Forecast: TV Ad Growth To Rise Nearly 5% In 2016

• by Wayne Friedman, 5 hours ago

After a weak first half of the year, TV advertising continues to perk up in recent months -- and will see stronger growth in 2016 due to the Summer Olympics and presidential elections.

 

MoffettNathanson Research estimates overall TV advertising will climb 4.8% next year -- with local TV stations the big gainer, up 10% in revenue in 2016 versus a 4.5% decline in 2015. Local cable will also grow to high levels -- 7.4% versus 6.0% for 2015. Political advertising and Olympics will be major contributing factors.

 

The big four broadcast networks will rise 6% in 2016 after a year of mostly down periods, averaging an estimated 4% pullback for the full-year 2015.

National cable networks will remain consistent -- albeit with lower gains. MoffettNathanson expects those channels will see a 1.2% gain in 2016 -- up from a 1% estimated hike in 2015 and a 1% actual rise in 2014.

 

For the most recent three-month period, national TV networks performed a bit better than expected -- up 1% to $8.3 billion against an estimated 0.7% decline. Strong scatter market sales marked the difference.

 

Overall, there has been a 6.4% decline for the first nine months of 2015 for TV networks and a 2.6% overall for TV -- which includes broadcast and cable networks, local TV stations and local cable.

Among the broadcast networks, ABC led in improvement -- 5% higher during the period to $753 million. NBC (including its TV stations) was 2.8% higher at $1.19 billion, while CBS was basically flat at 0.1% to $788 million and Fox sank nearly 7% to $409 million.

 

Cable network groups were led by AMC Networks -- up a big 40% to $193 million. Scripps Networks Interactive added on 5.2% to $448 million; Discovery Communications was up 4% to $404 million; and Fox cable networks also gained 4% to $520 million. Viacom was on the other end of the spectrum -- down 7.5% to $1.0 billion.

Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV

The Atlantic

All in the name of serving you more targeted ads

Steve Marcus / Reuters and Kaveh Waddell               

 

Nov 19, 2015                                                            

The TV is on in the background, and you’re replying to a quick email on your phone nearby. You don’t know it, but the devices are communicating. During a commercial, the TV emits an inaudible tone and your phone, which was listening for it, picks it up. Somewhere far away, a server makes a note: Both devices probably belong to you.

 

This information about which devices belong to whom is immensely valuable to advertisers hoping to target ads specifically to you. In a simpler time, targeted marketing was easy. Most people had a computer at work and maybe another at home. If you sent an email about your new cat, ads for cat food started cropping up. If you searched for Thanksgiving recipes, Safeway coupons for turkeys appeared in your Facebook newsfeed.

 

Those were good days for advertisers tracking Internet users. It wasn’t so hard to find what people were up to online, because most routinely used just one or two connected devices.

 

But now, between laptops, phones, tablets, wearables, and Internet-enabled cars and TVs, advertisers have access to more information than ever before for ad targeting. They just need to figure out which devices live under the same roof.

 

That’s harder than it sounds. Unless you’re logged into a service on all your devices—for example, by using Google’s various services everywhere—advertisers need to get creative to stitch together a portrait of you.

 

Verizon’s “supercookies”—a snippet of code injected into mobile users’ web requests—silently identify and track its customers, sharing the information with AOL’s wide-reaching ad network. Vizio Smart TVs tie customers’ viewing habits to a home Internet address and sell the information to advertisers. And both programs require customers, who are often unaware of the programs, to opt out of them if they don’t wish to be tracked.

 

But a newer method of cross-device tracking wanders into the realm of science fiction. According to a filing from the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital human rights and privacy advocacy organization, companies have figured out how to use inaudible sounds to establish links between devices.

 

Here’s how software from SilverPush, a leading provider of “audio beacons,” works: When you visit a website that uses SilverPush tracking technology, the site causes your device to emit an inaudible ultrasonic sound. If any other devices you’ve got lying around—a laptop, a phone, a tablet—has an app installed that includes SilverPush code, it’s listening for that sound. If it hears it, SilverPush knows that the two devices are close to one another and, presumably, belong to the same person.

 

More recently, SilverPush expanded into television advertising: Certain TV commercials include an ultrasonic audio beacon. Any nearby devices running SilverPush software will be listening for the beacon—if a device hears it, it records the match, allowing the company to figure out what ads users watch and for how long, and add that information to the user’s profile.

 

SilverPush product manager Piyush Bhatt says the audio tracking only operates in India, but the company, which is based near New Delhi, has established offices in San Francisco and the Philippines as well.

 

The creativity displayed by SilverPush and its peers has raised privacy concerns. The company’s audio-based tracking method is far more accurate than most ways advertising software quietly follow Internet users, because it takes the guesswork out of the device-matching process, says Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

The methods marketing companies use to discover links between users’ devices—whether it’s audio beacons or examining Internet traffic for markers that distinguish a certain user’s computer and browser—are often silent and secret by design.

 

(Bhatt said that the smartphone apps that listen for SilverPush audio beacons present the user with a screen asking for detailed permission before using the device’s microphone for the first time.)

When it comes to audio beacons, Hall says he’s not just worried about marketing companies tracking average consumers—he thinks their techniques could be used by governments for surveillance. For example, if a group of dissidents in a country like China were to meet in secret, their phones might pick up a government-planted ultrasonic audio signal from a nearby TV. If hidden code on their phones relayed to the government that they all heard the tone, agents could easily tell that the dissidents were associated with one another, and meeting surreptitiously.

 

To address these privacy questions, SilverPush is in contact with the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Bhatt says his company is “actively engaging with all the stakeholders.”

“We are concerned about privacy and would not do something that intrudes ethical data practices,” Bhatt said.

 

Cross-device tracking has caught the eye of the Federal Trade Commission, which recently convened a workshop to discuss the technologies and associated risks. Hall said he hopes the FTC will issue guidelines for building transparency and control into cross-device tracking technologies. Next-generation tracking technologies like SilverPush, he says, should be required to meet a “higher bar” of warning users they’re being followed.

 

As new tracking technologies take hold, so too will technologies to block them. Experts are already hard at work searching for audio beacons and trying to identify their characteristics, laying the groundwork for ways to limit the reach of the ultrasonic signals that may one day populate our airwaves.

Inside Story: Healthcare Radio Ads Have Robust 2015 Pulse.

