Will Mobile Become The Dog Wagging TV Advertising's Tail?

• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, Yesterday

There is no question that the adoption, use and impact of smartphones among U.S. consumers continue to grow. There is no question that advertising and marketing on mobile devices continue to grow, and will for some time. There is no question that mobile advertising will someday -- perhaps in five to seven years -- overtake television in overall U.S. ad spend.

However, I think that it’s quite likely that mobile will become the dog wagging TV advertising’s tail well before it becomes the largest platform for U.S. ad spend. Here is why:

Data will power the future of TV. Television advertising will be increasingly data-driven and data-optimized. This is playing out now. TV audiences are down, but it’s still the largest- and fastest-reach medium by far. However, if networks want to charge more for less, they will have to deliver it in packages that are more targeted and more data-optimized to perform for advertisers. This is playing out today with initiatives like Linda Yaccarino’s NBCU and Fox, Turner and Viacom’s OpenAP initiative. 

Mobile has the best data. No device is, or will, output as much valuable data for ad targeting and optimization as mobile devices. Today, more of the data powering audience-based advertising on TV is coming from TV set-top boxes, but set-top box data is limited to TV viewing. Mobile data tells you everything about its owner, from location to digital content consumption to purchase to household membership.

Combining TV data and mobile data is like adding 1+1 and getting 5. For advertisers wanting to close the loop between their TV ads and store visits – think retail, restaurants, movies – there is no data better to target and close the loop than with mobile data. For advertisers wanting to coordinate their TV campaigns with their Facebook campaigns to achieve a cross-platform kicker-effect, there is no data better to do it with than mobile data.

They will make measurement better together. When it comes to multi-platform advertising impact attribution, TV and mobile combined will rule the roost. Increasingly, advertisers are seeking trusted cross-platform attribution. First, they represent the two biggest ad channels. But, more importantly, mobile data will become the centerpiece and anchor of Multi-Touchpoint Attribution (MTA). MTA needs lots of data. MTA works best when the data is personal, not just “householded.” MTA also works best when you can directly link behaviors, and mobile data can now be linked with TV viewing data at scale, the rationale behind AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner and Verizon’s plans with Oath.

All of this convinces me that mobile will dominate how TV advertising is targeted, measured and optimized well before it dominates TV in share of ad spend. Basically, the tail of mobile data will wag the dog of TV advertising. Do you agree?

6-Second TV Spots On The Rise

 

• by Wayne Friedman , 7 hours ago

TV adaptation of shorter five- and six-second commercials continues to climb — with consumer-products advertisers the biggest buyers, mostly on local TV stations.

From August 11 through August 29, Kantar Media says, $3.06 million was spent on these shorter-length commercials — $2.43 million for five-second spots and $625,500 on six-second spots — for 252 spots.

Kantar Media says advertisers spent $2.32 million — $2.31 million on five-second commercials and $10,722 for six-second commercials. Kantar says a total of 46 spots were sold since August 11. Kantar says the majority of these five-second spots were station program promos.

Broadcast TV networks sold $509,300 of these shorter-length commercials — $401,400 for six-second commercials and $107,900 for five-second spots.

Cable TV networks sold $225,000 worth in the period — $213,000 for six-second spots and $11,800 for five-second commercials. National syndication programming grabbed $3,450 for the month.

Consumer-products advertisers spent $178,400, followed by entertainment marketers at $129,078, food and households product advertisers each at $89,200, and TV show promos, $84,330.

Cable TV networks witnessed 197 short-length spots. Among individual networks, The Vice network has sold the highest number of shorter commercials at 66 spots, followed by two AMC Networks with 24 spots and AMC with 22. Fox’s FXX sold 22 spots.

Network TV had nine shorter commercials, all from Fox.

Fox announced its first national effort to sell six-second commercials on the “Teen Choice Awards” on August 13. Advertisers included Duracell and Mars.

This week, Fox says it will sell six-second commercials in sports programming, including NFL and Major League Baseball.

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Digital TV May Face Great Subscriber Losses

Commentary

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Are new digital TV services more subject to higher levels of “churn” than traditional pay TV? Do they lose subscribers on a month-to-month no-contract basis?


