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THE NETWORK PRIME-TIME scatter market continues to be hot in the third quarter, with broadcasters commanding prices on average 50% above levels of the 2001-02 upfront. But tight inventory means big revenue gains will be slim. The bigger issue is how scatter and the specter of upfront cancellations play out in the fourth quarter.
"It's the best market [in terms of pricing] they had in a long time," said Richard Kostyra, presidentCEO of Media First International, a New York media buyer owned by Interpublic Group of Cos. "[But] everyone is virtually out of sale. The real question is the fourth quarter."
Media analysts expect little scatter-market money to materialize in the fourth quarter, which could mean a drop in prices vs. those made in the recently concluded upfront market.
LESS MONEY
The upfront is when advertisers commit to a season's worth of ad time before the fall start of the broadcast season; scatter buying is when advertisers make near-term,...