Pre-emption / Pre-emptible

Pre-emption is the station's right to bump an advertiser whose buy was sold as pre-emptible. Pre-emptible inventory trades at a discount precisely because the advertiser accepts the risk of being displaced if a higher-paying buyer shows up. Some inventory is sold 'two-week pre-emptible', meaning it can be bumped with two weeks' notice; other tiers offer shorter or longer protection windows.

Advertisers who value budget efficiency over placement certainty choose pre-emptible inventory to stretch their spend. Advertisers running time-critical promotions pay up for Fixed Position protection. The station balances the mix to maximize yield: selling pre-emptible at 70–80 percent of fixed rates, then periodically pre-empting to capture premium sales without losing the discount buyer for good.