There are three ways to get rich while working in advertising. You can start an awards show and build an empire based on vanity. You can start, acquire, or run a holding company. Or you can sell ad space for the networks.<\/p>\n
Did you know that last year, the broadcast and cable networks together secured more than $20 billion in ad commitments during its annual Upfronts gathering in NYC? That was up about five percent more than the previous season, part of a three-year trend, suggesting that any obituaries for traditional media are assinine.<\/p>\n
For emphasis, I’d like to clarify that the networks scored $20 billion in advance commitments in just one week.<\/p>\n
The actual costs to advertise on TV are much higher.<\/p>\n
Following the Upfronts this year, NBCUniversal’s CEO Steve Burke said, \u201c<\/strong>The advertising market is very, very healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n He had good reason to gloat. NBCU received nearly $7 billion in advance advertising commitments during this year’s Upfronts, which were held in Manhattan in May. That marked a 10 percent increase compared to the year-ago quarter, according to Ad Age.<\/a><\/p>\n Two notable reasons for the health of the market: higher rates and a bevy of new advertisers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest category of advertising in our upfront was from digital-native companies: The FAANG companies [Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google], streaming businesses, businesses that basically exist on the internet,\u201d Burke said. \u201cWell over a billion dollars this year came from digital-native companies that literally didn\u2019t advertise four or five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n