Dive Brief:

• ABC will air the reboot of American Idol next year and while advertising for the show will include the standard sponsors for linear TV, Variety reports ABC is also pitching ads to brands that involve video related to the show distributed digitally when the linear TV show isn’t on the air.
• The digital element is likely a way for ABC to sell new commercials seen by Idol fans watching on mobile devices, speculated Variety. ABC parent company Disney announced last week that advertisers committed 20% more on digital inventory with the Disney/ABC Television Group in this year’s upfronts compared to 2017.
• The innovative ad ideas are an example of ABC thinking about Idol in a different way and driven by social involvement along with carrying storylines from the show throughout the week, Rita Ferro, president of ad sales for Disney/ABC Television Group, told Variety.

Dive Insight:

ABC’s move comes at a time when digital and TV spending are moving in opposite directions. Interpublic Group’s Magna expects mobile ad spending to increase 34.2% to $48 billion this year compared to national TV with its 3% decrease to $43 billion over the same period. Digital ad spending was expected to surpass linear TV this year, and most industry analysts determined that event beat the estimates and happened late last year with mobile significantly driving digital spending.

The emphasis on ad units beyond linear TV from ABC is also the most recent example of traditional TV testing different advertising models to keep pace when ratings are down and many viewers aren’t even watching the content on TV sets. Instead, they are increasingly opting to stream content whenever and wherever they want on a variety of devices. 

Last month, Hallmark Channel announced it was cutting the volume of ads in its primetime original programming with only five to seven minutes of ads during hour-long shows rather than the current 15 minutes. Turner Broadcasting previously made a similar announcement about some TNT cable network shows. Cable network AMC with popular original programs like “The Walking Dead” and “Preacher” announced last week it was offering AMC Premiere, an ad-free subscription add-on for Comcast users that will cost $4.99 per month.