Pai: “I Want My FM Chip Mr. Cook”

Radio Ink

September 28, 2017

The pressure is now on Apple as at least one department of the government is publicly pushing the iPhone maker to activate FM chips that are already in those phones. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says turning on the FM chips needs to be done to promote public safety and he’s asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to “do the right thing.”

Emmis CEO and NextRadio founder Jeff Smulyan tells Radio Ink he’s very pleased with the Pai announcement. “It’s clear that people’s lives depend on receiving radio in emergencies and it’s also clear there is no cost to Apple to do this. Every other manufacturer and carrier has turned on the FM chip. I really appreciate Chairman Pai’s leadership. It’s important for every American.”

On Thursday, Pai continued to pressure the wireless world with a statement regarding what he wants to see Apple do. “In recent years, I have repeatedly called on the wireless industry to activate the FM chips that are already installed in almost all smartphones sold in the United States. And I’ve specifically pointed out the public safety benefits of doing so. In fact, in my first public speech after I became Chairman, I observed that ‘[y]ou could make a case for activating chips on public safety grounds alone.’”

Pai says having easy access to FM Radio when power goes down in a storm is vital. And, recent Hurricanes Irma and Maria proved his point. “When wireless networks go down during a natural disaster, smartphones with activated FM chips can allow Americans to get vital access to life-saving information. I applaud those companies that have done the right thing by activating the FM chips in their phones.”

So he wants Apple to join the others who have already activated the chip and he’s applying the pressure. “Apple is the one major phone manufacturer that has resisted doing so. But I hope the company will reconsider its position, given the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. That’s why I am asking Apple to activate the FM chips that are in its iPhones. It is time for Apple to step up to the plate and put the safety of the American people first. As the Sun Sentinel of South Florida put it, ‘Do the right thing, Mr. Cook. Flip the switch. Lives depend on it.'”

Following the Pai statement Thursday NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith thanked the FCC Chairman for his strong support for voluntary activation of FM radio chips in Apple iPhones. “Local broadcasters are a lifeline information source in times of crisis, as Chairman Pai, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and other members of Congress and the FCC have noted. We urge Apple to acknowledge the public safety benefits of local broadcasting on SmartPhones and to light up the FM chip.”
Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro told Radio In, “We support manufacturers making decisions on the services their products receive.”

Ad Week 2017: How to Hit a Bullseye on Targeted.TV

BY SIMON APPLEBAUM SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 THOUGHT LEADERS ARCHIVES

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Consumers and the advertising industry would both be better served by a TV landscape of fewer commercial breaks, fewer commercials inside those breaks and, most important, commercials that cater to or address specific viewer constituencies.  Advocates of that belief, appearing on Advertising Week 2017's "Targeted.TV" panel this week, see targeted commercials as a key solution.  The issue, they acknowledge, is how to achieve that result and how soon it can be accomplished.

"Targeted ads are a critical goal," declared Kern Schireson, Viacom'sExecutive Vice President and Chief Data Officer.  "I want all of us to see professionally-produced, beautiful content that engages audiences."

For consumers to have that environment see the light of day, household data from multiple sources must be gathered and formatted in a manner advertisers, agencies, media planners, TV networks and content makers can unify around.  The solution also must incorporate the impact smart TV sets and TV-connected devices, such as Roku (the first smart TV device maker to become a publicly traded company last Thursday via an initial public offering), Amazon Fire TV and Google's Chromecast are having on a national level.  More than 60 percent of U.S. households now use a smart set or device, allowing them to watch Netflix, Hulu and other services running commercial-free or with limited commercial loads.

What's more, added Michael Scott, Samsung Ads Business Development and Partnerships Leader, consumers watching smart TVs don't want an ad experience similar to what they often encounter on their computers or smartphones.  "We don't sell dumb TVs anymore,” he said.  “We sell a real consumer shift.  They don't want pop-up blockers showing up on their TV that constantly interrupt what they view."

Partnerships with the likes of Google and Facebook could be beneficial in generating a unified approach that can be executed in short order.  "They might also give us clues on how people, especially Millennials, watch commercials," said Rob Weisbord, Chief Operating Officer of Sinclair Digital Group.

Whatever way the solution is reached, it has to be tailored to both individual commercial environments and individual platforms.  If all sides come together and work things out, "We could end up with a marketplace that allows participation from a wide new class of national advertisers" who could not otherwise spend on TV, added Turner Broadcasting Executive Vice President of Client Strategy and Ad Innovation Michael Strober.  He named retailers Pottery Barn and Buy Buy Baby as two beneficiaries of a consortium-adopted targeted TV process.

Former Cablevision Systems executive Ben Tatta, now Co-Founder and President of 605, wants to see those TV/Internet player collaborations come about, along with the use of large focus groups and different data information sources.  "We've got to move beyond the current climate where ad buys are made on the basis of age and gender, to the equivalent of click-streaming data now utilized by Web players," he asserted.

Scott expects the next year-to-18 months will produce some breakthrough practices in data retrieval that forward everyone's desire, coming from independent sources.  Weisbord hinted that Sinclair may be on the verge of experimenting with one targeted approach -- localizing the first commercial, or "A" pod, on TV station newscasts by neighborhoods.  When and where would that happen? He offered no hints.

