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The Indianapolis 500 has its winner when the checkered flag falls, but local television stations wait much longer for their race results.
It sometimes takes months for local broadcasters o determine the payoff, if any, from the scores of race-oriented prime time specials and celebrity analysts they assemble for the month of May.
In spite of all the trappings and jacked-up advertising rates, stations may or may not notice an increase in the bottom line. What the hoopla does help do is build audience loyalty for months down the road, according to Bill Perkins, president of Perkins Nichols Media. Perkins buys broadcast time on behalf of advertisers.
Costs for some ad spots within many of the May prime-time specials nearly double over earlier spring and summer prices, Perkins said.
For example, prices can reach around $200 for each ratings point a station expects to earn for a given program. That compares with $110 to $115 for regularly scheduled programming at other times of the year, Perkins said.
Those prices, termed "cost per point," are the figures advertisers and stations negotiate when advertising time is bought and sold.
Simply put, it means advertisers will be expected to pay through the nose, and they may not be getting their money's worth, Perkins asserted.
The increased viewership for specific race programming suggested by the higher ad rates may not be there, Perkins said, although May viewership as a whole is usually higher than other months.
It's one of four times a year when stations nationwide use audience measures collected by Nielsen Media Research to determine how much they charge for advertising. Networks...