INSIDERADIO

Monday November 23, 2015

 

 Healthcare advertising, radio’s No. 3 category for the first half of 2015, is providing mighty muscle to the industry’s bottom line, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. Tucked in right behind Automotive and Professional Services, healthcare spot radio spending was up 4% in FH 2015 over the same period in 2014. Even better, the sector offers opportunities for stations on both the national and local spending fronts. The healthcare category houses a wide swath of advertisers, featuring the likes of health insurance providers, Medicare and Medicaid services, medical facilities and hospitals, Lasik surgery providers, cancer treatment centers, plastic surgeons and those ubiquitous clinics providing assistance for men with Low-T. But in the RAB’s 2014 Finding Consumer Trends report, the largest slice of radio healthcare spending came from hospitals and clinics, accounting for 18% of the category. And well demonstrating healthcare’s growth, national optic treatment center LasikPlus, for example, increased its radio activity 65% in FH 2015, vs. 2014, while NuMale Medical Center provided radio with a 185% boost over the same six months in 2014. "If you have the right campaign and the right buy, radio can be particularly productive for healthcare businesses to break through the clutter," says Lonnie Hirsch, founder & CEO of Hirsch Healthcare Consulting, which assists providers with media ad buyers. "Radio is generally more affordable than television, offering more repetition and more bang for the buck."

 

Healthcare Ads Are a Boon for Local. Stations are likely to air ads for the major healthcare advertisers such as Pfizer, UnitedHealthcare and Bayer. But the backbone of the sector also includes the likes of Smith Vein Center, Jones Lasik Care or Brown Weight Loss Clinic. "Healthcare has been part of our advertising DNA for a good long time, with a preponderance of local," says Drew Horowitz, president & chief operating officer of Hubbard Radio, who oversees the group’s operations in Chicago, Washington, DC, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis and Cincinnati. He sees consistent spot buys in those markets from such clients as vein clinics, Lasik centers, plastic surgeons, health clubs and weight loss clinics. "Many of the buys come directly from the owners and operators of clinics or facilities who have had enough success to open multiple locations within the market," he tells Inside Radio. Agreed, says Lonnie Hirsch, founder & CEO of Hirsch Healthcare Consulting. "Unless you have a huge enterprise all over the country, most healthcare marketing and advertising is going to be local—which is an advantage for terrestrial radio and a big targeting opportunity for stations. For the buyers who have multiple locations in the same market, radio is their primary means to reach a targeted audience." Hubbard’s Horowitz notes that there is also a seasonal bent to healthcare advertising. "Lasik is pretty much year-round, but in the spring and summer, when people are out in shorts and more revealing clothing, there is a definite emphasis from many of these advertisers." Hirsch concurs: "Spring is a pretty good time for a lot of the healthcare businesses, particularly those promoting aesthetics, plastic surgery, weight loss and skin treatments."

The Value of Using Stories To Sell Health. In the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Finding Consumer Trends report, consumers were asked which type of advertising most influenced their healthcare choices. The answer from its 2014 survey: 77% of respondents said radio, and some clients are happy to acknowledge how and why they think it works so well. Tried-and-true broadcast radio advertiser Sutter Health operates a healthcare network in 100 Northern California municipalities with some 50,000 employees. Chief marketing & branding officer Arra Yerganian tells Inside Radio, “I’m a big believer in any medium that allows us to tell our story in an unadulterated way, and I believe radio offers that. We have thousands of stories to tell every day about people whose lives we change. We’re a mission-based organization, so the opportunity to tell that contextually makes us that much more interesting and relevant to the audience we serve.” Sutter utilizes a mix of advertising mediums that also now includes digital. “The days of old where it was television, radio, billboards and print are gone,” he says. “The opportunity to connect one to one is absolutely apparent, so why shouldn’t we know as much about our patients and the people we serve as Amazon does?” But the message still begins with radio. “That’s where we define awareness and familiarity, and then follow it up with the big punctuation of digital engagement and the direct response world.”

Rentrak, Millennial Media Offer Tool To Retarget TV Ads To Mobile

 

• by Wayne Friedman, November 19, 2015, 1:21 PM

Rentrak and Millennial Media are launching a new product where advertisers can retarget TV commercials to mobile devices.
With the new product, the companies say marketers can measure results to see their specific return on investment. They can also secure “share of voice” data from Rentrak, the TV/media research company, and Millennial Media, the mobile advertising company.  In a blog from Andrew Abbott, senior director, global mobile video sales at Millennial Media (now part of AOL), he says after Rentrak aggregates data across various cable and satellite providers, it then “passes digital audiences based on commercial viewership to Millennial Media’s DMP.”
Millennial Media will then anonymously match Rentrak’s audiences with users on smartphones and tablets, “and can serve a mobile video ad to that cross-screen audience.”

Abbott adds that “the retargeted mobile ad is served after the initial TV ad is viewed, providing an additional opportunity for sequential messaging and brand re-engagement.”

He says advertisers can choose to re-target consumers that have seen their previous TV ads, or even put their digital video ads in front of people who’ve seen competitors’ ads, which can be measured by Millennial Media.

Recently, Rentrak was acquired by digital media researcher comScore in a $830 million dollar deal announced in late September. Millennial Media was bought by AOL earlier that month, a deal valued at $238 million.

Holiday Shoppers On Move Earlier, Shifting To Ecommerce

This a reason stations should bolster their position with clients to inform them that digital, mobile and social may best be marketed by your company in their specific markets. With stations building digital solution managers and special teams to service local SEM and SEO needs by local-direct businesses, clients also need teams who will make calls to help them with their yearly marketing strategies and media marketing. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. CA

• by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, November 13, 2015, 12:18 PM

In further proof that people are losing interest in Black Friday, two new studies report that more consumers are shopping earlier than last year, with more of their spending shifting to online channels.

The National Retail Federation says 56.6% of holiday shoppers are already hard at it, up from 54.4% last year. Back in 2008, when the NRF first began asking about shopping time frames, only 49% had started. 

 

And the NPD Group says it has detected a 6% increase in early shopping since last year, with two-thirds of the consumers in its survey saying they plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online, up 12% from last year. And they named pure-play e-commerce sites, such as Amazon, as their most likely source, rather than sites run by brick-and-mortar retailers.

 

“Thanksgiving weekend shopping has evolved tremendously over the past few years and can no longer be seen as the ‘start’ of the holiday season, though there’s no question it’s still important to millions of holiday shoppers,” says NRF CEO Matthew Shay, in its report. “There is a real sea change happening in retail when it comes to the how, when, where, and why of holiday shopping.”

Younger shoppers are the most likely to already out there, including 65% of those between the ages of 25 and 44, and 62% of those aged 35 to 44. Women (58%) are somewhat more likely to do so than men (58%.)

 

So far, clothing is the favorite gift item (named by 60.3% of consumers). And while gift cards come in second, mentioned by 56.3%, that’s a decline from 60% last year. (The NRF’s surveying is conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.)

