Radio’s “Shout Out” Has Been Reinvented

Radio’s “Shout Out” Has Been Reinvented

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 Radio Ink

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September 20, 2018

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Slacker Radio debuted Shoudout, a new content monetization and social platform, on Slacker’s Pop Remix channel. Slacker says Shoudout was inspired by the old radio “shout outs.” Shoudout allows listeners to broadcast messages to a pre-selected audience (or “crowd”), at any time, without competing against other callers for airtime. The six-second Shoudouts are recorded and sent via the mobile Shoudout app.

Micro-targeted ads will air in conjunction with each Shoudout. Revenue will be split between the two companies.

“Radio call-ins were an original form of social media,” said Mike Bebel, EVP of Corporate Development and Rights Management for LiveXLive Media, Slacker’s parent company. “Calling a radio station to dedicate a song to a friend, or cheer on a sports team, is based on a desire to engage with others by delivering a personal message. Shoudout retains the spirit of call-in radio shoutouts, but uses technology to enhance the experience while creating a new way for people to connect. And, at the same time, create a new advertising and revenue opportunity.”

“Slacker is excited to be introducing Shoudout’s “Social Music” platform to the listeners of the Pop Remix station,” said Leo Abbe, Chief Entertainment Officer for Shoudout Partners. “We hope to expand this mutually beneficial partnership with all the Slacker service offerings as well as those of its parent, LiveXLive, and look forward to creating a brand new monetization mechanism for the music streaming industry.”

Thinking about flying away for the holidays? Think again! Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

COMMENTARY

Passengers Grumble, Lobbyists Lobby, Congress Mulls As Airline Fees Soar

• by Thom Forbes , Featured Columnist @tforbes, 8 hours ago

The squeeze is on in the wild blue yonder. Even as the seating space on airplanes gets tighter, the airlines continue to raise costs for “amenities” such as checked luggage and battle to keep the fees they charge for once-free services such as making changes to a ticket.

American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier by passenger volume, said yesterday that, as of today, it is raising “fees from $25 to $30 for the first checked bag and from $35 to $40 for the second checked bag each way on flights to and from destinations within the U.S., North America and the Caribbean,” NPR’s David Schaper reports.

“Delta announced similar fees increases earlier this week. United and JetBlue had already hiked checked baggage fees at the beginning of September. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline that does not charge for checked luggage. It said Thursday it would continue to allow passengers to check two bags for free,” Schaper continues.

The increasing costs for checking baggage exacerbate the problems caused by the smaller seating areas because passengers are tempted to lug more of their cargo into the cabin, the New York Timespointed out in an editorial yesterday.

“The typical economy seat is 17 inches wide, about an 8% decrease from the 18.5 inches of a decade or so ago, according to Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights.org, a consumer advocacy group. The average American man is now 195.7 pounds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, about an 8% increase over the past 20 years.”

Add in the increasing amount of comfort animals flying with increasingly distraught passengers and “it’s a zoo up there,” the Times concludes.  The editorial suggests that it’s unlikely that “today’s jets be evacuated in the 90 seconds mandated by the FAA” despite the agency’s insistence that it “has no evidence that current seat sizes are a factor in evacuation speed.”

Meanwhile, a funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration that’s now before Congress “includes language to curtail ‘unreasonable’ airline fees. The airlines, with $4.6 billion on the line, are lobbying hard against it,” Ashley Halsey III writes for the Los Angeles Times.

Those fees include the cost of changing a flight, which can be as high as $200, and the fees charged for accessing a stronger WiFi signal. 

The reauthorization bill faces a Sept. 30 deadline, but the outcome is still up in the air. Members of Congress fly more than the average American and “bridle at the myriad airline fees,” Halsey observes, but they are also mindful, shall we say, of the $12.4 million the industry has contributed to the campaigns of incumbents over the last 10 years. 

Even if they do pass the bill with curtailments on the nuisance fees intact, will it matter?

In what was called “an amazing win for consumers,” an FAA reauthorization bill passed by Congress in July 2016 directed “the transportation secretary to establish a policy to allow children under age 13 ‘to be seated in a seat adjacent to the seat of an accompanying family member over the age of 13 at no additional cost,’” Christopher Elliott reported for the Washington Post.

Little has changed since then, however.

