Upcoming Special Event Promotions

[rkolsen 1684]

Yesterday I noticed that my local NBC station, WBAL-TV) started airing a promotion that featured upcoming special event broadcasts that they or the network has rights to. Some of the events listed are occurring this year such as The Belmont Stakes, The Baltimore Marathon, The Star Spangled Sailabration (which is a boat/airshow of sorts and special that is planned to commemorate the bicentennial of the Star Spangled Banner) and the Ravens Preseason Games (in past years they had the rights to all primetime broadcasts but since CBS got Thursday Night Football it is limited to only NBC Sunday Night Football and Monday Night simulcasts from ESPN). But what surprised me most was the fact that they were promoting next years Superbowl and the 2016 Rio Olympics events which are eight months and two years away respectively.

 

In the past they would make promotions like this that would only feature events that occur in the near future like in January they heavily promoted the Olympics, the new Tonight Show and Late Night. I would understand if they wanted to promote the Superbowl in August or September to advertise it as part of upcoming television season but now its eight months away.

 

I almost believe their reason for airing this promos is for it to act as a mini Upfront presentation to tell prospective advertisers "you better start planning now" if you want to get the best available local spots during these high profile events. I could also categorize this as a organizational "resume tape" to show why the station is so special and to stand out from the other TV stations to show the work they've done in the past and planning on improving in the future. Furthermore because there are no specific times of future broadcast makes me think the third reason is just to raise awareness.

 

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My question to all of you is do your local affiliates air these types of promotions? If so do you have any examples. And is it wrong for me to think that the primary target audience is for perspective advertisers rather than the at home viewer? I have noticed that no other stations in Baltimore do this type of advertising - if they want to promote an upcoming event they just air a regular promotion provided by the network rather than a demo reel of sorts.

[ns8401 941]

Pretty standard promotion, here in Detroit of our three stations WDIV would be the most likely to do that.

[sanewsguy 511]

I know that stations usually put together a sales video for advertisers and will share it with them in a consultation meeting. No reason for them to do it on the air.

[rkolsen 1684]

 

I know that stations usually put together a sales video for advertisers and will share it with them in a consultation meeting. No reason for them to do it on the air.

 

That's basically my point. They have uploaded videos like this in the past solely for advertisers online and this one is almost the same save for different footage.