News
CBS Films hands $100 mil. in ad buys to MPG
By Robert Marich
Feb. 7, 2009 – Newly-minted CBS Films appointed MPG – the unit of global advertising giant Havas -- as its media buying agency to handle $100 million in annual advertising purchases for its projected 4-6 mid-size movie releases a year. The mid-sized films will have budgets upwards of $50 million, which is $20 million below the major-studio average.
The choice raised some eyebrows because CBS Films passed over OMD, which is the Omnicom ad agency that a few months ago took a $135 million account for the film company’s sister outfits Showtime and CBS Television. OMD and Aegis’ Carat were also finalists for the CBS Films assignment.
Major movie studios typically demand their media buyers handle no other competitors, but independents – such as CBS Films -- tend to flock to specialists, particularly Santa Monica-CA-based Palisades Media. MPG has no other film accounts, though some of its staff has film marketing experience.
CBS Films will put its parent company into the business of making theatricals, whose ancillary rights will be fed to Showtime premium pay channels (that are without first-run movie-studio films) and CBS Television. At the end of 2005, CBS Films’ parent separated from Viacom, which owns Paramount Pictures whose ad buying is handled by Mediaedge: CIA, which is the WPP ad agency.
Theatrical film distributors spend nearly $4 billion a year for advertising to support their theatrical releases, according to Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition.
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