Report: Most Advertisers See Media As 'Complex Headache'

 

• by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, Today

Media consultant ID Comms is out with a new study — based on a survey of marketers and media agencies conducted in January and February — which found that both groups believe that for the most part, advertiser media decisions remain procurement-based.

The study also found that both groups — accounting for 79% of the respondents — believe such an approach is wrong and that media decisions should be based on strategic marketing factors, not just costs.

The study is based on answers from 178 respondents comprised of marketing, media and procurement professionals around the world, but primarily from Europe (74%) and the U.S. (18%). The brands represented spend more than $22 billion on global advertising annually, while the agency respondents came from all the major holding groups and independents.

According to the report, advertisers and agencies agree that most advertisers see media as a “complex headache.” They are also seen by both groups as focused on media buying and efficiency rather than planning and effectiveness and “do not view media agencies as strategic partners.”

Some 97% of respondents strongly agreed that “advertisers who take a more strategic and thoughtful approach to media will deliver a stronger marketing performance.” Ninety-two percent of the agency respondents felt that way, per the report, as well as 81% of the advertisers that were polled.

“These results clearly highlight the need for advertisers to place greater importance on smarter, more strategic media thinking overall for media success,” the study concluded.

ID Comms' Tom Denford added: “Real strategic leadership on the advertiser side would dramatically improve media performance. The fact that advertisers still have gaps and doubts in this area is a real black mark. Advertisers need to play their part in providing agencies with great media briefs and a process that allows them to do great work that adds value.”

Most of the advertising and agency respondents also indicated that advertisers generally are performing “below expectations” in major areas of media capability, including setting clear KPI’s for media, having a point of view on ROI for media and having a well-established internal media group.

Agencies are lacking in a number of areas as well. Advertiser and agency executives agreed that generally, agencies perform “below expectations” for identifying relevant data-fueled insight, integrating owned, earned and paid media and providing “neutral and objective planning recommendations.” Also lacking at agencies, both groups agreed is a culture of media innovation.

Headphone Measurement. It’s a Huge Problem For Radio+NAB Announces Crystal Award Finalists

February 23, 2017

Is headphone and earbud listening even higher than the radio industry believes it to be? Radio executives are already concerned about being properly measured when listeners use headphones and earbuds. Now, consultant Alan Burns says, at least with women, this issue may be more serious than originally thought.

New data released (Wednesday) by Alan Burns and Associates and Strategic Solutions Research suggest that the amount of listening by women while wearing headphones may be far higher than most would have guessed.

As a result of the recent research Burns conducted with 2,000 women, 49% ages 15-54 responded they wear headphones during some of their time spent with radio. Burns says the number is higher among heavy radio listeners (56%) and at-work listeners (57%). “Those numbers are well beyond ours and most people’s expectations.”

Fifteen percent of the women surveyed said they use headphones for half or more of their radio listening. Burns says, “If that listening was not accurately measured it can have a massive impact on radio AQH.”

Burns says the bigger story may relate to ratings survey participants. One hundred and forty-two of the 2,000 women in the survey participated in a ratings survey. “The numbers escalate dramatically among women who had actually been part of a ratings sample,” said Burns. “More than four out of every 10 of them said they wear headphones or earbuds during half or more of their radio listening. That’s enormous! Imagine how incomplete measurement of that kind of listening could impact listening estimates. It’s critical that headphone listening be captured and measured fully and accurately, and we know Nielsen is working on the issue.”

The National Association of Broadcasters announced the 50 finalists for the 30th Annual NAB Crystal Radio Awards. The Crystal Radio Awards recognize stations for their outstanding year-round commitment to community service. Winners will be announced and the finalists will be honored at the NAB Radio Luncheon Tuesday, April 25 during the 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas. 10 stations will be chosen by a panel of judges representing broadcasting, community service organizations and public relations firms.

This year’s finalists are:

