C3 Impressions Grow, Ad Loads Rise

• by Wayne Friedman, Yesterday, 10:27 AM
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Total commercial TV impressions among 18-49 viewers continue to climb as a result of still-rising commercial advertising loads for most TV networks.

C3 impressions (the average commercial rating plus three days of time-shifted viewing) among 18-49 viewers grew 3.2% in the third quarter of this year over the same period a year ago, according to analysis from Pivotal Research Group.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal commanded the largest C3 share of impressions among 18-49 viewers in September for a TV network group -- 15.1%, the same as the previous year. 

Viacom was next at 14.9%, down from 16%; Time Warner remained the same at 11.6%; Walt Disney slipped to 11.3% from 11.4%; Fox was at 8.3%, down from 8.4%; CBS was at 6.3%; Discovery, 6.2%; Scripps Networks Interactive, 4.8%, and AMC Networks. 2.7%.

In September, total commercial advertising loads grew on average to 10.9 minutes/hour versus 10.7 minutes for September 2015 --  up from 10.5 minutes in September 2014.

Viacom continued to be the leader among all TV network groups for advertising loads: 14.9 minutes of advertising time per hour, up from 14.8 minutes in September 2015. Scripps Network Interactive was next at 13.6 minutes, down from 13.7 minutes.

AMC Networks and Discovery posted the largest gains in advertising time per hour -- to 12.4 minutes (up from 11.8 in September 2015) and 10.0 (up from 9.8) respectively.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Time Warner both remained the same -- at 11.1 minutes and 9.0 minutes, respectively.

Fox was at 10 minutes per hour (up from 9.8 minutes), followed by Disney at 8.3 minutes (from 8.2 minutes); and CBS at 7.3 minutes (from 7.2 minutes).

National Broadcast Political Advertising Spend - Updated Daily

by Philip Rosenstein, October 17, 2016, 12:21 PM Recommend (3) Updated daily, MediaPost now offers a DMA-level overview of Republican, Democratic and nonpartisan broadcast TV spending across the country. As we quickly approach election day, we can assess which markets are most contested and most interesting. Check in daily for updated totals in the country's most active markets. In partnership with Advertising Analytics.

Presented by Advertising Analytics, LLC

Millennials Would Pay For Better TV Program Search

• by Wayne Friedman, 5 hours ago
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Millennials have little patience when they can’t find the TV content they want, and in general, would “pay” for better search.

TiVo says 54% will drop a show they have previously watched because it is too difficult to access content. Millennials -- those born between 1981 and 1995 -- spend 32 minutes a day searching for content.

In contrast, “boomers” -- those born between 1945 and 1964 -- will only dump a TV show 17% of the time. Overall the U.S. average of all TV viewers is 36%.

Research says 55% of U.S. Millennials would “pay” to simply search across all platforms -- 33% for all U.S. consumers and 8% for boomers.

TiVo was recently bought by the company formerly called Rovi Corp., which licenses electronic TV program guides/software for set-top boxes, TVs and other devices.

TiVo says Millennials watch TV and video content, on linear platforms or streaming -- 6.2 hours a day versus an overall average of 5.6 hours. Boomers watch/stream 4.9 hours a day.

The company's research came from a subset of U.S. results via an online survey of 5,500 pay TV and OTT (over the top) subscribers across seven countries worldwide. Some 2,500 interviews were completed in the U.S., and 500 interviews completed in each additional country, including the UK, France, Germany, China, Japan and India.

New IAB Standards Promise Major Ad Shakeup

• by Erik Sass, Staff Writer @eriksass1, October 11, 2016, 4:55 PM
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The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s new formats and standards for ad units will have a major, positive impact on user experience -- helping to stem the tide of ad blocking, according to Jeff Burkett, vice president of advertising innovation at the USA Today Network. He previewed some of the new rules for the audience at MediaPost’s Publishing Insider Summiton Tuesday.

But the process may not be painless for publishers, which face the loss of some of the most common ad units.

The proposed standards --&nb sp;released by the IAB on September 26 and open for public comment until November 28 -- are intended to conform with the IAB’s own guidelines for “LEAN” ads, introduced to head off the ad blocking threat.

The LEAN guidelines call for lightweight, non-intrusive ads with full consumer control.

These standards are embodied in the IAB’s portfolio of proposed ad units, which include display ads and native ads as well as new types of content experiences, such as emoji ads, 360-degree image and video ads, virtual reality ads and augmented reality ads.

In addition to producing a better user experience, the new flexible ad formats are intended to make it easier for publishers and advertisers to deliver ads easily across multiple devices and screen sizes.

One of the main changes is the demise of “countdown” ads, which force consumers to wait a certain amount of time before they can close the ad. Burkett noted that the IAB’s rule means that ads must engage consumer attention right away, adding that this could present some complications for advertisers repurposing TV ads, which are often not designed to be engaging from the first second.

The proposed standards would also ban pop-up ads that appear automatically, as well as fixed-size expansion ads that cover up part of the adjacent editorial content.

Conversely, anchored, user-expandable mobile ads, which the consumer can choose to open or close at will, are acceptable, as are expandable interstitial ads and expandable full-screen ads -- the common element obviously being consumer control.

In addition, “mobile adhesion” banner ads, which follow the text as the user scrolls, are allowed as long as the aspect ratio doesn’t exceed 3:1. Ads that expand automatically while the user is scrolling are acceptable, provided they don’t block content, have a clear way to close them from the beginning of the ad, and don’t automatically shrink again after the user finishes scrolling down, dislocating the content upwards.

