Should Advertisers Hire News Officers To Vet Landscape Where Ads Air?

Commentary

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 10 hours ago

In the wake of questions about a report pushed on Fox News Channel “Hannity,” one advertiser, USAA, the home/auto insurance company, said it was opting out of all “opinion-based” news shows. And then it reversed that opinion -- temporarily. Fair enough. TV advertisers are allowed to be suspect on news and/or news opinion content.

All this concerns a discredited news story about a Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered after a botched robbery and his possible links to the Clinton email hack during the presidential election. Sean Hannity had been heavily promoting this story.
Even though Fox retracted a related online story sometime afterwards, for many TV advertisers, this was too little, too late. Around seven or so advertisers pulled their advertising on the show.

USAA was one of them -- as well as also making a blanket decision at the time it was also going to exclude other cable news networks’ opinion-news programming.

TV advertisers have a long history of picking and choosing TV prime-time shows with content that doesn’t match their requirements. For those shows -- scripted and reality TV series -- it’s about context. TV marketers pretty much get what will be delivered here.

But when it comes to TV news content? No way. And then there are fuzzier areas. “Opinion-based” TV news content might be also called “unscripted,” but not reality TV “unscripted.”
All that said, USAA’s media advertising decisions aren’t firm: While the advertiser is returning to “Hannity”  -- and other cable news networks show -- it continues to review its policy about opinion-based TV news shows.

Advertisers don’t have the resources to check out all journalism content. But should they? Some would say looking at credible reports from news organizations -- TV, print, or otherwise, that have a stable, perhaps not perfect, history in doing journalism -- would be a good indication.
Maybe TV advertisers need to hire chief news officer to monitor all this -- executives who would judge the tough stuff, such as reports filled with content and news which can have the qualifier: ‘according to sources close to...’

This isn’t new. In the 1970s, when it came to the Watergate scandal that forced President Nixon to resign, many news stories started out that way. The initial story may have a familiar feel to it: a break-in at Democratic National Committee offices.

Kantar Millward Brown, Samba TV To Launch TV Measurement Effort

• by Wayne Friedman , 8 hours ago

Media/advertising research company Kantar Millward Brown today has partnered with TV analytics firm Samba TV to kick off what the companies say will be “the largest and most precise single-source measurement solution for television advertising effectiveness.” The effort will give marketers that buy TV the same precision ROI data they get from digital media measurement.

The partnership will link up Kantar Millward Brown’s Ignite panel, which includes 8 million PC users and 3 million mobile users, with Samba TV’s 13.5 million smart TV and connected device households.

The deal will offer marketers exposure data at a TV set level linking it with claimed exposure at the individual level, “creating a unique and much more rigorous standard for measurement of TV ad exposure than previously available.”

It will also look to answer various questions, such as which elements of the TV ad campaign are most successful; how does the campaign benchmark against the industry; and how can optimizations be made in market to improve campaign effectiveness.

The Kantar/Samba deal adds to the list of other new third-party efforts that propose to find new TV measurements/metrics for marketers.

What Is The Perfect PPM Sample Size?

May 23, 2017

That’s just one of the questions we asked Nielsen Audio Managing Director Brad Kelly in his May 22 Radio Ink cover story interview. A lot of industry revenue, and a lot of industry jobs, ride on the ratings. In the top 50 markets those ratings are determined by the Portable People Meter.

In a perfect world, there would be an infinite number of meters floating around the markets you operate in. In a perfect world, all the readings would be 100% accurate. And, in a perfect world, you wouldn’t have to pay a penny more for many more meters and 100% accuracy. We’ll never live in a perfect world, of course, but Brad Kelly is working hard to edge us closer. Here is part one of a three-part series previewing our cover story interview with one of the most important employees, certainly for radio, at Nielsen.

Radio Ink: Are you happy with where the sample size is today?
Brad Kelly: Nielsen has committed to an additional 10 percent sample increase in PPM markets that will begin to roll out in June of this year and will continue over 18 months. All markets will receive that 10 percent bump, and it will be proportionate, placed across all demographics. This was my “honeymoon ask” as the new managing director. Sample size has been and continues to be a top industry priority, and it’s for a good reason. Audiences are fragmenting, and the data is being scrutinized at increasingly discrete levels. This sample increase helps with stability and data-mining granularity.

