CBS 8 News in San Diego totally sells-out...film at 11.
In a bold move some (like the always greedy Fox 6 News) may loudly proclaim "GENIUS!" Channel 8 (AKA KFMB-TV or CBS 8 News) in San Diego has discovered a valuable piece of advertising real estate right there on your TV screen. The station, evidently so desperate for money it'll slap your logo up for the duration of its newscast, has staked out the crawl barrier at the bottom left of the screen as ad space. Most news stations, in an effort to present as much info as possible--for better or worse--during their newscasts, have utilized lower third information "crawls" for years now. Channel 8 has added a little barrier on both their standard and HD formats that allows the text to slide behind a box as it makes its way off-screen. On that little blue box they've added ad space, and there sits the logo for TOYOTA EL CAJON.
Does it work? Damn straight it does! I'm writing about it right now. But I'm writing about it for a totally different reason. Yep, it's obnoxious, and as usual with a TV station when the sales department persuades the news department "THIS IS A GOOD THING FOR US," it isn't. What happens when the lead story is a high-speed chase on the I-5 and the car they're chasing is a Toyota?
But Channel 8 has clearly latched onto something here, and I'd like to suggest they go a step or two further. First off, you have all that additional space in HD. Slap company logos around the giant screen behind the anchors! Secondly, adopt NASCAR-style jumpsuits for all on-air talent. Sure, this will only work from about the mid-chest up, but start small, then work into a set that has the anchors standing. I'd love to see a nice STP oval on Barbara-Lee's chest, or a big SUNOCO on Stan Miller's shoulder. And the weather guy? Every time he turns around, TARGET and the familiar red circle logo. ON. HIS. BACK. It's perfect ad placement.
Here's the lesson all news directors and station managers forget: News should be separate and distinct from the sales department. The minute you slap a sales-generated logo on your newscast--and keep it up there for 60 whole minutes--you abdicate all autonomy. You've reduced what should be a sacred trust between you and your viewers to a really chintzy dollar amount. Make no mistake about it: EVERY TV station is a business, but news should remain above that concept. That logo space reserved for a sales client represents one and only one thing: your news is for sale and exists solely as an advertising vehicle to make money for your station. How am I as a viewer supposed to trust you to be fair and impartial in your news coverage?
Coming this fall: The San Diego wildfires brought to you by Toyota El Cajon!
PS--The logo was missing from their 6:30pm broadcast, making this probably either a show-by-show sponsorship deal, or a bold new experiment to see if anyone would actually notice.



