Hasta La Creative!

Twenty years ago, when four large broadcast networks dominated TV, almost every one of their prime-time shows had big ratings. Whether advertisers were releasing a blockbuster movie, introducing a new car or trying to keep their soda brand in the forefront of consumers’ minds, only broadcast TV commercials could deliver the impact many marketers needed. The spots were precious, scarce and perishable. It’s no wonder that a sort of futures market developed around them — the infamous TV upfront — and the gross rating point became adland’s primary currency.

It almost didn’t matter which spots you got in the upfront, as long as you got a guaranteed media weight — your GRPs. You knew you were getting a heavy concentration of audience reach quickly. But that’s all changed.

Marketers now need three times as many broadcast prime-time commercials to deliver the same impressions as 20 years ago. In the early 1990s, when the broadcast networks represented more than 70% of all TV viewing in the U.S. and you only had to buy a few dozen commercials to get 100 gross ratings points.

Continue reading at AdAge.com