Blizzard of 2015 takes center stage up and down Northeast radio dial

INSIDERADIO
January 27, 2015

 As a monster blizzard barrels down on the Northeast, radio once again is stepping into its role as first responder. With hurricane force winds and snowfall measured in feet rather than inches in many parts of the Northeast, it’s the biggest winter challenge so far this season. "We have a dozen air mattresses and a lot of food stocked in to keep the team going for as long as it takes," Cape Cod Broadcasting general manager Bev Tilden says. "No shows will be tracked, all live and everyone ‘living’ at the station to get us through." In her market the biggest issue is likely to be winds, not unlike what a market in the Southeast would deal with during a tropical storm. Across the region many stations have been airing news updates, traffic reports, phone calls with emergency management officials, and lots of weather reports. The generators have been tested and gassed up and staff is preparing to spend a few nights at the studios of JVC Media’s "103.9 Long Island News Radio" WRCN-FM, which is remaining live and local 24-hours — even putting a few air personalities up at a nearby hotel. JVC president John Caracciolo says local leaders are relying on radio to get news to the public with calls throughout the day and night. "The Island is getting ready to get socked," he says. "We are in full blown panic mode." With many of the market’s so-called "snowbirds" in Florida for the winter, Caracciolo says they’re also feeding reports to their sister stations in West Palm Beach. The forecast there is for sunshine and 70 degrees today.

Analyst: local ad market turns ‘marginally better.’ Four weeks into the new year, it’s still early to peg the first quarter. But Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker says her research shows local advertising is experiencing a bit of an uptick compared to what had been a "pretty good" December. "First quarter ad trends seem to be marginally better than what was seen in late 2014," she writes to clients in a report. Ryvicker says her market checks also show a "stabilization" in national advertising. Across all media sectors, including radio, she says the local spot market is pacing up low-single digits with national billings ranging from flat to up high-single digits. Year-on-year comparisons will get easier beginning next month since last year’s Polar Vortex cast a chill on first quarter revenue.

new idea for your local car dealers.

We hear from sales managers in many markets that automotive dealers aren’t buying spots in local markets. But Borrell Associates forecasts the auto category will grow 5.2% for radio in 2015. So if the local dealer isn’t buying spots on your station, what might they buy? You still have an audience that is still buying cars and trucks. Most dealers are conditioned to want more.

 

CarPoint is a new idea that car dealers will love. CarPoint combines the power of radio with digital to produce actual leads for automotive dealers, new and used, that advertise on your station. It’s already PROVEN to work, and was developed for and BY radio.

 

Wouldn’t you love to get credit for leads and sales made by dealers that advertise on your station? That’s now possible with CarPoint. It’s an easy way to generate incremental advertising revenues while providing local dealers with a program that is accountable and measurable. CarPoint is an easy way to add a digital element to your radio station schedule — and the combo really works.

CarPoint is a station-branded, turn-key lead generation system that connects your listeners, who are looking to buy a new or used car, with the automotive dealers who advertise with you.

CarPoint offers accountability. We know radio works. Now radio can deliver sales leads directly to the automotive dealers who already advertise with you.  


 

Average Super Bowl Spending To Be $77.88

by Sarah Mahoney, Yesterday, 9:09 AM 

The National Retail Federation says it expects 184 million fans to tune in to Super Bowl XLIX, and that the average viewer will spend $77.88 to celebrate. That’s up from last year’s $68.27, and means that by the time the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots take the field Feb. 1, total spending is likely to reach $14.3 billion.

The survey, based on more than 6,000 responses from adults, conducted the week before the #Deflategate scandal exploded, found that 43 million people are likely to throw Super Bowl parties. And 76% say they plan to buy food and beverages.

 

For a little game-day perspective, consider what that means for the classic chicken wing: The National Chicken Council says it estimates that Americans will eat 1.25 billion wings in honor of the Big Game. (Seattle residents, however, don’t really like wings, and are 17% less likely to eat them than the national average; Boston residents are 8% less likely to be wing fans.)

The NRF says 11% will purchase team apparel or accessories, and 9% intend to buy new TVs. Some 13 million intend to watch the Feb. 1 broadcast from a bar or restaurant. “With renewed confidence in the economy and the outlook for 2015, consumers are looking forward to some good old-fashioned fun with their friends and family to celebrate the big game,” says NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in its release. 

 

Young adults, 18 to 24, say they plan spend an average of $95.92; those ages 25-34 and 35-44, however, will spend slightly more at an average of $101.54 and $102.82.

Ad-Supported TV Tops Online Video

 

 

 

 

• by Wayne Friedman, Yesterday, 10:39 AM 

Recent research shows that traditional TV still dominates overall video media -- in usage and program investment. Of the total average monthly time spent in October by users, 80% -- 139 hours and 45 minutes -- goes to advertising-supported TV brands, according to the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau.
Facebook is next, at 17 hours and 32 minutes (17:32); YouTube, 6:24; and for four other portals, a total of 11:51. This data comes from Nielsen Npower Live plus seven days of time-shifting for October 2014, persons 2+ and comScore.

Pushing the point of the strength of traditional TV — and of cable TV in particular — CAB says that when looking at one particular program, for example, HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” its total monthly impressions for September 2014 were more than the top 10 YouTube channels combined (2,367.6 million for “Property Brothers” versus 2,355.4 million for YouTube).

And in another broader example, one cable channel, Food Network, tops all monthly views of all YouTube Channels — 13,444.7 million impressions in September for Food Network; and 13,067.6 million for YouTube.

When it comes to programming investment, CAB says all ad-supported TV brands dwarf all digital content providers when it comes to producing premium TV content — $44 billion in 2014 — this versus $1.8 billion for Netflix; $1.0 billion for Amazon; $750 million for Hulu; and $200 million for YouTube.

