In the most candid admission of how downbeat the television ad market is right now, ABC and ESPN parent Walt Disney Co. said it had decided to reduce its reliance on advertising.
On a conference call on Tuesday night, Disney Chief Executive Robert Igeracknowledged that ad spending is growing faster on new media platforms than on traditional outlets. Acknowledging what some ad buyers have been whispering in recent weeks, Mr. Iger said that some ad dollars that was held back from the TV upfront “clearly moved to new platforms.”
Noting that Disney sees “a much more competitive environment out there for advertising,” Mr. Iger said Disney has made a “conscious decision” to reduce its reliance on advertising, which now accounts for “the low 20% range of our total revenue.”
Check out the full article by Suzanne Vranica and Steven Perlberg from the Wall Street Journal here.