Slowdown In Internet Usage Could Change Digital Ad Strategy

• by Wayne Friedman, 8 hours ago

For the first time, total Internet users' minutes has slowed to single-digit percentage gains -- which could signify a major change in the way digital ad media is sold.

Total minutes slowed to 4.23 billion minutes in the second quarter of this year -- a 8% gain from 3.9 billion in the second quarter of 2015, according to MoffettNathanson Research.

Mobile apps contributed 2.6 billion for mobile apps, up from 2.3 billion. The mobile Web was at 379 million (up from 352 million), and desktop minutes were at 1.23 billion, down slightly from 1.27 billion. 

“This is significant because it may very well mark the beginning of the end of a multi-year cycle of mobile-driven volume growth... it begs the question of whether CPM growth may soon take over as the primary drive for digital ad revenue growth,” writes Michael Nathanson, senior analyst of MoffettNathanson Research.

The best-positioned companies in the future? MoffettNathanson writes that Google and Facebook control seven of the most used apps in the U.S. -- nine out of top 15, according to comScore. Apple, Amazon, Pandora, Snapchat, and Pinterest are also in the top 15, with Twitter in 17th place.

MoffettNathanson says there were 132 apps with more than 5 million unique viewers in June 2016, up 7% from 123 a year ago. Twenty-eight of those had more than 20 million uniques, versus 27 a year ago. “There are now fewer properties consolidating more user share at the top.”

Magna Upgrades U.S. Ad Revenue Forecast

• by Steve McClellan@mp_mcclellan, Yesterday, 4:38 PM

Interpublic research arm Magna has upgraded its U.S. ad revenue forecast and now predicts that media owners net advertising revenues will grow 6.3% to $179 billion in 2016, the strongest growth rate since 2010.

The research unit had previously forecast 6.2% growth for the region, but made the upgrade following a strong first half and despite lower political ad-spend expectations.

Not counting the incremental ad sales generated this year by political and Olympics, ad market growth would be 4.4%.

In 2017, growth is expected to slow to 3.5%.

Magna reports that digital media ad sales will grow by 15% this year and 12% next year, while traditional media ad sales will decrease by 1.5% this year and 2.2% next year.

Digital advertising sales this year will equal TV ad dollars for the first time with both generating $68 billion, and a market share of 38.5%.

Social media ad sales are expected to rise 44% to nearly $16 billion, of which about $2.2 billion will be for social video ad formats.

National TV ad revenues are predicted to grow 3.2% this year, excluding political and Olympics, with growth slowing to 1.5% in 2017.

Entrepreneurs Need To Focus On The Right Skill Set

The Huffington Post

INFORM • INSPIRE • ENTERTAIN • EMPOWER 

10/04/2016 11:50 pm ET

Marty Zwilling Veteran Start-up Mentor; Executive

In my experience in large businesses as well as years of advising startups, I see far too much focus on product skills, and too little on people and process skills. In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors.

In fact, there is much evidence that the same principles separate success from mediocrity in most of the disciplines in business. I recognized this as I was reading a new book, “The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need,” by Anthony Iannarino, who is an international sales leader and expert on optimizing results. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs.

His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes:

Creating and sharing a vision. Storytelling and projecting a vision are foundational skills that are required from the first moment in starting a business. The old myth that “if we build it, they will come” has not worked for a long time. The best visions begin in the future, describe how to get there together, touch on emotions, and work in your values.




Diagnosing and understanding the customer problem. This means all business people, especially entrepreneurs, need to get beyond the presentations and the experts, to actively listen to real customers. They need to ask customers the difficult questions, and really understand costs versus benefits, as well as competitive alternatives.




Opening relationships and creating opportunities. Whereas providers used to control information, the Internet has given customers access to more information and more choices than ever. They demand interactive relationships with you, and depend on the relationships you have with their friends. Relationships are the new keys to opportunities.




Producing results with and through others. You can’t build a business or sell alone. You have to lead and motivate many others with the right skill set to make it happen. To do this, you call upon your storytelling, negotiating, and change-management skills, all the while demonstrating your unswerving accountability. It’s up to you to clear the way.




Asking for and obtaining commitments. Building a company and selling are all about gaining commitments. While it’s true that you can go too far too fast when asking for funding or asking for an order, all too often fear and timidity keeps entrepreneurs from going far enough fast enough. Offering more value is the key to a quicker close.




Negotiating and creating win-win deals. When dealing with customers or partners, only win-win deals make sense. It’s all about value for both parties, and good negotiation is highlighting value. Great entrepreneurs are able to think on their feet, and are always prepared. Highlight the points of agreement, rather than hammer on the differences.




Understanding business essentials and creating value. Product leadership alone might have been enough in the past, but today people are looking at a bigger picture. They want a business that is ethical, understands sustainability, and provides leadership that goes beyond profitability for shareholders. Value is far more than cost versus price.




Building consensus and helping others change. Consensus and change are hard. These require building a team that can work together, identify the obstacles to change, deal with conflicting interests, and overcome the challenges to change. Great entrepreneurs create and sell a compelling case for change, and lead that change.

Put simply, your personal and people skills are the difference that makes the difference, more so than the product or service you bring to the table. It takes discipline, initiative, a positive attitude, and the ability to communicate and be accountable to set your business apart from the million others that have equal access to your customers. Make them remember you and appreciate the added value.