NBC Offers Free Super Bowl-Themed TV Everywhere Trial

by Wayne Friedman, January 20, 2015, 2:28 PM 

NBCUniversal will look to promote its TV Everywhere efforts with an 11-hour free trial around its Super Bowl XLIX content. Without logging in, consumers can stream programming from the Super Bowl game itself as well as all pre-game, half-time, and post-game programming, and the midseason debut of “The Blacklist,” which will follow the game, airing on NBC on February 1.

The effort, “Super Stream Sunday,” follows up on NBC’s first advertising campaign for TV Everywhere -- “Watch TV Without The TV.”

NBC’s streaming programming starts at noon ET with NBC’s Super Bowl pre-game coverage and concludes with “The Blacklist,” which follows post-game coverage at about 10 p.m. ET.

“The Blacklist” will air the first episode of its two-episode midseason premiere immediately following the Super Bowl. It then moves to its new time slot at 9 p.m. Thursdays, beginning Feb. 5.
TV Everywhere is when networks/programmers stream their programming on a number of digital devices, including PCs, laptops, smartphone, and tablets through mobile apps and other means.
Typically, viewers need to be “authenticated” — monthly consumers of a pay TV provider service through cable, satellite, or telco. Many critics say those efforts have been slow in terms of their engagement by networks and use by consumers.

Local TV Benefits From Targeting Mobile Users

by Wayne Friedman, Yesterday, 4:04 PM 

Local TV broadcasters should put more focus on those viewers/consumers who get their local news and information from mobile and other digital devices.

 

Nielsen says more than 27 million of these consumers — 11% of all adults 18 and older — are in this category, “a very desirable group of viewers and an opportunity for broadcasters everywhere to leverage their unique local content online.”

 

Nielsen says 64% of these consumers — “local digerati” as Nielsen calls them — are “more likely” to visit a local broadcast TV Web site in the past week.

 

Generally, they skew female (55%) and younger. In particular, those 25-34 consumers are in this category, making up 25% of all “local digerati.” Those 18-24 years old make up 15%; 35-44, 21%, 45-54, 17%; 55-64, 13%; and 65 and older, 9%.

 

Local digerati tend to be employed, educated and have higher incomes — 21% earn between $100,000 and $250,000; 17% make $75,000 and $100,000; and 19% earn $50,000 to $75,000. All these income breaks over-index against all adults 18 years and older.

 

Also of particular interest to broadcasters, Nielsen says 46% of them are largely “light” viewers. Thirty-eight percent of those local digital consumers have visited a local broadcast TV Web site in the past week (a 164 index against adults 18 and older); 36% have watch video on demand in the last 30 days (128 index); and 31% have watched TV program using an online subscription (193).

Agencies Continue To Decrease TV Ad Spend

by Richard Whitman, Yesterday, 6:58 PM 

A recent report from Standard Media Index paints a grim picture of TV ad spend.

While the Super Bowl is upon us and plenty of brands are parting with $4.5 million to appear during the broadcast, a recent report from Standard Media Index paints a grim picture of TV ad spend.

TV ad spend dropped 2% year-over-year in the 4th quarter of 2014, with October and November seeing the biggest drops. National broadcast ad spend fell to $4.8 billion and cable dropped to $6.8 billion. Notably, the computer and software category saw a drop of 40% in Q4 but consumer electronics did see an increase of 24%.

Why the drop? Well, one can only surmise that finally, yes, finally, media buyers have wizened to the fact that maybe, just maybe, there's a bit of efficiency and effectiveness to a medium -- um, the Internet --  that allows for the measurement and automated management of just about everything.

 

According to Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. of Executive Decision Systems, Inc. in addition to local TV media dollars exiting traditional cost-per-point buying as a result of the rise of programmatic aka automatic buying, local-direct remains as the pillar of revenue for challenged sales departments across the U.S. He asks, "Are stations seeing softness in national as well in regional"? "Time to retune the business model," he adds.

Digital Up, TV Dips In Q4 Media Spend

by Wayne Friedman, Yesterday, 10:50 AM 

A marked slowdown in the last quarter of 2014 occurred in the U.S. advertising market. Standard Media Index says the market was flat in the fourth quarter of 2014 versus the same period in 2013. Only digital media spending witnessed a rise, up 15% versus the same time period a year ago to $7.6 billion.

More traditional TV media moved in the other direction. National broadcast TV spending was down 2% to $4.8 billion, and cable TV gave up 1.6% to $6.8 billion during the period.

Specifically, NBC was up 3% -- now with 27% share of advertising dollars -- while CBS grew 2%. NBCUniversal’s Hispanic network Telemundo had the best growth of broadcast networks -- 5%. Heading in the other direction in Q4, Fox declined 12%; Univision was off 6%; and ABC lost 2%.
In cable, ESPN grew 3%; NFL Networks climbed 61%; AMC Networks, added 28%; and Viacom was up 2%.
Although the market was flat in the last three months of the year, 2014 overall witnessed a 6% hike due to digital media such as mobile, video and programmatic revenues. For the year, cable TV spending grew 5.1% to $26.4 billion; digital spending (without search) was up 19.9% to $24.4 billion; and national broadcast climbed 4.1% to $16.5 billion.

SMI notes that without the Olympics, broadcast would have been down by 2% for the full year. In 2013, broadcast only grew 1.5% over 2012.
Looking at specific digital gains in the fourth quarter, programmatic was up 71%; mobile, 17%; display, 12%; search, 12%; and video added 11%· Also, NBC.com was up a big 104% and ESPN 70% in digital ad dollars during the period.

Print witnessed lower results: magazines were down 8% and newspapers dropped 3% in the past quarter.

SMI data come from 80% of total U.S. agency spending exclusively from the booking systems of five of the six global media holding groups, as well as leading independents. It reports monthly on actual spend data.

