Buyers, start your engines. The regional fall buying season is off to a crisp start this year: partly because of bullishness at the U.S. upfront, but mainly because avails were so tight last year, particularly Edmonton and Calgary.
Even in Montreal, where many buyers face double-digit rate increases, the buying is getting off to a brisk start, thanks to an unprecedented sold-out situation at many broadcasters during peak periods in the past year.
The unusually high rate increases in Montreal are largely due to this being year two of a five-year plan by the broadcasters to raise local rates to levels comparable to other urban markets. Elsewhere across the country, increases are expected to range between 3% and 5%.
Despite the tight markets, Rick Sanderson, media director at TBWAVancouver, says the total spend this past year has been ‘unnaturally’ soft, not because clients don’t have the money, but because they’ve been holding onto it.
‘With so much reality programming, and the inherent inability to predict whether there’ll be a ‘Survivor 18′ after the next one is finished – coupled with a seemingly endless stream of catastrophic news of late – it’s unlikely that advertisers will be lined up to spend money, let alone pay more for it,’ he says.
Still, regional markets are expected to remain in high demand, which is bad news for local advertisers, which will be left with the crumbs after the nationals swoop in early and gobble up the best airtime.
That’s why regional advertisers cheered the arrival of another option with Citytv in Vancouver last fall, and why they eagerly anticipate CRTC approval of CHUM’s bid to bring its franchise to Calgary and Edmonton as well.
The locals are also looking forward to a new station launch in Toronto this fall, with Craig Media’s TORONTO 1 hitting the air in September. Buyers predict it will provide a good platform for local business, but its overall impact in the market is expected to be slight at first.
Ed Weiss, VP associate media director, at Toronto’s Echo Advertising works with a number of retail and entertainment clients. He’s hoping that TORONTO 1 makes a bigger impact in the market than last year’s new kid on the block, OMNI.2, did.
‘Our experience with last year’s new local entry, OMNI.2 has been disappointing,’ he says. ‘We continue to see a viewing trend towards national specialty network programming, as the local stations take a hit, right across Canada. TORONTO 1, if it is successful, is more likely to pull audience from other local stations such as Citytv, but is less likely to impede the growth of national specialty.’
The previously ‘symbiotic’ relationship between Craig Media and CHUM is a big topic of speculation across the country. The two broadcasters shared programming while CHUM only operated in the East and Craig in the West, but now that they’re expanding into each other’s territory, the partnership is expected to come to an end a year from now.
The gloves are off, and the industry is waiting to see if Craig will be able to develop a personality and brand as distinctive as the CHUM properties once it’s flying solo.
Montreal
Rates skyrocket, SRC repositions – again
Aside from escalating rates, the big news out of Montreal is that Societé Radio-Canada (SRC) is repositioning itself yet again after last year’s new programming lead to a disappointing ratings slide.
Last year, as well was introducing a number of new shows, SRC, traditionally a solid number two in the market, tried to cement its standing by moving its news package from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and placing Wizz, a new quiz show designed to attract younger viewers, as lead in.
But despite its best efforts, SRC’s number two standing came under attack from third-place TQS. SRC slipped in some timeslots and lost an overall 1.6 share, according to the last BBM survey.
Some of last year’s programming – including Wizz and Friends-like sitcom Le Plateau – has now been dropped and SRC is moving the 90-minute news package Ce Soir back to 5:00 p.m.
Richard Portelance, general manager of sales and marketing for SRC, says that this year’s programming choices are the result of a new positioning built around five key attributes: credible, quality, passionate, inclusive and open-minded.
Two new made-in-Quebec series that Portelance says fall in line with these attributes are Les Aventures Tumultueuses de Jack Carter, an adventure/detective show tinged with both drama and comedy, and Les secrets de la Grande Ourse, a drama with a sci-fi twist.
Portelance says the rescheduling and revamping of news and public affairs programming will also have a big impact. Seven days a week from 12:30 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. will be a news block, followed by public affairs shows Les Facteur and Zone Libre.
Caroline Gagnon, VP director of media, Marketel Media in Montreal, approves of the changes and expects they will help stop the ratings erosion. She says moving the news package back to 5:00 p.m. this fall will increase viewership and give SRC a kick going into prime time as well.