KBHP-FM Bemidji, MN
WHBC-AM Canton, OH
KCLY-FM Clay Center, KS
WHEN-AM Syracuse, NY
KDKA-AM Pittsburgh, PA
WHQT-FM Hollywood, FL
KDKS-FM Shreveport, LA
WHUR-FM Washington, D.C.
KGSR-FM Austin, TX
WIVK-FM Knoxville, TN
KHKS-FM Dallas, TX
WJMK-FM Chicago, IL
KIKV-FM Alexandria, MN
WKRQ-FM Cincinnati, OH
KIRO-AM Seattle, WA
WLBC-FM Muncie, IN
KIRO-FM Seattle, WA
WQHT-FM New York, NY
KLGA-FM Algona, IA
WQRB-FM Eau Claire, WI
KMOK-FM Moscow, ID
WRCH-FM Hartford, CT
KMOX-AM St. Louis, MO
WREW-FM Cincinnati, OH
KMVP-FM Phoenix, AZ
WSB-AM Atlanta, GA
KONO-FM San Antonio, TX
WSHE-FM Chicago, IL
KPEK-FM Albuquerque, NM
WSNY-FM Columbus, OH
KRMG-FM Tulsa, OK
WSOY-AM Decatur, IL
KSTP-FM St. Paul, MN
WTIC-FM Hartford, CT
KUPL-FM Portland, OR
WTMX-FM Chicago, IL
KVTY-FM Moscow, ID
WTOP-FM Washington, D.C.
KXLG-FM Watertown, SD
WUBE-FM Cincinnati, OH
KYKY-FM St. Louis, MO
WUSL-FM Philadelphia, PA
WBLS-FM New York, NY
WUSN-FM Chicago, IL
WBUL-FM Lexington-Fayette, KY
WVEE-FM Atlanta, GA
WDNS-FM Bowling Green, KY
WYCT-FM Pensacola, FL
WEDR-FM Hollywood, FL
WZUS-FM Decatur, IL

A Critical Moment For Hispanic Advertising

Thursday, February 23, 2017 System 21...a national media training platform presented by Michael Guld of The Guld Resource Group . Guaranteed to generate $200K in first 6 months or your fee back by Jose Villa, Columnist This year’s Super Bowl ads brought to light the role advertising plays in our cultural discourse. As I discussed in a recent NPR interview on the controversy over Super Bowl ads from Budweiser and 84 Lumber, advertising is both a reflection of our culture and an influencer on the culture.  I am most concerned with advertising’s influence during this incredibly politically polarized time in our country’s history. We as advertisers have an important responsibility to influence the culture, particularly as it relates to Hispanics and how the general population views them. Many people in this country are justifiably concerned about illegal immigration and the negative impact of low-skilled immigrant workers and cross-border trade with Mexico on jobs. Unfortunately, this concern is widening a chasm in our country and fueling negative views of Hispanics. My intention is not to criticize those who feel this way about Hispanics. Instead, it’s a call to my fellow Hispanic marketers to take a step back, take the high road, and use this moment to answer a higher call to serve our community and country. We have an opportunity, together with the media and news organizations to shape the narrative and influence the culture in positive ways.  How do we do this? To start, we must make sure that we represent Hispanics in the most authentic way possible, avoiding stereotypes feeding the misconceptions at the heart of the political discourse. This is particularly important in mainstream, or so-called “Total Market” advertising featuring Hispanics. We need to show positive representations of Hispanics in ads. Not as gardeners, day laborers, or maids. We also have a responsibility to show the contribution Hispanics — particularly immigrant Hispanics — are making to this country. The businesses they are starting, the jobs they are creating, the families they are raising, the products and services they are consuming. Secondly, we must have a difficult and honest dialogue about assimilation, language and diversity. Few people have been pushing the importance of diversity more than I. I think we’ve pushed diversity and multiculturalism too far. Part of what is underlying the anti-immigrant rhetoric and nationalist sentiment in this country is that we, as advertisers and the media, have pushed and promoted our differences too much. This is ironically what underpins the traditional ethnic-specific multicultural marketing of the last 30 years. We have focused on and promoted — either knowingly or not — the fact that many Hispanics are not acculturated (aka assimilated), that they prefer to speak Spanish. Unfortunately, this has created sentiment among non-Hispanics that Hispanic immigrants are not becoming Americans. Nothing can be further from the truth. However, we as advertisers play an important role in this and need to think about the narratives we are generating. Advertising is a consequential endeavor. We as advertisers and marketers have a powerful opportunity and responsibility to influence culture.

Study Confirms Broad Reach + Quality Content Drives ROI

By Pooja Midha February 23, 2017 Disney | ABC Television Group Archives

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Recently, Coke and P&G said they were rethinking their media strategy. P&G is going to focus more on "reach and continuity" adding that they see better sales results advertising in broad-reach primetime TV shows. According to Coke's CMO good old-fashioned TV has the highest ROI.

So what happened to data-driven targeting? I think what the sales data shows, or at least reminds marketers of, is the power of large-scale quality content.

Our research at ABC supports this conclusion. Working with Accenture last year, we analyzed $12 billion of actual media spending with actual sales data. We broke out spending on different media types over three years. We looked at the effectiveness of each media type and at the interaction between different media types.
Here is what we found:

• Multi-platform TV advertising – for example Grey's Anatomy watched live on linear television, or on demand on any device – had measurable long-term impact. Over a three-year period, multi-platform TV advertising drove substantially more incremental sales than any other medium we measured, and its impact in Years 2 and 3 was larger than Year 1.
• Multi-platform TV has a halo effect on search, display and short-form video advertising. Having multi-platform TV in the mix helps other media work harder.
• The marginal returns of an incremental dollar spent on multi-platform TV diminish at a much slower rate than a dollar spent on search, display or short-form video.
• Long-form digital video, such as that Grey's Anatomy episode on mobile, desktop or connected TVs, is the most effective form of digital advertising. (Grey's Anatomy stars Justin Chambers and Camilla Luddington are pictured at top.)

