I was a little surprised to hear a “pre-diabetes” PSA and two promos in one of the first quarter breaks in the Rams game today. I’ve been away from this awhile, but are they having trouble selling the Rams?
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Rams Network “Sales”
- Thread starter Andy Ludlum
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The Rams aren't even selling tickets in LA. When you see the games, almost all the spectators are wearing the opposing team's colors.
I'm sure the TV revenues more than make up for it, but the locals in St. Louis supported the Rams better when it was a terrible team than LA has been supporting it after a Super Bowl. LA area residents probably also buy the seat licenses and tickets so they can turn around and shop the tickets on StubHub, but football, at least the American variety, hasn't proven to be very popular in Los Angeles thus far.
Are there affiliate stations? Were you listening on the flagship? It's possible you heard a "local" break for affiliates the network fills PSA/promos - or vice versa, if listening on an affiliate, they didn't sell the break and ran their own local fill.
Depends on who you mean by "they." Some spots are sold by the team.
But also I've heard that 4th quarter sales at radio are lower than expected. You probably remember there was a time when 4th quarter sales were sold out because of holiday sales at retail. That was when there was retail.
But also I've heard that 4th quarter sales at radio are lower than expected. You probably remember there was a time when 4th quarter sales were sold out because of holiday sales at retail. That was when there was retail.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
First of all, nice to see you again, Andy.
I'm inclined to agree with @mightynine that you probably heard a local avail that was not covered. If you were listening to the flagship, I'm guessing that they were unable to sell the avail ... which makes me wonder if the network affiliates were doing any better.
Once upon a time, it was easy to sell sports. You had lots of local businesses and a certain group of them could practically be counted on to sign up for every team whose network you carried (that was certainly the case at KAAP in Ventura County in 1978-81, when I was PD; we had the Angels/Rams/UCLA affiliation from KMPC and every avail was filled ... I even remember one year having the chance to run some auto race from ABC and most of the same sponsors signed up). But that was a lot of yesterdays ago and we don't have as many local businesses whose ad budgets -- if they even have one -- allow for the commitment.
@TheBigA's observation about ad sales being down is very likely another factor. If regular spot sales aren't happening, sponsorships are falling by the wayside in the process.
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A lot of the seats at SoFi are held by season ticket holders that resell their tickets to opposing fans and make money to pay for their seats on other game days.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Agreed. These days, your practically have to sell "full coverage" package where ROS includes nights if you're going to have more than just PI/DR spots after 7:00pm.
Again, back in the day local stations sold these sports broadcasts as a season-long package and the sponsoring local businesses paid regardless of what time the game aired. (I recall a good chunk of Angels games running in the evening, between home games and away games in Oakland and Seattle.)
I wasn’t listening for billboards and I didn’t listen to the radio broadcast all that long. I was on the flagship station, not a network affiliate, so even if I heard a network “local avail” you’d think the LA flagship could get some $ spots into a break that was going to reach most of the audience. I rarely listen to the Rams on the radio, so I don’t what is “normal” on the broadcast. But it caught my ear…
As I said, it was a Thursday night game so the potential audience was less than a Sunday game. A lot of LA stations don't even staff this daypart. This is a station that doesn't subscribe to Nielsen, so that tells me they probably don't get great ratings regardless. They instead focus on putting together highlights packages for the internet and social media. More people will listen to and engage with those highlights packages than heard the live broadcast.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
And if worst came to worst, there are plenty of PI/DR agencies who would be thrilled to have their campaigns fill those empty avails. (Even $100 for a response to a "if you owe the IRS money" spot generates $100 more revenue than the PSA you heard, Andy.)
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