Roses for ABC

Ok, ok… what do you expect! Those of you who know me, you understand that I have bragging rights, afterall USC is my alma mater plus this post is very relevant to my Blog topics!

It appears ABC is coming up Roses this year! According to John Consoli’s December 12th article in Mediaweek, ABC has about 10 percent of its ad inventory left to sell for their Jan. 4 prime-time Rose Bowl telecast and the Network is aiming to maximize sales of the remaining units by packaging in-game spots with advertising across ESPN properties.

Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN/ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales stated that:

"We're not looking to just sell in-game spots, the USC-Texas match-up [both teams are undefeated] could be one of the highest-rated college football games ever, so we plan to use it to help drive advertising to our other media platforms".

He added that many of the other platforms in the packages would have synergy with the Rose Bowl. For example, ESPN The Magazine, in its Jan. 2 issue, will offer a BCS preview. Obviously Erhardt sales philosophy is similar to what many of us work towards in the media business, leverage your high valued inventory.

According to Nielsen, the 2004 Orange Bowl was the Bowl Championship Series (USC 55 vs. OU 19) game generated a household rating of 13.7 nationally. The four BCS games totaled a 43.0 household rating. In the year prior, the Sugar Bowl was the BCS championship game and produced a 14.5 household rating, and the 2003 Fiesta Bowl BCS championship produced a 17.2 rating. The BCS bowl games, while having declined in ratings, are still among the highest-rated prime-time programs during the first week in January.

John Concoli (Mediaweek reporter) went on to point out that; “Thirty-second spots in the Rose Bowl were selling for between $1.5 million and $1.8 million per unit prior to the USC-Texas match-up being determined”. Erhardt said “about 70 percent of the units were sold as part of multiyear, multigame packages while another 20 percent of the units were sold during the upfront as strips with ads in all four BCS games”.

Citi will present the game; other sponsors will include Cingular, Home Depot and Texas Instruments.

Read the full article in 12/12/05 Mediaweek: Bloom On The Rose Bowl GO TROJANS!