'New York' Expected to Bolster Ad Sales

CSI: New York will most likely command a hefty fee for advertising during its timeslot when ad booking for the Fall 2004 schedules begin next week.

Bloomberg predicts that CBS's extremely successful 2003-2004 season will allow it to command hefty sums for advertising during shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which was the number one show this past season. CBS will screen the newest CSI spinoff, CSI: New York, for advertisers on Wednesday, May 19th in an annual presentation to the upfront market, where as much as 85% of advertising for the following year may be sold.

CBS was the only network to post consistant gains in the ratings this year compared to last year, which gives it an edge over direct competitors NBC, ABC and Fox, according to Fred Sattler, the executive media director at Doner, the largest independent ad agency in the business. "CBS is truly a network with momentum behind them and they have that designation solely among the networks,'' he commented. "NBC's shows are long in the tooth, ABC can't find its way and Fox doesn't have critical mass.''

CBS ratings have increased overall by 3.7% from last season. Comparitively, NBC is down 5.2% and ABC is down 6.3%. CBS's strongest shows are CSI, its first spinoff CSI: Miami (In the number 9 slot for the 2003-2004 season) and Survivor, whose All Stars version finished in the seventh slot. The Apprentice, the Donald Trump reality show, bolstered NBC's ratings in the spring. ABC's strongest show this past season was Monday Night Football.

Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto predicted that CBS's advance ad sales could increase by as much as 9% to 2.39 billion. He only predicted an overall increase of 2%, to 9.45 billion, for the six big networks combined. Fox is predicted to boost its ad sales by 3%, ABC by 1%, and NBC is expected to decrease by 3% due to the loss of Friends. CBS is expected to benefit from Friends's end, perhaps gaining some of the advertising revenue the comedy previously commanded.

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