October 9, 2009

Whether through hitting, dribbling, driving, passing or skating, cable's sports properties—rarely lacking in viewership—have achieved solid if unspectacular ad sales figures this year after enduring a very difficult '08-'09 stretch that saw male-skewing auto makers and financial firms reign in spending. Both data and anecdotal evidence point to this fact: any cable nets that report ad shortcomings during the current earnings season won't be able to blame the sports genre. "There's a very healthy scatter market right now," said Turner Sports pres David Levy. "We are selling [playoff] baseball extremely well... it's way ahead of where we thought we would be." Moreover, the net's regular-season baseball inventory sold out, said Levy, and its NBA playoffs delivered handsomely this spring. '09 ad rev across Turner Sports' portfolio is flat to slightly ahead of '08 numbers, he said—a performance that should be considered a win. To wit: Nielsen data covering Mar-July shows that overall national cable ad spending during the period was flat versus '08 while ad spending across cable sports programming slipped 1% (for more ad data, see pg 4). In other words, par for a tricky ad course is a good score. And with several Wall St analysts predicting gains in 3Q cable ad spending and the sports industry amid a generous fall/winter full of NFL, NHL, and NBA action—plus the healthier economic outlook now versus in July—it's safe to assume that sports ad spending has improved over the last 2 months. Not surprisingly, spending across ESPN's college and pro football slate is "very strong," said Ed Erhardt, pres, ABC Sports and ESPN Ad Sales and Marketing, who also noted a strong scatter market. "In this kind of marketplace, people want security, [and] sports has that." Other nets are noting improvement in the ad market as well. "We are clearly seeing an uptick in the amount of money being spent across multiple categories," said Comcast Nets svp, marketing solutions and sports sales Steve Margosian. Volume has notably increased in the last 30-60 days, he said, adding that Versus ' college football slate will meet its financial goals for advertising, as did its Tour de France coverage. And then there's the net's flagship sports property, the NHL. "There's a clear amount of energy building against the NHL by advertisers and marketers... a lot of interest," said Margosian. As for hot categories and firms, TBS counts Anheuser-Busch, BlackBerry and Chase Card Services among its lead MLB playoffs sponsors, ESPN notes growth in men's grooming, insurance, non-Detroit autos and telecom, and Versus is enjoying success through autos, distilled spirits, movie studios and insurance companies.