Anthony Crupi writes in MediaWeek this morning that Fox News is going after broadcast advertising dollars with a vengeance--and it's not bragging if you can do it:
After four years of touting its dominance of the cable news market, Fox News Channel is heading into this year’s upfront marketplace with its sights locked onto bigger game, aggressively targeting dollars that its ad sales chief believes are his to snatch away from the broadcast networks.
Paul Rittenberg, Fox News senior vp of advertising and market research, said he is particularly focused on grabbing dollars from the morning-news monoliths, touting FNC’s Fox & Friends as a viable alternative to ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today show and CBS’ The Early Show. Rittenberg, who last week returned to New York from Dallas, where FNC has just opened a new regional ad sales office, said a number of factors play into his decision to take on the broadcast morning shows, including Katie Couric’s decampment from Today and Fox & Friends’ uncluttered avails.
“Katie [Couric’s] bailing on Today will probably turn out to be a net loss for the entire morning broadcast marketplace,” Rittenberg predicted. “But I’m not looking for half or even a third of people’s morning budgets. If I can get 10 percent of Today’s $500 million, I’d be a happy man.”
...Thus far, media buyers familiar with Rittenberg’s pitch say it’s a smart play. MPG CEO Charlie Rutman said FNC needn’t limit itself to gunning for its cable rivals. “They can go after every news dollar. Frankly, if I were them, I’d go after the newspaper dollars as well,” Rutman said.