This was no small ask. It was an extraordinary investment. It’s not a one-and-done proposition, where we write the check and move on. I’ve committed the company for the foreseeable future to continue to fund and underwrite this sample increase. This is the second PPM sample increase that Nielsen has funded, the third since PPM was launched, so, collectively, with the initial 12 percent bump, the 7 percent bump after the Arbitron acquisition, and now this additional 10 percent, we are north of 30 percent additional sample since PPM was debuted. By the time this newest rollout is done, we will have 80,000 PPM panelists walking around the country wearing the meters. So it’s a big deal.

Radio Ink: What is the right number? Is there a goal number? Yes, it comes with a cost, but in a perfect world, what would every market have?
Kelly: I don’t think there is an answer to that. It’s an economic equation. That curve of reliability vs. cost, and you’re trying to find the optimal point on that curve where you have the maximum reliability at a cost that makes sense for everybody.

Is more sample better? Sure. Would it be great to double the sample, triple it? Sure. Is anybody going to pay for that? Of course not. We realize the solution is not these incremental sample bumps, although they certainly help. In the end, what we believe in is the combination of high-quality representable projectable samples with an overlay of big data, which we are also working on.

Between our newly announced relationship with NextRadio and our $560 million acquisition of Gracenote, with its 100 million car infotainment systems, we believe that combination can be extraordinarily powerful. What that gives you is what amounts to settop-box-type data for radio. When you get into sample sizes in the millions, that makes a difference.

Now, big data by itself is not the answer, and the folks at GraceNote will be the first to tell you that. I met with them, and they popped up a dashboard. We were looking at a near-real-time drive-data feed from 1.5 million car infotainment systems, which was telling me the top-played song in the last 15 minutes was the new Adele song, with 4,000 spins.

I said, “This is amazing,” and they said, “Yes, but take it for what it is.” It’s coming from higher-end vehicles, from newer vehicles. It’s a skewed look, so you can’t project it out and say it represents the population. However, when you start getting into tens of millions of data points, you start to blend that with a representative projectable panel like what we have now — and we work hard on the PPM side — the two collectively will give us the smoothing and the granularity the industry seeks.

Radio Ink: Do you have any issues with AM stations? A PD told us he believes that his older listeners do not want to carry a PPM around.
Kelly: The data doesn’t support that. PPM carry by demographic is solid, particularly in the 55-plus, 65-plus age group. They’re not doing us a favor — we’re paying them to do it. A lot of folks appreciate the opportunity to have their opinion count in the process.

The younger demographics are a little harder. My daughter is a great example — the 18-year-olds. It’s hard to get her to do anything. It doesn’t really matter how much you beg. That situation is improving and getting closer to where we need it to be for those tougher younger ethnic demos.

Radio Ink: Do you see a world where radio is eventually continuously measured like other media?
Kelly: I do. An approach that I am personally advocating is the idea of taking all markets to continuous measurement and monthly data delivery. Not just the PPM markets, but all diary markets as well. So having diary-based market research in the field 12 months out of the year, and each month we would deliver a new data set.

The question is, what would we be delivering? I am not suggesting a single month’s worth of audience data. That sample would be too small and not particularly usable or reliable. But rather, in the smallest markets, the currency ratings would be a 12-month rolling average. So each month a new data set comes out; you pick up a new fresh month and you drop off the 13th month. And a month later you do the same thing, and the cycle is continuous.

In the slightly larger diary markets, it would be the same basic idea, with monthly measurement and delivery, except with these markets it would be delivered as a six-month rolling average. A tighter snapshot. In the largest diary markets — that’s roughly markets 51-110 — the currency ratings data would essentially be what Arbitrends is now, a three-month rolling average. You pick up the new month of fresh data and you drop off the fourth month.

Now, taken collectively, what that gives you is continuous measurement in all markets. But more importantly, it will give you uniform monthly data delivery across all radio markets. Fresher data and greater stability are huge benefits to this approach. But the real key to this whole idea, and the reason I am pursuing it, is that the diary-measured markets will then sync up with the delivery cadence of the PPM.