For decades, churn was a major issue for cable TV system providers, especially premium ad-free networks like HBO and Showtime. Now, with digital TV services, churn is a bigger wall to avoid -- given the ease of cancelling a subscription digital video service.

Traditional pay TV service cord-cutting remains a concern. But in theory, it can be a slightly tougher task for consumers. One may want to cancel the entire service -- or just selective parts. These are known as cord-shavers; they look to trim high-priced networks, which could include HBO or Showtime.

Customers continue to be savvy in this regard. With the conclusion of another season of HBO’s "Game of Thrones," many worry that digital video platform HBO Now could see a pullback.

Netflix may have the right marketing idea -- promoting its ever-growing original TV shows coming online through the year or fresh episodes of returning series. Promotion of all new digital TV shows on these services is key; consumers continue to buy every month.

With regard to marketing, an HBO spokesman told The Washington Post it was actually reminding subscribers not to look forward, but to look back: “Promos help remind people, so at the end of the month they feel, 'You know what, I guess we did watch stuff on the network this month.’ "
New digital video services -- Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and PlayStation Vue -- subscribe to one de facto consumer business practice that can lead to churn: no contracts. Users can cancel at any time. TV consumers got increasingly comfortable with that freedom.
Still, veteran TV business executives know there is a desire for consumers to have a continuing TV service -- of some sort. Especially older customers. Young TV viewers? They have no problem with change -- or stopping a service after they finish “Game of Thrones” for a season.

Years ago, TV executives worried the remote control could be trouble for their programming. Hitting a button could mean lower revenue -- advertising revenue in particular.

Now the key controls are on smartphones/digital devices. People no longer change channels; they stop entire TV ecosystems.

July Was Big For Digital and Radio & How to Sell Without the Numbers

August 24, 2017

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After tapering off for a few months SMI is reporting that July was vibrant again for digital advertising. Digital-media advertising was up 19% in July. Social media, search and internet radio were among digitals biggest performers. And despite what we’ve heard from many of the public radio companies that reported flat pacings in Q3, SMI says broadcast radio jumped 22% in July ad revenue, with automotive advertising growing 41%.

Social media grew 34%, while internet radio was up 31% and search added 21%. Standard Media Index gets its data from major media agencies.

How To Sell Without The Numbers

August 24, 2017

This is not a negative story about Nielsen. Nielsen is the ratings system, the currency radio uses and advertising agencies and local businesses rely on to make purchases and funnel millions and millions of dollars into the radio industry. Many would argue that since Nielsen purchased Arbitron, the bigger company is making more of an effort to improve its product for the industry. But those discussions are for another day.

The reality in radio is that not everyone has ratings. Some companies don’t subscribe to the ratings, for any number of reasons, and make the decision to sell without them.

The downside of not having numbers to sell is obvious: Your competitors will most likely have them. And since you don’t subscribe, they may not list you in a ranker. The upside is that declining to subscribe can save you a lot of money — money you might decide to put into sales training.

Our mission here is to provide information that will help everyone in the business succeed. This piece will be helpful to those who, for whatever reason, are not using Nielsen’s product to sell. Max Media in Virginia Beach had been using Nielsen (and Arbitron) for about a decade before General Manager Dave Paulus chose not to renew the contract with the ratings firm. It’s been one year since Paulus made that decision, so we reached out to him to see exactly how things are going selling without the numbers.

RADIO INK: WHEN DID YOU FIRST DECIDE NOT TO RENEW THE RATINGS, AND WHAT WENT INTO YOUR THINKING AS YOU GOT CLOSER TO THE CONTRACT ENDING?
Paulus: We had been talking about the entire relationship of our Nielsen partnership for years. As we got closer to our renewal time, the biggest concern and question we had was “Is the ROI from this significant cost paying off for us as a station group?”

We also operate in a market, Norfolk-Virginia Beach, that already had a non-subscriber, and frankly, the top three stations in this market seem to always be the top three stations, so there really wasn’t much changing of the layout of stations from month to month.

I’ll be totally honest, this decision was one of the toughest I’ve ever made as a GM, and caused me a lot of sleepless nights. I spoke at length to our sales leadership team, then our ownership group, and we all agreed it was time to move forward and see what life would be like without it.

