Taking TV time: WorldLink books media slots for broadcasting of infomercials.AMERICA'S Infomercial queen has never hawked a miracle skin cream or sculpted sculpt v. sculpt·ed, sculpt·ing, sculpts v.tr. 1. To sculpture (an object). 2. To shape, mold, or fashion especially with artistry or precision: an ab and rarely appears on TV. Instead, Toni Erickson Knight ascended to her throne by selling direct-response airtime to more than 250 domestic and foreign broadcasters, cable networks and syndicators as well as to satellite giant DirecTV. In the past year, her WorldLink LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control also has established a major beachhead beach·head n. 1. A position on an enemy shoreline captured by troops in advance of an invading force. 2. A first achievement that opens the way for further developments; a foothold: in radio and is moving into such emerging platforms as broadband and wireless. Knight's WorldLink acts as the intermediary between ad agencies that represent infomercials and the networks that air them. That way, the ad agencies don't have to spend a good deal of time building relationships with the broadcasters to book numerous infomercials. What was launched as a niche time-placement firm nine years ago has grown into a $100 million per year business. The marketplace seems right for WorldLink. In a media frontier exploding with nascent platforms, one of the hottest commodities on Madison Avenue Madison Avenue, celebrated street of Manhattan, borough of New York City. It runs from Madison Square (23d St.) to the Madison Bridge over the Harlem River (138th St.). In the 1940s and 50s, some of the major U.S. is accountability--the ability to measure viewership and consumer engagement. Direct-response advertising, once viewed as a lower form of advertising life, has taken on a new level of credibility because the advertiser knows immediately how effective the ad is by the number of calls it generates from viewers. "It's all about return on investment," Knight said. "The reason it's become so popular is that it is measurable and accountable. So many businesses are now demanding quantifiable measures of how effective their ad campaigns are. Well, direct response is built for that. You can see who you are reaching, and fast." WorldLink sells far more than ThighMaster. The firm offers accounting, marketing, research, technology support and database information analysis to their advertisers. That diversification has enabled Knight's company to expand from four employees to nearly 75, and propel gross revenues from about $100 million in 2003 to a projected $150 million in 2006. Late last year WorldLink entered the radio market, starting with about 1,500 U.S. stations. In a bid to lure national advertisers, WorldLink formed a partnership with Interep National Radio Sales Inc., a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of sales and marketing company that is parent to radio representation firms ABC Radio ABC Radio is a broadcasting unit of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation.[1] ABC Radio was, from 1945 until 2007, the division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) focused on AM radio and FM radio broadcasting. Sales, D&R Radio and Infinity Radio Sales, each of which handles groups of stations. The simplicity of direct-response advertising should serve WorldLink well in the future, Knight said. "We are in a great position to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. the changing media landscape and new technological advancements." Already working on ways to tackle the potential challenges and opportunities presented by podcast and video-on-demand technology, WorldLink is exploring "embedded" ads--those that can't be skipped or fast-forwarded by TiVo-equipped viewers. "As some of the new media platforms learn the value of (direct response) and more advertisers experience the return on investment that this kind of advertising provides, we will further diversify our media representation," she said. Sports roots Knight started college at South Dakota South Dakota (dəkō`tə), state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). State but transferred to USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. after two years to complete her B.A. in broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism refers to television news and radio news, as well as the online news outlets of broadcast affiliates. . After graduating, she went to work in local television, starting on the news side but eventually joining KABC KABC Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children to work in sales, departing when some colleagues left the station to form Prime Ticket cable sports network. Knight spent eight years at Liberty Sports, Prime Sports West, Prime Ticket Network and eventually at Fox Sports Net, after News Corp acquired the networks. Her career in infomercials began over the phone. While working at Prime Ticket, she got a call from an ad agency rep who wanted to buy a direct response slot on the network. The call piqued Knight's interest and, after booking a few similar ads, she saw untapped potential and began to specialize in selling direct response ads. "That was the trigger. And I thought: Maybe there's a business here," she said. When Fox decided to focus more on original programming, cutting the amount of available ad time, it provided the impetus for Knight to strike out on her own. She spun off her own business and created WorldLink. She leased space in the same Fox building on Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. Boulevard where she worked for years and brought four employees on board. By the end of her first year in business, Knight had signed all 23 of Fox's regional cable sports networks as clients. "I wanted to maximize the client base by starting with network television," Knight said. "It was a great way to get on the map and it allowed me to move on to different media platforms." The first broadcast station to team up with WorldLink was L.A.'s KCAL kcal kilocalorie. kcal abbr. kilocalorie kcal kilocalorie. . With that as a springboard, she built a roster of network and cable clients. In 1998, Knight decided it was time to take WorldLink global. She inked her first international deal with Fox Sports en Espanol, a move that allowed WorldLink to take a quantum leap quantum leap n. An abrupt change or step, especially in method, information, or knowledge: "War was going to take a quantum leap; it would never be the same" Garry Wills. in terms of volume. "We wanted to grow our global media sales," Knight said. "We could go to ad agencies and be a one-stop shop One-Stop Shop A company or a location that offers a multitude of services to a client or a customer. The idea is to provide convenient and efficient service and also to create the opportunity for the company to sell more products to clients and customers. for network, cable and international ad time. There was nobody else in that market." The diversification strategy helped WorldLink during lean economic years, enabling the company to turn to other media and markets when advertisers were cutting back in U.S. cable advertising. Having clients in far-flung sites like Shanghai, Beijing and Budapest provided the opportunity for a young woman from Burnsville, Minn., to see the world for the first time, too. "It made me grow up," she said. "It's one thing to be in a meeting and pitch in your own language and know that people will understand. It's completely another to do it in another country with different customs and nuances, or a culture that is not too positive on women." It also allowed WorldLink to break into Hispanic media. Capitalizing on early success, WorldLink has become the largest independent firm serving the Hispanic market, with CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. en Espanol and DirecTV Para Todos as key clients. Family business In addition to international adventures, Knight's work also brought her together with her husband, Tony Vinciquerra, who is president and chief executive of the Fox Networks Group. The two met when Knight was pitching to the syndication company Hearst-Argyle Television Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., is a broadcasting company in the United States. Hearst-Argyle is majority-owned by the New York City-based Hearst Corporation, and holds joint ventures in television production with NBC Universal Television Distribution, has an Internet partnership Inc., where Vinciquerra served as executive vice president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. . The two dated cross-country for a few years (and endured the "Toni-and-Tony" jokes) until Vinciquerra moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to accept his current position at Fox. "I didn't get the business, but I got the guy," Knight laughed. Knight is as involved with running the business as ever, but she does some of her work from home now in order to spend time with her husband and the couple's year-old daughter, Sophia. "You always hear how becoming a parent takes away from your freedom, but I think we're so used to being busy that it's been really fun," she said. WorldLink LLC Year founded: 1997 Core Business: Selling direct-response airtime to radio stations and emerging media platforms, as well as domestic and foreign TV broadcasters and cable networks 2004 Revenues: $120 million 2005 Revenues: $135 million 2004 Employees: 65 2005 Employees: 75 Goal: To grow the company by exploiting new media markets such as wireless and broadband Driving force: Companies looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. measurable advertising in various media |
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