Viamedia Unveils Analysis Showing Popularity of World Cup Among Local Advertisers

Team USA Games Prove to be a Winner

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Jul 22, 2014, 09:05 ET

NEW YORK and LEXINGTON, Ky., July 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Viamedia, the television industry's leading independent provider of outsourced local television advertising services on behalf of cable companies, today unveiled analysis illustrating the popularity of the World Cup as an advertising resource for local cable advertisers. In addition, Viamedia found that Team USA games generated the highest revenue for the company and attracted the highest number of advertisers over the course of the tournament.

In an analysis of Viamedia's custom database of local advertisers from June 12^th through July 13^th, the ad sales operator reported that it had over 285 local cable advertisers purchase local commercials during the 64 game series on ESPN, showing the prowess of local cable advertising as a means for small businesses to reach their target audiences. Local advertisers included companies from across the company's 71 DMA footprint from 24 different product categories. Viamedia ran over 22,500 spots on over 90 hours of programming during one of the highest rated sports series in US history on behalf of its customers.

"The findings support the fact that high profile events, such as the World Cup, is a tremendous opportunity to local advertisers," said Mark Lieberman, President and CEO, Viamedia. "Not only can local businesses reach a huge audience, they can co-brand themselves even on the world's largest stage. We were thrilled to see our customers finding extraordinary value in an event that happens once every four years. Leveraging a national arena like the World Cup for local advertising is one of cable's greatest assets."

"Advertising on World Cup offered us the perfect platform to speak directly to our target audience," said Dean Rothrock, Vice President of Rothrock Motor Sales. "By leveraging the tremendous draw of the World Cup's audience, we were able to achieve a much more impactful ROI for our dealership. Our ads got maximum exposure in our key target demographic in the Philadelphia market."

"Local cable advertising during the World Cup was a piece of our overarching strategic marketing plan and an efficient and effective way for us to reach both avid and emerging soccer fans in the local Chicago area," said Mike Ernst, Senior Vice President, Chicago Fire Soccer Club who bought local commercial advertising during the World Cup. "The ability to target our local area was invaluable in promoting our team to a growing group of soccer fans."

Among the advertisements handled by Viamedia over the course of the tournament, the games that attracted the most advertisements were: USA vs. Germany, June 26^th; USA vs. Belgium, July 1st; USA vs. Portugal, June 22^nd; USA vs. Ghana, June 16^th. Based on preliminary Rentrak data, Viamedia estimates that the 4-game U.S. performance achieved a weighted-average U.S. HH rating of 7. And in examining local market ratings for these games, Viamedia found a relationship between ratings performance and local cable market World Cup revenues. For example, the Top 3 revenue markets all exhibited above average Rentrak ratings for the 4 televised U.S. soccer matches. On an index basis versus national levels: Chicago (104); Philadelphia (114); New York (187).

Viamedia delivered local ads to nearly 150 different sales zones across the US. The highest revenue markets for the company were: Chicago; Tampa; Philadelphia; NY; Detroit; Wilkes-Barre; Cincinnati; Evansville; Columbus & Seattle. Viamedia also saw some unique trends among World Cup product category advertisers. The top category spenders were automotive, direct response, sporting / outdoor recreational goods, attorneys / professional services and entertainment/ travel clients.

ABOUT VIAMEDIA
Headquartered in New York, NY, and Lexington, KY, Viamedia is a leading provider of outsourced local advertising sales services. The company specializes in selling market-based advertising to local, regional and national advertisers on behalf of U.S. cable and telecommunications service providers, utility companies and municipalities. For more information on Viamedia, visit www.viamediatv.com.

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SOURCE Viamedia