Broadcast TV: Still the medium of choice

With a stronger-than-expected upfront and the most promising crop of fall shows in several years, broadcast television once again topped buyers' list of must-have media in 2011.

Though ratings continue to fall for the Big Five networks and scatter pricing was somewhat lower to end the year, 2012 looks promising as well. Next year the Olympics and presidential election will bring a flood of money to broadcast at both the national and local levels. While the Big Five admittedly have programming issues to address, their strength remains the ability to deliver a gigantic audience in a way no other medium can match, as the record-setting Super Bowls have proven the past two seasons. "I think the overarching goal of broadcast network programming is unchanged: to produce the kind of 'event programming' that plays to the medium’s strength," says David Scardino, entertainment specialist at RPA. "It may be that that goal is not often attained, but it surely remains paramount."