RADIO INK: HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO SELL WITHOUT THOSE NUMBERS?Paulus: It can be challenging, without question. In a way, you’re really flying the plane on instruments and have to depend on a lot of things that you can’t control externally. That being said, at the time we left Nielsen (and I would assume the circumstances are similar now), most all the stations in the market were within two or three tenths of a ratings point of each other — the congestion was intense.

At the end of the day, we speak to the quality of our products, the unique selling propositions we offer, and the confidence we have in our products to perform well. Since the group isn’t “delisted,” subscribing clients can see where we are, and they can decide if the combination of those factors, as well as our ratings position, allows us consideration to be part of their marketing mix.

RADIO INK: WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES TO SELLING WITHOUT THEM?Paulus: Well, there are advantages, actually. Our new business development, both direct and agency, is through the roof, as is our digital revenue development. We have some category initiatives, and we’re doing very well in those. As crazy as this may sound, I don’t miss the distraction of them at all. That PPM “fourth day” just comes and goes, and some days, I don’t even recall it.

No more PD conversations about the one meter that moved our group from fifth to 10th, and with the sellers, a 45-minute conversation about a $10 rate adjustment because our “29- book average” is showing us down a tenth of a point. You kind of get back to basics, and while we miss having the knowledge at our fingertips at times, there are benefits as well.

RADIO INK: DID YOU HAVE TO RETRAIN YOUR SELLERS?
Paulus: I’m immensely proud of our sales leadership team and our sellers. They accepted this was a business decision we needed to make for our long-term survival within a system we felt was much challenged.

There really wasn’t a lot of retraining to do. We had gotten in front of this decision with them so much, as well as with the marketplace, that when that day finally occurred that the computers didn’t have the ratings anymore, we and they just moved along. I committed to the sellers that I’d give them as many tools as possible and market the stations hard. I feel like I’ve lived up to that promise.

RADIO INK: DID YOU HAVE TO RETRAIN YOUR ADVERTISERS?
Paulus: As I mentioned earlier, it helped us that there was another non-subscriber in the marketplace that had been a non-subscriber for multiple years, so many of the advertisers and agencies that we shared were already used to one group not having Nielsen availability. That certainly helped this decision and our ability to execute it.

RADIO INK: DID YOU HAVE ANY SALESPEOPLE THAT JUST COULDN’T SELL WITHOUT THEM?
Paulus: Not at all. Every single seller, including the most tenured, handled the transition very well. Not every day is a joy without the numbers, and believe me, we’ve had some “moments,” but overall they’ve adjusted very well.

RADIO INK: DID YOUR RADIO COMPETITORS GO ON THE ATTACK?
Paulus: Not really (at least to my knowledge). I know there’s some competitors that don’t include non-subscribers in rankers and market layouts, and as crazy as it may sound, I actually understand that. When I was a subscriber and it came to listing a non-subscriber, I chose not to do that as well.

I didn’t feel like it was my responsibility to list a non-subscriber’s numbers, as long as I clearly mentioned that this was not a complete listing of stations and that there were nonsubscribers in the marketplace. (So the client had a clear understanding of the marketplace.)

I can’t be hypocritical now that I’m not a subscriber, as long as the stations state and the client is clear that there are non-subscribers in the marketplace. It’s much easier here, as 40 percent of the groups don’t subscribe and almost half the stations in the market won’t be included.

RADIO INK: HAVE YOU CONSIDERED RENEWING WITH NIELSEN?

Paulus: What are the advantages to having them? I think about it all the time, but there’s been nothing to make me change my direction at this time. I have a lot of friends within that company, and I have respect for what they do. I just can’t make a good enough ROI argument to bring it back.

That doesn’t mean I won’t in the future, but as of right now, that’s where I stand. The biggest advantage to having them is a clearer outlook on the marketplace.

RADIO INK: HOW DO YOU BONUS PROGRAMMING EMPLOYEES? TYPICALLY THAT IS RATINGS-RELATED.
Paulus: Very important element here: Anyone who had a Nielsen-related bonus plan was contacted and told that would be removed from their compensation plan. However, it’s certainly not fair (nor motivational) to just “take that money away,” so in most cases, I met with the talent directly and we worked out a digital, social, blog, podcasting, video, etc., bonus structure that allowed them to make similar, if not even more, bonus money.