“The reason: The Trump administration has declined to draft new rules detailing how airlines should apply the new law. That means that kids, in some cases, are still being separated from their parents while other families are paying more -- in advance -- to guarantee seats together,” writes the AP’s David Koenig in the Chicago Tribune.

“Buying a plane ticket has been stripped down to mean that you are paying for your mere right to get on the plane; anything else is extra,” observes Aditi Shrikant for Vox. “These extra fees are known as ‘ancillary revenue,’ and in 2017, the top 10 airlines brought in $29.7 billion of it, according to a report by IdeaWorks.”

Shrikant reports on a new source of ancillary revenue that some airlines have added in recent years: “seat bidding, allowing passengers in economy to enter an auction on upgrades to first class. The idea is that instead of seats going empty, airlines will make more than nothing on the available first-class space, and you will pay less than full price for an upgrade.”

She tests the bidding out herself on an app and finds she can snare a Premium seat on a Norwegian Air flight for much less at auction than she would if she bought it outright. 

“For those who have the funds and are averse to being crammed into economy, airlines have found a way to squeeze a few more dollars out of them. And with the possibility of standing flights and even tinier plane toilets on the horizon, that cost may seem more and more worth it,” she concludes.

What, you got a problem with standing?

U.S. Ad Market Expands 6.1% In First Half, 2018 Poised To Break $200 Billion Mark

• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, Yesterday

U.S. ad spending is expanding at a higher rate than anticipated -- jumping 5.8% in the second quarter after rising 6.5% in the first quarter -- and is now on pace to reach a new all-time high for full-year 2018, according to a revised forecast released this morning by IPG Mediabrands’ Magna unit.

Magna now projects the U.S. ad market will top $200 billion for the first time this year, wrapping up at about $207 billion for all four quarters, a 6.9% expansion over 2017.

“The upward revision was triggered by a stronger-than-expected market in the first half (+6.1%) and robust macro-economic forecasts,” the Magna report explains, adding, “The 2019 forecast was also raised due to continued expectations for economic strength, from +3.6% to +4.0%.”

NFL Regular Season TV Ratings Dip

• by Wayne Friedman , 5 hours ago

Through two weeks of the NFL TV season, national TV viewership has seen a slight 2.5% decline versus a year ago.

Looking at all TV packages -- “Sunday Night Football,” Sunday afternoon games, “Thursday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football -- the average Nielsen viewership is at 15.7 million viewers versus 16.1 million a year ago.

The highest-rated TV viewership of the week came from a late Sunday afternoon game on CBS — New England vs.Jacksonville — which pulled in 20.97 million. This was down 19% from the same game in 2017.

NBC’s big “Sunday Night Football” game — New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys — posted 20.66 million viewers — up 2% from the same game in 2017. The biggest improving game came from Fox’s airing of Green Bay vs. Minnesota, 17.62 million, up 21%.

Just looking at the second week of the NFL season, viewership averaged 15.1 million, versus week two in 2017 of 15.8 million. Week one this year averaged 16.3 million versus 16.4 million last year.

So far, the highest-rated game of the year occurred in week one, the Sunday afternoon Dallas vs. Carolina game on Fox, with 23.3 million viewers, 2% above the same game a year ago.

The top five national TV advertisers through two weeks, according to iSpot.tv, were: GEICO, $21.8 million; Verizon, $20.4 million; Hyundai, $15.8 million; Samsung Mobile, $13.3 million; and Chervolet, $12.6 million.

COMMENTARY

In Or Out: It's Really About Making Sense Of The Market

• by Gord Hotchkiss , Featured Contributor, September 18, 2018

Fellow Insider Maarten Albarda  tackled the in-house vs. outsourced question a few weeks ago in a thoughtful column. Today, I’m trying to repay thoughtfulness with additional thought provocation.

The topic, I suspect, touches on the increasingly disruptive nature of marketing strategy.

As Maarten points out, when we think about bringing marketing in-house, we also have to consider unintended consequences. But those fall on both sides of this question.

What is probably a bigger question is how a company defines marketing, because the answer to that question is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. There, marketing was predicated on the assumption that the market was a fairly static and linear entity. But today, we are discovering that the market is complex, non-linear, adaptive and dynamic. And that discovery dramatically impacts the whole in-house vs outsourced question.