"At some point, the Earth needs to come together," said Andrew Capone, NCC Media's Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development.  "I hope in the next five years we'll cross this bridge.  Maybe it will be 10 years before we forget what the old (commercial) ad system was like."

Regularly Scheduled Program Viewing Continues to Rise

Over-the-Top Streaming Services Gain in Customer Satisfaction, but Regularly Scheduled Program Viewing Continues to Rise

COSTA MESA, Calif.: 28 Sept. 2017 — According to J. D. Power...pay-TV subscribers in the United States are growing increasingly satisfied with over-the-top streaming TV services vs. traditional cable TV, but they also are spending nearly an hour more a week watching regularly scheduled television programming than they did two years ago. That increasingly complex consumer relationship with streaming and cable television is explored in detail in a trio of J.D. Power studies released today.

“Although it seems like the world is consumed with the idea of cord-cutting in the wake of Hulu’s first Emmy and the proliferation of new shows on Netflix and Amazon, the number of current pay-TV customers who plan to cut the cord has actually declined, and the number of hours spent watching old-fashioned, time-slot television is growing,” said Peter Cunningham, Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Practice Lead at J.D. Power. “We’re seeing a trend toward the co-existence of traditional and alternative service providers, with each offering some lessons to the other on how best to drive an increase in customer satisfaction.”Following are some of the key findings of the study:

Streaming services make gains as traditional TV declines: Customer satisfaction with the overall streaming video service experience (7.91 on a 10-point scale) and performance and reliability (7.97) has slightly improved year over year. Conversely, overall satisfaction with traditional pay-TV services has fallen to 710 this year (on a 1,000-point scale) from 724 last year.

Destination TV viewing reaches three-year high: Despite growing satisfaction with streaming video services and widespread use of DVR and video on-demand, the number of hours spent watching regularly scheduled television programs has increased by nearly an hour between 2015 and 2017. In a typical week, households have spent an average of 17.4 hours watching regularly schedule programming this year, up from 16.6 in 2015.

Percentage of likely cord-cutters declines slightly: The percentage of customers who say they plan to cut the cord on pay-TV during the next 12 months has declined to 8% this year from 9% in 2016.

Mobile app adoption low, but satisfaction high among early adopters: Nearly two-thirds (65%) of pay-TV customers never watch content from their provider via mobile app, and only 6% say they watch via mobile on a daily basis. However, overall satisfaction with pay-TV providers increases as the frequency that customers use a mobile app to watch their provider’s content increases.

Billing errors present challenge and opportunity: Though the incidence of billing errors has steadily decreased over the past five years, hidden fees continue to be the most common billing error by a large margin. Provider efforts to address this have paid off. Billing satisfaction among customers who experienced a billing error and are given an automatic credit or refund slightly exceeds that among customers who did not experience any billing errors (768 vs. 760, respectively).

What'sAheadFromNielsen,ComScore

 

The ratings rivals explain to broadcasters what they have in store to improve and expand their services and address the five biggest concerns of stations regarding measurement: ratings inconsistency, sample size, demo issues, modeling of ratings and too many methodologies.

By Janet Stilson

TVNewsCheck, September 28, 2017 10:04 PM EDT

There’s little wonder that the TVB Forward conference bookended a panel session on measurement with two separate interviews featuring executives from Nielsen and ComScore.
Nielsen recently filed a lawsuit against its rival, alleging that ComScore is using Nielsen personal people meter data in violation of agreements between the two companies.

 

The conference session format allowed the dueling duo a chance to explain when they are rolling out new services and address some critical questions for broadcasters.
Hadassa Gerber, SVP and chief research officer at TVB, spotlighted some results from a recent TVB survey of its members as a way to get at the touchy issues.
When asked whether local TV measurement issues were holding them back, 87% of the respondents replied either “possibly” or “absolutely.”
Those surveyed listed five major issues related to measurement: ratings inconsistency, sample size, demo issues, modeling of ratings and too many methodologies.

 

Jeff Wender, managing director of local media at Nielsen, responded to the survey results by saying: “Everything we’re going to be introducing in the next several months will address a lot of these concerns.”
Nielsen intends to do this plans to install nearly 15,000 television audience meters in approximately 7,000 homes across the 140 markets currently measured by local TV paper diaries. The installation of these meters is designed to provide  coverage needed to address the limitations of solely using set-top-box data for audience measurement in markets.
It will take a little longer to convert smaller markets to electronic measurement and get rid of paper diaries. “Over-the-air viewership is a critical element, especially in smaller diary markets. We find that 20% — sometimes a much larger percentage — comes from over-the-air households in smaller markets,” Wender said.

In fact, 50% of news viewership can come from those OTA households in smaller markets, he said. So it will take some time to make sure the measurement is accurate.
Right now, the plan is to introduce electronic meters or code readers in smaller markets during the first half of 2018, and Nielsen is working with broadcasters to figure out when to cut over to the meters completely, avoiding critical times like during Olympics telecasts.