A whitepaper with all the detail on this study is available on ABCAllAccess.
Premium video gives advertisers an environment of sight, sound, motion and emotion to deliver their message. Running in a quality show or environment signals product quality to consumers. It's why the most expensive advertising of the year is on the Academy Awards or the Super Bowl -- even though those shows both deliver a broad, not targeted, audience.

Indeed, the ABC-Accenture study validates the value of broad-reach and quality programming. The most effective medium measure was multi-platform TV, which is almost entirely transacted on a broad demographic basis, not data-driven targeting.

Is it possible that highly targeted advertising is proving to be less effective for brands? The strategy shifts at P&G and Coke certainly suggest it is possible. The researcher Byron Sharp, who wrote How Brands Grow, demonstrates empirically that a brand's sales growth comes from "light buyers." Targeted media is nearly always directed at existing buyers or look-alike models of existing buyers. That's an approach that doesn't capture the light (or future) buyer who is crucial to lifting sales. What John Wanamaker thought of as "waste" is actually an investment in attracting light buyers and building a brand.

As many have noted, broad advertising in quality content seeds a brand's message in our culture. It creates a cultural understanding of what kind of person you are by what kind of products you purchase. Are you a laid-back person who likes to relax at the beach? Do you want people to think of you that way? Then bring Corona to the party, because that brand's beach-oriented ad creative has established that connection with their brand, and therefore with you -- if you drink Corona.
This concept is important. The advertising says something about the brand, and the brand you choose says something about you. Your car, your beer, your phone, your handbag all say something about you, and what they say is very much informed by advertising.

This is where targeted advertising misses. For a brand's identity to be part of our culture, for people to think of Corona as the "chilling out on the beach" beer, it must be a common, widely held understanding. The message has to be internalized not just by the person choosing Corona, but by everyone else, too.  For a brand to justify a premium or be selected over a generic competitor, it must offer value based on its performance as well as its brand equity. And the only way to create a widely understood image is through mass, not targeted media.  Mass reach is the competitive advantage of multi-platform TV in general and broadcast TV in particular. Mass reach is how a brand's message becomes part of our culture. And mass reach is driven by broadly appealing, high quality content. This is why sophisticated marketers like P&G and Coke choose to build their brands in the most premium, broad-reaching environment, multi-platform TV.

Now with all of that said, not every brand is a badge, and we are still doing a lot of work around data-targeted sales at ABC. We see the marketplace momentum around data-driven targeting, and it clearly has a place in the marketing mix. None of us want be the ostrich with its head in the sand. We have to embrace data-targeted advertising but with a clear understanding that there are challenges and limitations.

We think about ads in broad-reach quality content and data-targeted advertising as two ends of a spectrum. We don't think it will be all or nothing in the future.  A smart marketing mix will leverage both tactics, which means our industry needs to invest on both fronts.

FCC Proposes Rules For 3.0 Adoption

The proposed rules would make use of the Next Gen TV standard voluntary and would not mandate that TV sets or mobile phones be able to receive the new signals. Because of its light regulatory touch, most believe that the rulemaking will proceed smoothly through a round of comments this year and that that FCC will vote to authorize the standard by year's end.

By Harry A. Jessell

TVNewsCheck, February 23, 2017 11:38 AM EST

With some reservations, mostly from Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the FCC today proposed rules that would authorize broadcasters to use the Next Gen TV standard — actually a second-generation digital standard also known as ATSC 3.0 — that many believe will enable them to offer TV with better pictures and sound enhancement and new services like datacasting and targeted advertising.
The rulemaking was prompted by a petition last April from the NAB, America's Public Television Stations and the Communications Technology Association.

The proposed rules would make use of the standard voluntary and would not mandate that TV sets or mobile phones be able to receive the new signals.

Because of its light regulatory touch, most believe that the rulemaking will proceed smoothly through a round of comments this year and that that FCC will vote to authorize the standard by year's end.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai already declared himself a supporter of Next Gen TV in Congressional testimony last year and when he released the draft of the rulemaking last month.

"In the digital age, television broadcasting is capable of doing more, so much more," Pai said at today's meeting.

Is It Time To Blow Up TV News Workflow And Start Over? With TV newsrooms required to produce compelling content for a variety of digital platforms, the linear, on-air newscast has been dethroned as the king of television news. The problem is that newsroom workflow — and the supporting technology — needs to be completely re-invented.

