About a week ago, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) released the results of a survey that found that 79% of the companies surveyed felt that they were overpaying for branded entertainment.
Want to know why? Because the majority of them are in TV, which is notoriously expensive. After TV, the top areas for branded entertainment efforts were in ”magazines, movies, video games and Internet endeavors.”
TV will remain an expensive proposition until Madison (the advertising business) and Vine (the content business) figure out both a new economic model and a way to work together effectively.
Of course, the effect of this expense will be felt most, I think, on the agency side. I know of at least one major media shop where a full 50% of their client roster is avoiding branded entertainment, due in large part to the fact that the shop’s expertise is in TV. If they beefed up their capabilities in music, for example, they’d be able to offer an entertainment play that comes at a substantially lower price tag. This seems to be a smarter way to put dollars on the agency’s bottom line.
The press release from the ANA is here.
Ad Age’s coverage is here.