 

The NPD Group also reports that clothing is the top category, on the minds of 49% of respondents. And it also expects to see significant spending in food and beverages, books, and entertainment products, like movies, DVDs, and video gaming systems, as well as smartphones.

The art of asking effective questions

 SmartBrief on Leadership

Smarter Communication

     

By Joel Garfinkle on November 16th, 2015    

                   

A wise man said there are three kinds of questions: Ones that show how smart you are, ones that show how dumb they are, and ones that seek information. I think there are a few more kinds than that. But it’s valid to be aware of how others feel about our questions.

So let’s look at the purposes behind questions. When you understand the motivation and desire behind the questions, you frame them to get the answers you seek.

Different kinds of questions produce different kinds of answers. You may be asking the wrong questions for the information you want. This may lead to frustration, co-worker tensions, and poor results.

On the other hand, mastering the art of effective questions will help you rise to the top. Here are the 5 different types of questions to get the results you want.

1. Informational questions
2. Analyzing questions
3. Exploratory questions
4. Consensus questions
5. Attacking questions
6. Condescending questions

Informational questions. When you want fact, details, or answers from research, you’ll ask informational questions. They may sound like:

• Where are the documents?
• What does the report say?
• What proof have you found?

Analyzing questions. Once you’ve gathered the facts, you want to review the implications. You want to understand the meaning of the information you have. Your open ended questions focus on processing and understanding the information. You might ask:

• What do you learn from this information?
• What avenues or directions might be open because of what we know?

Exploratory questions. These questions give you a chance to look at possibilities. As a result of what you now know, can discover the choices available and determine which one might be the best option. You might ask:

• What will happen if…?
• Why do you think we should…?
• What will be the outcome when…?
• What are the alternatives?

Consensus questions. As the discussion progresses, the time comes to pull the information together and make a decision. These questions seek to get uniformity of opinion or agreement.

• Do we have enough information to form a decision?
• What will it take for us to agree and move forward?
• How will we need to handle this for us to feel good about this decision?

All of these kinds of questions give you the answers to help your team work together in harmony and solve problems. However not all questions are helpful. Some damage your team and reduce response.
Attacking questions. While you may not think so, some questions inherently put the other person on the defensive. They build resentment and reduce productivity. Persistent questions like this may cause higher employee turnover.

• Why didn’t you…?
• Don’t you know…?
• What made you think…?

Condescending questions. These questions are intended to show how smart the questioner is and how dumb the receiver is. They are put-downs disguised as “well-meaning” questions.

• What, you didn’t know…?
• Where were you when…?
• Did you really think…?

When you master skillful questions you will gain information and guide the discussion in a positive way. When you weed out negative questions you build trust and community within your team. The art of effective questions can add to your insight, problem-solving and strength as a leader.

Remove Roadblocks

By John Manning | November 16, 2015        

   

 

No one gets jazzed about having “problems,” much less dealing with challenges. But as a leader, you’re going to experience roadblocks in your business, whether those are related to your team, external competition, unforeseen crises, or any other types of issues. What’s more, how you deal with your roadblocks can make or break your success. In fact, Disciplined Leaders make it a practice to view challenges as “opportunities.” As soon as they become aware of a challenge, they recognize that it’s a moment of truth in which they can run, hide, or stay present in the discomfort, fully embracing the issue at hand. Above all, they really get that each roadblock is a chance to demonstrate integrity and their commitment to their most vital asset—their people. In your leadership role, you, too, will have such opportunities. So when everyone is looking to you to demonstrate leadership excellence, courageously make the best moves. By avoiding complacency at all costs and consistently choosing to do what’s right, you will win your people’s loyalty and be more effective at reaching your goals.

Here’s a short list of some top issues we see with our clients at MAP. Do any of these hit home? If so, ask yourself: How can I take action against these challenges today?

1. Company bottlenecks. One of the most common problems we coach people around has to do with organizations getting in their own way. Because they are struggling with a management process or maybe have the wrong system altogether, they’re causing their own internal and, perhaps, external pain. When you see departments struggling to work together or observe team activities undermining goals as well as your company’s greater good, serious bottlenecks can occur. In such cases, it’s your job as the leader to rise to the rescue. Get in there and ask good “why” questions around what’s going on. Then, develop strategies based on your findings, taking corrective action and aligning everyone around the right goals.

2. Talent gaps. Sometimes leaders just don’t have the right people working for them. These “talent” gaps turn into major time traps when leaders feel they need to pick up the slack or do all the work themselves because they’ve not brought on enough of the right people. However, hiring sufficient talent is vital for productivity and performance. Just think about customer service companies that cut back on their good performers for the sake of saving a dollar. What happens? Customer service rates go down, along with the company’s reputation, employee morale, and customer loyalty. I’m not saying trimming back staff is a bad thing in and of itself. However, not hiring enough of the right people can cause countless issues for your company and, ultimately, your ability to be effective as a leader. Whatever it takes, bridge the talent gap. Either get your current staff into positions that speak better to their gifts and abilities, or hire more of the right people—period.

3. Training troubles. Most companies should get some degree of training at least from time to time. However, training opportunities are a dime a dozen. Whether it’s for your leadership or your people, you could literally spend countless dollars training on practically any subject you like! So here’s the key question: What do you and your people really need in regard to training? To determine this, first assess the critical deficits in skills or knowledge. Then, choose the trainings that will deliver the greatest impact relative to your Vital Goals and choose professional development programs that are proven to get results. Above all, don’t get suckered into the latest training trend or what others think would be best for you. Do your homework and choose the trainings wisely.

Which one of these three issues really hits home with you—what have you done to address it?

Robots Can’t Close

     

Article | Fri, 11/13/2015 - 00:00  

by: Sales & Marketing Management magazine

To date, technological advancements have always created better jobs and improved the well-being of humanity. But we face the real possibility that technology will, for the first time, displace more jobs than it creates. In his new book, Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will, Geoff Colvin, a senior editor at Fortune magazine, says those people who master the human abilities that are fading all around us will be the most valuable workers in the world.

SMM: What led you to writing this book?

Colvin: I was observing technology doing things that truly seemed beyond what anyone thought technology could do. The self-driving car is everyone’s favorite example and it’s a great example. That truly would have seemed beyond the ability of a computer in our lifetime, but it’s happening and it’s happening fast. I was struck by that and I was struck by what I was hearing from certain mainstream economists and technologists who thought maybe the world really had changed in this regard. This is making people anxious on a large scale.

