AD BUYERS PAYING NETWORK PRICES FOR CONAN

Some advertisers are already signing on to Team CoCo, reportedly agreeing to spend as much on Conan O’Brien’s upcoming late-night show on TBS as they did when he was hosting the Tonight show, trade reports said today (Friday). “Since the news about Conan’s TBS agreement came out, there has been strong demand and interest in the show. We are having very active conversations and a number of advertisers have already agreed to be partners with us come this fall,” Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting, which owns the channel, said in a statement Thursday. The New York Post reported that initially Turner had priced ad availabilities on O’Brien’s show 20 percent higher than what they were when he was hosting Tonight. It quoted one ad buyer as remarking, “It’s insanity.” But Advertising Age suggested that those increases may have been a negotiating ploy. “Putting the price increases in play may be an attempt to ensure the new late-night show stays close to Tonight standards,” it said.