Ad Rates Higher for Online Versions of Popular TV Shows

PCWorld reports that advertising rates for popular television shows such as The Simpsons and CSI are actually higher online than on prime-time TV. According to Bloomberg, ads cost about $60 per thousand viewers for a spot on Hulu or TV.com, but will only cost $20-$40 per thousand viewers on regular televison. What’s causing this change?

PC World explains:

Online viewers have to actively seek out the program they want to watch, so advertisers end up with a guaranteed audience for their commercial every time someone clicks play on Hulu or TV.com. Online programs also have an average of 37 seconds of commercials during an episode, while prime-time TV averages nine minutes of ads.

David Poltrack, chief research officer at New York-based CBS, cited a Neilsen discovery that fewer online ads means viewers are twice as likely to remember a commercial they’ve seen on Hulu than on television, Bloomberg reported.

PC World: “The Simpsons: Worth More on Hulu than Fox”

[via Adam Leibsohn]