Maarten is absolutely right when he outlines many of the speedbumps (not to mention gapping chasms) that can lie on the path to bringing marketing in-house. The reason, I believe, is that everyone involved is considering this plan based on the above-mentioned assumption. They aren’t factoring in the disruption that’s tearing the industry apart. And whether you’re continuing down the agency path or not, you need to factor in that disruption. By doing so, you necessarily have to bring a different perspective to the decision. 

Given the highly dynamic nature of the market, I believe there are two essential loops that have to be part of any marketing plan today. One of these is a robust and externally focussed “sense-making” loop. I’ve written about this before, in the context of search marketing. 

The concept is borrowed from the fields of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence and psychology. This shifts the fundamental precept of marketing, from that of crafting an internal strategy and executing it to a waiting market, to that of constantly monitoring the evolving nature of the market and responding in real time.

Strategy is still vital, but rather than an executable plan that plays out over multiple years, it’s a “frame” (to use the terminology of sensemaking) that has to be continually validated and -- if necessary -- updated.

The other loop is a nimble and fully “tuned-in” response loop. The two play together. One informs the other. They are also highly iterative. They have to  be updated continually.

So one has to ask, are these loops better situated inside or outside the organization?

There are pros and cons on both sides of the question. Theoretically, for sensemaking, I would say the advantage lies on the agency side of the table.  Agencies should find it easier to maintain an objective, external focus. They also have the advantage of having “sensing” antennae over multiple clients, giving them a bigger and less myopic data picture.

The challenge may come in matching the data to the existing frame. The frame -- or strategy -- is the nexus between the market’s reality and the marketer’s reality.  It is here where an agency may lose its advantage.

Maarten rightly states that when a company decides to bring marketing in-house, “these decisions have far-reaching consequences across the wider enterprise that impact working methods, required internal and external support structures, capital investment, HR policies, IT investment and talent, etc.”

But I would argue that this should be true of marketing regardless of whether it lies within the corporate domain or at some agency boardroom table. Given the “real-time” reality of today’s marketing, it should be fully integrated into every aspect of the business. Siloes just can’t cut it.

That’s a difficult integration when all the players are at the same table. I suspect it might be impossible when those players are at different tables within different companies.

One has to consider deeply the motivations for bringing marketing in-house. As Maarten notes, if it’s just cost-saving, that’s a false economy. Control is also cited. That is getting closer to the issue, but it’s using the wrong language. Control is impossible. Responsiveness is a better label.

The motivation for bringing marketing in-house should be exclusively to build the most robust sense-making and response loops possible.

COMMENTARY

Has OTT Advertising's Time Arrived?

• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, Yesterday

Yes, it’s time. Vincent Letang of Magna just released a new report projecting over-the-top (OTT) video advertising to hit $2 billion in the U.S this year.

While it’s a long way from the $63 billion he projects for U.S. linear TV, it’s a big number and is up 40% year over year. (Important to note: Magna’s total spend numbers are lower than some analysts publish, since Magna only reports actual media owner revenues, not total advertising monies paid by advertisers, which might include associated costs like agency fees, commissions and rebates.)

Why so much growth this year in OTT advertising? Simple. It’s all about achieving scale. Ad spend on OTT advertising is growing so much because OTT ad inventory is growing so much.

For the past couple of years, the biggest knock on OTT advertising has been a lack of scale, driven by the fact that the vast majority of OTT viewing is on ad-free programming — Netflix, Amazon Prime — or programming with ad loads well below linear TV, like Hulu’s.

Clearly, we now have enough scale in OTT ad viewing that the sector can absorb meaningful amounts of ads with the explosion of services like Sling, DirecTV Now, Vudu’s Movies on Us, Crackle and the host of programmer-owned services like CBS All Access and Turner’s Boomerang.

Not all media find that their monetization truly tracks usage — just look at Mary Meeker’s annual slides shows. However, OTT is different. It can absorb ad spend easier and faster than other media channels because it can be substituted for, and compared directly with, inventory on our largest media channel, linear TV.

Five or six years ago, most OTT viewing in the U.S. occurred on small screens: desktops, laptops or tablets. Today, the vast majority is streamed onto the big screen, the TV, just like the rest of “TV.” Plus, so much of OTT programming today is not only similar to the programming on linear TV, it is exactly the same programming.

