Ad Clutter Fear Prompts Solo Sponsorships

This week's edition of the CBS current-affairs program will run longer news segments, and fewer ads, as a result of an unusual sponsorship deal with Philips Electronics. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Amsterdam-based consumer electronics company says it is paying about $2 million to be the sole national sponsor of the program. Aside from spots promoting CBS's coming shows, and local ads sold by CBS stations, only Philips ads will appear on the show.

"There is more content, and less clutter," says Jeff Fager, executive producer of "60 Minutes."

The deal is the latest example of an advertiser aligning itself with a specific media outlet to get consumer attention. Over the summer, Target bought up all the ad pages in one issue of Condé Nast Publications' the New Yorker magazine. Ford Motor, for a number of years, sponsored commercial-free season debuts of "24" on News Corp.'s Fox.

Advertisers used to plaster the same commercial across many TV channels and the same print ad in major publications. But as audiences have fragmented among television, the Internet and other media, advertisers are getting more choosy. When they find a media property that attracts a desirable crowd, "there is more appetite to dominate" than in the past, says Charlie Rutman, chief executive of MPG North America, a Havas media-buying firm.