Why would we want to do that? If the industry adopts it, now all of a sudden all radio data, not just PPM data, but nationally, all radio data will feed more seamlessly into the Marketing Mix Models. These ROI analysis models are so critically important to the big CPG brands and major advertisers; they’re telling us that radio audience data the way it is now doesn’t flow through their models very well. They say running 6-month-old data is like trying to drive a car by looking in the rear view mirror.

We need a more frequent cadence of radio audience delivery, not in just 48 markets, but across the country in all markets. It’s something I feel strongly about that’s starting to get real attention at Nielsen. It’s a forward-looking industry-level initiative that occupies my time now. We are a ways from having all the details ironed out, but I believe there is a big opportunity here for the radio industry.

Screenless TV The Next Wave?

Tuesday, May 23, 2017 Today's Sponsor: System 21© The Nation's Only Revenue Guaranteed Sales Training Platform

by Jack Loechner, Staff Writer According to the Futuresource Consulting report, “A Review of the Global Screenless TV Market,” innovative technologies for displaying TV content without the staid grey box are set to offer consumers a new viewing concept and a fantastic opportunity to reinvigorate living room design. The trend has already taken hold in the Chinese market, says the report, which has recently witnessed substantial demand for Screenless TVs, an umbrella term referring to both laser TVs and smart projection, says the report. Laser TV's are ultra/short throw projectors that are sold with a range-specific screen, while smart projection are home cinema projectors with integrated smart functionality. Futuresource expects brands, including Hisense, Inovel, XGIMI and JmGO, to break into the US market encouraging at least one major consumer electronics manufacturer to follow suit, and attract a growing number of tech and design savvy early adopters. Claire Kerrison, Futuresource analyst and co-author of the study, says "Chinese companies are creating beautiful, innovative designs, and there's been a groundswell of development from them over the past couple of years which shows no signs of stopping… the next stage of strategic growth for these companies is international expansion." Brands moving into this area are doing so at least in part due to concerns over the long-term profitability of the flat panel TV market. Hisense has claimed that projection is the future of the main home display and that it could "overthrow" LCD TVs – an attention-grabbing statement, not least because it derives from one of the world's leading TV manufacturers, notes Kerrison. "Screenless TV solutions offer an array of benefits that cannot be matched by flat-panel TVs: flexibility; a low-cost 100-inch display; mobility to different locations; and reduced eye-strain," says Kerrison. However, it is the design of these solutions rather than their functionality that has led to the recent surge in demand. They are modern, sleek and completely different from the standard grey boxes to which projector users have become accustomed, says the report. In its report, Futuresource Consulting explores the complex weave of factors that will impact both short and long-term growth of this burgeoning and disruptive product segment. 'Screenless TVs' are expected to account for 75% of global projector sales to the home by 2021. Will projection really be the future of the consumer display, asks the report. In China, which attributed to over 20% of global TV shipments in 2016, it could well be, concludes the report. All information provided by Futuresource in any form is proprietary information that belongs to Futuresource and is protected by UK and international copyright law. Members of the press may use a press release in its entirety or take segments from it as necessary; "Source: "Futuresource Consulting, copyright 2016".