Finally, a big byproduct of the scale that ad-supported OTT is achieving is a stabilization of its pricing — read, softening. When it was more scarce, and viewed by many as a “sexy” buy that their clients had to have to look smart, pricing didn’t matter as much. Now that it is being viewed more comparably to linear TV, its pricing will have to become more comparable. Fortunately for media owners, inventory growth is so strong most of them won’t notice the slight softening in pricing.

What’s next? Critical for OTT advertising to keep growing in line with its usage will be a maturing of the data, analytics and measurements that it can provide.

Roku has been an early leader here, but the fact that NBCU had to create its own C-Flight measurements cobbled together with numbers from Nielsen, comScore and log files says it all.

OTT vendors today can’t deliver very accurate cross-service reach and frequency numbers by viewer, let alone granular data about those viewers — and certainly, nothing like advertisers receive regularly relative to their linear TV ad buys.

Fortunately, lots of folks are now focusing on this lack. Nothing like a $2 billion market growing at 40% year-over-year to attract investment.

What do you think? Has OTT advertising’s time arrived?

COMMENTARY

The End Of 15% Agency Commission?

• by Maarten Albarda , Featured Contributor, 3 hours ago

Way back when the advertising industry started, N.W. Ayer and Son opened an ad agency in Philadelphia. The year was 1869 (or 1868 — even Wikipedia on its own page can’t seem to agree). It was the first full-service agency that delivered creative and bought media. To get paid, Ayer negotiated a deal with the media to receive 15% agency commission. The 15% remained in place for almost 100 years, when it was slowly replaced and watered down by fees and fixed rates.

But the 15% remains a “thing.” There are still media deals made at the 15% rate. In fact, according to a recent Association of National Advertisers study on agency compensation, there is a bit of a resurgence of 15% deals in the programmatic space. Advertisers who need bulk reach forgo the typical negotiation about people x hours x mark-ups x bonus and instead just align on a straight 15% commission.

And 15% serves as a benchmark for agency income. Agencies aim to get as close to, or go over, the 15% equivalent of income from clients. Had N. W. Ayer set his rate at 17% or 10%, I think perhaps that number might have been the benchmark today.

So 15% media commission is still viable today, even though its role and importance has evolved. And now, in my home country, The Netherlands, the 15% commission story is evolving even further.

In late 2012, the sales house for national broadcasters, STER, announced it would abolish paying 15% to anyone. The argument: Commission was paid to agencies for their services as middlemen between advertiser and — in this case  — broadcaster. However, STER had noticed that almost 100% of the 15% was being paid back to advertisers by their agencies. Instead, advertisers paid their agencies through the outlined fee structure. Therefore, STER concluded, 15% was outdated and no longer relevant.

The Dutch market reacted predictably when a major change is announced. Some said it was the beginning of the end, and others said it was a sensible new beginning. It was interesting that no other Dutch media companies followed STER’s lead. RTL Netherlands, one of the leading commercial networks, owned by one of Europe’s largest commercial broadcasters, RTL Group, said STER’s move made sense but was happening too soon.

Since Sept. 9 we now know how much too soon it was in the eyes of RTL, as it announced then that RTL, too, was abolishing the 15% commission rule.

I’m not aware of any other major media companies or countries that have abolished the 15% as well (and there certainly could be more). But what fascinates me is that, as an industry, this news story has not been picked up more broadly.

As I explained, the 15% commission “rule” is a bit of an agency standard. It is the one benchmark that has been in place since the invention of modern-day advertising. And now two large media sales companies have done away with it. 

I can follow the arguments on why these two companies reached the same conclusion. Still, I wonder if this is indeed the beginning of the end for 15% agency commission, or just another turn in the road of marketing transformation.

Is Radio Ready For Florence?

 

 

Is Radio Ready For Florence?

September 11, 2018

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According to The Weather Underground landfalling Category 4 hurricanes are rare in the United States. There have been only 24 since 1851. Hurricane Florence is being forecast to hit the east coast later this week and will be in very select company if it manages to make landfall at Category 4 strength in North or South Carolina.

 

Ken Carson is the Operations Manager and Program Director for LM Communications’ 98 Rock WYBB-FM and 105-5 The Bridge WCOO-FM in Charleston, SC. We spoke to Carson last night about how he’s preparing his team and the local community for a possible direct hit.

