Scaling Local Production? Fisher and SpotMixer Boost Video Creation Opportunities for Local Advertisers in Seattle and Bakersfield

While this news has been out for a little while, we thought it was interesting that a company with powerful TV assets would initiate a deal with a company that provides high-quality, affordable video commercial content for local advertisers. After all, isn’t this what TV has been doing since the ’40s. What gives?

Anyone who’s ever sold or sold against TV operators knows the costs of commercial production can be a deal killer. TV sales executives try their hardest to find ways to bury the costs of production in their schedules, but that doesn’t always work. Other media reps also understand the process and sell against TV by scaring local advertisers about those production costs. It’s been going on forever. 

So, what’s new? TV stations are now involved in many more multiplatform selling opportunities than ever, and Fisher Communications is no exception. Video is a critical and highly seductive element in the minds of most advertisers and an enormously effective advertising tool whether used on air or online. Simply put, local production houses are not equipped to scale to meet the new demand for on-air and online video. The turnaround time and costs associated with doing local production are burdens for both the station and advertiser. The Fisher deal with SpotMixer allows their sales teams to put commercials together on their connected devices right in the showroom of the advertiser, if needed. 

For years, newspaper and radio reps have always been instructed about the power of the spec ad to close a deal. With this arrangement, TV and online reps working for Fisher have the same power at their disposal without costing the station thousands of dollars in time and effort, while providing a video that any business owner would be pleased to have carry his or her brand and identity.

Further, this lower cost option allows Fisher to extend the power of video to a lot of smaller local clients that might have had “video envy” over the years. Other local media companies have also been tying up with video providers over the past few years, but this is clearly local TV’s space to defend.