Inside Radio News Ticker...Survey: digital revenue still growing

INSIDE RADIO
JAnuary 22, 2015

...Digital revenues today make up a small portion of most stations’ revenue — typically less than 5% according to a survey conducted by consultant Mark Ramsey. Yet the study finds 8% of respondents are currently making 15% or more of their revenue from digital. And nearly a third of those surveyed said they believe digital will grow to represent more than 15% of billings within the next five years...Podcast downloads add up for Ramsey...The self-syndicated Dave Ramsey Show has long been radio’s biggest independent show. Now the Ramsey team says the show, which launched in 1992, has topped 550 affiliates and is heard by more than 8.5 million listeners weekly. With that as a launch pad, the company says a podcast of the show is now downloaded more than 125,000 times a day. In addition to radio, "The Dave Ramsey Show" is available through a 24-hour streaming online video channel on the host’s website and on iHeartRadio...Music students create station sonic logo...A quest started last year by station manager Tony Rudel to create a new sonic logo for classical WCRB, Boston (99.5) has ended with a six-second sounder Out of 18 submissions, Rudel selected the entry created by 27-year old composer Paul Fake at the Boston Conservatory. "I said that’s the sound for the station," Rudel says on a video detailing the project. WCRB worked with the young musicians at the Conservatory and then arranged 114 different variations for the station to use throughout the year...People Moves... Longtime morning show personalities are out in Norfolk and Wichita.

Study: Music streaming is ‘complementary’ to radio listening. More than a decade ago, the iPod showed consumer music tastes were far broader than previously thought. Now on-demand streaming services are shining a brighter light on the diversity of listener music tastes. A new Bridge Ratings analysis compares radio station playlists to the number of songs that station’s audience consumed on-demand in a given week. A top 10 market CHR station played 67 currents and recurrents in a week or a total of 146 different titles when gold tunes are factored in. Meanwhile its audience streamed 2,048 different songs. A medium market CHR played 137 currents and recurrents while its audience listened to 1,840 songs on demand. Two country stations monitored by Bridge aired about 100 currents and recurrents in a week while their listeners streamed nearly 1,800 songs on demand. The closest any format came to approaching the number of titles streamed by its listeners was classic rock: 790 different songs aired on a top 10 market classic rocker while its audience streamed more than 2,100. Apart from reinforcing the broad nature of listeners’ musical tastes, it’s difficult to draw conclusions from the data. Consumers use radio differently than on-demand audio. Just because they listen to a large library of songs on demand doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear the most popular songs when they punch in a specific station. Bridge concludes that streaming is "complementary" to radio listening and is expanding music consumption and awareness while radio’s role remains as a curator and a source for music discovery. "We saw in our audio consumption study late last year that listeners use radio to help them choose music they want to stream," Bridge president Dave Van Dyke says.

FM/AM Radio Still Leads the Listening Pack:

INSIDE RADIO
January 14, 2015

There is fresh research showing radio continues to hold onto its primary place in Americans’ listening lives. A survey conducted by Morgan Stanley found 86% of those surveyed said they currently listen to FM-AM radio. While slightly below the 92% reported by Nielsen, the survey puts broadcast radio well above any of the competing media outlets. Morgan Stanley says the web video site YouTube comes the closest, although its 62% reach is a fourth less than radio’s. The biggest digital music service is Pandora, but Morgan Stanley says just one-third of Americans currently use its streaming product. Television music channels ranked fourth at 27%. The iHeartRadio app and Sirius XM Radio round out the top five, with one-in-five (19%) of Americans reporting they currently use either service. The findings, first reported in Quartz, are based on just-released data from a November survey of 2,016 American adults.

Broadcast radio still has big lead on awareness. Ninety-eight percent of Americans are aware FM/AM radio exists. As hard as it is to believe that two percent of adults aren’t in the know, it’s one of the other findings in the Morgan Stanley survey. The report also shows that 90% of those surveyed know about Sirius XM Radio and 88% are familiar with Pandora.

The report also says iHeartRadio has a 73% awareness rate, with two-thirds knowledgeable of Spotify. Further back are other radio listening apps like Slacker, with one-third saying they’ve heard of the service, and Rdio, which has 30% awareness. Morgan Stanley didn’t quiz people about the TuneIn app.

Two Years in, Programmatic Ad Sales for Digital Radio Growing at Steady Clip.

INSIDE RADIO

January 14, 2015

In the two years since Triton Digital’s a2x brought programmatic buying to digital audio, the amount of streaming inventory broadcast partners are handing over to the automated ad exchange has been growing steadily. As the concept of machine-based sales becomes less alien and more attractive to some radio companies, they’re releasing more inventory into the exchange. "It’s been growing at a nice, steady clip since we launched in January 2013," says Triton EVP of ad sales Mike Reznick. "It’s growing every single month with more inventory being made available to our advertisers and more advertisers coming in."

Programmatic enables delivery of "smarter" or more precisely targeted impressions which can lead to higher CPM rates for streamers. A2x has attracted such partners as Alpha Broadcasting, CBS Radio, Entercom, Greater Media, Wilks Broadcasting and Univision Radio. It’s a "transparent network," Reznick says, meaning the trading desks and agencies that use it are able to see what audio publishers are part of the exchange. Advertisers are drawn to it and other supply side platforms for the buying efficiency and ad targeting and retargeting capabilities they offer. A2x uses cookie synch and device IDs to target audiences. Those can include overlaying third party data that make the impression "more informed," Reznick says, thus improving chances of hitting the intended target. The platform can then retarget listeners based on actions they take on a specific ad during a set time frame — or on first party data provided by the broadcaster. "We’re bringing digital targeting and tracking to a traditional medium," Reznick says. "That helps more revenue come into our entire space." What is programmatic buying?