Radio Ink: What are you hearing about where this storm is headed and where are you in that path?
Ken Carson: First of all let me make it clear that I’m not a meteorologist, however being a broadcaster in Houston, Alabama, Florida and now SC during major hurricanes has taught me a few things. The first is that nobody can accurately predict landfall of a hurricane when it’s still 70 hours away from land. With that said, Charleston, South Carolina is currently on the southern end of the latest landfall models and falls into the 50 to 60 mph wind category. Early Monday morning we were in the 30 to 40 mph wind category so as soon as the Navy meteorological command reported a jump from category 2 to a category 4 we knew this was very serious.

Radio Ink: How are you preparing to stay on the air?
Ken Carson: Our owner, Lynn Martin, (LM Communications) personally kept our stations on the air as long as possible during hurricane Hugo which devastated Charleston. Needless to say, preparation for staying on the air has been a 29-year learning experience for our company. Not long ago Lynn Martin decided to upgrade our transmitters and move them into the Hurricane proof bunker at WCBD TV, The local NBC affiliate. This state of the art facility enables us to remain on the air under the most severe weather conditions. Tuesday morning we will begin transferring our servers, consoles, microphones etc. directly to our transmitter site. We have a conference room with power supplies steps away from the actual transmitter so, with the right equipment in place, we can replicate all on-air assets without missing a beat. A big plus is sharing the televisions news department and being able to simulcast with their street teams and local emergency weather updates.

Radio Ink: If you lost power for an extended period of time, will you be able to stay on the air the entire time? How?
Ken Carson: The multiple generators at our transmitter site (the TV station complex) will keep us on the air and in the air conditioning during any weather emergency. Coffee, shrimp with grits and baby wipes will keep us civilized!

Radio Ink: What do you tell your team when something like this approaches?
Ken Carson: The same thing I tell every team of broadcasters that I have worked with. Live and local radio is and always will be the pulse of the community and the first to respond. Yes, radio stations are first responders and will continue to serve our communities during good times and bad. Remember, you can buy a radio station, a transmitter and a tower but you are granted a license by the FCC to broadcast in the public interest. I’m proud to be a radio broadcaster and realize that every day I have the opportunity to make a positive difference in peoples lives.

Radio Ink: How is the community preparing and what are you broadcasting to them to help them prepare?
Ken Carson: Our stations started preparing last Friday however the city was ignoring the storm until the governor announced the mandatory evacuations Monday afternoon. Beginning today, Tuesday, all lanes of traffic on interstate 26 will be directed west towards Columbia, South Carolina. All schools have been closed through the rest of this week and all state and government offices will be closed beginning at noon Tuesday. Our biggest concern are all of the people who have recently moved to Charleston from land locked states or communities. 54 people a day are moving here and most of them have never lived through a hurricane. Keeping that in mind, our websites contain every detail possible regarding hurricane evacuation, boarding up your house, what to expect and prepare for if you decide to stay, Where to go to fill sandbags, and the laws regarding household pets in times of natural disasters. On our social network platforms we have discussions going about where to find water and supplies as well as short cuts out of town. Each member of my broadcast team has specific responsibilities in preparing for this type of weather event and then communicating The most accurate and helpful information with our listeners. From the moment the governor’s announcement was made and until the cleanup has been completed we will be live and local 24/7.

Radio Ink: Is the community taking this seriously?
Ken Carson: Let’s just say that when people start mentioning a possible category five hurricane making landfall, even the most salty Charlestonians will heed the warning’s. Once again, the people I worry about are those that have never lived through a major hurricane and think it’s going to be a party. With this storm it’s a matter of life and death.

 

Commentary

NFL Is Back, Ad Pricing Remains High

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

What’s the economic -- and advertising future -- for the NFL? Some say it starts and ends with “Monday Night Football.”

 According to analysis from MoffettNathanson Research, ESPN’s cost for “Monday Night Football” is much higher than other parts of the NFL package.

ESPN paid what amounted to $55 per 1,000 average viewers for the 2017 season. That is much higher than NBC’s $21 for “Sunday Night Football.” For Sunday afternoon games, CBS was at $14, and Fox, $13. “Thursday Night Football (last year on CBS and NBC) was at $13.

Now, we know Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Google have a strong hankering for premium live video -- especially sports. Amazon already has a piece of “TNF” when it comes to digital airings of games.