"Indeed, the ATSC 3.0 standard appears to have enormous potential. It's the first transmission standard to marry the advantages of broadcasting with the internet and it's based on internet protocol...that will permit seamless integration with other IP services and platforms."
Clyburn declared herself "excited by the prospects" of the new standard and said that she was aware of its promise, particularly its ability to deliver more channels. It could help, she said, "to fulfill our goal of greater viewpoint diversity."

However, she expressed concerns about the possible negative impact on MVPDs as well as broadcasters who choose not to adopt the standard and consumers.

Unlike the broadcasters' transition from analog and digital in 2009, she said, the government will not subsidize the upgrade of TV sets to receive the Next Gen TV signals.

"This means complete assurances must be in place, so that consumers will not be burdened with unwanted, unexpected costs.... Consumer education simply has to be a critical component of this transition."

The rulemaking proposes that Next Gen broadcasters continue to air programming on a separate channel in the current digital ATSC 1.0 format for consumers who choose not to buy Next Gen sets.
Will they be able to watch in high definition? Clyburn asked. And what about all the diginets that stations have begun airing over the past several years. "Will they continue to be simulcast in 1.0? I also have concerns about the possibility of the assessment of fees, on a service that is accessed, through the use of the public airwaves. Will consumers without Internet access be at a disadvantage when it comes to this technology?"

The petitioners for the rulemaking were, of course, pleased with the FCC action.

"With support from television manufacturers, public TV stations and the public safety community, NAB looks forward to Next Gen TV’s giant leap into broadcasting’s bright future," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton.

Patrick Butler, president of APTS, commended Pai for making the standard a priority. "We look forward to working with the Commissioners and staff to complete this process as quickly as possible and begin writing an exciting new chapter in the history of broadcasting.”

Jerry Fritz, EVP of One Media, one of the developers of the ATSC 3.0 technology and one of the companies that hopes to exploit its capabilities, said he was delighted by the action. "The opportunities opened are immense, and we’d like to begin providing these enhanced services to our viewers as quickly as possible. The convergence of Next Gen deployment and the broadcast station repack marks both a practical and strategic relaunch of the broadcast business model.”

Using Radio For A Higher Purpose

February 20, 2017

(By Eric Rhoads) In our busy lives it’s hard enough to keep up with employees, advertisers, promotions, dealing with budgets, and all the things that come with running a radio station. Yet, I found in my life as a broadcaster the most gratifying moments in all my years of station ownership were those moments when we leveraged our brand and our listeners to help others. Tony Robbins says “living is giving,” and my best memories in radio have to do with those giving moments.

I want to tell you a brief story of radio giving, which may lead you to some ideas for your station.
Did you know that there is an organization that builds specially adapted homes for our nation’s severely wounded soldiers? Hardly anyone knew, until WDAY 970 AM in Fargo, ND, started talking about it with a new show.

Heroes of the Heartland, hosted by Master Sgt. Eric Marts, is a proud supporter of the non-profit “Homes for our Troops.” This charity constructs these uniquely built homes, and provides these veterans with mortgage-free housing. Marts was wounded by a IED in Iraq, suffering a brain injury, total blindness, and damage to his arms, neck, and back. He started his WDAY radio show five years ago, following his discharge from the U.S. Army.

On his show, Marts discusses veterans’ issues, the military and military families, but the show also fuels awareness and donations, which helps more veterans.

While local TV stations could only devote a short news segment to the subject, or a PSA about “Homes for our Troops,” it is radio that has devoted a weekly show to raise issues that may greatly impact radio listeners in Fargo and Moorhead, Minnsota, where Marts resides.

Marts’ show airs Saturday mornings on Forum Communications’ WDAY, which has resulted in raising awareness of veterans’ issues, creating a popular program that gets the community’s attention and simultaneously helps fuel donations to this worthy charity.

This, my friends, is radio at its best.  The station’s airtime could easily have been brokered to a financial advisor, or a health and diet supplement vendor. Instead, WDAY took a step back and gave the community something unique, and valuable, which serves a higher purpose. Though financial success is critical, there is no way you can buy this kind of community goodwill.

What if your station could do the same in your market? Could you create a show and use the show as leverage to build homes for vets in your town? Or, could your station take on some other major issue in your community as your annual project, with a goal of changing lives? You would not only be driving attention to your station, but you would be taking on a major issue that helps people in your community.

What if we could get a single station in every market in America to take this particular issue on? Radio could play a major role in helping veterans in every community. Therefore, I’d like to urge you to consider taking this effort on in your community and adopt it. If this isn’t your cup of tea, what could you do that you would get excited about?

I’d like to salute Master Sgt. Eric Marts and WDAY’s owner and employees for their commitment to the community. WDAY took a step back and gave the community something unique and valuable.
This is what makes radio unique and valuable. These are the meaningful moments you’ll look back on knowing that you used your station for its highest and best purpose.

