Last Weeks at Fox

(BBA, Fox Broadcasting)

Hey, it's Alyssa Fried, and this is a sad post for me. I only have one week left as an intern at Fox. Although my internship was short, about only six or seven weeks in length, I learned more working for Fox Broadcasting than I have at any other job that I have held in the past.

This week I traveled to a local ad agency with interns who work for Fox Cable. Tuesday we learned about media buying and today (Wednesday) we learned about media planning. Both were extremely interesting, but I was most intrigued by the presentation on media buying. The buyer who was presenting discussed his company's strategies and what they expect from the cable networks that they are buying spots from. This was so interesting to me because this was the other side of all the deals I had been watching my supervisors make in the past weeks. It was great to see both sides of the deal and really understand what each side wants. I think it is beneficial to know what each side is looking for because both the advertiser and the cable network want very specific thing for their company. To have a greater understanding of both sides would be very beneficial for everyone.

I am now very interested in these aspects of business. As I discussed with my supervisor today, this can be an 'exciting' side to finance because it deals with television and entertainment. Not only do you have to be able to create extremely detailed excel spreadsheets with various calculations, but you also have to be very familiar with the television shows that you are selling commercial spots for. You have to know who is watching them, and what types of products should be advertised in the commercial breaks during these shows.

This week I also learned a lot about what sort of information Nielsen sends out, and how this information is important for Fox Broadcasting. What many people don't realize is that there is a lot that goes on behind deciding what commercials should be broadcast in each television show, and where they should be placed.

What I have observed about Fox Broadcasting is that although there are many divisions on my floor, and even parts of our division that are located in Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles, everyone is connected. Everyone works together between divisions to make successful deals for the company and the clients. People from the sales department go to the research department and the sales planning department, and the revenue analysis department and then go to the finance department in Los Angeles, and then it all comes back around. It seems seamless. Everyone has their individual job and part in putting on television what the consumer wants to see and potentially, buy.

This is an industry and a company that I can see myself working for in the future, and I am sad to see my internship end.