ESPN: Advertisers Double Down While Wall St. Questions

MyersBizNet has also issued its 2016 advertising forecast, projecting strong 2016 growth for both broadcast and cable. An average 64% of agency and advertiser executives who do business with ESPN rated the network as market leader or achiever in seven performance categories, with Turner Sports, CBS Sports and NBCU Sports also generating positive feedback from more than 50% of respondents. ESPN's positive ratings ranked #1 among all 71 broadcast and cable network organizations included in the MyersBizNet survey.

Eighty-percent of advertising executives are highly satisfied with the audience reach generated by ESPN, making the argument that audience shifts to alternate viewing platforms has not impacted the ESPN networks' value among advertisers. Reinforcing marketplace acceptance of ESPN's value proposition, 74% of ad execs agree that ESPN's "engaging content justifies premium pricing."

In achieving its top rank, ESPN Customer Marketing & Sales ranked first in six of the seven measured attributes:

• Quality of Audience Demos Justifies Premium Pricing
• Engaging Content Justifies Premium Pricing
• Provides Innovative & Creative Opportunities: Viacom Music & Entertainment Marketing
• Provides Advanced Research & Data Intelligence:Viacom Music & Entertainment Marketing
• Delivers Large Audience Reach: ABC-TV
• Offers Valuable Digital & Marketing Opportunities: Turner Emerging Consumers

Turner Sports was the top ranked network organization for Quality Sales Team & Customer Service, with ESPN third ranked and CBS Sportssecond.Also included in the MyersBizNet Sports Report are NBCU Live, Fox Networks Sports, Home Team Sports, Yahoo Sports and Tennis Channel. ESPN's success in transforming the company to multi-platform distribution is reflected by its significant lead over Yahoo Sports in "offering advertisers valuable digital and marketing opportunities."

Yahoo Sports ranks third among the eight sports TV/video organizations for "providing innovative and creative opportunities" and second for "providing advanced research support and data intelligence."

A total of 75 organizations were included in the study, with more than 600 agency and advertiser executives responding.

The MyersBizNet Sports Report is one of five based on the survey of 613 agency and advertiser executives. Additional reports cover 25 Broadcast and Leading Cable Entertainment Networks, 25 Specialty Television & Video Organizations, nine Hispanic Television Organizations, and nine News Television & Video Organizations. MyersBizNet's basic reports with topline results have been delivered to underwriting companies, along with reports providing in-depth results incorporating rankings among 22 individual respondent groups (responsibility, geographic location, demographic targets, industry category and respondent gender). Custom analytics and strategic recommendations are being provided in personal meetings with Jack Myers that are now being scheduled. Premium underwriters may contact Maryann Teller at maryann@myersbiznet.com to confirm scheduling.

SOURCE: MyersBizNet TomorrowToday 2016 Survey of Agency & Advertiser Perceptions. 24 Broadcast & Leading Entertainment Television Sales Organizations. Survey conducted online in November/December 2016. 619 respondents. Detailed methodology has been provided to underwriting companies. Organizations are rated on a 1-5 scale for each performance attribute only by respondents who self-identify as having a business relationship with the organization.