One of Nielsen’s biggest challenges is making sure that return-path data from set-top boxes is accurate. To tackle that, Nielsen created a system called Common Homes, which takes metered data from households that are part of Nielsen’s panels and then compares it with STB data from the same homes to see how closely the stats match up.

Third-party data from companies like Experian helps Nielsen understand who lives in the home. Even data from these third-party have bias that Nielsen corrects by using its panels and common home analysis.

“There are boxes that are 13 or 14 years old,” Wender said. That leads to measurement inaccuracies. In some markets, programming on two or three stations is attributed to just one station. And with time-shifted viewing, as much as 26% of the viewership isn’t measured, he said. There are similar issues with STB data related to viewers’ age and ethnicity.

Bill Livek, executive vice chairman and president of ComScore, expressed a different view. “Set-top boxes are pretty accurate,” he said. “We have a set-top lab in Portland, Ore. Every set-top device that’s in consumer’s hands is in our lab to make sure that all the boxes are functioning in an appropriate way.”
ComScore uses multiple credit rating services — each of which have different data about consumers — and makes a determination about which provides the most accurate numbers in different circumstances, said Livek, who spent a number of years working for one of them, Experian.

Livek explained that there are thousands of models that can be used to determine the most accurate numbers, some of which relate to the duration and genre of a given program. Data can also be thrown off by households in which the box isn’t turned off when the TV is turned off.

ComScore also plans to address another problem, the lack of pure demographic information about individuals in its database. Livek dropped word that the company is planning to roll out panels to address the issue without giving a time frame for doing so.

Another problem ComScore has to address is a lack of over-the-air data. Livek explained that the company does an annual survey in individual markets to find out how much of the viewing is done OTA. ComScore is rolling out small metered devices to capture the OTA viewership “at some point in time.” When that time will come, he was unwilling to say.

Livek also reported that in next year’s first quarter, ComScore is introducing a new cross-platform news product for stations.

“Long-term where we want to go is to have a local market measurement system that not only takes television, but takes all of digital and local [print] publishers along with advanced targets. That’s a ways off, but that’s where we want to go,” he said.

 

Social Media Delivers Sponsored Ad Revenues For TV Stations

• by Wayne Friedman , 6 hours ago

Social media could bring in some $1.4 billion in sponsored-advertising revenue for local TV stations in 2018, according to a new study.

Share Rocket, a social-media research company for local TV stations, came to this determination in analyzing Facebook audiences of local TV stations' main brand pages and the sponsored-content revenue opportunities available.

Analyzing 12 months of historical impressions, video views and engagement across 210 television markets, Share Rocket determined the total estimated value for sponsored premium social media.  

Looking at specific market size, Share Rocket estimated the social-media value in the top 10 markets to be $446 million; for the top 20 markets, $747 million; the top 50 markets, $1.08 billion; and the top 100 markets, $1.3 billion.

According to the analysis, Share Rocket say the top premium social content for local TV stations is in Chicago. It adds that in the top five markets, station Facebook pages now have more “reach” than their broadcast signal. It did not supply further details.

For the long term, Share Rocket reports that sponsored social media content can be an even bigger deal by 2021 -- a $20 billion market, according to eMarketer.

Future Of TV Stations Includes Different Ad Prospects

COMMENTARY

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 7 hours ago

Local TV station groups have a lot to be happy about — rising stock prices and more money from retransmission revenue. And something that isn’t always mentioned: scale.

Local TV advertising revenue of $20 billion a year is a beneficiary of that scale -- even as core advertising continues to be projected with small gains.

Traditional local TV advertising -- ad revenue that doesn’t include every-other-year rises from political advertising revenue -- is estimated to see a 2% rise next year, according to Marci Ryvicker, media analyst of Wells Fargo, speaking at a local TV conference.

Underlying new sources of revenue -- in theory -- will continue to alter the picture, including retransmission fees from pay TV providers.

That also includes new license deals for carrying TV stations on new virtual pay TV providers, where DirecTV Now, YouTube TV and others are focused on ensuring that network-programmed TV stations are a primary part of their services.

Retrans fees now account for 30% or more of some TV station groups' overall revenues. The downside for stations is that TV networks want to grab even more of this new retrans fee money from their affiliates. The current 50-50 split is looking to rise -- in the networks’ favor.

In addition, TV station groups still hope to benefit from deregulation under the new Trump Administration, where the limits of one company owning U.S. TV stations could grow dramatically.

While advertising seems to be taking on a different, somewhat smaller role, the broadcasters hope the new TV transmission standard ATSC 3.0 -- expected online in the next few years -- will be the platform where programmatic and/or addressable TV advertising could dramatically grow.

Digital media -- albeit still a small part of the overall picture -- could benefit here, too.

From all this, TV station groups stock prices, according to Ryvicker, have grown 25% to 35% since the presidential election, even accounting for recent dips.

While many criticize TV stations for their slow-moving efforts in the new digital world, TV stations’ scale remains a positive factor -- especially against some digital media competitors.

Ryvicker says: "Scale is really important.” But there are qualifiers here. “It's getting bigger in markets where you really have control, and you can really sell your advertising.”

If the new Trump Administration has its way, that's what's coming...