The New Ad Trifecta: Data, Agency, TV

Media Post’s Online Spin Wednesday, May 24, 2017 Today's Sponsor:System 21© The Nation’s Only Revenue Guaranteed Sales Training Protocol by Cory Treffiletti, Featured Contributor The three most overused words in the advertising biz this year are “data,” “agency” and “TV.” All three are core to the current status and future direction of the entire industry.   Being a writer at heart, I think it’s important to analyze these three words and possibly offer some better ones to consider, maybe looking at them in the context of whether they are product or benefit. Are they leading or lagging terminology? First, let’s consider the term “data.” Data is central to everything now, because it creates the opportunity to know the audience better, offering insights.  It can be viewed as both targeting data and measurement data.   Hundreds of companies are focused on creating value with data, with every company under the Lumascape using it in order to define or differentiate them.  Data is now table stakes in order to play in the game.   We may not be able to stop using the term data, but maybe we can focus more on what the data becomes: knowledge.  As someone I have a ton of respect for recently said, “Companies don’t need more data. They aren’t even using all the data they already have, so why would they need even more?”  He’s right – it’s not about having data, but what you do with the data.  If data is the product, knowledge is the benefit. Then there’s “agency,” defined as “a business or organization established to provide a particular service, typically one that involves organizing transactions between two other parties.”   Today’s agencies are in a state of evolution because the value and service they used to offer is different from what they will offer in the future.  The agency is still playing a mid-transaction role, but it’s less about the strategy for reaching a target, and more about understanding that target.   The role of the agency is to create benefits from the products and tools around them. In the case of data, they should facilitate the understanding that comes from the knowledge derived from the data.   Agencies are morphing into service providers, translating basic fact into knowledge in a way that creates value for their clients.  They’re more akin to consultants that  also offers executional capabilities — even though, more and more, clients are choosing not to take advantage of those executional capabilities. If I were to refer to agencies in a different way, I would look at them as consultancies.  That term is more aligned with where they are headed and the value they are likely to offer. Plus, it recognizes the fact that consultants are looking to encroach on the agency business. Finally, let’s evaluate the term “TV.”  In the old days, a TV was the specific appliance that sat stationary in your home.  That’s not the case these days, as the term is clearly becoming a broader one that refers to programmed video across any host of devices.   TV is also becoming the most talked-about platform because everyone wants to get onto it.  The chaos of competitive programming is increasing, with companies like Facebook and Snap getting into the mix.   TV is the new black, so to speak.  Because of that, I might recommend still calling it TV, but understanding that the word has a different meaning. The future of the ad industry is such that these three terms are interwoven into the fabric of everyone’s business.  Data is core to creating knowledge, agencies are morphing to become consultants that create value from that knowledge, and TV is the primary platform, whether it be on one device or another, where that value creates tangible benefit.  Together, this is the new paradigm for the future of the business. What are some other terms that may be getting quickly outdated?

He’s Just Being Honest. Your Digital Baby Is Ugly

May 18, 2017

Gordon Borrell

Borrell Associates released a comprehensive digital revenue study Wednesday called, “Benchmarking Local Media’s Digital Revenues.” In the stories that follow you’ll see how the digital monsters like Facebook and Google are snatching up all the money. You’ll also see how radio is fairing in the fight for the almighty digital dollar. To be frank, it’s not that pretty a picture, despite how some in the industry keep saying digital dollars are growing by double and triple percentages. Borrell says you get 1%….a measly 1%. So we turned to the head honcho at Borrell and Associates to ask the big question. Why? Here’s what Borrell & Associates CEO Gordon Borrell had to say.

Radio Ink: Why do you believe radio has not been able to take advantage of all that digital revenue? One percent is pretty bad.

Gordon Borrell: It’s pretty simple — they’re just not asking for the order as much as everyone else. There’s some data in our current survey of local advertisers, taken in April and May of this year, that proves it. It shows that, of all types of media reps, radio it pitching digital products the least. See below.


Radio Ink: What do they need to do better to get more of that ad pie?
Gordon Borrell: I could say something wholly expected like, “have the right digital products,” or “train the sales staff better.” But the real problem is that many radio chief executives do nothing but obsess about quarterly profits and act like they’re in some sort of competition to be the most-quoted Crusader of Radio. If more CEOs would read some of the data I’m seeing — the pulse of their most important customers, the advertisers — they’d wet their shorts and, hopefully, initiate a deeper drive to meet customers’ digital needs better. Most (but not all) executives in this industry are so far out of sync with what’s happening on the front lines that I worry that the industry will never get the same amount of insulation that TV, cable, and newspapers are getting from strong, built-in digital product offerings.

Radio Ink: If you could name three specific types of digital products local clients are using, what are they seeing the most success with?

Gordon Borrell: Social media (particularly Facebook) is at the top of the list for all types of advertisers. It’s inexpensive, targeted, and delivers immediate results. Search engine marketing has suddenly risen (again), so that’s No. 2. At No. 3, I’d say it’s delivering some type of creativity around digital — cool things to do in the digital space with a contest, event, or just a cool video that goes up on YouTube and on their Facebook page.

Radio Ink: There have been reports recently about how some advertisers are spending on digital without knowing if it’s even working and they were going to cut back. That really doesn’t seem to be the case, according to your study. 