Marts recently reached out to Radio Ink to help spread the word about “Homes for our Troops,” so your station may consider a PSA devoted to the charity. Or, a Sunday morning public service broadcast could include an interview with a charity representative.

For further inquiries, please contact MSG Marts, U.S. Army Ret., at emarts@wday.com.
With efforts like this, radio has a little less fear of being forced to disappear, as it is the perfect link to what is near.

Eric Rhoads is Chairman of Radio Ink magazine and can be reached at bericrhoads@gmail.com

National TV C3 Impressions Decline In January, Slight Increase In Prime Time

• by Wayne Friedman, Yesterday

U.S. national TV in January witnessed a sharp decline in total day commercial ratings points -- but rose slightly in prime time.

Pivotal Research Group says total national C3 commercial impressions -- average commercial minute ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing -- fell 5.8% last month among adult 18-49 viewers, but climbed 1.7% in prime time.

National TV advertising loads -- which contribute to these results -- increased slightly to average 10.5 minutes/hour versus 10.4 in January 2016.

Viacom posted the largest share of C3 impressions among all TV network groups with a 15.5% in adults 18-49 share, up from 15.2% a year ago -- the highest by a slight margin among all national media owners. Viacom’s Nickelodeon, TV Land, and CMT also had gains.

Viacom’s advertising loads remained the highest of any TV Network group but were unchanged versus a year ago, at 14.3 minutes per hour.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal’s C3 impressions share dropped to a 14.2% from 14.9%, with ad loads virtually flat at 11.1 minutes per hour. Time Warner sank in C3 ratings to an 11% share from 11.5%, and its average advertising loads tightened to 8.4 minutes/hour from 8.6 minutes. Fox's share of C3 viewing rose to 10% from 9.3% -- with its ad loads now at 10 minutes/per hour, down slightly.

Walt Disney was flat at a 9.4% C3 share. Versus other TV network groups, it had a slight rise in advertising load to 7.7 minutes/hour, from 7.5 minutes.

Discovery also climbed in C3, to a 6.9% share from 5.9%. Pivotal says some of this can be attributed to higher advertising loads, at 9.6 minutes of national ad time per hour, up from 9.3 minutes -- “but generally up because of broad-based programming improvements,” writes Brian Wieser, senior research analyst.             

                

CBS sank to a 6.3% C3 share from 7.3% -- largely because of fewer NFL games. Its ad load was 7.3 minutes/hour.

Scripps and AMC Networks were flat with C3 ratings -- at a 5.2% share and a 3.5% share, respectively. Scripps' ad load was at 12.9 minutes/hour; AMC, 12.6 minutes/hour.

Who Are Gen Z and Why Do You Need to Meet Them?

By Jack Myers February 21, 2017 

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Millennials receive a mix of adulation and scorn from older generations, but few give proper attention to the emerging next generation, which is a "boom" generation of new consumers. Dubbed Gen Z, this new generation consists of those born after 2002. Currently, the eldest members of Gen Z are ready to exert their full financial power as young adults in an increasingly mobile and social world. They're savvier and more practical than previous generations -- and more likely to see through inauthentic marketing messages and "fake" news. They're the first generation to have grown up in a world in which the Internet and mobile devices were always present. They're our first window -- our prism -- into future generations that will be born into a world with technological innovation beyond our conception: driverless cars, pilotless airplanes, ever-present media, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, Nintendo Go on steroids.

Understanding Gen Z
Generation designation is about more than birthdate; it highlights how specific attitudes, events, and cultural norms shape populations as they grow up. Millennials refer to September 11 as the most significant event of their childhood and adolescence, but for Gen Z, the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump (and the growing instability at home and abroad) may play a greater role, as will the strengthening divides between rural and urban, rich and poor, and liberal and conservative. However, social media and mobile devices have shaped this generation more than any political factor.

Economic Concerns
Gen Z may be the most fiscally conservative group since the Silent Generation. Half of Baby Boomers believe that money is made to be spent, but members of Gen Z are far less likely to hold this view. Their financial prudence can largely be attributed to the effects of the Great Recession, which taught this generation the importance of personal thrift. Gen Z is the first generation since the Great Depression not to believe they'll be more financially successful than their parents, and for good reason.

Gen Z teenagers worry greatly about their financial futures; for many, the chief concern is the prospect of taking on debt, which most feel is necessary in order to graduate from college and find a job that pays a comfortable income. In a 2013 Ameritrade survey, 46 percent of Gen Z respondents claimed to worry about student debt. Additionally, 36 percent admitted that they fretted about being able to afford college in the first place.