Kantar: Stations To See $2.4B Political In '18

New projections from Kantar Media/CMAG show $2.4 billion in political spending to come to TV stations in 2018, up 14% from the 2014 midterms. Projections for cable are 41% growth from $600 million in 2014 to $850 million next year.  

By Janet Stilson

September 22, 2017 11:49 AM EDT

TV stations will likely garner $2.4 billion in political spending next year, according to newly released projections from Kantar Media/CMAG. That would be a 14% rise over the 2014 midterm election results: $2.1 billion.

The $2.4 billion will account for 62% of total political spend during the year. Cable will likely garner $850 million in 2018 versus $600 million in 2014, a 41% gain and 22% share.

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And digital should pull in $600 million next year, a 16% share.

Local cable’s ability to target narrower geographic areas is much more strategic during midterm election years than Presidential election years, explained Steve Passwaiter, the Kantar/CMAG VP and GM. That’s because congressional districts don’t match up with DMAs.

Take, for example, the hotly contested special election for a U.S. Congress representative in Georgia’s 6th district earlier this year. “By no means was broadcast forsaken, but a pretty healthy share of the money went to local cable because that district only covered a fraction of the Atlanta DMA,” Passwaiter said. However, he noted, “local cable didn’t do all that well in the [last] Presidential race.”

Kantar’s TV station projections are lower than estimates from Kagan Media Research, which forecasts $2.58 billion in political spot spending in 2018, versus $2.42 billion in 2014. 

Brian Wieser: Updating 2017 Forecast To +4.4% Underlying Growth -- Pivotal Research

By Brian Wieser September 26, 2017 Wall St. Village Archives

We are refining our expectations for total U.S. advertising growth for 2017 and beyond.  We call for +4.4% underlying expansion this year, which is similar to the +4-5% range we published in August.  In this note we review some of the key challenges ahead, especially for TV and digital advertising, which account for the bulk of the industry's activity.  Our forecast model is included in the appendix to this report.

Advertising is facing challenges on many fronts, especially within the two largest media, digital and television.  Among the large packaged goods marketers and big brands who dominate television, we have market-share losses to smaller brands driving reduced spending for many who budget for advertising as a percentage of revenue and zero-based budgeting tactics for others.  Further, there do not seem to be many significant new categories of marketers whose constituents are large, consumer focused, differentiated themselves on the basis of awareness of attributes, budget on a share-of-voice basis and operate in nationally oriented and oligopolistic sectors. 
As those categories emerged in the past, they drove up pricing for all and revenues for owners of national television properties in particular.  Increasingly fragmented and often unmeasured viewing makes it harder, if not more expensive to use television efficiently.  So, while it remains the "least inefficient" medium for many, it's difficult to see a path to growth.  We generally see ad revenue growth at national TV media outlets declining by around -2% each year going forward, excluding incremental spending associated with the Olympics, similar to our expectation for this year.

Meanwhile, digital advertising is having a moment, and not a good one.  Beyond ad quality issues, we have concerns that marketers will concern themselves more with basic trustworthiness of media owners, the capacity to use personal data going forward as well as the underlying effectiveness of digital media more generally.  Ad quality issues of viewability, brand safety, fraud and bots are problematic of course, but ultimately seem relatively manageable for marketers vs. the latter group of problems.  Facebook's recently publicized issues around mis-matches between audience data provided for planning purposes vs. data from global census bureaus and its initial inability to find ads from Russian propogandists follow on several other incidents over the past year, all of which compromise claims Facebook makes to marketers. 

This has tangible implications.  A significant share of spending on advertising occurs simply because it is perceived to be effective, or because tools used to assess spending effectiveness are really used to justify a choice or refine pre-existing budgets.  Whether a collection of media and creative choices are actually the most effective is a subjective question, even in a world awash with data, which is why marketer trust matters.

This has been laid bare in recent comments and actions from executives at companies as diverse as Procter & Gamble, Uber and Restoration Hardware.  P&G eliminated $140mm in digital advertising in the second quarter.  As conveyed in a lawsuit with one of its advertising agencies, Uber eliminated spending on app installs earlier this year.  Restoration Hardware eliminated most of the keywords it was buying from search engines.  In each instance, each company indicated there was no negative business impact.  While digital advertising can be incredibly effective, these three cases are very public examples of the heightened scrutiny that is being applied to digital advertising from the highest levels of marketers' organizations, whereas relatively little rigor was applied before.  On top of this, with looming regulations in Europe around the use of personal data – with few marketers fully aware of related implications, including the global fines associated with violations – and Apple's new restrictions on cookies within its Safari browsers, marketers must begin looking at new approaches to use digital media more generally.

Still, for all the risks that follow from these issues, we don't think they will observably impact digital ad growth at this time.  This is largely because performance-based marketing is increasingly common, as businesses with digital-centric business models take share (as with Dollar Shave Club vs. Gillette) and concentrate spending on digital media.  In total, we forecast +21% growth for the medium in 2017.

Additional data associated with the growth of different types of advertising including local TV, radio, outdoor, magazines, newspapers, directories and direct mail follows in our model, which accounts for the remainder of this note.  We highlight a methodological modification which we expect to refine over time: we have derived a crude estimate for app install ad spending, backing that figure out of national mass media advertising and placing it within our Direct and SMB category.  We think this revised baseline provides a better estimate of historical growth and absolute size of brand-oriented advertising vs. purer performance-based advertising budgets, although we recognize that there are still performance-based elements in our national and local groupings of spending much as there are branding elements in our direct total.