TV may be speeding radio toward programmatic selling. As broadcast radio gets more immersed in programmatic buying for its streaming inventory, one in every five dollars spent on local TV are being transacted electronically. Strata’s ePort electronic order delivery system for TV buyers and sellers had its biggest year ever in 2014, processing over $4 billion in new TV orders or about 20% of the local TV industry’s annual $20 billion in billings. More than 1,600 television stations received electronic orders during the year from over 350 agencies across the country, according to Strata. While ePort provides a "programmatic infrastructure,’" allowing a secure two-way, electronic connection between buyers and sellers, humans are still involved and there’s no real-time bidding. Still, it’s the beginning of machine-based sales making their way to a traditional medium. Television rep firms like Katz Media Group and local TV stations receive an agency’s original order all the way to their traffic system. They can also send make goods back to the buyer and receive revisions electronically. EPort’s $4 billion in 2014 was a 125% increase from the previous year. "In order for the TV industry to fully adopt programmatic practices, there must be a reliable, scalable infrastructure in place," Strata VP Mike McHugh says, pledging to roll out additional functionality this year.

Separately, ESPN has sold its first TV ad via a web-based auction. The 30-second ad for Turbo Tax which, ran at 1am last Saturday during "Sportscaster," wasn’t part of a standard commercial break. Instead it was displayed on a giant video screen on the signature show’s set, which is part of the network’s unique programmatic platform.

Behind the slowdown in ad spending

medialife
While we have been asked questions about the ad revenue expectations for local for 2015 and to provide a recap on advertising investment in 2014, the majority of the response was based on what they saw or feel about national ad dollars from the biggest players. Local-direct is still looking very positive throughout 2015 with most local advertisers feeling optimistic about the economy and, as such, are looking to increase their spending. Let us know your thoughts. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

Media economy

Flat spending in third quarter could be a sign of things to come

By Bill Cromwell

January 14, 2015

         

Third quarter ad spending was flat to last year, according to Kantar Media, and the big reason why was cutbacks by the top 100 advertisers. Some were making up for money moved to first quarter of last year, when they advertised in the Winter Olympics. But others pulled back for different reasons. A handful of auto manufacturers simply didn’t have any big car launches to hype. A few companies are still feeling cautious following the brutal recession. And a couple are moving money from more expensive media, like television, to cheaper ones, such as mobile, which means they aren’t spending as much overall. The big question, though, is whether those cutbacks in spending will continue into 2015. There’s a chance that they will, as advertisers worry about being caught off guard by another recession. Jon Swallen, chief research officer at Kantar Media, talks to Media Life about the latest spending numbers, what they mean for big advertisers, and why the very smallest advertisers pulled back as well.

Why did the biggest advertisers cut back on spending in third quarter?
Not any one reason. Everyone had a slightly different situation and their own particular needs and situations to deal with.
Broadly, the most common denominator is the fact that they’re large advertisers, so they are often the most cautious because they’re investing so much money. They watch the bottom line and marketing budgets more carefully. They represent an economic barometer or gauge of what may lie ahead.
It’s a reflection of the size of their budgets but also a reflection of forward-looking caution. Not that they lack confidence, but they’re being more prudent looking forward.

Does this say something about the state of the media economy, or does it just balance out big spending earlier in 2014 on the Olympics?
I think it does [balance out] to some degree.
Some of those big advertisers had big first quarter spending in the Winter Olympics, and you could see that when you looked at many of their budgets in second quarter. Spending was lower, which was just a reflection of the fact that money got pulled forward for Winter Olympics.
But Winter Olympics have been muted somewhat because it’s now part of a nine-month figure, so I attribute it less to the hangover affect of a first-quarter surge.
It’s not necessarily a predictor of future ad economy trends, but I do think it’s a reflection of current psychology, or their view looking forward and being a bit more cautious. That may or may not prove to be the case.
But looking into 2015 it’s looking like they’re playing their cards more cautiously.

Do you think these top advertisers will increase spending next year? Why or why not?
They certainly have the capability to. Each is in a different competitive situation. So depending on where they’re at in their cycles, the opportunity to increase or decrease spending varies.
In auto, what typically drives higher budgets is new model launches. I don’t know what the coming schedule is for Toyota, Chrysler or GM, which landed in the top 10, but if you looked at that it would be a pretty good indicator of whether they’re likely to increase budgets in 2015.
For a company like Pfizer, where their increase has been driven by a handful of prescription drugs that still have patent protection and market-leading positions, I would expect they’d continue to support those strongly. Perhaps not at the growth rate of the past year, since they’re about a full year into the cycle. But the conditions that prompted them to increase their spending, a lot of those conditions still exist today.
AT&T is kind of a wild card depending on its merger with DirectTV. If and when it goes through, it now creates the opportunity in the short term for their spending to decrease while they go through some integration, but then coming out of that after three or four months, a big campaign to announce the merger or launch or announce new products.
So everybody’s situation is a little bit different.

Why did mid-level advertisers bump up spending when larger ones were cutting back?
So the top 100 advertisers represent 43 percent of all ad spending. That next tier, the guys between about 100 and 1,000, are about 34 percent. So that’s the torso of the ad market.
I think the fact that they’re increasing budgets, one of the common reasons is those advertisers are the second, third or fourth advertiser in a category, and often have to compete aggressively. They have to spend more to stand out in their competitive categories.
And that’s why growth rates in that sector are often higher than for their direct competitors that are a tier above them.
It doesn’t hold up every single quarter, but [it does] over the past three or four years. We had the horrible recession in 2008 and 2009, and in 2010 as I recall the market was being led by larger advertisers. But in 2011 and continuing into ’12, ’13 and into ’14, the higher growth rates have been more in that belly of advertisers.

