November. TBS hopes this new franchise will draw the same amount of local advertising dollars as the college games.
“We think the sports programming, vis-a-vis the college football package, really commands a price,” says Jerry Ware, VP of local advertising sales for Turner Network Sales. “They can charge a 30% to 40% premium due to the prime-time slot, and sports will probably command that price as well.”
To make this promotion even more local, TBS also provides specific local systems a trip to the Houston championship game for the Big 12 conference and other systems a trip to the Rose Bowl for the ultimate Pac 10 face-off.
THE NEXT QUESTION:
*Will advertisers pay the same premium for Movie Bowl local ads as they will for the college football games?
*Will the Movie Bowl franchise grow as strong as the Dinner and a Movie franchise for TBS Superstation?
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