SRC was always the leader in news, but moving to 6:00 p.m. was a big mistake, she says, which hit home during the recent provincial election when TVA outperformed SRC for the first time.
Gagnon is also bullish on some of SRC’s new programs, such as Les Aventures Tumultueuses de Jack Carter, which she calls a winner.
But Carol Cummings, senior TV buyer with Media Experts in Montreal, has doubts about SRC being able to take control of second place again, thanks to the prevailing perception that the net focuses on quality first, and ratings second.
She says the three top networks – TVA, SRC and TQS – seem to be carving out their own unique position and personality, with TVA as the solid leader.
‘TVA is for mass audiences, skewing a little more female because it doesn’t have any sports to speak of. TQS targets a younger viewer, maybe a little less educated, more blue collar with its programming. SRC is the uppercrust,’ says Cummings.
TVA has a commanding lead in the region with an overall share of viewing in the 30s. Its incredibly popular version of American Idol, called Star Academie, had an astounding 40% share of adults 18 to 49 for its gala finale.
Gagnon says TVA isn’t adding a lot of new programming but what it has is solid. ‘There’s not a lot of new shows but they’re all good strong, proven shows. As an advertiser, you go in secure with what you’re getting. TVA is a must-buy if you have broad appeal products to advertise.’
Because TQS – which targets younger, less educated, and more male than TVA – made some inroads against SRC this past year, she says it will also come out with some pretty aggressive pricing.
Calgary/Edmonton
Global premiums take some heat
Calgary and Edmonton have been hot all year and are first on the list for many national buyers because of the high demand. This leaves many local advertisers out in the cold, waiting for new local stations to move in.
CHUM’s application to move Citytv stations into both cities is currently in front of the CRTC and buyers hope that it will get approval for both.
In the Edmonton market there is also a CanWest Global application requesting that Red Deer’s RDTV, a station it shares with CBC, be disaffiliated from CBC. This is certain to be approved and will result in CanWest revamping RDTV with its CH format, while CBC sends its content into Red Deer from Edmonton.
This change would give buyers some relief from the escalating Global rates, as they could then buy the cheaper CBC signal in Red Deer to get spill into Edmonton.
Meanwhile Global has packaged Lethbridge with Calgary, so buyers can no longer buy the individual markets, a change which isn’t good for retail operating in only one of the two cities.
Kathy Shapka, VP media director at PJ DDB Edmonton, says these moves by CanWest Global and CHUM will help loosen up some inventory although the effects won’t be seen until next year. She’s hoping that CHUM will be able to get its new station up and running before next fall.
‘If you look at CTV, it has a stronger spill into Red Deer than Global, and you get that for nothing. Global turns around and charges us for it and then wonders why its share keeps going down. The efficiencies just aren’t there anymore.’
Shapka says some larger local advertisers are going into specialty channels and getting better results than with conventionals. Specialties are still so affordable, she says, that even when you give up geographic targetability, it still makes sense to use them.
In Calgary, Andrew McFallon, principal at Anderson McFallon in that city, says he has adjusted planning cycles for the market accordingly.
‘We’ll do some upfront placements five to six months ahead of time to make sure inventory is available to us. To come in even two months out, you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of inventory.’
He says that while both CTV and Global seem committed to local advertisers in the 5 to 7 p.m. blocks, CTV is the only station that allows Calgary-only buys.
As for Global joining Craig’s A Channel and the CBC in selling the combined markets only, he says buyers are used to this system – it’s the premium put on Global rates that makes it hard for local advertisers to swallow.
Vancouver
A new multicultural entry
Like Calgary and Edmonton, demand is not softening in Vancouver, according to David Stanger, managing partner of Calgary- and Vancouver-based DSA Baron Communications.
But what may level the playing field is the fact that broadcasters are stepping away from big media shop deals where they buy up a lot of airtime and divvy it up among their clients later. Recently these shops have been turning more and more unused time back to the broadcasters.
Stanger says there isn’t a client that really knows what its business will be like six or nine months out, and that his large clients are only approving plans one quarter at a time.
‘Non-retailers are acting like retailers, in that they’re taking a look at monthly sales and monthly revenues. I’m buying all year long, as opposed to the old days where I might buy 70% of my weight upfront, and then go back and heavy up,’ he says.