How about smaller advertisers — what was their spending like in third quarter? Why?
Outside the top 1,000 advertisers represent about 23 percent of ad spending. For that bottom group, ad spending was down 3.4 percent. That again is a pattern that I’ve seen over the past two or three years. Spend is flat or declining in that lower tier and lagging the rest of the market.
These are the long-tail advertisers–predominantly small budgets, and honestly we may be undercounting their budgets because a lot of their budgets may be digital and we don’t have all of that measurement.
They’re also local-market advertisers, few are national. So ad spend tends to be more in newspapers and radio, which are two media that had soft results, and there’s a direct relationship there.

We’ve heard a lot from analysts and TV network owners about a second-half slowdown in advertising, both cable and broadcast. Are you seeing evidence of this? Why or why not? If so, do you expect it to carry into 2015?
More so for broadcast than for cable.
It’s hard to say if it will carry into 2015. September is the beginning of a new selling period where TV dollars are concerned. So third quarter patterns probably are not a good harbinger of what pricing and ad revenue levels will be in fourth quarter. But I’ve seen many of the same reports talking about third quarter and fourth quarter trends and softening in the marketplace, so I’m expecting fourth quarter numbers will show slower rates of growth, particularly for cable networks.

Why is retail in negative territory? Why was spending down over the summer, when you’d expect a flurry of back-to-school ads?
Retail budgets are now heavily skewed to fourth quarter and the holiday period, from mid-October through Christmas. In a lot of retail categories, 30 percent of total annual ad spend may be packed into that eight-week period. So it’s very heavy.
Often what’s happening in third quarter, while there’s back to school for some retailers, it’s not a big season for many retailers. But the holidays are big for all retailers. So when third quarter slows down it’s often a reflection of saving resources for key holiday periods.
On the consumer side, retail sales leading into holiday season have been okay but not gangbusters. And so some of that affects aggregate ad budgets across the industry, and that shows up in the weaker growth rates through the summer months.

What media buyers want from Nielsen

medialife

It's struggled to keep up with how people are watching video

By Diego Vasquez

January 12, 2015

It’s certainly no secret media buyers have been frustrated by the slow pace at which Nielsen has begun measuring new media streams. Though second-screen viewing on smartphones and tablets has been growing at a rapid pace, the company only recently began measuring mobile viewership. And it just announced plans to start measuring streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, which have skyrocketed in popularity. One reason behind the slow pace is because it takes a very long time to test these new methods of measurement. All the while, new technology is developing. But the ratings company also has a very wide range of clients, and changes that could benefit some clients might make others unhappy. Still, while media buyers have a vested interest in ratings that would decrease the price their clients pay for advertising, they ultimately are most concerned with accuracy. They want to know for sure who is watching what on which device so they can reach the most eyeballs. John Morse, president and chief strategist at Byron Media, a media research consulting company, talks to Media Life about what buyers really want, why it has taken so long for these changes to come about, and who stands to benefit from them.

Why has it taken so long for Nielsen to catch up to “the new reality” of TV viewing?  
Nielsen has been conservative in making changes to its national ratings service even though it’s been a focus for discussion for years.  They need to beta test changes in sampling and methodologies before implementing to make sure that all their constituencies are in agreement.  They don’t want to jeopardize their credibility in providing ad sales currency.
Nielsen clients have diverse agendas and sometimes are in conflict with each other.  For example, agencies want lower prices for ads while programmers want higher prices to spike revenue.
Changing the data could lead to either winning/losing.  This puts Nielsen is a difficult space.
Another reason Nielsen was slow is because the private equity investors that bought the company used borrowed money, it was a leveraged buyout.  Prior to the IPO, much of the company’s resources went to paying down debt.  The owners were more concerned with efficiency and downsizing than with keeping up with changes in the marketplace.
This put them in the hole and allowed competitors like Rentrak to gain market share.

How does this impact the jobs of media buyers and planners? Are they trying to guess ratings based on digital sources in order to make the right choices?  
At this time, most buyers/planners depend on Nielsen national ratings for TV and comScore online ratings for the web.
The ratings for the individual media aren’t an issue.  The media buyers and planners are having to estimate the reach and frequency across the media.  They don’t know the reach and frequency for the total ad campaign, whether they’re hitting people with ads too few times for the ads to be effective or too many times producing waste.

What would you like to see from the new ratings Nielsen plans to offer?  
I’d love to see larger samples based on a single source that combine all digital viewing venues.  Ideally, a total reach and frequency across all media is the goal.

How could these new ratings be of assistance to media people?  
They would understand the total audience delivery for programs/ads and be able to calculate national video audience GRPs.

You note there have been a lot of changes in technology over the past three years, such as a rise in telco homes and a decline in wired cable homes. What development do you find most interesting and why?
The shift from traditional linear TV viewing to mobile wireless devices has been very rapid.
Although most TV viewing is still traditional at-home, the rate of change over the past year has far exceeded my expectations.  Also, the increase in SVOD usage (over-the-top) has surged and will continue to. All of this puts more pressure on Nielsen to incorporate these new viewing venues into the national ratings.

Do you think the current Nielsen ratings truly reflect what people are watching? Why or why not?  
The Nielsen ratings currently are missing the viewing of many video options outside of traditional at-home usage. This is especially true for the population under age 50, although the 50- to 70-year-old generation is rapidly catching up.

Do you think there is one network that is being impacted most by Nielsen’s inability to measure digital options?  
I believe that networks that focus on delivering teen and young adult audiences have been most impacted by an undercount of the new viewing options. That would include Nick-At-Night and Adult Swim.

How do you think the new ratings could impact ad spending?   
As the new venues are measured and integrated into the national ratings, it will increase ad spending on overall TV since the ratings will rise.
It will be a win-win for everyone: Nielsen continues to dominate the ratings currency business; programmers see higher ratings and related revenue; advertisers get a real total reach/frequency for ads that justifies their spending.