Gordon Borrell: It’s more of a hope of radio people than it is a reality among local advertisers. National advertisers are certainly rattling sabers, but local advertisers are not at all inclined to cut back their digital spending. In fact, 64% are telling us they plan to increase digital spending in 2017. When we look at the comments, we see the problem: They’re no more concerned about digital fraud than they are about the fluff in radio audience data, or TV metrics, or those ridiculous “readership” numbers that newspapers keep trying to push. Don’t shoot me — I’m just telling you what the advertisers are telling us. Check out the chart below. If you don’t believe the chart, then maybe you’re part of the problem.

 

Sinclair-Tribune Deal Puts Heat On FCC

By Harper Neidig - 05/18/17 06:00 AM EDT

The proposed acquisition by Sinclair Broadcasting Group of Tribune Media Company is inflaming criticism of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which helped pave the way for the deal by relaxing media ownership restrictions.

Sinclair announced earlier this month that it had reached an agreement to buy Tribune for $3.9 billion. The announcement came several weeks after the FCC voted to ease restrictions on the amount of local television stations that broadcasters can own.

Broadcasters are now limited to serving 39 percent of the country’s households. Last month, the FCC reinstated what’s known as the UHF discount, which makes stations that used to broadcast on ultra-high frequency count less toward the 39 percent ownership limit.

Without the discount, Sinclair already reaches 38 percent of U.S. households, according to an analysis from Fitch Ratings. Once the discount goes into effect, the Fitch study finds, Sinclair’s share will drop to 25 percent — giving the company more room to buy local television stations.

The deal with Tribune is still likely to push Sinclair over the media limit, and the company has said that it will explore ways to avoid exceeding the cap.

Activists immediately pounced on the arrangement after the deal was announced. Free Press CEO Craig Aaron called it a “scandal,” and John Bergmayer, a senior counsel at Public Knowledge, urged the Department of Justice and the FCC to scrutinize the deal.

Free Press and several other groups are trying to block the discount from going into effect. They petitioned the FCC to hold off on implementing the rule and asked a federal court to review it, arguing that the Republican majority at the agency did not have sufficient reason to reinstate the discount, which the FCC repealed last year under the Obama administration.

And a trio of House Democrats — Reps. Doris Matsui (Calif.), Mike Doyle (Pa.) and Anna Eshoo (Calif.) — called on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold a hearing to scrutinize the acquisition and the FCC’s actions.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said that he agrees that the UHF discount has outlived its usefulness but argues that it shouldn’t be modified or removed without also reviewing the overall ownership limit, which he has promised the FCC will do.

Critics say that if the Sinclair-Tribune deal is allowed to go through, it could lead to higher costs for consumers and a stifling of independent media voices.

“The fundamental concern is that no media company should be that big,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a law professor at Georgetown University and part of the legal team seeking to block the UHF discount.

“Beyond that, Sinclair gaining this kind of scope is especially troublesome. It has an established track record of shortchanging its viewers by cutting costs, duplicating programming on multiple stations in a market and placing profits ahead of service.”

Sinclair did not respond to requests for comment. The FCC declined to comment.

Some critics have even questioned whether Sinclair is getting special treatment because of its conservative leaning. The company faced criticism last year after Politico reported that President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had bragged behind closed doors about an arrangement Sinclair had with the Trump campaign for better coverage.

Sinclair reportedly secured one-on-one interviews with then-candidate Trump by promising that the interview would be broadcast without any commentary. Scott Livingston, the company’s vice president of news, told Politico at the time that the offer was also extended to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign and that her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine  (D-Va.), took advantage of the arrangement.

A month ago, Sinclair hired Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump administration aide, as the network’s chief political analyst.

Will Snapchat Kill Spanish-language TV?

Commentary

• by Lee Vann , Columnist, 7 hours ago

Earlier this year, Snapchat went public in the biggest tech IPO since 2014, raising $3.4 billion to advance its vision to “empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world and have fun together.”

Flush with cash, Snapchat is much more than a social network and messaging app, it is an alternative to TV and gunning for the nearly $70 billion spent by U.S. advertisers on television. Scott Symonds, AKQA’s managing director of media sums it up nicely, “Snapchat is a brilliant, mobile-age Comcast or Time Warner in terms of being an always-on content delivery platform.”

With over 10 billion-plus daily video views and partnerships with NBC, ESPN, CNN, NFL, MTV, Food Network, Bleacher Report and Mitú, Snapchat certainly has the scale to compete for traditional advertising dollars, including dollars that flow to Spanish-language TV.

