A+E Claims Five Upfront Deals Based on Performance

During the past upfront, A+E Networks, which offered to guarantees ad campaigns based on their performance, said it made five deals that guaranteed outcomes like store visits or website traffic.

Those deals involve clients in categories including auto and restaurants and are expected to generate more than $15 million in incremental revenue for the company, said Peter Olsen, executive VP of sales for A+E.

Networks traditionally guarantee that a certain number of viewers will see the ads in a campaign.

A+E also said it named Ethan Heftman to run its Precision and Performance ad teams.

“Following up on our promise last Spring, we have seen terrific momentum around our Precision and Performance offerings in the 2018 upfront,” said Olsen. “We have always been confident in the ability of TV advertising to drive business outcomes, and by ramping up the unit we are excited to offer even more outcome-based guarantees to marketers in the coming year.”

A+E Performance provides data that measures the performance of an ad campaign through the industry’s Attribution Council, which is led by analytics company Data Plus Math. A+E Precision is the company’s audience-based targeting platform which helps advertisers reach the right consumers.

“A+E Networks has taken a clear leadership position in embracing attribution reporting and truly highlighting the power of TV to drive results for marketers," said John Hoctor, CEO of Data Plus Math. "It has been exciting to help A+E Networks push beyond just reporting on these lift metrics to now providing actual outcome-based guarantees to marketers. As close partners, we're thrilled to be working with A+E Networks to propel the TV advertising industry forward.”

In addition to Data Plus Math, A+E works on delivering attribution analytics with data and research companies including Adobe, Nielsen Catalina, Millward Brown, Axciom and iSpot.tv.

Heftman, who joined A+E in 2013, had been VP, resident and performance advertising sales at A+E Networks.

Before A+E, Heftman worked at media agencies. He was senior VP, director of investment at Initiative; partner, national broadcast at GroupM and supervisor, national broadcast at OMD.

“Ethan has shown incredible leadership ability since joining the company, and by adding him to the talented Precision team we are seeking to drive even more revenue in this area."

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.