Two-thirds of Radio Stations Have No Digital Dedicated Sales RepsL: Survey

INSIDERADIO
January 13, 2015

Perhaps it’s something in the radio DNA where multitasking runs from the general manager’s office to the engineering department. When it comes to digital sales, radio stations remain the least likely media platform to have a web-only account executive. That’s according to Borrell Associates’ annual cross-media study of sales departments. Borrell found 64% of radio stations don’t have a dedicated digital rep. That’s more than twice the 30% of television stations who said the same thing while local newspapers are evenly split. Even so, Borrell says there’s been a significant change in attitude in broadcasting during the past several years. In 2009, when the firm did its first survey, just 11% of radio stations had digital sales reps. Today, more than three-times as many stations do (36%). “The growth among broadcasters appears to be with stations that are hiring their very first digital-only rep,” says a newly-released report. Borrell says the vast majority reported having only one or two full-time digital salespeople. Its survey shows how the typical radio cluster has 2.2digital-only AEs, which trails television (3.1) and newspaper (3.6). Borrell calculates radio has one digital rep for every 10.6 salespersons. That is twice the ratio as both TV and print. And the firm says the typical digital-only rep has a lower starting salary, averaging $37,000, than an on-air salesperson. It estimates a more experienced digital salesperson averages $48,300 in annual pay.

Borrell: dedicated staff still equals more digital dollars. Borrell Associates president Gordon Borrell has been pushing radio stations and other media outlets for years to hire salespeople who do nothing else but market digital properties. His reasoning is pinned on revenue figures, and the latest report says it’s an argument that still passes muster. The typical media outlet with web-only account executives had $216,750 in digital revenue in 2014. That compares to $54,800, or one quarter of that, for those outlets that don’t. But in its just-published report, Borrell cautions that a bigger digital staff doesn’t necessarily translate to larger digital revenue. But its survey does definitely show digital-only reps have “far higher” confidence in the product they’re selling. Townsquare Media is one of the largest companies that’s embraced a digital-only staff with at a minimum a digital salesperson and a digital content person in each market. “They’re focused on education, best practices and integrating digital into solutions for clients where applicable,” EVP/chief digital officer Bill Wilson recently told Inside Radio. Is it paying off? The company doesn’t release digital-specific revenue but it reported its other media and entertainment division revenue, which includes live events and digital, was up 43% during the third quarter.........

The End of Age Based Campaigns

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Gordon Plutsky January 13, 2015

Get any two marketers together and they’ll start talking about Millennials, the holy grail of marketing. They’re cool, tattooed, culturally savvy, social to a fault, and account for a whopping 24% of the U.S. population. On the flip side, they don’t make a lot of money, have significant school-related debt and are much less likely to be married or own a home. So, why does it seem that every campaign is aimed at Millennials?

The answer? Old school marketing and thinking about targets for campaigns. Just using the word “target” puts you back in the pre-social era. For decades, target marketing was how things were done in the advertising world. “Get me women 25-54” or “I need to reach men 18-34.” 

Then there was the dreaded 18-49 demographic, which consigned those over 50 to the marketing dustbin, unless you were selling catheters on Fox News to the afternoon crowd.

There are many age-related products and services that exist. For example, items geared towards going to college, becoming a new mom, and getting ready to retire. However, I would argue that these are more about life-stage changes than actual age. As society changes, the age at which someone goes to college, starts a family, and retires has become more elastic. 

Given the wealth of consumer data we have to work with, it’s time to forget about age for many products and services. People no longer categorize themselves by age. More importantly, classifying by age is not how people associate themselves with communities or explore information. Targeting by age, no matter what the advertising medium, will likely slice off millions of potential customers. Especially Boomers. 

As has been oft noted, the consumer decision-making process has changed and education and awareness happens on the web in a self directed search and journey. The wealth of content and channel choices has presented new opportunities and interests to consumers. They now see what their friends and colleagues are sharing on social media, which further spurs interest. 

Business to consumer (B2C) marketing needs to act a little bit more like business to business (B2B). In B2B marketing, they focus on the empowered buyer who has the desire and ability to purchase, rather than getting caught up in title and function. Consumer marketers should think this way, too. By using content marketing, social media, email, search and retargeting, you can focus on consumer’s interests, behaviors and actions. To engage and activate a prospect, the key is tapping into their motivation and needs. This is the rub when marketing to Boomers. So many Boomers are written off because they have gone past a chronological milepost. Companies are leaving money on the table by excluding older people when they create media plans that set artificial age limits.

It’s time to rethink campaign management. Persona-based marketing is the new demographic. To be successful, market to motivations and emotions, not birthdays.

Broadband-Only Homes Accelerate Cable TV

MediaDailyNews

• by Wayne Friedman, January 8, 2015, 10:45am 

Recent sharp declines in cable network ratings — and overall lower TV usage — can be partly attributed to the steadily growing inclusion of broadband-only homes in the Nielsen TV sample.

In a report, MoffettNathanson Research says broadband-only homes — which began to be included by Nielsen in its sample of TV homes in September 2013— have risen to become 2.7% of entire sample.

It notes that People Using Television (PUT) levels are down across the board — with viewer 2-plus usage down 5% and 18-49 usage down 7% at of December 2014.

That usage was at its best levels back in February 2014 — around the time of the Sochi Winter Olympics — down just around 0.5% for viewers 2 plus and around a 2.9% decline for 18-49 viewers.

At the same time, cable TV networks' ratings have dropped. Monthly total day C3 (commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing) among 18-49 viewers sank steadily over 2014, ending down around 10% for the largest 30 networks.

Broadcast networks for the most part had a better time — down a couple of percentage points in October and November, after about a 7% rise in September at the start of the TV season. From April to August of 2014, those ratings were down around 5%.

