Loretta Hunt of Sherdog.com is reporting that CBS has sold all of its commercial advertising inventory for the Strikeforce on CBS event that will air in primetime this Saturday night.
Even without the cachet of the world’s No. 1 heavyweight, commercial spots for CBS’s “Saturday Night Fights” broadcast of Strikeforce “Nashville” have completely sold out, according to Kelly Kahl, executive vice president for primetime programming for the network.
“The more we do this, the more we find that advertisers are becoming increasingly interested,” said Kahl, who noted that Saturday’s spots are booked “heavy” across the movies, DVDs, and video gaming genres. “Every card makes it easier.”
Kahl said the absence of Fedor Emelianenko, who anchored the network’s first Strikeforce broadcast last November, did not slow Saturday’s sales, which will also include commercials for men’s grooming products and automobiles. Under Armour, a performance sports apparel brand that employs UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre as a spokesman, will also make its advertising debut on Saturday, said Kahl.
Payout Perspective:
Not a huge surprise. We’d gotten word a month ago that sales were going well. If you consider that CBS averages a .7 in the 18-34 demographic with its regular Saturday night programming, advertisers are likely more than prepared to sign on for an event that promises to deliver well over that (as Hunt notes, the previous Strikeforce on CBS card delivered a 283% increase in the 18-34 demo above the Saturday average).
MMAPayout.com made note of the advertisers last time around, it’ll be interesting to see if/how that line-up is a little more diverse than last time out.
It is nice that they sold out and did so early. But that doesn’t really tell us if that was at cut rate prices? The prices they charge for the normal programming in that slot or at a premium. I really hope that this event makes good mony for CBS and all the advertisers are clamouring for more. I like free high quality MMA.
This is interesting:
“Under Armour, a performance sports apparel brand that employs UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre as a spokesman, will also make its advertising debut on Saturday, said Kahl.”
You can bet EA Sports will definitely be there. I wonder if HDNet will have as big a presence as they did for the Nov. 7th show. HDNet did a great job getting out there on that show.
JV,
That’s sort of what I was implying with the diversity of advertisements comment. We won’t really be able to determine how the ads were sold or what price they got, but seeing who bought the ads (and in what quantity) will give us some indication of how the overall process went for CBS.
Anyone catch the CBS Strikeforce commercial on Spike TV during TUF last night? Apparently it was a market-to-market buy from CBS.
I didn’t catch it, but I’ve only just discovered that Eugene is a non-MMA market from a television perspective. No Bellator, no Punishment or Strikeforce ads on TUF.
The MBA is great, but I can’t wait to get the hell out of here! 😉
Very anxious for this weekend. Dying to know if the UFC was able to buy time on the Strikeforce card like I’ve been suggesting. We’ll see if they were listening (or if CBS let them). 😀
Kelsey;;
this last month of mba work is killing me. got a marketing strategy for UFC gyms due in a month, as well as numerous other projects. how are you doin?
Good to hear from you!
I’m hanging in there bro! Haha
We’re on the quarter system up here and 3 weeks into new classes. I’ve got sports sponsorship, sports law, conflict resolution in sport, and strategic management on the docket; all of which require a serious amount of prep work before each class. Plus we were just down in the Bay area to meet with some sports companies, so everything is backed up.
I’ve always got time for my MMA, though. 🙂
Let me know how your marketing strategy goes for the UFC Gyms.
KP