Digital TV Facts: The Latest

It’s upfront season, when broadcast and cable TV networks put on a really big show for advertisers in hopes of winning commitments to buy spots on their fall schedules. This “bizarre ritual” is “very old-school,” according to Jon Fine. What’s most bizarre, perhaps, is that the networks’ annual dose of manufactured magic continues to deliver the goods despite ad-skipping TiVo users and the growth of the internet:

If you expect an imminent earthquake in TV spending to shake this year’s upfronts—well, stop. Even though the rites come amid a steady string of digital TV initiatives and the onward march of digital-video-recorder [DVR] use, the nastiest thing people will say about the event is that dollars may drop slightly.

Are advertisers and their agencies lazy, bedazzled or in denial—or does traditional TV still command such reach that its share of the ad spend remains justified?

• Link: BusinessWeek