Things might not get better. Michael Nathanson, senior analyst of MoffettNathanson, writes: “Given the ratings growth seen in first quarter 2014 (most likely a combination of the Winter Olympics in Sochi and last year’s record cold U.S. winter) ratings compares do not get easier until the second quarter 2015.”

As a result, it says “national TV advertising softened, which is odd given that a scarcity of eyeballs usually drives inflation.” Year-over-year growth in quarterly national TV advertising sank from a growth of 12% in revenue for the first quarter of 2014 to being flat in the second quarter of 2014 to a drop of 1% in the third quarter 2014.

Data Becomes CES Rising Star For Advertisers

• by Laurie Sullivan, Yesterday, 3:52 PM

New technology such as connected cars, connected watches and other connected devices doesn't always have marketing and advertising applications initially -- but as the applications mature, brands find the data more useful for better ad targeting across devices and media channels.

Most of these devices will focus on mobile tech.
With Apple Watch due out early this year, connected clothing will move from experimental use in skiwear to smart socks, tennis shoes to biometric running shirts. Sportswear manufacturer O'Neill Europe launched in Munich, Germany, its first wearable electronics product in 2004. The snowboard jacket made of smart fabric to withstand freezing and harsh environments was jointly designed and developed by Infineon Technologies AG to wirelessly connect the wearer to music.

CES attendance by marketer continues to increase. Audit summaries from 2013 and 2014 released by the Consumer Electronics Association, which produces CES, estimates that 5,315 advertising and marketing professionals attended the show in 2014, up nearly 9% from the prior year.
For marketers attending CES, understanding the technology means more than being the first to learn about how it works -- it's about  learning the technology that can help them get their messages into the minds of consumers.

Online advertisers won't see the influence of Nvidia's refocus (announced at CES) on semiconductor chips for automobiles and connected devices for a while. But the company's fame arose from developing some of the most sophisticated visual chips in graphic display cards. Announcing a new chip Sunday, Nvidia says it will provide double the performance of its past chips, and the first mobile chip to perform a trillion operations per second, or a teraflop of computing.

Brands will be thankful for that power as more cars, wearables and home gadgets -- like the thermostats that connect online through an IP address -- begin to expand options for ad targeting. Services from companies like Automatic will tell Google's home thermostat system from Nest Labs when you're driving home. Aside from Automatic, connections made visible through agreements between Nest and Philips and LG bring appliances into the mix. The goal is to give brains to the connected home -- all controlled by the car's system or mobile smartphone.

Forrester: Mobile Is The Anti-Channel

• by Sarah Mahoney, January 2, 2015, 8:42 AM

 

While most marketers continue to think of mobile as a channel — one that runs somewhat parallel to its Internet presence — a new report from Forrester Research says it’s time to reverse that perspective. “Mobile eliminates the notion of channels by blurring the distinction between the physical and digital worlds,” writes analyst Julie A. Ask. And brands like USAA, using mobile as a way to sell expanded services; Starbucks, which is continually finding new ways to streamline purchasing, or Guinness building passionate beer communities, are finding that “mobile generates new revenue, improves customer relationships and reduces costs throughout all channels.”

 

But few companies are prepared. Forrester estimates that less than 4% of businesses are ready to take advantage of the opportunity presented by mobile, and even then, fail to take into account its rapidly expanding definition. It’s not just phones, she says, but watches, cuffs, glasses and even lighting systems. 

 

“We still see most of our clients cramming PC experiences onto phones when they should be thinking in terms of mobile moments instead,” she writes. Among the executives it surveyed, 47% planned to spend $500,000 or less externally to build up their mobile services. “This budget barely pays for the analytics, messaging, testing, and marketing solutions on which most enterprises depend.” And only 45% have at least five developers in-house.

 

The best strategies, she writes, are those that find ways to interact with consumers at specific stages in the six-step customer journey:

 

*Discover Getting consumers who are not yet customers to engage isn’t easy, but financial brands, such as Intuit or USAA, “manufacture mobile moments by offering consumers tools to manage their finances, cars, and homes — and opportunities to buy new services in those moments.”

 

*Explore With 43% of American smartphone owners saying they’ve researched a product via their device in the last few months, savvy marketers are finding ways to make mobile research easier, driving total transactions, not just digital sales.

 

*Buy In 2014, U.S. consumers bought about $24 billion in goods via mobile and used their devices to pay for $52 billion, “whether they are in-store with a mobile-enabled associate, paying remotely, paying bills, or engaging in peer-to-peer payment methods.”

Giving customers mobile access to both pricing and inventory increases their shopping confidence.

 

*Use Increasingly, consumers expect support through apps, updates and notifications. Basis, for example — a fitness and wellness wearable that gathers information on steps taken, sleep, and heart rate — comes with an app which walks consumers through behavior changes. 

 

*Ask Mobile can be a low-cost self-service tool for customer support, and “is at its best when it streamlines customer interactions, saving them time and saving you money.” One example: American Express uses [24]7 to resolve potential fraud through an interactive mobile phone experience, instead of a regular voice call. In addition to saving millions in operation expenses, “nine out of 10 consumers gave the experience at least four out of five stars.”

 

*Engage Sharing reviews, comments, and tips allow customers to create their own communities, fostering brand loyalty and customer passions, like the Guinness Pub Finder app. Mobile extends those communities by making it easier to post photos and videos. Marketers benefit “from crowd-sourced content and a brand affinity that paid media can’t buy.”

Millennials Put Premium On Digital Relationships

• by Gavin O'Malley, Yesterday, 12:23 PM

For better or worse, younger consumers are more able to form meaningful relationships through digital channels.

 

That, at least, is according to new research from digital marketing agency Deep Focus, which based its findings on a survey of 901 “mainstream” 18-34s, and 302 18-34 “trendsetters,” late last year.

In fact, more than one-third of this demographic now consider “eLationships” as meaningful as in-person relationships, Deep Focus finds.