U.S. Advertisers Spent $6.2 Billion on Spanish-language TV

When it comes to Hispanic advertising, Spanish-language TV is king, accounting for nearly 80% of all Hispanic major-media spending in 2015 per the 2016 Hispanic Fact Pack. When it comes to Spanish-language TV, giants Univision and NBC-owned Telemundo have dominated for years. Is Snapchat about to change that?

Snapchat’s audience, content and platform are most certainly connecting with Hispanics and thus, attractive for Hispanic advertisers.

Audience According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 6 in 10 Hispanics are millennials or younger, and this group is highly English-proficient and smartphone-savvy. According to eMarketer, Snapchat reaches 53% of millennials and comScore reports that in May 2016 Snapchat reached 12 million Hispanics. Not only is there a critical mass of millennials on Snapchat, they are also highly engaged, using the platform between 25 and 30 minutes per day. As marketers continue to shift their focus to millennials, they are increasingly including Hispanics in their plans and those plans are likely to include more Snapchat and less Spanish-language TV.

Content As mentioned earlier, Snapchat has relevant content partnerships with strong media outlets including multicultural focused Mitú, NBC Universal / Telemundo, and Univision. Much like the advertisers they serve, each of these content companies is hungry to reach the millennial audience, many of whom are Hispanic, and are happy to tailor their content to this audience for Snapchat. In addition, Snapchat’s highly engaging user-generated content logically resonates with millennials including Hispanics.

Platform As covered in depth in this column, Hispanics are mobile super users and over-index in mobile consumption. A study by Nielsen found that “average Hispanic mobile user uses 658 minutes per month on their mobile plan, which is significantly more than the average of 510 minutes per month for all consumers.” As a mobile-first platform, Snapchat is capturing Hispanic eyeballs that may have previously been glued to Spanish-language TV. 

Snapchat is certainly well positioned to siphon advertising dollars away from TV, but can they kill it? If Google and Facebook couldn’t, it is unlikely that Snapchat can. One thing’s for sure, though, Snapchat is changing the way Hispanics consume video content and along with it the very idea of television, including Spanish-language TV as we know it.

Editor's note: This article originally appeared on March 9, 2017, in Engage:Hispanics.

U.S. Ad Market Sinks 1% In April

• by Wayne Friedman , 7 hours ago

The U.S. advertising market remained relatively flat for April -- with digital media up a scant 3% and TV flat. Big gainers for digital media include social media, 12% higher; advertising network/ad exchange business, up 10%; and pure-play video, gaining 6%; digital TV network business, adding 3%; and search up 2%, according to Standard Media Index.
Losers in the digital space came with mobile ad networks/exchanges down 10%; pure-play content business also off 10%; digital business from print companies 3% lower; and Internet radio down 2%.

“The digital market hasn’t rebounded from the viewability and safety concerns that came to the forefront late last year. Advertisers are yet to jump back in and show they are confident that these issues have been meaningfully addressed,” stated James Fennessy, chief executive officer of Standard Media Index.

Heading into the next season’s upfront TV advertising market, where second-quarter activity is seen as a signal to many executives, showed broadcast adding 8% but cable down 7%.

Broadcast's big gain came almost entirely from the final three games of NCAA’s March Madness men’s college basketball tournament on CBS. A year before, TNT ran those games. SMI says taking those games out of the picture meant a 5% decline for broadcast.

Three cable news networks continued to gain in advertising revenue -- as well as viewership. Ad gains for Fox News Channel grew 12%; CNN, 16%; and MSNBC, a whopping, 63%.
Local TV did much better: Local spot cable added 20% with local broadcast spot TV  up 4%. National syndication dipped 6% in the month.

Looking at specific national TV advertising categories a big  decline came from automotive vehicles/dealerships, down 17 %. telecommunications business dropped by 12%, and food lost 4%.
Increases came from prescription pharmaceutical advertising, 2% higher, and fast-food restaurants, adding 7%.

Older traditional media platforms continued to slide: Magazines were down 16% for the month; newspapers, 21% lower; radio, losing, 17% and out-of-home slipping 8%.
All TV ad spend comes from SMI’s AccuTV -- a product that combines 70% of total national agency spend exclusively, with data model for the remaining 30%. Non-TV data comes from 70% of all national agency spend.

