Online TV ads no longer afterthought

Conscious that millions of people are now watching TV shows online, marketers are likely for the first time this year to make digital-ad buys a key part of their “upfront” ad-purchase negotiations with TV networks, media buyers say. “The digital ads aren’t a throw-in after the main conversation is over. It’s now part of the main conversation,” says Alan Schanzer, managing partner at MEC Interaction North America, part of WPP Group’s media-buying and planning unit Mediaedge:cia. Major TV networks sell about 75% of their ad inventory for the coming fall season during the upfront. Digital ads historically haven’t made up a significant portion of these buys. But marketers say they increasingly are looking to purchase digital ads as part of a package with their standard TV commercials so that they can reach the audiences watching a show regardless of whether it is on TV or the Web. Web audiences have become sizable enough that they can’t be ignored.

Source:Wall Street Journal