Ten still selling Glasgow but Aussie gold may bring ads

By (incomplete) | 25 July 2014
 

The Ten Network is scrambling to fill advertising space as the Commonwealth Games revs up, with media buyers saying the Glasgow sports fest is suffering from a combination of a lack of promotion, a hangover from negative perceptions of the India games and the soft ad market.

Ten has chosen not to promote its advertising partnerships for the games and is also not using Glasgow as a hospitality opportunity as it did with the Sochi Winter Olympic Games earlier this year.

Asked who has jumped on board as major sponsors, a Ten spokesman said that it would only reveal Harvey Norman and Optus as major sponsors.

“Others will become evident over the next few days, remembering that we are on day one, and they would prefer to wait until they are on air before we comment about them,” the spokesman said.

Media buyers have confirmed that Ten remains in market selling inventory for the Games.

Some have speculated that advertisers are waiting to see how Australia does and what sort of popular support grows with viewers before buying in.

Based on such measures Ten could be in luck with Australia capturing 5 gold medals and setting two swimming world records on the first day of the competition.

Dan Sinfeld, head of trading at OMD, admitted the lack of integrated partnerships had a major impact on pre-promotion for the games.

“The reality is ... across all inventory across all networks there is space available at the moment because July and August have been soft, and the Commonwealth Games has not been immune to that.

“Whilst they will have a few sponsors on there, maybe two or three, there will be people buying airtime in there but I don't think they're necessarily 'sponsor sponsors'. The big challenge the whole event faces is that I don't think anyone has got behind it, all the way from governing bodies, through to advertisers, through to broadcasters.”

However, Sinfeld said that winning performances by Australian athletes could turn the tide – although inventory would not be sold at a huge premiums.

During the Sochi Olympics Ten capitalised on its relationship with Samsung as a major integrated sponsor which helped the network create a promotional halo for the broadcasts beyond the event itself.

Last night Ten won ratngs overall with the combination of Masterchef and the first day of competition and buyers believe if the performance can be sustained Ten will build to a profitable event by the end.

While integrated sponsors have been thin on the ground for Ten in Glasgow, its sales teams have been busy bedding in integrated sponsorships for Masterchef and The Bachelor which launches on Wednesday.

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