Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
Fox has expanded its advertising options by partnering with WorldLink?an advertising sales company that is now tasked to handle Fox?s Saturday morning infomercial block.
The two-hour slot titled ?Weekend Marketplace? starts airing January 3. WorldLink will coordinate all infomercial and direct response sales from the block. WorldLink is now in the process of rounding up its list of clients, which will come from familiar brands in the infomercial industry.
The ?Weekend Marketplace? is the first time a network has delegated the wholesale block of infomercials to an advertising agency. WorldLink has announced that it is aiming for untraditional infomercial advertisers in the industry.
?Our goal is to attract quality advertisers and open this up to branded entertainment,? claimed WorldLink CEO Toni Knight. "We’re already talking to agencies and advertisers, and there’s tremendous interest in reaching such mass distribution. But in the very beginning we’re working with established clients that have run paid programming in the past.?
Fox has opted to partner with WorldLink. First and foremost, it is a company that is renowned in the infomercial industry. WorldLink handles numerous infomercial blocks, including conglom?s cablers and several regional sports channels. Secondly, the network decided this is the perfect way to make use of a prior-occupied time slot.
Fox?s executive VP?Jon Hookstratten?is more than happy to welcome WorldLink. Hookstratten said, "We have partnered (with WorldLink) through various divisions of the company on longform sales efforts since 1997. They are the acknowledged leader in direct response programming, and their expertise will benefit us as we move forward on this new initiative."