 

Plus, nearly a third (32%) of the young respondents reported feeling “close” to people they had only met online, while more than three-quarters (76%) said they had friendships based solely on social-media interactions.

 

If true, consumers’ growing fondness for purely digital relationships has positive implications for digital marketers, according to Jamie Gutfreund, chief marketing officer at Deep Focus.

“This massive behavioral shift has resulted in a new era of digital engagement,” according to Gutfreund. “Do not underestimate the significance of ‘eLationships’ for young consumers.”

For Generation Y especially, their growing taste for “digital intimacy” manifests most notably in social communities, and their efforts to present a particular imagine to the world through digital channels.

 

Among young consumers, for instance, more than 50% now consider how their clothes will look in photos shared via Instagram and other social channels.

 

Similarly, young consumers increasingly seek validation through social media’s various endorsement devices, from likes to follower and fan counts. (According to Deep Focus, however, Gen Y attributes greater value to a like than a follower or fan.)

 

Moreover, a full 64% of 18-34s are now more aware of the importance of their online reputation than they've been previously.

 

To determine which community members fit the “trendsetter criteria,” Deep Focus asks respondents a series of questions regarding their digital consumption habits, social behaviors and degree of progressive and experimental thinking.

Selfie image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

Why Marketers Should Make A New Year's Resolution To Buy More TV

Now if I can get Gene McKay of Inside Radio to allow us to grab some solid reasons from his publication as to why radio is a very good investment as well...we can feature it here in LeNoble's Media Sales Insights. Radio is everywhere now... Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

Commentary

• by David Savage, January 2, 2015, 7:30 AM 

The end of the year always marks a time for us to think about the year past, create plans for the future and make our New Year’s resolutions for what we want to change. While some experts have predicted the decline and demise of television advertising, I think marketers should make a resolution this year to buy more TV.   

 

We have heard countless times that TV advertising is simply not sustainable given the growth of online marketing, social, mobile and other forms of digital media. But even though digital and mobile are growing, nothing can match TV in terms of reach. When it comes to customer acquisition, the first screen is still the best screen, and that is why spending on TV ads in 2014 will outpace digital video by a factor of 10 to 1 and mobile advertising by a factor of 17 to 1, according to a study published in eMarketer. PwC has also recently reinforced the need to pay close attention to TV. That report stated that “despite the growth of digital media, TV advertising remains the place to be. Global TV advertising revenue is successfully responding to the rise of newer forms of digital media and will grow 5.5% over the next five years.”

 

A study by Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB) supports what I have been telling marketers when they come to me with questions about their marketing mix; it’s time to get into the TV game. CAB studied the TV investment of pure-play Internet brands during the past five years, finding a direct correlation between TV spend and Web site traffic and revenue. It’s why, according to CAB, pure-play Internet brands have increased their TV spend by more than one third over the past five years, investing over $4 billion on TV last year alone, as per the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau report “Cable Nation: What’s Driving Digital?”

 

For marketers that have focused heavily on digital, now is the time to take a much closer look at TV. It’s critical to the marketing mix, and with the right model and management, TV can provide an effective, trackable and scalable option.

 

TV and Digital Working Together

In the past, marketers might have spent ad dollars on TV to build their brands, or focused exclusively on digital advertising to stimulate transactions. Today, you no longer have to choose between brand building and direct sales. TV and digital can and should work together to help you build your brand and scale your business. Here are a few reasons why:

• Consumers rarely focus on a single screen. The majority of people who own smartphones and tablets are using them while they watch TV. It’s important to know when and why people use their smartphones or tablets so you can create advertising campaigns that drive people to the Web, carrying the conversation from one screen to the next.

• TV can benefit digital’s growth. Even as more attention is given to other screens, adults still spend an average of 4 hours and 28 minutes a day watching TV, accounting for 36.5 percent of their total time with media. Used correctly, TV can initiate the campaign and drive transactions through digital channels.

• TV makes digital more effective. Digital advertising can only get you so far.  When combined with TV, you dramatically increase the number of people who see your campaigns, and they become more transaction focused. Campaigns that leverage television and digital can be more efficient and ROI is easier to measure.

Direct Response Makes TV More like Digital
Pure-play Internet brands are transaction-driven businesses, and it’s why they value campaigns they can measure and track. Direct response is the only form of TV advertising that can be measured the same way as digital advertising, integrating with other media channels to encourage a transaction. The ability to inspire consumer transactions and measure success is the reason why direct response makes TV more like digital. Combined with television’s broad reach, it’s clear why brands should make TV a significant part of their marketing mix.

Maximize TV Investment
The CAB study found that TV ads are primary generators of website traffic; beating magazines, newspapers, online mobile, word-of-mouth and PR. It also, found that traditional Internet brands that increased their investment in TV during the past five years experienced an increase in web traffic, as well as an increase in revenues.

To fully maximize your investment in TV and build campaigns that impact traffic and revenues, you must establish baselines; taking stock of your site visits and page views prior to campaign launch. You should be prepared to adjust your campaign by building algorithms that correlate time, expense, visits and views, which can then help you optimize future media buys and their impact.
One of the most important things I tell marketers is to measure daily. Taking regular stock of the analytics will make your advertising more efficient and help grow your business. By understanding what channels and ads are driving transactions, you can make adjustments to your media buys and adapt your strategy accordingly. With transaction-based reporting and results, justifying ad spend becomes much easier.

Transactional Brand-Building
The notion of transactional brand building fits perfectly with brands that want to scale their business using television. Beyond TV ratings, traditional TV advertising can be difficult to measure. Inherent in direct response, however, are transactions as advertisers use campaigns to drive traffic to a website, call a phone number or send a text message, making TV more like digital for measuring success. Brands no longer have to wonder what happens next when they run ads on TV.