Upheaval in the financial markets, a meltdown in the real estate industry and ever-increasing commodity prices are wreaking havoc on investor confidence but continue to be good news for CNBC's "Closing Bell."

Over the past year, "Closing Bell," the anchor of CNBC's daily financial programming, has seen a 24% increase in viewers. It's added to its stable of financial industry advertisers with clients such as A.G. Edwards, AIG, AXA and French bank BNP Paribas, which bought ads both on the U.S. and European versions of "Closing Bell."

BMW last month chose CNBC, including "Closing Bell," to break a very targeted campaign for its X6 crossover car. In a first-ever for "Closing Bell," an X6 zipped across the top of the screen during the program, atop the running stock ticker, just before a commercial break that included an X6 spot.

Robert Foothorap, head of sales at CNBC, is exploring similar novel opportunities with other clients. In a complex marketplace with a huge appetite for live financial news coverage and analysis, selling ad time on "Closing Bell" isn't difficult, he said.

	'Closing Bell' Phone: (201) 735-3000 URL: www.cnbc.com Audience: 400,000 daily Ad revenue: N/A Ad rate: N/A
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"A lot of it sells itself," Foothorap said. "It is one of the strongest brands we have on the network, and people recognize it.

"Think of it as the postgame. It's like tuning in to a basketball game in the fourth quarter. You can get a lot of what's going on throughout the day."

In making purchases for its financial clients, Doremus includes "Closing Bell" in the buy because of its time slot during the last hour of the trading day and its ability to reach an upscale audience, said Dolores Marsh, the agency's director of broadcast.

Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research for Media-Com, favors the show for much the same reason. "When you're trying to reach the ever-so-elusive C-suite, that's where you try to find them," he said. "Nielsen has trouble finding a lot of these people. They're very elusive. They watch very little television. Just about every advertiser trying to advertise to that [demographic], they know they're going to be delivered in this particular environment."

Foothorap credits co-host Maria Bartiromo with the show's continued success because of her name recognition and her ability to help translate the day's news.

"Maria Bartiromo is one of the most recognized journalists around," he said. "A lot of people tune in to "Closing Bell" and listen to Maria to hear her interpret what the CEOs are saying, what the markets are saying."

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