Local TV Broadcast Advertising Declines Among Core Advertisers

The research report below is a reason why owners and managers of broadcast properties should assure that station revenue is protected by investing in the training and development of long-term, local direct sales training. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. CA

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Core local TV broadcast advertising dollars could be in for a tough stretch in the next few years, as digital media dollars continue to climb.

Pivotal Research Group estimates that traditional, linear local TV broadcast advertising -- excluding political ad revenues -- will sink 2.2% in 2017, to $15 billion. This will be followed by another 4% decline in 2018 to $14.4 billion; a 4.2% decline in 2019 to $13.8 billion; a 4.5% drop to $13.2 billion in 2020; and a 4.7% pullback to $12.6 billion in 2021.

Total local TV -- broadcast and local cable -- is expected to decline 1.6% this year to $19.8 billion and another 3.4% to $19.2 billion in 2018.

But local digital advertising -- which could include local TV station/cable activities -- is expected to climb. It is poised to increase 9% this year to $7.8 billion and to rise 7.2% next year to $8.4 billion; 5.9% higher to $8.9 billion in 2019; up 4.8% to $9.3 billion in 2020; and 3.8% higher to $9.7 billion in 2021.

In contrast, traditional national TV networks will see more slight declines to core advertising -- without Olympics revenues.

Pivotal says national TV will slip 1.9% this year to $44.3 billion and will be 2.1% down to $43.4 billion next year, with another 1.9% decline to $42.6 billion in 2019; a 2.3% drop to $41.6 billion in 2020; and a 2.6% decline in 2021 to $40.5 billion.

3 Keys to an Effective Digital Selling Strategy

Mon, 09/25/2017 

Author: Sona Jepsen 

Some companies sell to businesses and some directly to consumers, but fundamentally, digital selling strategies rest on the same principles. Sure, the approach and tone might vary based on the audience, but B2B buyers behave quite similarly to B2C consumers. Digital selling yields the best results when companies offer consistent experiences across all channels, including brand image, media releases, client presentations, customer service, and product engagement. Organizations that deliver cohesive experiences stand out in their fields and deepen their relationships with loyal, high-value clients.

EY a digital sales organization found that the increase in products and services available to B2B buyers in recent years has made them more discerning. Transparent marketplaces and online content have also given them a better understanding of different vendors and have enabled them to make more informed purchasing decisions. In much the same way that B2C consumers vet brands through social media references and online testimonials, B2B buyers are conducting more due diligence as well.

Tech + Relationships = Better Sales
Sales teams that want to connect with B2B clients must empower them through useful, transparent engagement. Unfortunately, many well-intentioned companies can’t get out of their own ways. For instance, a business might establish an internal center of excellence that produces content designed to educate prospects about its services. However, the content either never leaves the theoretical stage or is too in-the-weeds to resonate with the average buyer.

Silos also present huge barriers to effective digital selling strategies. Many sellers cut their teeth on live prospecting, generating leads in person at conferences and events. But digital selling requires an entirely different skill set and mode of engagement, one that includes collaboration with the marketing, IT, and customer service departments. To reach prospects in meaningful ways, salespeople must be mobile savvy and attuned to their online consumption and communication patterns — much like the strategies they would deploy to woo B2C customers.

That doesn’t mean the relationship-building component is less important. If anything, relationships are all the more vital in an increasingly crowded market. When all offers appear equal, customers tend to buy from people they like. But salespeople must begin client relationships where their clients are — and those clients begin vendor searches online.

How to Master Digital Selling
Aberdeen Group, a tech research company, found that salespeople who incorporated digital selling techniques outperformed their less tech-inclined colleagues by 23 percent. Similarly, EY researchers discovered that digital selling can boost lead-to-close conversion rates by 25 percent through digital tactics. When prospects are drawn into the funnel through resonant, engaging content and ads, salespeople can spend less time educating them on product basics and more time addressing their core needs. Those efforts often lead to improved customer relationships and long-term retention, but they work only when tech- and relationship-based strategies are combined.
Salespeople who want to maintain a human touch while leveraging the power of digital selling can use the following strategies to get the best of both worlds:

1. Walk a mile in customers’ shoes.
There’s nothing more human than empathizing with another person’s experience, so companies should explore the customer journey from the client perspective. What type of response do they receive when they ask questions? Is it warm and supportive or cold and delayed? Are the emails they receive relevant to their pain points and interests? Or are they filled with company jargon that no one outside the business understands?

When I worked at American Express, we engaged in an intense 30-day trial of our clients' experiences. We tracked every email, phone call, hold message, presentation, response time, and product pitch. By the end of those 30 days, every team member had gained a new appreciation for what it meant to be an American Express customer and how the experience could be improved. We then broke into teams to launch 10 new initiatives to create a better customer journey. A year after those projects were implemented, new client acquisition had increased by 46 percent and existing client revenue jumped 67 percent. Only when you understand the customer experience can you make it more effective.