SMM: You state matter-of-factly that transactional jobs are declining and relational jobs are expanding. B2B sales is the classic combination of both of these, so where does that leave the B2B sales role?

Colvin: Where the relational element is predominant – where it’s a really complex sale, and it may take years to sell a product or service that may last for years – the people who can do that kind of selling are only going to get more valuable. It’s all about human-to-human interaction. Everybody who has been in the world of sales knows that when a company is buying a power turban for $10 million or buying computer servers, a human being in that company is responsible for that purchase and we all know that with something that big, there is an emotional element in the making of that decision. They need someone to talk to to help them with it. That’s not going to go away.

SMM: You stress the skills that will be most important going forward are those that are most human – empathy, creativity and social sensitivity among them. Are managers emphasizing this component of sales?

Colvin: Some do and some don’t. The good ones realize that it is a trait that can be trained. There are plenty of companies where the attitude of managers is just hire a bunch of people, see which ones seem to be good at it already, and then fire the ones who are not. They’re looking for it, but they don’t train it. What’s important for managers to realize is that it can be trained. Even people who are good at it can get better.

SMM: These human skills are particularly on display in after-action reviews, the team debriefing process that was originally developed by the U.S. Army. It requires candidness and permission to be critical of superiors’ decisions.

Colvin: Since the Army developed the after-action review, a number of companies have tried to adopt the practice, but very few have done so successfully. I’ve talked to consultants who have worked with companies on this and they say it is a cultural matter. In some companies it’s just not culturally OK to have a truly frank conversation about what went well and what didn’t go well during a recent event – a sales presentation or the introduction of a new product.

 People in the military told me back when they first started it, it wasn’t easy. There were a lot of people who were not at all comfortable speaking up in the after-action review about something that reflected badly on a superior. The way they did it was they simply required it. They would say to somebody, “Give me three things that worked well in this last exercise and three things that did not work well.” The shorthand in the Army now is, “Give me three up and three down.”

SMM: You share your concern that technology is actually keeping us from developing more important human skills. You cite research of groups of sixth-graders who went technology-free for five straight days and focused on interpersonal interaction. In that short time, they became far more emotionally insightful. We’re not going to go screen-free, so what should we take away from that?

Colvin: We spend more and more of our time staring into digital devices and our interpersonal abilities are suffering. We’re just not as good at that – we’re not as comfortable. But the study shows us that these interpersonal abilities can be brought back. It reminds us that sometimes when you have a choice to either email somebody or walk down the hall and talk to them, walk down the hall and talk to them.

SMM: That speaks to your point of the power of face-to-face discussions, which is heartening for sales representatives.

Colvin: When we are able to get together face-to-face, the value is greater than most of us realize. When we talk to somebody face-to-face, all kinds of things are happening between us that we are not even consciously aware of. We are bonding in a way that doesn’t happen in any other way. We’ve persuaded ourselves that doing things by email or text is just as good and is more efficient. Well, it is more efficient, but you lose a lot.

SMM: The problem for many B2B salespeople is getting that face time with prospects.
Colvin: People are going to want to get information on their own. In fact, they won’t feel confident until they’ve done that. But ultimately it is about the relationship. They don’t get built quickly. It’s a greater struggle than it used to be, for sure, which is one of the reasons I say these abilities are more important than they used to be.

SMM: You’ve got a whole chapter on the power of story. Here again, it’s a good sign for sales because story is the essence of sales.

Colvin: At a lot of companies, storytelling has not been valued – charts and graphs have been valued. Data collection is precisely what technology is doing better and better. But if you want to change somebody’s mind – if you want to inspire them to act – tell them a story. Our brains are hardwired for stories and that’s what influences us. And the story told in person is far more powerful because the listener can sense the passion – the authenticity of the person telling the story. It also forms that person-to-person bond that doesn’t happen any other way. We all know what a good story is. What I’ve found is just tell it. Leave out the charts and graphs. It’s remarkable how well it works.

SMM: You also feel that women have innate advantages in terms of the skills that will matter in the workplace of the future.

Colvin: When it comes to these abilities regarding deep personal interaction, the research is very clear that, on average, women are just better than men. We have a ton of research on it, but do we really need it? Don’t we know it already? That has implications for sales. A lot of women in companies have not been encouraged to use these abilities for all they are worth. Women may have insights they won’t articulate because they don’t think they are valued and they haven’t been valued. It would be really valuable to get those insights. In a sales situation in particular, that insight into the human nature of what is going on is extremely valuable. So much of business is based on analytical work. Women will often have insights into the human reality of a situation that men just don’t have. It doesn’t apply to every woman or every man. But on average, that’s the case.

Connected TV Usage To Hit 200 Million By 2019

 

• by Wayne Friedman, Yesterday, 10:53 AM

Connected TV users will continue to rise over the next five years -- but at slower growth rates as it reaches higher U.S. penetration. By 2019, U.S. home penetration of connected TV users will rise to 78.1% (97.3 million homes) -- up from 56.6% this year, according to eMarketer.

Currently, there are 140.5 million that have used connected TV at least once a month through built-in Internet access, or with a variety of separate boxes and/or consoles, up 23.% over a year ago.

This is expected to rise to 200.8 million in five years, with growth rates slowing over that time period.

That's in order: up 16.6% to 163.8 million in 2016; 10.6% higher in 2017 over the year before to 181.3 million; 6.2% more the following year in 2018 to 192.5 million; and then improving 4.3% in 2019 over 2018 to 200.8 million.

The study quotes video ad network Tremor Video, from a second-quarter study showing that connected TV in prime-time video hours pulls in an average 7.3% of all digital video requests per hour between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Digital video viewing on tablets during the time period commands a 5.6% share. Smartphone have a 4.6% share; and desktops, a 4.3% share.

Big Tragedies, Big Programming Decisions

A media critique by Wayne Friedman Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015 Many TV networks had to make tough decisions about what to do as a result of the Paris attacks. Some took the prudent approach of not airing any violent, terrorist-related content that had been previously scheduled.   For example, CBS canceled terrorist-themed episodes for “Supergirl” and “NCIS: Los Angeles”on Monday night. TNT didn’t air a Monday episode of “Legends”centered around a potentially violent and deadly protest in Paris.   Many other networks offered up “viewer discretion” warnings about episodes that were about to air on Sunday. ABC did this for “Quantico”; Showtime for “Homeland.” Additionally, NBC killed a live taping of the comedy “Undateable” set to air on Friday night. The show’s writers tweeted: “To our fans, friends & family: We love you. And we love to make you laugh. Tonight we will not air out of respect for our friends in Paris” Rightfully, no one wants to be insensitive, or to appear to profit, during such moments. So much advertising  was shifted, suspended, and/or canceled -- especially on Friday night on broadcast news programming and cable news networks. Over the weekend, more wall-to-wall coverage by cable news networks and other networks meant less advertising for long periods. Closer to home, tragedies get even more attention and sensitivity from advertisers. There was  five days of nonstop all-news coverage during the 9/11 attacks, which meant a shifting of nearly $400 million in commercial TV time.  A year later, on the anniversary of the attacks, another $50 million to $60 million in ads was suspended. TV programmers have always been careful about when to begin airing this kind of content again, within a distance of days, weeks or more. TV advertisers also make those estimations.   But what happens next? Violent, terrorist-related stories have long been a staple of U.S. TV dramas -- and theatrical movies. What should change on TV, and advertising commerce,  in light of real-life, events -- if anything?