Relationships and Gender Identity
Since the Greatest Generation, each generation has been slightly more accepting of the LGBTQ community -- but that may be about to change. While one in seven respondents aged 14 and 15 self-identified in a survey conducted by The Gild as "quite conservative" in their stance on transgender rights and same-sex marriage, members of Gen Z are less likely to bully their LGBTQ peers. Overall rates of bullying have dropped significantly in recent years; in 2013, 21.5 percent of students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported being bullied, compared to an astounding 31.7 percent of teens in 2007. Many of today's high schools and colleges boast gay-straight alliances, which aim to make students of all sexual orientations feel accepted and valued. Sexting and abuse is also declining, as more than 50% of Gen Z children have grown up in fatherless homes or homes in which the mom is primary or equal wage earner. The young men in this generation are not their fathers, their grandfathers, or even their older brothers. This is the first generation that's grown up in a more feminist world, and a growing percentage of young men believe that gender equality is a basic right and reality.

Marketing to Gen Z
Marketers, first and foremost, need to understand that the gender-stereotypes that have appealed to Millennials are offensive to Gen Z consumers. Advertisers and their agencies, as well as content producers, can start by advocating for positive media portrayals of men as responsible, caring and competent husbands, sons, fathers, caregivers, teachers, nurses and secretaries, just as we they have successfully advocated for positive role models for women and girls. And younger females are less likely to embrace being the primary shoppers in their households as they marry and have children. A larger percentage of Gen Z men will be primary care-givers and equal or secondary wage-earners than any generation before them.

Think about how men have been portrayed in TV sitcoms and commercials, as the idiot or buffoon unable to diaper a baby or know which medicine to take for a cold. Or worse, the commercials that honor and glorify misogyny and sexism. These images will not only fail to resonate with Gen Z, but will actively turn them away.

Technology
Millennials and Gen Z share an obvious comfort with technology, but their attitudes towards modern technological developments differ significantly. Despite growing up plugged in to the virtual world, Gen Z young adults are actually more skeptical of technology than members of other generations -- particularly Millennials. Research from Vision Critical and MARU/VCR&C finds that just 30 percent of Gen Z individuals believe that technology is capable of solving the world's biggest problems -- compared to 36 percent of Millennials who feel the same way.

Social Media
The members of Generation Z increasingly live out their lives on social media, although their networking habits vary considerably from those of their Millennial and Gen X peers. While many adults in their 20s and 30s favor Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Gen Z teens are more likely to spend their time on Snapchat, Instagram and BuzzFeed. Snapchat is particularly appealing, in that it gives users the perception of privacy. Through social media, Gen Z has also become the most global generation, with more than 50% of college students having traveled abroad before their senior year and staying connected with their friends around the world.

 Appealing to Gen Z
Gen Z is often thought of as an extreme version of the Millennial generation, but this description is, perhaps, only valid for social media; young adults from Gen Z are otherwise more conservative and more thrifty than their Millennial counterparts. Heavily impacted by the difficult economy of their childhood, consumers from Gen Z put significant thought and research into each purchase, and when they find a moderately-priced, high-quality product they like, they have more brand loyalty toward that product than either Millennials or Gen Y. Marketers that publicly support social causes, such as the environment and healthy living, are especially favored and likely to maintain brand loyalty. Marketers who wish to find favor with Gen Z should emphasize the practical nature and cause-related relevance of the products they offer, while still communicating their message via social media and other mobile-based avenues.

Gen Z teenagers face stress and uncertainty in their day-to-day lives, exacerbated by global and domestic conflicts, climate change, terrorism and gun-related violence. However, they also hold a great deal of promise. Conscientious and loyal to a fault, they are already leaving their mark on the world around them. As the first generation to grow up in an Internet-connected mobile and social world, they could – and should – prove to be the largest and most important generation of the 21^st Century. Marketers need to begin shifting their focus from Millennials, who demand far too much attention, and to Gen Z, who are receiving too little.

It All Starts Today In Nashville

February 21, 2017

Country radio’s biggest event of the year, the Country Radio Seminar, kicks off today in downtown Nashville and Radio Ink will be there bringing you all the action. The three-day event kicks off with an opening ceremony at 3PM. Radio Ink and SONY will present the 2017 Best Country PD awards Thursday night at 6PM at the new SONY Nashville headquarters.

Some of the seminar’s most anticipated events are back again, including Grand Ole Opry at CRS, Bob Kingsley’s Acoustic Alley, Team UMG at The Ryman, Big Machine Label Group’s luncheon show, and the New Faces of Country Music Show and Dinner.

CRS Executive Director Bill Mayne said, “We are so excited and ready for Wednesday’s kickoff to CRS 2017! Over the course of the three days, our attendees will see and hear more actionable content than ever before. One of the best parts of CRS is always the engagement and the networking with old friends and new, and I know many are looking forward to seeing so many of their friends.”
Radio Ink will be reporting live from Nashville over the next three days, so keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for pictures from this great event.

