Nightly Business Report loses sponsor

Andrew Hampp of Advertising Age reports Wednesday that “Nightly Business Report” on PBS has lost A.G. Edwards as a sponsor after 20 years because it was bought by Wachovia.

Hampp wrote, “Investment firm Franklin Templeton Investments, San Mateo, Calif., however, has renewed its 17-year sponsorship of the program through 2011.

“Stuart Zuckerman, VP-sales and marketing for ‘Nightly Business Report,’ said the program has traditionally sold four sponsorship slots, as PBS sets aside 60 seconds for sponsorship identification at the beginning and end of each program. Recently, the ad format has become more flexible, allowing marketers to run 30-second spots before or after the show or divide their ad time into two 15-second spots at the program’s bookends.

“Filling the position left open by A.G. Edwards, however, will not be easy for Mr. Zuckerman in the increasingly converged financial-services market; finding another banker that doesn’t have a branch that competes with Franklin Templeton is no small feat. Bank of America, for example, wouldn’t be eligible because it owns private-wealth firm U.S. Trust. ‘All those companies are trying to be all things to many people,’ Mr. Zuckerman said.”

Read more here.