Paris Attacks Get Strong, Continuing Radio Coverage.

INSIDERADIO
November 17, 2015
Paris Attacks Get Strong, Continuing Radio Coverage.                            

Previous Next

ABC News Radio 200

When terrorist attacks hit Paris last Friday, American radio news networks quickly deployed breaking news coverage, providing affiliates with hours of live reports, leveraged TV relationships, and rushed key personnel into place. And based on reports and the reality of the conflict, it appears to be only the beginning.

“This is a big story not only through this year but probably during the entirety of the presidential campaign,” says Bart Tessler, Westwood One’s executive VP of News and Talk. And since Saturday, Fox News Radio is offering stations two reports per hour and says its reporters will remain in Paris for “the foreseeable future.” Steve Jones, general manager of ABC News Radio says his reporters will stay in Paris through the week, and feedback from affiliates will drive future reporting. “We’re going to be wherever our stations want us to be,” he says.
  It continues an immersive pattern of coverage that began soon after the tragedy occurred. When the news broke about 4:30pm ET Friday, ABC News Radio, CBS News Radio, Fox News Radio and Westwood One News all offered live broadcasts. And radio networks called on partnerships with TV news arms for added coverage and resources. ABC News Radio, for instance, offered five live hours anchored by correspondent Aaron Katersky. “Crisis coverage is a key component of the relationship that we have with [affiliates],” ABC’s Jones. “When bad things happen,” he adds, “they want accuracy and reliable coverage.”

After Katersky signed off, he deployed to Paris, joining ABC News Radio correspondent Tom Rivers and three other staffers. ABC News Radio also offered stations four status reports an hour, two instant specials and six newscasts an hour.

For its part, CBS News Radio produced three short-form special reports per hour, with about 60 affiliates taking the special reports, according to general manager Constance Lloyd, and stations could also simulcast CBS News live TV coverage. CBS Radio reporter Elaine Cobb, who is stationed in Paris, went on-air immediately, and London-based reporter Vicky Barker quickly joined her. CBS News also has a reporter stationed in Brussels. Having local reporters on the ground gives the network an advantage, Lloyd says. “We don’t need to send someone from NY because we still have correspondents in major European cities,” she says.

And Fox News Radio, whose affiliates include about 60 iHeartMedia-owned stations, offered four hours of live coverage Friday. Fox News Radio has two reporters on the ground, with European correspondent Simon Owen reporting for Fox News Radio and Rome-based reporter Courtney Walsh in Paris primarily for Fox News’ SiriusXM Radio channel.

Westwood One News offered its 750+ stations special reports twice an hour through Saturday night, utilizing its exclusive partnership with CNN, which has more than 100 people on the story. Westwood One sent correspondents Erin McLaughlin and Karin Caifa to Paris; the pair will remain in the city all week.

                                         

           

 

 

 

3 Reasons Why Millennials are the Best Sales Reps Ever

 Fri, 11/06/2015 - 06:10

by: Adam Honig

If you haven’t heard, Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers in the workplace for the first time. And with this takeover has come an obvious and inevitable shift in how, when and where employees work.

One industry heavily influenced by this shift is sales. Once dominated by the pin-striped suit-wearing, Montblanc-wielding sales rep from an older generation, sales is now dominated by the scrappy, almond-latte drinking, more casual Millennial. While many have their doubts as to how Millennial sales reps will perform, it’s time to put those doubts to rest, because Millennials have all of the right ingredients to be the best, most successful sales generation of all time. Here are three reasons why:

Unmatched work ethic and drive– Millennials entered the job market under tough conditions – following 9/11 and, for many, at the start of the worst recession since the Great Depression. As a result, they are aggressive, hard-working and ready to fight for their positions. Many Millennials walk into new jobs and companies, and assume their positions with confidence, which can make others a bit squeamish. This is even more present in sales positions, where salaries aren’t always guaranteed and quotas reign supreme.

Above all, this unmatched work ethic can be attributed to life circumstances – the oldest of the Millennials (who turned 18 in 2000) are now settling down and having families, buying houses and no longer viewing retirement as a mythical, unobtainable goal. There is no doubt that this phase of life impacts their drive to make more money. They are motivated and hungry to succeed.

Technology is second nature– While the up-and-coming Generation Z was all but born with iPhones and tablets in their hands, technology has also played an important and influential role in the lives of Millennials. They grew up with technology – many “came of age” at the same time the Internet did – which means they’re going to be more willing to adopt new sales software faster and get a leg up on their older counterparts.

Add a Chrome plug-in from Yesware? No problem. Try an iPhone app to keep them on top of their deals? Sure, why not!

Having decades-long experience with tech also allows them to venture out on social media and connect with prospects, clients and peers in ways Gen Xers just aren’t as comfortable with. This is a trend that is fundamentally changing countless industries, from sales to the medical field.

More aware and attuned to today’s buyers– More Millennials are moving up the ranks in organizations and taking over buying power from their boomer peers. This means that Millennials will be selling to their own peers, allowing them to be more perceptive of their specific needs and preferences, such as wanting immediate access to critical information and demanding more mobile-enabled solutions and offerings.

Millennials are the largest generation since the Baby Boomer generation, meaning everyone currently in the workforce – as well as the future workforce – will be targeting them as buyers as well. Who knows the selling persona of Millennials the best, and who will have the right tools and insight to close more deals? My bet is on the Millennials.

There Are Challenges
Even though Millennials have a leg up in the areas mentioned above, they also have their own set of unique challenges. The technological expertise of the generation has shown to come at the cost of ever-important face-to-face and telephone interactions. Millennials must remember that deals are made with actual people and it is important to make real connections with clients. Millennials need to know the right time to put down the smartphone and have a conversation in-person.

Millennials are also newer to the market. Many do not have the extensive networks that Generation X’ers have built, which may set them back when it comes to referrals and loyal, repeat customers. This is something that will come with time and diligence.