2. Share data across departments.
Contrary to popular assumptions, selling is a companywide responsibility. Each department holds valuable data that the sales team can use to improve its processes. The accounting team can report on clients’ purchasing patterns, while customer service representatives can share information on the most common questions and complaints they receive. That data proves invaluable to salespeople who are constantly looking for ways to overcome client objections and determine which products are most likely to appeal to different prospect segments.

3. Forge partnerships between sales and marketing.
Sales and marketing teams make powerful allies. The sales team is on the front lines of customer engagement, but marketing is responsible for enticing people to the brand in the first place. If marketing gets its strategies right, it will attract qualified leads via content and advertising. The sales representatives can then nurture those relationships and increase these conversion rates.
Salespeople can also improve the customer journey by sharing data with the company’s marketing specialists. Once the marketing team understands the most common pain points and funnel blocks that the sales reps encounter, they can develop content that assuages customers’ fears and makes them more receptive to the sales teams' pitches.

Digital selling is a must in the modern B2B environment. Brands must adapt a B2C mindset when selling to their corporate and enterprise clients, and that requires interdepartmental cooperation and digital savvy. As the lines continue to blur between B2B and B2C, the combination of technical tactics and a customer-centric brand experience will be essential to winning and retaining customers.
Sona Jepsen is the global head of sales enablement at Fidelity National Information Services (FIS).

Will Cable's Digital Efforts Hit A Wall?

Commentary

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 22, 2017

Traditional TV companies moving into digital seems like a no-brainer. But even veteran TV-based companies can miss -- a bit.

Take CNN Digital. It pulls in $370 million in revenues a year, according to the company. But despite these numbers, according to BuzzFeed, CNN Digital now has a $20 million budget shortfall.
CNN Digital has a staff of 660 people and is not considering layoffs, per various reports. AT&T has yet to close its $85 billion deal for Time Warner, which will add to the company’s already sky-high debt load.

So the question is: Is there too much optimism when it comes to all things digital -- especially when traditional TV companies can be involved?

CNN Digital’s problem may just be a small wrinkle in a nicely pressed suit.
For CNN, and for other major cable TV news networks, TV viewership and ad sales have soared since the presidential election. This reality comes against viewership declines in almost all other areas of TV -- broadcast and cable networks, local TV station programming and U.S. syndication.

It is even more important when you consider that TV news programming is viewed live -- with little or no time-shifting. TV news is now a “premium” level for advertisers. Big news platforms can potentially charge more for TV inventory.

Still, rumor has it that AT&T may sell the CNN unit to help pay off the debt for the Time Warner acquisition. There will be plenty of interested buyers -- possibly even CBS.

One future issue is the aging of general TV news viewers -- particularly key 25-54 adults.
TV has yet to attract younger viewers in big enough numbers. Viceland is one TV news channel in the hunt -- as well as traditional TV companies pursuing more digital platform efforts.
CNN Digital, and similar business news units, aren’t going away. But they aren't problem-free, either.

As Facebook Pushes Political Ad Transparency, Will Linear TV Seek More?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Facebook will now require buyers of political ads to make all ads available for public review, much like traditional linear TV -- which is required by federal regulations.

But should things be even more transparent -- even for TV?

There are some protections for consumers when it comes to political TV advertising. During the political message, candidates need to reveal who is taking credit for specific TV advertising -- and for any super PAC advertising.

That said, many organizations have vague political and aspirational names on their TV messaging. TV broadcasters are supposed to have full public files on these accounts. But specific information can be lacking.

And while many of these TV ads are specifically regulated, they don’t reveal much — the name of the organization, who is responsible for buying the spot and principals of that organization. But not much else -- especially when it comes to the actual money behind a super PAC.  

Can a foreign-backed political message infiltrate TV advertising airwaves? It sounds possible.

TV networks have long had a standards-and-practices staff for TV commercials. But much is done through human analysis of those spots — something digital media has long avoided in its algorithmic-focused and increasingly self-service advertising business.  

Until now.

Mark Zuckerberg, chairman/CEO of Facebook, says social-media political advertising on the site will dramatically change. That decision came in response to the realization that thousands of Russian-backed social-media ads, via fake accounts, were disseminated on the social network.

Facebook’s efforts mean that users will be able to click on an ad targeted to them and see what other kinds of messages the political advertiser is using to target them -- as well as key information, like disclosing the funding behind the political ads.

In the future of addressable TV advertising, this would be an area traditional, linear TV viewers would also want -- and not just with political advertising, but all types of advertising.

With the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the "Citizens United" case, the regulatory doors opened wide for a big influx of political advertising on TV stations -- and the growth of super PAC advertising.

Going forward -- with the collateral damage around Facebook and fake Russian social-media advertising and fake accounts still rising -- will these changes have a spillover effect on TV?

