The primetime slot requested by President Obama for a news conference marking his 100th day in office is going to cost the broadcast networks millions of dollars in lost ads.According to the latest ad pricing data from Nielsen, the Wednesday slot between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. generates some $21.5 million for the big four.
read the rest at Broadcasting & Cable.
That is a lot, imagine if Ads didn’t cost so much then our stuff would be cheaper, not really, but that is a lot of Ad buy gone to the wind.
I’m surprised they get that much. Wednesday’s at 8 are easily the worst ratings outside of Friday & Saturday. The highest Deomo I can remember from the last few weeks is a 3.0 for Bones. So, they might be lossing money but at least ABC, NBC & CBS will all have better lead in for their 9:00 shows.
yet another reason not to air his broadcast…
stick it on the CW, they might get a ratings uptick
$21.5 million? So I guess the $300,000 Statue of Liberty flyby was a bargain.
Its not called the greedy industry for nothing *g*
But won’t the advertisers either just:
1. Save the 21.5 mil they would have spent on the commercials, which benefits them.
2. Use the 21.5 mil to advertise on cable networks or other media, which benefits those businesses.
In other words, it’s a wash. Somebody loses, somebody wins.
why do they air it? is it the law or something?
David, it’s a revenue loss to NBC, CBS and ABC. They can’t inventory program time like a manufacturer. Advertisers, can and will spend the money elsewhere.
Shoot. I’m glad it’s Wednesday at 8, so it won’t affect any of my shows but seriously. Obama is being a prick.
Maybe Fox news is right and he is ruining the economy, starting with television.
He’s not going to say anything important anyway.
Well, I am not from the USA, but I’d be happy if the chancellor of my country would pull an Obama once in a while and inform the country about the current state.
@WHY?
No, there is no law…it’s all up to the networks.
That is a good question. Why even air it? What federal regulation requires them to air it?
Obama really seems to be abusing the networks. This has to be his fourth prime time address since taking office.
This is another illustration of how FOX’s decline to air tonight’s POTUS conference is, indeed, a business decision. I plan on watching Lie To Me on FOX, as per usual.
Exactly, clutz. I’ve been saying that ever since the announcement was made. The Obama press conferences haven’t ended after an hour as it is, and I’m sure Fox was thinking about that when they made the decision. I don’t think it was for Lie To Me’s benefit as much as it was to protect their cash cow, American Idol, and to get the ad revenue from that even though it’s only the results show.
If President Obama were doing a press conference solely on the Swine Flu, then I think Fox would’ve carried it because right now that really is important. But one-hour-plus of self-important journalists asking self-important questions about the first 100 days of the Obama Administration, knowing they’re simply going to spin and twist whatever answers he gives into whatever agenda they’re promoting instead of what he actually is saying? Nope.
You are all idiots. The networks use our airspace to broadcast their programs, pretty much 24/7 — even if they chose not to use all 24 hours of the day. In exchange for free use of our collective airwaves, they occasionally owe it to the public to provide information about what our government is up to. No, this doesn’t belong only on the cable news networks, nor on PBS, nor on C-Span. It belongs on the broadest of broadcast mediums, for all Americans to be able to see.
The president is not being a prick. He’s providing us answers to questions that we may have about what’s going on. Answers that he OWES the American people who elected him. After all, we are in a time of unprecedented number of crisis.
There may be other mediums for getting the message across, but reading a transcript of a Q&A session is not the same as seeing for ourselves whether or not the president is being responsive to the questions, what his facial expression tell us, what his body language tells us, what his tone of voice tells us, not to mention other intangibles such as how he picks who gets to ask the next question, and whether or not those questions are loaded. This is almost the only way Americans get to see their leader at what is presumably his most authentic self. This is where we can, in effect, interview him and evaluate him to see if we like how he’s handling things.
It would be one thing if Americans were collectively ignoring these speeches and press conferences, but the Nielsen numbers show that most adults are quite keen to hear what the president has to say.
My heart does NOT weep for the poor, wee networks, who despite the fiendish plot by the president to siphon off their god-given right to profits, still somehow manage to make money anyway.
Bravo, Grapeshot! That’s exactly correct, couldn’t have said it better. The government grants licenses to the networks to broadcast over the airwaves, and the networks are obligated to provide airtime to the president when asked.
bb