Lastly, Millennials need to realize that they still have room to sharpen their sales skills. The basic tactics that all sales reps need to practice include slowing down and really listening to their customers and prospects, knowing how to build rapport, and asking open ended questions to get them talking. Millennials may assume that their communication and skills are in the bag, so to speak, but that’s not always the case.

Despite some of these challenges, the positive qualities of Millennials ensure the future looks bright for this up-and-coming generation of salespeople. Not only will they be better sales reps than older generations, but their “power-in-numbers” will prove beneficial. As Millennials compete for the top sales jobs at the top companies, the best of the best will emerge.

Millennials have a serious leg up on sales reps of yesteryear – it’s time for Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers to watch their backs.

FCC’s Emergency Alert Debate Might Not Include FM

MORNING CONSULT
November 11, 2015

Amir Nasr   |   November 10, 2015

You may not know it, but there’s a radio in your smartphone. Whether iPhone or Galaxy, all smartphones contain a chip that receives FM radio signals. Most carriers don’t activate them, so they sit inert, forcing you to use Wi-Fi or cellular data to listen to Diane Rehm.

Broadcasters have urged the Federal Communications Commission to give the FM chips a second life as an emergency communications system, but their pleas aren’t resonating: the chips aren’t on the agenda for the FCC’s upcoming meeting on the Wireless Emergency System.

Public safety officials and broadcasters warn that individuals who are potentially in danger could be cut off from crucial information when the wireless networks get overloaded or damaged in an emergency, and FM radio bands would be a rugged, relatively failsafe means of communicating during a crisis.

Leaving the chip deactivated means smartphone users turn to apps like Spotify or SoundCloud to stream music on their devices. Wireless service providers can profit from that, because users need data to power them. Some in the wireless network industry also doubt there’s a real market demand for FM-enabled phones.

While broadcasters argue the demand for radio does still exist, public safety plays a central role in the push for carriers to enable FM radio receivers in smartphones.

Wireless service is more vulnerable to disaster situations than FM radio. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy knocked out the power for multiple data centers in New York and left individuals in the area with no means of accessing vital safety information.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate has pointed to Sandy as just one example of this common problem in safety alert messages that could be easily fixed with active FM chips in cell phones. Even if data systems break down completely, you can still receive safety information.

FM radio is broadcast through different airwaves than wireless networks in a way that allows everyone in a service area to get a clear signal.

Wireless networks can break down before, during and after disasters when too many individuals attempt to use mobile data to access information. Cellphone networks and the Internet transmit signals on a one-to-one design, and become easily congested.

Radio signals don’t have these limitations.
In an Oct. 2014 video for FreeRadioOnMyPhone, a collection of public and commercial radio stations pressing for carriers to activate the FM chip, Fugate highlighted the vulnerabilities of data-centric wireless alert systems, and the importance of keeping FM capabilities for emergency situations.

He provided an example where mobile phone users in Virginia couldn’t access the system after an earthquake. Even though cell systems sustained no real damage, the demand for data was so high it crashed the system. “All of a sudden your smartphone became a brick,” Fugate said. “You didn’t have anything.”

Fugate said having FM radio chips enabled in smartphones would provide assurance that people can still get information from broadcasters no matter what happens. “All disasters are local,” he said. “The most important information are going to come from those local broadcasters that are plugged into local officials telling you what’s going on on the ground.”

Fugate’s warning highlights the importance of keeping FM chips enabled, according to the Executive Vice President of Communications at the National Association of Broadcasters, Dennis Wharton.
“When the FEMA head says FM chips should be voluntarily activated to save lives in an emergency, that’s a pretty powerful statement,” Wharton said in an email. “Wireless carriers who have heeded Craig Fugate’s call deserve credit. We hope others will follow.”

Sprint became the first of the major providers to enable these chips in select Android and Windows smartphones in 2013.
AT&T announced in July it will move to enable FM radio chips in Android phones, and T-Mobile followed suit in August. The final decision on when their phones will have the feature is up to the manufacturers of the phone.
But Apple’s market-dominating iPhones still come with the chips disabled; the company did not respond to requests for comment. And while FreeRadioOnMyPhone calls for Verizon to unlock the chips, a representative for the wireless provider said the wireless company doesn’t prohibit device manufacturers from enabling their FM chips.

“There are no requirements that prevent Verizon’s handset suppliers from providing an FM radio chip in their devices,” Verizon’s Director of External Communications Richard Young said in an email.

He said that there are “several devices” Verizon sells with FM radio capabilities, but that the company hasn’t seen much demand for the feature from customers.

CTIA The Wireless Association, takes a similar stance on the demand for FM radio capability.
“Consumer preference should dictate the functionality included in mobile devices,” Jot Carpenter, Vice President of Government Affairs at CTIA said in an email. “There are a number of devices available today that include FM capability if that’s what consumers seek.”

Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile are all members of CTIA.

To Capture Boomer Wealth, Banks Need To Think Differently

If you have banking clients...here's a tip for them that may help you gain more cred. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. CA