Kagan: Radio Revenue Will Decline This Year

Radio Ink

September 19, 2017

According to SNL Kagan’s latest annual outlook, radio revenue will decline 0.3% in 2017 to $17.65 billion, down from $17.7 billion in 2016. Kagan says increases in digital and off-air sales will help offset declines in national and local advertising. And even with the return of political in 2018, the firm is only projecting an increase of 1.3% for radio, to $17.89 billion. Here’s how Kagan breaks down the numbers for 2017 and beyond…

Kagan says national revenue is expected to decline 3.0% in 2017, due to political comps from 2016. Local revenue will decline 2.0% in 2017 based on a somewhat strong second quarter and auto dealers looking to move inventory. Kagan also says local will benefit from improving ad rates, with lower average-unit-rate political spots being displaced by higher-priced core advertising. Digital will grow by 7.0% in 2017 to $1.18 billion from $1.10 billion in 2016, growing to $1.25 billion in 2018. Off-air revenue will increase by 8.5% in 2017 to $2.41 billion and 6.0% in 2018 to $2.55 billion.

By comparison, BIA Kelsey is projecting 2017 over-the-air revenue for radio at $14.2 billion in 2017 (+0.1%) and $14.3 billion in 2018 (+0.9%), and digital revenue of $1.3 billion (+9.7%) in 2017 and $1.43 billion in 2018 (+10.3%).

Kagan says programmatic, digital, and live events will help the industry grow over the next five years. “Radio’s lower ad cost, local audience, and relatively high return on investment compared to other media will also continue to generate business for station owners.”

Between 2017 and 2022, Kagan is forecasting radio station local and national spot ad revenues (including digital) in rated radio markets to increase at a compound annual rate of 0.9%, with non-rated markets declining at a negative CAGR of 0.9%. “Total radio revenue, including national and local spot, digital, off-air, and network revenue, is expected to grow at a five-year CAGR of 1.1% from an estimated $17.65 billion in 2017, reaching $18.60 billion by the end of 2022.”

Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. of Executive Decision Systems Inc. Littleton, Colorado implores station managers and owners to include local-direct revenue training, development and execution in order to save and grow net margins. The report below is mostly transactional revenues

Random Thoughts On The New TV Season

Commentary

• by Steve Sternberg , Featured Columnist, Yesterday

Promotional Malpractice: As I was watching the Emmy Awards, which aired on CBS, I noticed a promo for multiple FX series. I started wondering why there were no promos for ABC, NBC, FOX, or CW.  

 
After all, this is a show about television that gets decent ratings, which is watched by people who are very interested in television, and which is airing right before the new TV season starts.  In other words, the prime target for any network.

Of course, it’s because of the bizarre policy of accepting ads from your real competitors (ad-supported cable networks, premium cable, streaming services), but not from other broadcast networks that, in today’s media world, should be seen as allies.  Broadcast hits like “Empire” and “This is Us” benefit all broadcast networks. It reminds both viewers and ad industry folk that, except for the occasional phenomenon like “Walking Dead,” no venue is capable of attaining the average ratings or reach of a broadcast network.

In what other business does a company refuse to advertise its product to the largest group of customers available?  These aren’t just random consumers the broadcast networks are choosing not to pursue.  These are their prime prospects, whom they know are already watching similar programming, who are at that moment at their most receptive toward receiving a message about other similar TV programs.

There’s simply no question that, were the broadcast networks to promote one another’s new shows, more of them would succeed.  If that’s not promotional malpractice, I don’t know what is.

Netflix Doesn’t Need Disney, but Could be a Real Network Ally:  Disney’s decision to shift its movies including “Star Wars” and Marvel properties to its own upcoming OTT service should not have much impact on Netflix.  While nice to have, Netflix’s success and subscriber base are driven by original content, not theatrical movies that people have already seen (and Netflix’s new deal with Shonda Rhimes is potentially much more significant).  Very few people, if any, will either subscribe or leave because of any deal for acquired programming.

There are so many shows on television these days that people often don’t even become aware of a new show until the first (and sometimes subsequent) season is well underway.  For example, after its first season ended, my wife and I had heard that NBC’s “The Good Place” was worth watching.  We recently saw it was available on Netflix, so we binged the entire first season over two nights.  Now we plan to watch the second season on NBC.

The networks should be promoting the idea of catching up with new shows from the previous season on Netflix or Hulu, and then watching the new season on the network.

Streaming Services Should Experiment With Network Deals:  Wouldn’t it be interesting if Netflix made a deal with a broadcast or cable network to air the first season of “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black,” or “Daredevil” during the summer?  Or Hulu airing the first season of “A Handmaid’s Tale” on HBO?  It would serve as great promotion (and additional revenue) for the streaming service and provide the network with original summer programming.  Or, once CBS All Access has three seasons of “The Good Fight” or its new “Star Trek” series, air the first season on CBS (or Showtime) over the summer.  As the broadcast networks are struggling to figure out how to best get into the OTT game and monetize the platform, this could be something worth considering.

The Best New Season TV Series:  ABC’s “The Good Doctor” and “The Mayor,” along with CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” are the standouts.  I haven’t seen the full pilot for FOX’s “The Gifted,” but the clips I’ve seen are promising.  The pilots for ABC’s mid-season series, “For the People” and “The Crossing” also looked good.

TV Stations' Ad Revenues Forecast To Sink 6.5% In 2017

Below is largely transactional business, that which majority of stations depend. The probability is that  we will see a continuum  of declines as we move into the new year. Managers and owners should stress local-direct training, development and execution in order to best protect net margins. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

U.S. TV stations’ total advertising revenues are estimated to record a 6.5% decline to $21.38 billion in 2017.