Saving AM Radio Is “My Personal Priority + ”Radio’s Glass is Half Full…But leaking

February 16, 2017

The radio industry simply couldn’t ask for anything better. By all indications the Chairman of the FCC is going to make radio one of his top priorities. We’ve already seen the Commission under Ajit Pai vote to do away with the 43-year-old rule that required you to save paper letters from listeners. And Thursday, at the NABA Future of Audio Symposium in Washington DC, the Chairman told a very friendly audience, “I’ve made AM radio a personal priority.”

Actually, fixing the AM band has been a project of his for the past five years.

Pai has been the loudest voice at the Commission on saving the AM band. He understands the AM band has technical problems and he knows both ad revenue and listeneship are declining. The most AM broadcasters got out of the last Commission was additional FM translators. Next week, the Commission will vote on a measure giving AM stations greater flexibility in siting their FM translators. The Second Report and Order would relax the siting rule for an FM fill-in translator rebroadcasting an AM broadcast station. Pai says this is a small step that would be a big help to AM broadcasters.

Next up in 2017, Pai says the Commission will open two new windows in which AM stations, that still don’t have an FM translator, can apply directly to the FCC to get one authorized. And he says the FCC will keep working on ways to improve signal quality on the AM band and reduce AM broadcasters’ operating costs.

Radio’s Glass is Half Full…But leaking

February 16, 2017

That was the conclusion from consultant Alan Burns and Strategic Solutions EVP Hal Rood. Thursday afternoon Burns and Rood hosted their first of four webinars to unveil the research they’ve been conducting on women and the reasons they do, or do not, listen to radio. The top reason they do listen is to escape or improve their mood. Two reasons they do not: they enjoy curating their own music and, too many commercials.

Burns says women still love the radio station they listen to most (58% love, 96% love or like) and in most areas, radio’s images are very consistent with his data from five years ago. “They still feel like their P1 radio station is a good or even best friend (76%), and the ‘best friend’ vote has actually grown to around one in five women.”

The national study of 2,000 15-54 year-old women found two areas of concern for radio, according to Rood. “Just over half (53%) of all women agreed that they could foresee a day when they might not need radio for music, and almost six in ten (58%) agreed that ‘radio is kind of old.’ “Technologically, radio is feeling dated in the context of all the digital choices out there, and needs to work on that.”
The other concern is some weakness with the youngest consumers. According to the study, nearly half (48%) of all women who don’t listen to radio are ages 15 to 24, and almost 1 in 4 (23%) of the teens who do listen gave “I can’t get the internet in the car” as one of the top three reasons they still listen. “There are definite bright spots for radio with 15-24s, though,” noted Burns. “The vast majority (90%) like radio, radio has higher ‘love’ scores than Pandora, Apple, or Spotify, and more than eight out of ten 15-24s (82%) look forward to listening and would be disappointed if they couldn’t.”

FCC Wants To Clean Up TV

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Friday, February 17, 2017 LeNoble's Media Sales Insights by Wayne Friedman, Staff Writer The new FCC chairman wants to keep live TV “clean” -- but we must again note -- in this age of expanding and diverse media -- that it is really about broadcast TV. Always a lightening rod issue among public TV pressure groups, TV network programming executives and consumers, over the air TV still has issues over obscene language and content. And their are rules and laws. Some of this was again prompted by the recent “Grammy Awards” on CBS where highly awarded singer Adele, in botching her tribute to George Michael, used the f-word. For a number of years, the Grammys, in particular, have been a problem spot. A seven-second delay by TV networks stops virtually all of this. Unfortunatel,y that is what adults do -- and elect to listen to  -- if they chose.  Children? Not so much. Many parents want protection. In large part, these issues surround live TV programming -- now deemed “premium” TV for many viewers and advertising.  Trouble is, there will always be spillage. Who cleans up that mess? Parents need to do the talking. For years, advertising-supported cable networks -- exempt for the FCC oversight -- sneak in a bit of profanity from time to time, especially in prime-time dramas. But those shows on the likes TNT, FX, USA Network, and others channels never seem overdo it, just dotting scripts here and there. All this has been done to appease TV advertisers, the same companies that buy broadcast TV networks, to give those marketers comfort in similar quality content. Maybe we need to have a new way of thinking about this. Because, of course, it isn’t just broadcast TV in the conversation, and cable networks -- ad-supported cable networks and non-ad premium channel. We have many other loaded issues of young kids around mobile phones, tablets, and computers and access to Internet. Words and images and mean a lot. And not just profanity. Harsh words, abrasive and nasty words make its way on TV -- including for example, from some of the highest elected officials in the land, especially in the most recent political campaign. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Fox Business: “We are duty-bound to enforce the law. And the law that is on the books today requires broadcast TV [emphasis added] to keep it clean, so to speak.” But all that may just be a small piece of the bigger media puzzle. What about the rest -- including stuff with no f-bombs?

