Spring training is already underway, which means the 2014 Major League Baseball season is almost upon us. The New York Metropolitan area boasts two teams with fan bases among the league’s largest. The New York Yankees and New York Mets both have captivating story lines that are sure to attract millions of viewers throughout the season. The Yankees have a cast of newcomers who hope to get team captain Derek Jeter one last championship ring in his final season of play. The Mets hope rising homegrown stars, such as Zack Wheeler, will combine with established veterans, such as David Wright and Curtis Granderson, to get the team back into the postseason for the first time since 2006. The baseball season is a long one, which provides attorneys with ample opportunity to reach large audiences with their advertisements.

Cablevision is offering two advertising packages to be broadcast over both the Yankees and Mets television networks, starting on March 31st. The Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network is a premier sports and entertainment television network featuring the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees. SportsNet New York (SNY) is New York’s 24/7 regional sports and entertainment television network featuring regular-season New York Mets telecasts.

The “Grand Slam” package offers a total of 1,360 television spots for a 15- or 22-week buy. Advertisers will be given promos during live broadcasts for 80 Yankees games and 80 Mets games, as well as 300 cross-channel Yankee or Met promos to be aired between 9:00 a.m. and midnight. In addition to the promos, companies will also be given 900 additional spots to be aired over a twenty-week period on five networks of choice. Prices for the “Grand Slam” package start at $14,475 for the Riverhead zone, $18,355 for the Brookhaven zone, $18,395 for the Huntington zone, $19,295 for the Babylon zone, $43,795 for the Hauppauge zone, $28,095 for the North Nassau zone, and $57,515 for the South Nassau zone.

The “Triple Play” package offers a total of 680 television spots for an eight- to 12-week buy. Companies will be given promos during live broadcasts for 40 Yankees games and 40 Mets games, as well as 150 cross-channel Yankee or Met promos to be aired between 9:00 a.m. and midnight. In addition to the promos, companies will also be given 450 additional spots to be aired over a ten-week period on five networks of choice. Prices for the “Triple Play” package start at $7,575 for the Riverhead zone, $9,705 for the Brookhaven zone, $9,725 for the Huntington zone, $10,175 for the Babylon zone, $22,985 for the Hauppauge zone, $14,905 for the North Nassau zone, and $26,945 for the South Nassau zone.

PR4Lawyers is ready to help law firms advertise (while strictly following New York’s attorney advertising rules).  If your firm is interested in placing an advertisement , producing or licensing a video or learning more about advertising opportunities available to attorneys, please contact PR4Lawyers at 1-866-PR4Lawyers or email: kerri@theprmg.com.

Starting in April 2014, Facebook will no longer support “Sponsored Stories,” a part of their Facebook Advertising options.  Previously, sponsored stories were auto-created ads that leveraged users’ activity (connected to a brand) and displayed this activity to the users’ friends.  Rather than showing in the right-hand column with the standard ads, sponsored stories were displayed within a user’s news feed. Now, the social context that was previously included with sponsored stories will be automatically included in all Facebook ads.

In addition to the standard Facebook display ads, advertisers will still be able to run “Page Post Ads/Boosted Posts.” Boosted posts expand the reach of a page’s posts (status updates, shared links, events, videos, questions, or offers) to reach a larger audience.  These boosted posts can be done on a post-by-post basis for a single day or multiple days. Facebook is also improving its targeting options by allowing advertisers to more precisely target only a cross-section of your target audience.  For example, instead of advertising to moms or people who like dogs, you can target “moms who like dogs.” The criteria for Facebook’s advertising targeting includes:

• Geographic location
• Demographics
• Interests/likes
• Behaviors

With this strict criteria, Facebook advertisers are able to more precisely target their audience and should see a better return on their advertising investment (even though it will remain a fairly cheap advertising platform). For more information, or for help setting up a Facebook advertising campaign, please contact aimee@pr4lawyers.com or call 1-866-PR4Lawyers.