CASBAA TV Upfront line-up announced

CASBAA, in association with Campaign Asia Pacific, is to stage its inaugural TV Upfront – The Singapore Screenings on 13 December at the Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore. A half-day networking and preview experience for media buyers, agency heads and clients and led by the Asia TV Advertising Coalition (ATAC), the invitation-only presentations will promote pay-TV as an effective promotional tool for companies looking to maximise marketing budgets. Marcel Fenez, chairman of CASBAA, said: “The objective is to promote the multi-channel TV industry as a single dynamic entity. With the region’s multinational broadcasters presenting their upcoming programming for 1H 2012, there has never been a better opportunity to show media buyers the advantages of pay-TV advertising.” Participating networks will include Discovery Networks Asia, Fox International Channels, NBCUniversal, Bloomberg, A+E Networks, MTV Asia, Sony Pictures Television Entertainment and Turner International through special screenings of their most compelling upcoming programming for the next season. Special guest speakers Andy Wilson, chairman of Asia Planning Council, BBDO/Proximity will present a strategic overview of the industry to attendees and Brian Fisher, Caltex Global brand manager, Chevron International will offer a case study on the creativity and effectiveness of using pay-TV. With multi-channel TV now in more than 50% of TV homes across Asia, the power of pay-TV is amplified through new research commissioned by CASBAA from Universal McCann. Based on a notional regional advertising budget of just US$1.5m, new data demonstrates that investing progressively more on pay-TV and less on free-to-air (FTA) yields improved ROI for clients.  The findings show that an advertising message will be viewed by more people when the share of investment on pay-TV increases versus FTA. “With multi-channel TV's fast rising penetration in Asia, it can no longer be considered a niche platform but a valuable marketing tool garnering the greatest reach and efficiency for advertisers,” added Fenez.