Portada interviewed Irving Plonskier, Senior Vice President / General Manager of Sony Pictures Television AdSales Latin America, a veteran of the panregional advertising and media sector. This is what he had to say about the current state of the Latin American and Panregional Advertising Markets.
Portada: How has the Panegional advertising sector evolved over the past 15 years?
Irving Plonskier: “If you look back, the core Panregional advertisers were drawn from a very select group—theatrical, technology and business services. They selected panregional as a cost effective way to deliver their message to all markets in a single hit. In the business evolution of Panregional for advertisers, the fact that these few led the way it slowly showed the medium to be effective at communicating to their audience and the cost of entry was low. The fact was, many clients invested in panregional because they couldn’t afford local media. We then had the ‘dot.coms’ utilizing the medium in a major way with success in building brand awareness. Their success in communicating to consumers led more traditional advertisers to reconsider panregional as a complimentary opportunity to their media mix or a new approach that allows a base level of communications to a wide geography. “
Portada: Do you see a trend towards an increase or decrease in Pan Regional advertising buys? Or do you see it stable?
Irving Plonskier:“In terms of panregional I see it being fairly stable in the coming years in terms of its share of business. By being stable, I believe you will see financial growth as I am optimistic about the outlook for the region.”
Portada: In what ad categories do you see most potential for growth?
Irving Plonskier:Today I don’t see a specific category under-utilizing panregional. The decision to buy panregrionally really needs to be driven by a strategic or fundamental business need/opportunity.
Portada: What percentage of Sony Pictures Television Sales are derived panregionally as opposed to locally in Latin America?
Irving Plonskier:“I assume you mean panregional as a buying option. I believe we are very similar to the multinational Pay TV players in that panregional buys are lsomewhere between 15-20% of total Latin American advertising revenues.”
Portada: In our recently published 2010 Panregional Advertising and Media Report we have SPT as selling for the following networks: Animax, AXN, and E! In addition, it is the exclusive representative of A&E, The Biography Channel and The History Channel in Mexico, the Caribbean and Brazil. However, we understand that you sell MGM and NBA also? Can you please confirm and advise if there are any other networks you also represent?
Irving Plonskier: “We have offices in Brazil, Mexico, Panama and the United States. They are based and represent the channels as follows:
Brazil (based in Sao Paulo)
– Sony Pictures Entertainment owned channels: Animax, AXN and Sony Entertainment Television
– A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel, E! Entertainment Television and MGM
Mexico (based in Mexico City)
– Sony Pictures Entertainment owned channels: Animax, AXN and Sony Entertainment Television
– A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel, E! Entertainment Television, MGM and Casa Club
Panama (based in Panama City and covers Central America)
– Sony Pictures Entertainment owned channels: Animax, AXN and Sony Entertainment Television
– A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel, E! Entertainment Television, MGM and Casa Club
United States (LatinAmerica HQ: Miami and office in Los Angeles)
– Sony Pictures Entertainment owned channels: Animax, AXN and Sony Entertainment Television
– A&E, The Biography Channel, The History Channel, E! Entertainment Television, HBO Brazil,MGM and Casa Club
– NBA Latin America”
Portada: How are you expanding your digital presence?
Irving Plonskier: “We have specific sales specialists supporting our sales efforts. Our focus has been on creating customized client-centric solutions which leverages our content capabilities and insights in a unique manner. We are very proud of the initiatives and the fact is that we were recently awarded Portadas top integrated solution for our Sony Ericsson’s Sonic Xperience program that was custom content utilizing a powerful digital component.”
Portada: Do Sony Pictures Television sites belong to a particular online ad network?
Irving Plonskier: “No.”
