Kids’ Upfront Under Way in the Nick of Time
Cable Network, Starcom USA Get Things Started
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 6/21/2007 1:16:00 PM
While broadcast activity is wrapping up and cable is gearing up for its time in the Madison Avenue bazaar, Nickelodeon and Starcom USA took the lid off the kids’ upfront market.
Anchored in programming ratings, the media buy extends to a number of Starcom kids’ clients on both Nickelodeon and Nicktoons, according to Jim Perry, executive vice president of 360 Brand Sales at Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids and Family Group.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, also encompasses a host of other platforms, including video-on-demand, Nick.com, Neopets, Shockwave, Addicting Games and Nickelodeon Magazine
While many of the upfront broadcast deals have been centered on live-plus-three commercial-ratings metrics, Perry said Starcom -- which, earlier this week, cut a wide-ranging upfront pact with Discovery Communications based on minute-by-minute metric -- employed research that showed that quarterly (program) ratings were a better representation for its clients involved with Nick.
Sister service MTV is among the cable networks that want to do their upfront business via programming ratings -- the metric that has been the industry’s standard currency.
The Nick/Starcom agreement, though, does call for the groups to partner on research projects in 2007-08 that will better gauge kids’ interactions with the changing media landscape and the how the dynamics tied to integrated media, online advertising and commercial ratings differ for the kids’ audience. A separate study will examine minute-by-minute data within this market sector.
“Our agency is focused on finding the right media partners to collaboratively develop specialized deals that will paint an accurate picture of audience viewing behaviors,” Starcom USA president and chief activation officer Chris Boothe said in a prepared statement. “Our partnership with Nickelodeon is an exciting one because it encompasses an unprecedented look at their audience for all parties involved; multiplatform integration that allows our clients to attach to quality content where it matters most; and the tremendous respect for kid viewers that is a hallmark of Nickelodeon.”
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