Sign of Airline Desperation: In Flight Air Time for Sale

Get a load of this e-mail I received from a CNN affiliate selling air time on American Airlines flights. And consider further that this was sent to my day-job e-mail address, which is, to put it mildly, not very easy to find (ie, I don’t subscribe to small business or consulting publications that would put my business on any sort of mailing list). The creativity in monetizing airline services knows no bounds.

Now it isn’t clear how the economics work (as in who gets what), but one might assume that the marketing and production costs are borne by CNN and American gets paid a set rate for its airtime (if I were American, that’s the deal I’d want)

The punch line is at the very end:

I’m contacting you on behalf of Sky Radio and Video Network and I’m pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with CNN Airport Network.

For the month of December, we will be producing our Best of Breed: Industry Innovators segment, which will be broadcast exclusively throughout the CNN Airport Network and on the American Airlines “Business and Technology Report” In-Flight Radio Channel. This program focuses on innovative companies, both large and small, from a variety of industries.

We invite you to participate and share your story with our captive audience of millions of executive business travelers — decision makers, early adopters, and influencers with a high household income. Our production team will produce a one-on-one radio interview to air on American Airlines and the content will be extended in a video commercial to air on the CNN Airport Network.

CNN’s Airport network has a total audience of nearly 16 million viewers per month with an average household income of $104,157. Our video programs play at 43 of the busiest airports and 2,000 of the busiest gates in the United States during the CNN broadcast. To view a sample clip, visit http://www.skyradionet.com/tvother.cfm.

The audio interviews play on 29,000 audio-equipped American Airlines worldwide flights reaching approximately 4.2 million travelers during December 2008. To hear recent audio interviews, click on http://www.skyradionet.com/americanbiz.cfm.

Your participation includes:

1. Production/placement of 2+ minute interview to air worldwide throughout December 2008 on 29,000 American Airlines flights reaching 4.2 million.
2. Program listing in American’s ON in-flight publication (176,000 monthly copies).
3. Production/placement of a 30-second commercial to air once daily Monday, Wednesday and Friday during prime time 5pm-8pm on the CNN Airport Network for 4 consecutive weeks.
4. Production of CNN commercial includes using still photos, logos, graphics and voice over talent and any existing b-roll footage you may have.
5. Rebroadcast on www.skyradionet.com with hotlink to your website for one year.
6. Re-usage rights for promotional purposes.
7. Right to use “As heard on… ” logos for airing on your site.
8. All production including scripting, recording, editing, mastering and delivery.
9. Introductory special rate for all of the above: $6,995

Space is limited and our recording deadline is September 17th.

Please call or email me if you’re interested or have any questions.