According to SNL Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, this is somewhat expected, due to unfavorable comparisons to the year before, which saw higher political and Olympic TV advertising.

Results are expected to show recovery next year -- rising 9.6% to $23.4 billion. Midterm political advertising and Olympic advertising sales are expected to contribute to the spike.

Through 2022, Kagan projects that TV stations will grow advertising revenues 3% on a compounded annual rate to $24.8 billion -- which includes linear TV advertising, both national and local, as well as digital TV advertising revenue.

Over the next five years, Kagan says, declines are expected to continue during off-Olympics and off-political years -- with a 5.3% decline in 2019 and a 6.3% pullback in 2021.

Going forward, TV stations’ linear TV advertising share is expected to continue to shrink as part of their total revenues. National and local spot ad revenues -- including political advertising -- will fall to a 59% share in 2022. It had been 94% of total TV station revenue in 2007, and 62% in 2017.

At the same time, revenues from retransmission fees paid to TV stations from pay TV providers are expected to rise. Retrans revenues are predicted to rise from just over a 1% share of industry revenue in 2007 to 30% in 2017 and 33% by 2022.

By the end of 2022, total TV station industry revenue is expected to reach $37.19 billion -- $19.08 billion in national and local core spot; $2.72 billion in political advertising; $2.99 billion in digital/online; and $12.40 billion in retransmission fees.

Advertisers To Upfronts: More Info On Content, Cross-Platform Data

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

• by Wayne Friedman 

Advertisers want more from upfront/newfronts TV and media presentations.
Top two content demands include “better ways for advertising effectiveness” and “cross-platform measurement.” Each earned a 36% number, according to a survey by Advertiser Perceptions, looking at this past spring’s presentations.

Other major topics that advertisers want to hear more about -- especially from digital platforms -- are viewability (31%); fraud, brand safety (30%); and audience reach, composition and engagement (29%).

This past upfront period saw declines in attendance at the Newfronts -- due to the pullback by some digital media companies -- as well as a few traditional TV network companies that abandoned glitzy upfront events. They opted for smaller meetings with media agencies and their ad clients.

Among digitally focused advertisers, the topic of cross-platform measurement topped the list (37%); “strategic partnerships” were the most cited by TV-focused advertisers (52%).

On average, advertisers attended 12 events in person or via simulcast, according to the survey.
Advertiser Perceptions interviewed 373 advertisers -- 54% media agencies, 46% advertisers -- during May and June 2017, representing 16 industry categories, with 33 of the top 200 advertisers and 49% holding positions at VP level or above.

Why Amazon Is The New Google For Buying

Commentary

• by Scott Gillum , Op-Ed Contributor, September 14, 2017

They’re called the “duopoly” of online advertising. Facebook and Google account for 75% of the U.S. digital ad spend — and almost all of its growth, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Facebook reported 45% growth in the last quarter and Google’s parent company Alphabet posted earnings of $26 billion, 87% coming from advertising revenue.

But are these behemoths about to be blindsided by a fierce competitor with a better ROI?
A consumer research study for a beverage manufacturer uncovered an interesting trend, one that might tip the scale for advertisers. Consumers who had an Amazon Prime account started their search for a purchase at Amazon 100% of the time. If they knew what they wanted to buy, they went directly to Amazon to search for different brands with the best price and delivery options.

With 85 million Amazon Prime members as of June 2017, it’s not going to take long for consumer brands to discover that if you want to invest ad dollars in finding buyers with high purchase intent and conversion rates, Amazon is going to be hard to ignore.

Although its ad business is small in comparison to Google and Facebook, with only 1% of global ads, it actually is one of Amazon’s fastest growing areas, now on track to generate close to $2 billion this year.

Amazon also offers organizations a broad spectrum of advertising products, ranging from its ad platform offering mobile and desktop display and banner ads, to dynamic and coupon ads. Customer campaign pages allow advertisers to create immersive cross-platform landing pages that can display more than one product.

With the digital ad market predicted to grow at 16% this year to $83 billion according to eMarketer, the Facebook-Google duopoly will get its fair share, and almost all of the attention, especially considering the growth of Facebook’s Snapchat ad revenue, up 158% in the past year. And that may be just how Amazon likes it. It has a history of sneaking up on competitors. Just ask Microsoft and IBM about Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Andy Jassy, the AWS CEO, said that in some ways the growth of his business was a classic case of disruption dynamics. “The competition simply didn’t believe there was enough of a market to worry about it. The dominant players don’t have any reason to worry about someone attacking the bottom of the market.” AWS now owns a third of the cloud infrastructure services market, more than three times that of its next closest competitors.

Amazon seems to follow Al Pacino’s “never let them see you coming” advice from “The Devil’s Advocate.” But one ad executive — Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP’s CEO — has noticed. In a recent interview with Bloomberg said, Sorrell said, “The company that would worry me if I was a client — or I think worries our clients, more than Google and Facebook — is Amazon.”
Smart ad dollars follow consumer behavior — and, as we just learned, those consumers are headed to Amazon.