Advertisers Are Turning Up Their Noses at Reality Programming

“Anything that ends up in a hot tub, you don’t want to be around,” said Tom DeCabia, executive vice president of PHD USA, a major ad-buying firm. “Reality is not something that a lot of advertisers are beating down the door to get into.”

That seems to be the prevailing opinion as buyers head towards this year’s upfront. Trouble is, the networks are still cranking out the junk. And on top of that, when buyers and viewers finally give up on trash TV, there isn’t really anything good in the pipeline as a replacement.

What’s a media buyer to do?

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Steve Hall

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