The recently completed TV “Upfronts,” where TV networks show off their new fall shows for advertisers and media buyers, is a curious event. It is almost like a new model year from car companies, the only difference being everything is new in TV and no one knows how well the shows will perform. And one company tried to outline the flaws in the system, with questionable results.
The company is Networked Insights, and they provide social data for media planning and buying. And they did a fun guerrilla
marketing campaign in an attempt to … well, no one is really sure what they were trying to do.
Dan Neely, the company’s CEO said, “People are making financial bets, if you will. They’re putting their money to work before knowing anything. The risk is certainly not worth the reward.” Further, Neely equated buying ad time at the upfronts to gambling.
Well, duh.
Of course it is a gamble. It has been and it always will be. But TV is still the number one way to reach the masses despite it’s fragmentation and the advent of other, more efficient platforms (like digital). Plus, media buyers at this level are aware of what shows are likely to do well and what shows aren’t, and it’s a good bet they don’t put a good portion of their eggs in the new show basket.
This seems like a nice self-promotion on Networked Insights’ part, and not much more. Nice billboards, though.