‘This is the way the broadcasters are getting their rate increases. They’re not having to give out the same levels of discounts upfront because good marketers are buying in shorter chunks.’
When it comes to viewership, after a few channel format changes in the market last fall, Stanger says things have shaken out fairly predictably.
Global news is maintaining its dominant position in the market, and CTV’s news (previously CIVT) went from the bottom of the pack to a solid number two. He says new player Citytv Vancouver is battling with CBC’s Canada Now supper-hour news for number three in terms of total audience share. But because City’s audience skews young it’s leading with 18-34 viewers, while CBC has a 35-plus audience.
Stanger says that overall, City has accomplished what it hoped to – no top ten shows but a solid performer in the market with a lock on the 18 to 34 demo.
David Kirkwood, VP marketing and sales for Toronto-based CHUM, confirms that Citytv Vancouver and Victoria-based The New VI have performed at or above expectations.
‘We’ve taken the share we expected,’ he says. ‘We’re happy with the tuning levels. In terms of revenue, it’s a little beyond our expectations, so I think we read the market right.’
Kirkwood says this year’s Citytv schedule consists mainly of renewed tried-and-true titles such as The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire, Enterprise, Relic Hunter, Smallville and The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.
The NewNets (such as The New VR and The New VI), meanwhile, will see several new shows this fall, including Fearless, about a female FBI agency born without the ability to feel fear, Jake 2.0, featuring an NSA computer tekkie infected with ‘nanobots,’ and 10-8, about a rookie cop in L.A. (For descriptions of all the new fall shows, see ‘The shows’ on page 33.)
The NewNets have also acquired Everwood and 7th Heaven – the former used to air on CTV, and the latter was leased from CTV, but is now a CHUM property.
For this fall season, TBWA/Vancouver’s Sanderson says the biggest change to hit the market will be the launch of Channel M, a multicultural station similar to OMNI.1 and 2 in Toronto. It will be offering five-and-a-half hours of locally-produced foreign-language programming a week, as well as a line-up of syndicated strip programming.
Toronto
Modest impact expected from TORONTO 1
Like those in the West, regional advertisers in the GTA are looking forward to the addition of a new local station – Craig Media’s TORONTO 1 – and hoping it will provide some new opportunities.
Barbara Williams, VP and general manager of TORONTO 1, says it’s the programming direction, rather than the station’s 18-49 target demo, that will put the new entry on the map.
‘We’re going to have a more current affairs/information/lifestyle approach to original programming,’ she says. ‘There’s a lot of traditional news already being done in the market. If there’s an accident on the 401, it gets a ton of attention. But there is a lot of value in giving Torontonians perspective on the news issues of the day – explaining the news as opposed to reporting the news.’
With the working title Metro Today, Williams says the anchor show in the new current affairs package will air at 7 p.m. rather than 6 p.m., because ‘people in the city are working longer days, have more commuting time and getting home for 6 p.m. doesn’t happen the way it used to.’
As well, four nights a week at 10 p.m., TORONTO 1 will air a good, old-fashioned variety show focused on Toronto talent, and a second public affairs show is scheduled for 11 p.m.
TORONTO 1’s acquired programming – which includes Monday Night Football, The Wayne Brady Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, This Small Space, People’s Court and the entertainment show Extra – will be seen right across the Craig Media system, including the A-Channels and CKX TV in Brandon, Manitoba.
Theresa Treutler, VP broadcast investment director at Toronto’s Starcom Worldwide, says that the dilemma for local advertisers will be that the new programming isn’t expected to pull high enough rating within the local market they’re buying.
‘They will be able to buy way more spots than they were able to buy before, but if the ratings aren’t there, what is the value to that? From a strategic perspective, there’s a certain weight level you have to run before your campaign is effective. Running 20 spots a week that deliver five ratings all in all is pretty meaningless.’
Treutler believes TORONTO 1 will only have a modest impact in the market because its programming isn’t expected to get ratings higher than the 1 to 2 range in Toronto. It won’t have any impact on CTV or Global, she says, although it might pick up some of OMNI.1’s younger viewers.
Similarly, Florence Ng, VP broadcast at Toronto’s Optimedia, says TORONTO 1 will take time to build. Like most new stations, she says she will approach it with caution – unless, of course, it’s priced to drum up business.