Another consideration, according to Dr. Philip Jay LeNoble of Executive Decision Systems, Inc. of Littleton, Colorado, is the largest amount of local revenue for TV ad growth is local-direct which can deflect any apparent revenue losses due to competing media, digital, mobile, SEO, SEM platforms. With local-direct revenues' growth at each property, not including, retransmission or political, net income historically grows exponentially. 

Not Sure PPAs Are The Future of Advertising, Either

• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, May 4, 2017

A new report sensationally entitled "The End of Advertising As We Know It" predicts that "persistent personal assistants" -- consultant-talk for Amazon Echo or Google Home's Assistant -- will protect users from traditional advertising, since they scrape only the most preferred information from social media platforms, calendars, email, search history, GPS history, media use, etc., and leave ads behind.
As people spend more of their time with PPAs, they will spend less doing interruptible things on interruption-friendly devices. So brands will have to move away from traditional digital advertisements and more toward building "intelligent, conversational customer relationships," the piece suggests.
My first reaction is to imagine why anyone thinks that "intelligent, conversational customer relationships" will be any less interruptive than, say, display ads or TV commercials. Is it because they will be more "in context" with what interests me at the moment? So I guess it will be cool for the PPAs to ask if I want to buy an umbrella since it will rain later today?  Or suggest some stupid-assed movie that just opened when I ask what time a film classic will be broadcast later tonight?

I'm kinda thinking that there will be something seriously creepy about a PPA that sits between me and all of my devices, machine learning its way toward delivering me a branded message on a topic resident in my "profile." Not unlike when a parent found out his daughter was pregnant when Target shopping data analytics sent her coupons for baby items.

Might make me think twice about asking my PPA to look up anything related to medical conditions, finances, or even that moron in the White House, lest it "thinks" my frequent queries are a sign of support. So we are back to "What will the weather be today?" or "Play the Rolling Stones on Pandora, level 8."

Look, if PPAs really want a place in my heart, they will take on some of the more onerous tasks of modern life, like hitting the next button on a customer service phone tree and saying "representative" until a live person comes on the line. Or making sure that when the tickets go on sale, it out-bots the brokers and gets me a couple of seats on the aisle, ten rows back. Or tells me in advance that they have closed a lane on the Merritt Parkway (again) and driving will be hell from Westport north.
The question then becomes how brands can fit into those situations with "intelligent, conversational customer relationships." Alexa: "Since you will be on hold for at least 15 more minutes waiting for Dell, ever think about dumping those bozos for, say. Lenovo or Corsair? just asking..."  And when I say, "Yep, been there, done that," does Alexa back off -- or perhaps launch an unwanted debate? And if it does back off, will that opening salvo count as a served impression in the new world of "The End of Advertising As We Know It"?

Since how we now relate to PPAs is verbal, does that mean a new era of radio-like ads?
Only asking because I find them to be among the most annoying ad interruption on the planet. And if I start to hear that crap coming out of Echo, it will be in the curbside trash can in a New York minute.

Grandma Still Friday, May 5, 2017 System 21 Today's Most Recognized and Station profitable Training Curriculum Grandma Still Thinks She's Grandmaster Flash: Designing For Seniors