Sports: A Game That Everyone Can Play

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Friday, February 17, 2017 Read LeNoble's Media Sales Insights every week to stay in touch with what happening in your media world. by Jeff Urban, Columnist Nike recently released their “Equality” campaign. It’s raw. It’s gut-wrenching. And it uses some of the best professional athletes out there including LeBron James, Serena Williams, Kevin Durant, Gabby Douglas and many more. The spot “encourages people to take the fairness and respect they see in sport and translate them off the field,” according to a press release. The ad joins a group of brands making statements around Super Bowl LI about politics, equality, and much more, but Nike takes its statement and shows that sports can be the great equalizer. We have seen this time and time again in sports and sports content creation. When five college guys can come together and create DudePerfect, which now has over 15 million followers on YouTube alone. Or when Indi Cowie can be an inspiration to young girls as she gives freestyle soccer her own twist. Or when Kevin Curry from Fit Men Cook can leave his job in corporate America and use social media to explore healthy cooking, eating and lifestyles. Or B.U.F.F. Dudes who are creating healthy food recipes and gym workouts, while injecting humor in everything they do. There are plenty more examples but what the industry has seen is that sports, whether played by professional athletes, social sports influencers or just the average person at home, can be played and enjoyed by just about everyone. Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks and a previous owner of the NBA team, the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder), when speaking about growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., said that, "Sports was a great equalizer. It didn't have color. It didn't matter whether you were rich or poor, black or white. It really shaped me in many ways to be able to deal with a lot of different personalities and different cultures. Sports were the common thread." This notion that sports can be played by all is evident in many elements of pop culture. One of the most iconic sports movie, “The Sandlot,” proves it. All you need is a ball, a couple of gloves, a dusty lot and your buddies, to get a game going. But what does this all mean for marketers? Create a moving campaign like Nike’s? Well, that might be part of the equation. But more than that, millennial sports fans want to be heard, to be liked, to collaborate, to be entertained, to laugh, to create, to share, to connect and to be a part of the experience, according to our research. These tenants might seem simple enough. Connect millennial sports fans with authentic content on platforms where they are already watching and engaging. That means meeting them on their screens. On the social platforms that they are already using, whether that YouTube or Facebook or somewhere else. With content that they want to share with their friends, family and the rest of their network.

Whoa: Most Snapchat users skip the ads

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Digital

 

February 14, 2017

There’s a ton of buzz right now around Snapchat, the 5-year-old social media site that recently filed for an initial public offering.

It’s inarguably the hot property among young people, with teens favoring the site over more established rivals such as Facebook and Twitter.

And Snapchat has been wooing advertisers with new plans and programs, while touting its incredibly engaged audience, who check in an average 18 times per day.

But there’s one big problem with the love fest. It appears those who advertise on the site may not be connecting with users.

High ad-skip rate

A new study from Fluent, an online marketing platform, finds that 69 percent of Snapchat users skip the ads that flow into their feeds.

What’s more, that number is even higher among adults 18-24, 80 percent of whom skip through Snapchat ads.

That’s a high tune-out rate at a time when the money-losing social network is trying to woo more advertisers.

Interestingly, the study also asked respondents to weigh in on whether Snapchat will be around for the long haul, and many don’t think so.

Forty-eight percent of respondents dubbed Snapchat a “fad,” and 62 percent predicted a new social network will emerge that they will shift their loyalties to.

Discovery Yields Small Q4 Ad Gains, High Net Income

• by Wayne Friedman, 3 hours ago

Discovery Communications eked out a small gain in U.S. domestic advertising for the fourth quarter -- better than expected. Still, investors weren’t immediately pleased with overall company financial results.

U.S. ad revenues grew to $421 million -- with some analysts expecting a 3% decline. Discovery says there was higher ad pricing and inventory sold, against lower viewer delivery.

U.S. affiliate revenue did better -- 6% higher to $375 million. Todd Juenger, senior media analyst of Bernstein Research says: “The most troubling KPI [key performance indicator] is domestic affiliate fees which sequentially decelerated for the second quarter in a row (from +8% to +7% to +6%), partly because the July 2015 Comcast renewal has now been fully lapped.”

Mid-day Tuesday trading of Discovery’s stock was down 3% to $28.12.

Good news for Discovery’s international networks: while advertising revenue was down 2% to $379 million, it was up 3% in constant currency. International affiliate revenues did better -- up 3% to $418 million and 10% higher when taking out currency fluctuations.

Juenger says company-wide Nielsen viewer ratings were down 2% in the fourth quarter, and off 3% when looking at 18-49 viewers. Discovery channel ratings were down 15% in total viewers; but 13% higher in Investigation Discovery. OWN, in which Discovery has a 50% stake, also grew 13% in the period.

Total company-wide revenue was up 2% to $1.7 billion.

Net income to Discovery Communications was up 39% to $304 million, due to a big after-tax gain on a major transaction.