Many might look at the NFL as just another part of traditional linear TV with slipping viewership. NFL was down around 10% last year to a Nielsen 14.9 million viewers for regular season games, versus the same period the previous year.

So let’s just factor in another 10% for the upcoming year. That brings those viewership down to around 13.4 million -- still much higher than the average 4 million or so for non-sports prime-time network programming.

Traditional TV networks continue to devote a large percentage of their overall TV gross ratings points to the NFL -- reckoned to be 55% for Fox this year (now adding “Thursday Night Football”) and around 24% to 26% for other networks.

The bottom line is cost for national TV advertisers; it is still at a premium, and deservedly so, say veteran TV buyers.

But down the line, can new digital media platforms do better? They claim to deliver live TV viewing with better return on media investment metrics and customers back to marketers. Right now, their overall viewership would still be tiny compared to big traditional TV networks.

Protests? Will we see more burning of Nike NFL team headbands and socks in response to player-backed advertising? There will be issues that remain, such as critical medical risks for football players.

No matter. The NFL still looks OK. But some cracks might be coming. Where then do TV networks go for new “premium” content --  sports, non-sports and everything in between?

CBS Takeover Possible In New Media Landscape

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Possible suitors include AT&T and Verizon, says one media securities analyst. Offers from Amazon, Apple or Google might be possible as well, if those companies wanted to expand their sports offerings and “vault into a leadership position in production of top tier TV content,” he adds.

September 10, 2018 5:12 EDT by Mae Anderson

NEW YORK (AP) — The resignation of longtime CBS chief Les Moonves won’t likely lead to drastic changes in network programs, but a related deal could make the company ripe for a takeover as traditional media companies compete with upstarts such as Netflix and Amazon.

Moonves was ousted Sunday, just hours after the New Yorker detailed more sexual misconduct allegations against him. A dozen women have alleged mistreatment, including forced oral sex, groping and retaliation if they resisted him. CBS is on the hook for $120 million in severance if its investigation, being conducted by two outside law firms, finds no evidence of wrongdoing. Moonves has denied wrongdoing. 

Even before the latest New Yorker article came out, Moonves was already facing pressure to leave. His departure was brokered as part of broader talks with CBS’ parent company, National Amusements, over the network’s future. Under settlement terms with CBS, National Amusements chief Shari Redstone conceded not to push for combining CBS with sibling company Viacom for at least two years, a merger that Moonves had opposed. National Amusements also agreed to a board shake-up that increased the power of independent directors.

The network was struggling when Moonves took over as entertainment chief in 1995. He quickly turned things around and churned out shows appealing to the older, more tradition-bound CBS audience — broad-appeal sitcoms such as “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory” and procedural dramas such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “NCIS.” ”Survivor” was an early reality show hit, and continues to this day. Moonves became CEO of CBS Television in 1998 and CEO of the newly created CBS Corp. in 2006 after it split from Viacom.

Moonves’ temporary replacement, Chief Operating Officer Joseph Ianniello, has steered top projects such as stand-alone streaming services for CBS and the Showtime cable channel. But he doesn’t have a creative or sales background, which might make him an awkward long-term leader for the company.

For now, Ianniello is unlikely to make drastic changes in programming, particularly since CBS’ formula has been working. Programming changes could be more substantial if CBS chooses someone outside the company as a permanent replacement.

More TV Homes - Nearly 120M -- Tune Into Fall Season

• by Wayne Friedman , September, 2018

For the 2018-19 TV season starting in a few weeks, Nielsen says its estimate of national TV homes will inch up to 0.2% to 119.9 million.

A year ago, Nielsen’s estimate was 119.6 million for the 2017-2018 TV season -- up 1% from the year before.

Also for the new TV season, total TV persons in those homes will grow 0.3% to 305.4 million. Nielsen says there were increases in the U.S. among Hispanic, black and Asian TV households due to estimated increases in population growth

Gains for total TV persons were less than the hikes for the 2017-2018 TV season versus the previous year, which saw a 0.9% increase.

Also, the percentage of total U.S. homes with TV receiving traditional TV signals via broadcast, cable, DBS or Telco, or broadband Internet connected to a TV set is 95.9%.

Nielsen results come from U.S. Census Bureau, along with its national TV panel.

Nielsen says the results “reflect real changes in population since last year and updated TV penetration levels, differentially calculated for qualifying market break and age/sex demographic categories.”