By Gordon Plutsky Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015

A new study from Deloitte confirms that Boomers still hold the cards when it comes to investable wealth as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 10, 2015: “The baby boomers, those who are between 51 and 69 this year, are currently the wealthiest group and they will retain that spot until at least 2030, according to the report. Boomers hold about 50% of the total wealth in the U.S. now and they are expected to peak at 50.2% by 2020.” The total amount of wealth in the U.S. is expected to grow from $72 trillion today to $120 trillion by 2030. Boomers currently hold $36 trillion in wealth that needs a home and proactive management. The big investment companies have been all over the Boomer market for years with specific campaigns. They have deployed aggressive marketing programs and online/offline educational content to help Boomers make informed decisions about their retirement planning and wealth management. And, to build long-term customer relationships. However, the large firms can’t service every Boomer financial need. What about their local and regional banks? Earlier this year, Gallup did an in-depth study of Boomer engagement with traditional banks. The findings point to some real opportunities because Boomers use multiple financial institutions for various products and services. “Among boomers with mortgages, for example, nearly four in 10 (38%) say they have mortgages with the same institution that handles their primary banking; slightly more than two in 10 boomers with investment accounts (21%) say they use their primary bank for investment services. The upshot is that when it comes to investing their wealth, the vast majority of boomers aren't working with their primary bank.” A previous Gallup study found that Boomers have a lot of ambivalence about their banks; only one in three is fully engaged with their primary banking provider. But two in 10 are actively disengaged, and nearly half (46%) are indifferent toward their primary financial institution. This type of passive loyalty suggests that there are customers for the taking if they can get them to switch. It also points to a lack of emotional connection with their primary bank. To capture this opportunity and increase share of wealth banks need to think differently and retool their approach to marketing and advertising. For example, here in the Boston area, banks do quite a bit of traditional advertising using broadcast, print, outdoor, online banners and search. Banks focus mostly on one-way interruptive messaging and have not yet fully embraced the new world of conversational and personalized marketing where brands are co-created and shared. They tend to be laggards in the areas of content marketing and social media outreach. The local bank brands tend to be undifferentiated for the most part, and the messaging is often about rates, deals or free checking for general customer acquisition. That’s all fine and clearly necessary, but, as Gallup found, there are drivers that help drive customer engagement and confidence. Looking at the data, it appears that there is an opportunity to engage Boomers in a new way to help them manage their finances as a partner. Banks can move away from being seen as just a place to conduct transactions by building emotional ties that will bind a customer for the long term. Essentially, turn passive customers into active loyalist and vocal advocates for the brand. Much of bank advertising is focused on the top of the sales funnel and attempts at generic brand building. The Gallup studies suggest that more effort is needed to create deeper bonds leading to up-sells/cross-sells with current customers. By creating educational content (blogs, e-books, videos, interactive tools, events) and outreach programs to work with Boomers on their financial wellness, banks can go a long way to capturing a customer base that currently relies on a number of financial intuitions. Additionally, banks need to create specific multi-channel marketing campaigns that target Boomers with a clear message about their retirement planning and security. The opportunity is there for the bank that redeploys just a small portion of their budget from traditional ads, and invests in some new media thinking across the full spectrum of of the customer journey.

Advertisers Are Finding Millennials in an Unexpected Place: TV Syndication

Family Guy reruns draw young viewers to live TV By Jason Lynch

• November 9, 2015, 3:32 PM EST            

Family Guy is the No. 1 syndicated show among adults ages 18-34. Twentieth Television

Advertisers have left no platform unturned in their quest to find and reach linear-TV-phobic millennials. And now they've turned to a surprising place: syndicated television.

 

TV syndication studio Twentieth Television, which is home to eight of the top 10 syndicated shows among adults ages 18-34—including Family Guy (No. 1 with a 1.7 rating), Modern Family, Family Feud, The Cleveland Show and Bob's Burgers—has spent the last two years meeting with clients to emphasize syndication's overlooked success in reaching those oh-so-prized millennial viewers.

In the process, Twentieth is trying to change the musty perception of syndication, which often is associated with old-skewing shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! (both of which have audiences with median ages greater than 65). However, The Cleveland Show and King of the Hill boast a median syndication-viewer age of 26. Bob's Burgers is 30 and Family Guy is 32.

 

Another selling point: Viewers' median ages are even lower for episodes in syndication than they are for prime-time broadcast airings. Bob's Burgers falls from a 38 in prime time to 30 in syndication, while Family Guy tumbles from 36 in prime time to 32 in syndication.

 

Twentieth's efforts have attracted new advertisers and increased spending in several categories, including games like Activation, movies, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) including Burger King, and government-affiliated services like the U.S. Navy and Truth Initiative's anti-smoking campaign.

"We've had hundreds of in-person meetings, and we're starting to see this mindset shift with advertisers," said Michael Teicher, evp, media sales for Twentieth Television. "Advertisers are now recognizing that there are segments of syndication that, it's not only a perfect place to reach millennials, but it's necessary in this landscape, because we realize that millennials are fleeing linear television as we know it today."

 

That has left advertisers desperate to target them by any means necessary, even if that means looking seriously at syndication for the first time. "We're seeing more advertisers that have become more laser-focused on millennials as well because they're either part of their demo now, or will be going forward. So in order to establish brand loyalty, it's a good idea for advertisers to start to build a communication line with this hard-to-reach group," said Teicher.

 

The exec pointed to new Nielsen data from September, which found that non-linear TV viewing among millennials and adults 18-34 is 68 percent higher in prime time than in the early fringe (roughly 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.) and late fringe (roughly 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.) dayparts, when most syndicated shows air. In other words, millennials are more likely to stream or watch shows on other platforms during primetime hours, not even syndicated shows air. 

 

Another attraction for advertisers: While live TV viewing is on the decline in prime time, syndicated programs are still watched live, not via delayed viewing like DVR or video on demand. "Nobody records our stuff, because if you missed it on Tuesday, you watch it on Wednesday," said Teicher. "Our stuff is viewed live, on linear television."

With ATSC 3.0, TV broadcasters might try to steal some wireless business after FCC's incentive auction

November 9, 2015 | By Mike Dano

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What are the nation's TV broadcasters going to do after they give up some of their spectrum to wireless carriers in the FCC's upcoming incentive auction? Why, they might compete directly with those very same carriers, of course.

 

At least, that's how the market may shake out if the nation's TV broadcasters adopt the new ATSC 3.0 transmission standard in the coming years.

The ATSC 3.0 standard -- which is currently in testing in Washington, Baltimore and Cleveland -- is designed to bring TV broadcasters into the IP world. It will potentially allow them to transmit video to smartphones, or new ads to billboards, or emergency alerts to homes, cars and other devices -- all services that the nation's wireless carriers are currently working to make money from.

With ATSC 3.0, "there's a whole slew of businesses that TV broadcasters can now get into," explained Jerald Fritz, One Media's EVP for strategic and legal affairs. One Media is a joint venture between embedded systems vendor Coherent Logix and Sinclair Broadcast Group -- the nation's largest TV broadcaster that operates around 160 TV stations across the country -- created to push the ATSC 3.0 standard. One Media's R&D budget in the third quarter reached $5 million. One Media's stated goal is to build a "next generation broadcast platform" that can provide "premium video anytime, anywhere without a data cap."

It's that mention of video and the "data cap" by One Media that is noteworthy, because today's wireless carriers have based their business almost exclusively around getting subscribers to buy larger and larger buckets of data, primarily in order to watch more video. The TV industry is hoping their ATSC 3.0 standard will give them a slice of that business by taking it away from wireless carriers. (And the irony here is that the TV industry's forthcoming ATSC 3.0 standard is largely based on the OFDM technology that wireless carriers largely pioneered in their 4G networks.)

But there's one major hitch in this scenario: The FCC's upcoming incentive auction of TV broadcasters' 600 MHz spectrum. The agency is hoping to convince TV broadcasters to give up their unwanted spectrum in a "reverse" auction where the FCC will pay broadcasters for their spectrum. Then wireless carriers and other auction participants will try to buy that spectrum in a traditional "forward" auction that is scheduled to start in March.