Grandma Still Friday, May 5, 2017 System 21 Today's Most Recognized and Station profitable Training Curriculum by Robin Elwick, Columnist Awhile back there was a wave of adorable grandmas tagging themselves as rapper Grandmaster Flash — albeit inadvertently. While simply a humorous footnote to those less adept at using technology, it brings up the important point that when designing for seniors we need to make recognize the difficulties they may face.  And why do grandma and grandpa matter to the tech industry? They’re the fastest-growing demographic on the internet. Over 60% of American seniors are online and, says Pew Research, growing. Given this generation of seniors is expected to be the wealthiest ever, it would be imprudent not to cater to this demographic. When designing for seniors it is important to recognize that they can face physical challenges and may have difficulties learning new technologies. Key areas for design considerations are vision and hearing, motor control, cognitive processing, and a lack of experience with technology.  This may sound like extra work, but it isn’t: websites that are better designed for seniors are generally better for everyone. Let’s take a look at a few sites that get it right. AARP With nearly 38 million members, the AARP’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for all as they age, and they have made key design decisions to accommodate seniors on their website. The site uses large text throughout, a san serif font for easy reading and uses warm colors. As vision declines, so does one’s ability to discriminate certain hues. Seniors are more apt to confuse colors in the blue-green region of the spectrum. Red, yellow and orange, as well as high contrast throughout the site, makes it much easier to navigate. Information overload is a common problem identified by older users. Too much information on the page makes it hard to focus on what’s relevant. AARP recognizes this and its clean site uses large headlines and concise descriptions to separate and differentiate information. Social Security AdministrationThe Social Security Administration website has been quietly rolling out new features and updates, and citizens are starting to notice. In 2014, the SSA achieved an excellent rating in the ForeSee 2014 E-Government Satisfaction Index, even out-performing several top private-sector brands, including Amazon and Apple. In 2016, the SSA had the highest score of all public-sector sites.  This is because the Social Security Administration’s website has great accessibility. In addition to supporting multiple languages and sign language, seniors who find it difficult to read online can use the BrowseAloud function to have text spoken. The site also offers web accessibility help with information on increasing text size, magnifying the screen and changing background and text colors. Road Scholar Formerly Elderhostel, Road Scholar is the nation’s first and world’s largest educational and travel organization for adults 55+. Road Scholar incorporates generous text size in their website design and a simplified menu. Also, the replacement of fly-out menus with menu that open with a single click is a key design choice to help seniors who struggle with precise motor movements. For this reason, larger button sizes have been incorporated throughout. The site has two other great features for all audiences: The contact number appears prominently on all pages and the site is responsive, allowing for optimal viewing on any device. As the senior demographic grows and becomes increasingly tech savvy, we need to be cognizant of constraints many seniors face and make greater efforts to build inclusive websites. Key considerations designers need to be aware of are vision and hearing, motor control, and cognitive processing. If you’re just getting started in designing senior-friendly websites, here are a few useful references: The National Institute on Aging has outlined a broad set of research-based guidelines that are an excellent resource and starting point. You can download their tip sheet.

Sean Hannity Eyes Fox News Exit, Insiders Say

 

The Daily Beast

END OF AN ERA?

 

The conservative star lost a key ally after the network’s co-president Bill Shine resigned Monday. Will he follow him out?

ANDREW KIRELL

05.01.17 2:29 PM ET

Sean Hannity is looking to leave Fox News, according to sources, following the resignation of Fox News co-president Bill Shine officially on Monday.

Shine was Hannity’s long-time ally whom he personally recommended the network hire two decades ago to produce Hannity & Colmes. In recent days, Hannity warned it would be the “total end” of Fox News should Shine leave, and he rallied conservative activists to back him up.

Initially, insiders said, Hannity’s army of lawyers had hoped to discuss with Fox ways of protecting his 8-year-old primetime show, amid fears that Lachlan and James Murdoch—fresh off the ousting of Bill O’Reilly—were looking to push the network away from hard-right politics.

However, with Shine’s departure on Monday, one source told The Daily Beast, there’s no reason for Hannity to stay.

“The network now belongs to the Murdoch sons,” another Fox insider said after learning that Shine was gone.

One insider speculates that the negotiations could end this week and Hannity might be out by Friday. Another said his final show could even be tonight or Tuesday evening, given Shine’s Monday resignation.

Fox News, however, said in a statement speaking on behalf of Hannity and the network: “This is completely untrue.”

Shine, long considered Roger Ailes’ right-hand man, was named in multiple lawsuits against Fox as having been an enabler of both Ailes’ and O’Reilly’s alleged serial sexual-harassing. In one particular case, ex-host Andrea Tantaros alleged that Shine actively coordinated a campaign to retaliate against her for her accusations against the now-deposed Fox News creator. And according to New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman, who first reported Shine’s resignation, female Fox News staffers considered circulating a petition calling for his firing.

But to some Fox News conservative vets like Hannity, Shine was the remaining bulwark against the Murdoch sons, who are seen as “liberals” trying to radically reinvent the network in the model of a mainstream cable-news rival like CNN.

Hannity warned last week on Twitter that firing Shine would be “the total end of the FNC as we know it. Done.” He started a “#IStandWithShine” hashtag, and in his final tweet before a self-imposed “shutting down” of his feed, Hannity on Sunday promoted a Facebook page called “Stop the Scalpings.”