Frankly, they loved it, as they finally felt like they were in control of the bonus opportunities much more than they were under the older system — and weren’t as reliant on some five-meter family in Poquoson to wake up in the right headspace.

10 Arrows For Your Quiver

Commentary

by Jim Gilmartin , Columnist, 3 hours ago

The differences in customer motivations and decision processes between customers in the first and second half of life sometimes frustrate many marketers who have yet to figure out how to market to Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). Until the last decade, this was not a matter of serious concern because the young dominated the marketplace. The young are easier to sell to and analyze. Now, with approximately 109 million adults over the age of 50, marketers are being compelled to figure out the values and behavior of Baby Boomers.

1. Increased individualism
Baby Boomers are less subject to peer influence than younger customers are. Keeping up with the Joneses is not as important as it once was; thus, advertising that invokes social status benefits does not play as well in Baby Boomer markets as in younger ones. Largely freed from worrying about reactions of others, Baby Boomers tend toward greater practicality in buying decisions than younger customers.

2. Increased demand for facts 
Adult customers tend to be less responsive to sweeping claims in marketing messages as they age. Hyperbole turns them off. If Baby Boomers are interested in considering a purchase, they want unadorned facts, and more of them, than they usually wanted earlier in life. Years of buying equip Baby Boomers with knowledge of what to look for when making intelligent purchases.

3. Increased response to emotional stimuli
Baby Boomers tend to be quicker than younger customers to emotionally reflect lack of interest in or negative reaction to an offered product. On the other hand, a positive first impression can become embedded especially deep in the emotions of Baby Boomers — so much so that the Baby Boomer customer is often more disposed to be a faithful customer than the younger customer is.

4. Less self-oriented, more altruistic
Baby Boomers tend to show an increased response to marketing appeals reflecting altruistic values. This response tracks with a common middle-age shift toward stronger spiritual values in which concern for others increases. As altruistic motivations become stronger with age, this results in narcissistic and materialistic values wane in influence.

5. Increased time spent in making purchase decisions  
As we grow older, we typically experience changes in our perceptions of time. For example, Baby Boomers often ignore time-urgency strategies in marketing -- such as "Offer good until ---," "Only three left in stock---etc...” Generally, "time is not of the essence" is a common attitude among Baby Boomers, especially those who have retired.

6. See fewer differences between competing products
Because Baby Boomers tend to be more highly individuated, and less influenced by external influences, perceptions of products are more internally shaped. They typically conclude that there is little difference between products than marketers claim. This observation contrasts with the tendency of younger customers to assert robustly the differences between a product they prefer and its competitors — even when clear differences do not exist.

7. See more differences between competing companies
Alternatively, Baby Boomers tend to be more responsive to "companies with a conscience" than younger customers are. From a self-interest perspective, they are also more attentive to warranty issues and a company's reputation for honoring its warranties than younger customers.
8. Concerning making discretionary-purchase decisions, Baby Boomers tend to:

• Have a decreased sensitivity to price;

• Increased sensitivity to affordability; and

• Sharply increased sensitivity to value.

Baby Boomers have more complex ways of determining value than younger customers. Value determination by Baby Boomers tends to be an existentialist exercise whereby soul (spiritual) values, as well as mind (intellect) and body (tangible) values, are combined into the value determination process.

9. Increased price-sensitivity in non-discretionary spending 
As they age, many customers develop higher economic "literacy" and skillfully apply it to get the best price. In purchasing "need" items, Baby Boomers tend to be more bargain-minded, whereas in purchasing "desired" items, they tend to be more value-minded in a holistic sense.

10. Often project what seems to be contradictory behavior. 
Baby Boomers are sometimes characterized as selfish and selfless, penurious and profligate, spontaneous and deliberate, and so on. These conflicting attributes lead some to characterize Baby Boomers as contradictory. For example, a Baby Boomer shopper may be penurious in using cents-off coupons in a grocery store, after which she drives off in a Mercedes. These attributes are not evidence of contradictory behavior, but an example of the rules of thriftiness applied to basics, and the rules of whole value applied to discretionary expenditures.