Will the allure of the new business opportunities created by ATSC 3.0 prevent TV broadcasters from giving up their spectrum to wireless carriers?
The short answer is: probably not.
"The commission isn't even going to be looking at this [ATSC 3.0] standard until after the close of the auction," One Media's Fritz explained.

Sinclair, the TV broadcaster, has long been a proponent of the ATSC 3.0 standard. However, during the company's third-quarter earnings conference call, Sinclair executives reiterated that the company could score up to $2 billion if it sells some of its spectrum in the incentive auction -- and that the company could still pursue ATSC 3.0 services in addition to selling some spectrum in the auction.
"We have an auction team running 24/7 right now talking to multiple parties on channel shares so we can optimize our outcome," Sinclair CFO Christopher Ripley said during the call, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. "We are in place to participate and optimize our spectrum portfolio versus our future ATSC 3.0 data opportunities."

"We are supportive of the auction," said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV. Pearl is a consortium of 170 TV stations that is promoting the ATSC 3.0 standard. Pearl members include Cox Media Group, the E.W. Scripps Company, Gannett, Media General, Meredith Local Media Group, Raycom Media and others -- Pearl includes basically all of the TV industry's biggest broadcasters except for Sinclair.

Schelle explained that, ideally, the ATSC 3.0 standard would be adopted by the TV industry after the incentive auction. Some TV broadcasters will need to have their spectrum "repacked" after the auction, which basically means their spectrum will be moved around so it doesn't interfere with the operations of wireless carriers. Schelle said the repacking process presents a perfect opportunity for TV broadcasters to begin rolling out ATSC 3.0 services.

This isn't the first time the TV broadcasting industry and the wireless industry have run into each other. Developed almost 20 years ago, the ATSC 1.0 standard was created in order to move the TV industry from analog broadcasting and into the digital era; it was also that technological transition that freed up the 700 MHz spectrum that wireless carriers bought at the FCC's 2008 spectrum auction. Today, the TV industry is hoping to move to the new 3.0 version of the ATSC standard in order to offer more efficient and flexible services.

Mark Richer, president of the ATSC standards group, said the ATSC 3.0 standard will likely be finished in 2017. He said South Korea and China are already considering adopting the standard for TV broadcasts there. And Sinclair executives said recently the company will conduct a "full-blown" ATSC 3.0 demonstration at the CES show in January "as well as even a larger demonstration in Las Vegas at the NAB [show] in April next year."

ABI Research analyst Sam Rosen said the ATSC 3.0 standard offers a range of advancements for the TV broadcasting industry: "In addition to physical layer specification differences (which would enable larger bitrates for 4K video as well as higher efficiency, more resiliency, and adaptability to provide different resolutions for mobile devices over fixed, for example), there are a lot of logical / packet layer changes," he said. "This would make ATSC more suitable for transmission of IP data, which could include any distribution of content. It has flexibility coming out of the DASH protocol, which is also in the European interactive TV specifications (HbbTV). This flexibility could be used for dynamic channel provisioning (i.e. going from 2 UltraHD channels at gametime to 6-8 HD channels at other times of day), broadcast data distribution used in collaboration with other networks (i.e. software updates), or other general applications. In addition, like LTE Broadcast, there are a number of features in ATSC 3.0 which support the development of broadcast TV to mobile devices."
It's the mobile broadcasting capability in ATSC 3.0 that appears to have generated the most interest among TV broadcasters. With ATSC 3.0, mobile video "is now free" to smartphone users, said One Media's Fritz.

Fritz predicted that wireless carriers and TV broadcasters might enter into partnerships in the future so that wireless carriers could offload video traffic from their cellular networks onto ATSC 3.0 networks. "I expect there would some partnerships" between TV broadcasters and wireless carriers, Fritz said.

If this sounds familiar to you, you're not alone. Qualcomm's MediaFlo launched almost 10 years ago with exactly that same model: AT&T and Verizon both offered MediaFlo-capable mobile TV phones, charging roughly $10 a month for access to around a dozen channels like Comedy Central, Fox News Channel, MTV Mobile, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. That service failed to generate interest and Qualcomm announced it would shut it down in 2010.

More recently, Pearl helped launch Dyle mobile TV across several dozen markets using the ATSC M/H standard, again offering a handful of channels to mobile users with suitable receivers (MetroPCS announced a Dyle-capable phone before T-Mobile acquired the company). But earlier this year Dyle posted this to its now-shuttered website: "As of May 22, 2015, Dyle mobile TV is no longer in service, and Dyle-enabled devices and their apps will no longer be supported."

So why would an ATSC 3.0 mobile TV service work where so many other, similar offerings have failed? "This is an enhancement to the core platform," explained Pearl's Schelle when I asked her that question. She said that ATSC 3.0 would be able to broadcast to any mobile device with a receiver, including smartphones and tablets, and that the broadcasts could include HDR and other high-resolution display technologies, as well as interactive elements.

Now, to be clear, I've been covering the mobile TV industry since its inception more than a dozen years ago. And I can say with confidence that Pearl's Schelle has the least compelling argument I've heard in support of a dedicated mobile TV service. The truth is that the only way any kind of ATSC 3.0 mobile TV service will be successful is if ATSC 3.0 receivers are embedded directly into smartphones and tablets and the service is completely free to users -- the only reason anyone would choose to watch local TV broadcasts over cable TV or Netflix is because local TV broadcasts are free. Of course, wireless carriers have no incentive to encourage their smartphone suppliers to embed ATSC 3.0 receivers into smartphones because doing so could deprive operators of the revenues they get from delivering video over their own networks.

Yes, a wireless carrier like T-Mobile or a smartphone vendor like Apple might break ranks and support ATSC 3.0, but they won't do that anytime soon. And by the time the ATSC 3.0 is standardized and rolled out, I suspect Apple will be offering its own TV service and T-Mobile's network will be buttressed by LTE-U and the beginnings of 5G, thus removing the need for it to offload video traffic.

"ATSC 3.0 would provide some benefits to help these [local TV broadcasting] affiliates remain more competitive in terms of service mix with cable and telco broadcasters, and the national networks' OTT services, if you look to the 2018-2022 timeframe," ABI's Rosen said. "Ultimately, it all comes down to if you believe there is a role for broadcast television networks with minimal capabilities to expand to unicast and on-demand."

It's true that ATSC 3.0 could allow TV broadcasters to eventually offer some interesting services, but it will take years for that to get off the ground. And the nation's wireless carriers have far more pressing challenges to contend with as wireless growth slows and cable operators like Comcast begin to play in the wireless industry