Free Republic

As the big agencies get ready for the biggest week of the year for the biggest advertising medium, changes are coming that can only be called, well, big. The medium is of course broadcast television, which remains a powerful way to peddle products despite the recent inroads made by alternative ways to watch programs, which include the Internet, digital video recorders, cellphones, DVD players and video on demand. Beginning today, the, er, um, big broadcasters will reveal their prime-time lineups for the new season in a week of lavish, star-filled presentations at Manhattan landmarks like Carnegie Hall and Madison Square...

WILL JOHNSON & JOHNSON MAKE its potentially game-changing move to skip this year's upfront an annual tactic? Maybe. "We're going to do what's best for our business," said Brian Perkins, CMO of the pharmaceutical and packaged-goods giant, at an Advertising Week event in New York. So far, Perkins said the decision to sit on the sidelines this summer "is working out great." But somewhat surprisingly, he said the company's delayed upfront continues. In May, J&J sent shock waves through the industry by declaring it would postpone its upfront buying until August, partly to better align its buying process with its...

Network ad sales are falling below last year By Kevin Downey Jul 28, 2006 Cable television is about to suffer a humiliation it’s never experienced before. Ad spending in the ongoing upfront will likely be down from 2005 when negotiations wrap up in about two weeks. That will be the first year-to-year decline since cable networks began actively selling ad time in advance of upcoming seasons way back in 1988, not including 2001, when cable TV and virtually all other media types suffered steep losses following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Negotiations have been dragging on for weeks and buyers are...