Digital Media Returns High Growth For July, TV Posts 5% Gain

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

After a few months of slower growth, digital-media advertising revenue has resumed its double-digit climb -- with social media, search and internet radio among its strongest performers.
Digital-media advertising was up 19% in July, according to Standard Media Index, which culls booking data from 80% of the major media agencies.

Social media grew 34%, while internet radio was up 31% and search added 21%. In a related move, broadcast radio unexpectedly soared higher -- 22% more in advertising revenues, with its automotive advertising growing 41%.

Total TV grew 5% in July. Cable networks added 3.7% and broadcast networks were virtually flat at 0.3%.

Local cable was a major part of this growth -- gaining 54% in the month. Spot TV improved 16% and syndication rose 10%.

The national cable networks' increase was largely attributable to sports. The Wimbledon tennis tournament on ESPN scored high results, as the entire tournament ran in July this year.

Cable TV news networks saw continued advertising growth —although a bit lower than previous months -- with 11% gains overall. MSNBC was up 33%, while Fox News Channel added 5% and CNN grew 10%.

While broadcast networks had lackluster results, their prime-time entertainment saw major gains for most channels: ABC was up 25%; NBC gained 12%; and CBS rose 5%. Fox had a 9% decline.
ABC witnessed improvement, specifically from “The Bachelorette.” NBC experienced growth from additional episodes of its summer series “American Ninja Warrior.”

Magazines were down 6% and newspapers lost 16%, but out-of-home media was up 2%.

Identity Is Not A Strategy

Commentary

by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, August 9, 2017                                                    

There’s a quote that gets thrown around and misattributed all the time that says, “Hope is not a strategy.”  In the digital media and advertising business the word “identity” gets thrown around even more, so to paraphrase this oft-used cliché, I’ll say: Identity is not a strategy.

 

Many companies in data and analytics are hanging their hats on identity and the promise of connecting people across multiple platforms in an effort to further deliver “people-based marketing,” which might be the buzziest buzzword of 2018.

 

The core concept is solid, but identity connection is at best one area of tactical requirement to implement a true strategic effort.  A strategy for people-based marketing requires scale in recognizing the people you are trying to identify, accuracy across all the channels where your audience might be, and  integrations to activate that audience.

 

Scale in recognition of the audience is difficult to achieve.  You as a marketer need to be capable of identifying whether the person you’re engaged with is a prospect, a customer, or not your audience at all — and you need to be able to do so the first time you see them.

 

Many providers in the space cannot tell you any of this information until the second time they come across that user, because they rely too heavily on your first-party data.  You need third-party data to create a wide enough reach in a recency-driven manner. 
 

Your provider may say they provide identity solutions across open web and walled gardens — but if you dig deeper you can find parameters about how and when they can utilize that data which influences match rates and scale and you will find they can’t identify the audience until the second, or even third time, they come across them.  You want a partner with global scale across all these important channels and you want it available to you, as a marketer, the first time you engage a user in a digital channel.  

 

Accuracy comes into discussion here as well.  You want to understand a potential partner’s scale across not only the open web, and not only the walled gardens, but also across mobile and other digital platforms like connected TV.  These last two platforms are arguably more important than any other, and therefore are where you should be starting your conversation.

 

You also need to ask about the integrations for delivering audiences once you have leveraged identity.  You might be able to recognize a potential customer, but what data can you append to that user and activate across the delivery channels?  How can you turn that understanding of your audience into an actionable insight?  Can you do so on all the platforms that matter? If you can’t activate it, then it’s utterly useless to you.

 

The final thing to think about is whether the partner you choose understands your business. Too often you come across companies who are selling you their solution and trying to fit your problem into their solution.  You want a partner aligned with your needs.   The people you work with should speak your language, using your terminology rather than using “data speak.”  These are the kinds of companies that broadcast a tech solution rather than a customer-centric benefit or outcome.  

So the next time you read about identity, remember that identity is not a strategy.  It is one tool in the toolbox—  and you need a full toolbox to create the right solution for your marketing needs.