Thought-Leadership from Insider InSites

To Polish Up Podcasting, Nielsen Service Marries Consumer Data and Listening Alli Romano Publish date July 25, 2019   Nielsen With more than 700,000 podcasts and counting available, brands are hunting for gems while podcast producers pitch their shows as the must-buy standouts. However, despite enthusiasm for the medium from both sides and ad forecasts that call for double-digit growth, the podcast industry has been stymied by limited metrics. Now, research giant, Nielsen, is stepping in to try and fill some of that void. Later this summer, they will launch the Nielsen Podcast Listener Buying Power service, a twice-yearly subscription report that integrates Nielsen Scarborough consumer behavior data with detailed insights on podcast listening. It will provide granular information on how listeners interact with a dozen podcast genres, 2,000 retail and purchase categories and hundreds of individual advertisers, from insurance companies to retailers to restaurants. So, a brand interested in reaching Millennials who eat at quick-service restaurants and use online banking could see if those consumers prefer true crime or news podcasts and decide to advertise in those genres. Demonstrating where this kind of listening and consumer behavior intersect will allow for more nuanced conversations on how a podcaster can meet an advertisers' objectives, said Bruce Supovitz (below right), Nielsen's senior vice president/sales director of National Audio Services and one of the architects of the new service, along with Tony Hereau, vice president, Client Analytics.  Currently, when a podcast seller goes into an agency, Supovitz said they are limited by basic information, which may include downloads, program details and if the host can do an endorsement spot. By utilizing the new Nielsen tool, he says a pitch immediately goes from broad to highly relevant. "All of a sudden, you can turn the conversation and connect it right to what the advertiser wants to know: How are you connected to me? How does this help me understand my audience or my shopper? How is my shopper matching up with the profile of your listener?" Supovitz explained. With podcast ad spend projection to hit $1 billion by 2020, according to the latest Interactive Advertising Bureau forecast, podcast sellers and ad buyers are hungry for better data to close deals. Podcasters want to wean their dependence on direct response advertising to grow brand advertising, and demonstrating actionable value is critical to that.  For their part, agencies and marketers want insights on who is listening, what their habits are and if that intersects with their objectives. To launch the product, Nielsen has teamed up with some of the biggest names in podcasting as launch subscribers, including iHeartMedia, Cadence13, Stitcher, Westwood One and cabana. Information will be released twice a year and will be available on web-based software. It may help advance conversations. When Cathy Csukas (below left), co-chief executive officer of cabana and AdLarge Media, speaks with marketers, she said the most frequent question they ask is: "Who is listening?" With the new Nielsen Scarborough data, "advertisers can dig deep into the listener profiles of different podcast genres to target individuals with lifestyle interests and buying habits that match those of their customers," she said. "That's incredibly valuable to marketers and ad agencies, and particularly so to brands." Other companies are expanding podcast measurement, including Edison Research, which publishes quarterly podcast ratings but only for subscribers. Apple now issues some limited generic listening data, including demographics and time spent listening. And publishers are commissioning their own effectiveness studies, including reports from Nielsen. For now, Nielsen doesn't publish podcast ratings like it does for the TV and broadcast radio industries, although Supovitz says that is technically possible. (To accurately measure podcast listening, he said the major podcast listening apps would all have to participate, or measurement would not be complete.) Rather, the company is focusing on qualitative measurement, banking that Nielsen Scarborough will make the new service standout. Agencies, brands and media companies are already familiar with the 30+-year-old Scarborough database, Supovitz noted. The service's biannual survey already asks respondents if they are podcast listeners. To capture information on podcast listening, Nielsen recontacted participants that identified as podcast users and sent them additional, detailed questions, like their favorite genres, where they listen and how they learn about podcasts. Those responses can then be layered with other Scarborough consumer data and spit out detailed information on potential audience targets. Other podcast surveys and reports "don't connect to this database, which is all about the buying habits, the purchasing habits and the shopper," Supovitz said. "This isn't like a new service. It's a proven commodity that has a very deep database," he added. In an effort to drill down to specific shows, Nielsen will allow subscribing podcast producers to submit select titles to the questionnaire in addition to the 18 genres. To start, Nielsen will include about 50 specific podcast titles and eventually broaden, Supovitz mentioned. However, to stay away from a ranker scenario and encourage selling the strengths of a podcaster's shows, Nielsen is only allowing them to see results for their programs. While podcasting is a democratized medium – all you need is a microphone and an Internet connection to produce a show – Nielsen's service is best suited for large podcast networks and brands that want to buy ads on established shows or genres with sizable reach. To glean reliable information, Nielsen needs to receive enough responses. But that means the service likely won't cater to smaller podcast producers. While not for everyone, this service could be an important stepping stone for some podcast advertising. Nielsen expects brands will be comfortable using familiar Scarborough data and applying it to a new medium, transforming podcasting from an experimental platform to a known commodity. "This really helps them get closer to making an educated buy and finding the people who are most interested in their products and services," Supovitz concluded. Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleagues. The opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author and/or subject(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated writers.

AUTOMOTIVE

Porsche, BMW, Genesis Top Customer Satisfaction Survey

• by Phyllis Fine , Yesterday

Porsche ranks highest of all automotive brands in customer satisfaction with recently purchased models, according to the just-released J.D. Power 2019 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study.

Porsche’s score is 891 on a 1,000-point scale. BMW and Genesis tie for second place (both 868), followed by Audi (867) and Volvo (863).

The study examines 10 vehicle categories, all of which have improved in appeal from 2018. Categories showing the most improvement are infotainment (+10 points) and visibility and safety (+6).

Ram ranks highest in the mass-market segment, with a score of 851. Dodge (848) ranks second, followed by MINI (835), Volkswagen (829) and Ford (828).

Ram is also the most-improved brand, increasing 26 points from 2018. Other brands showing significant improvement are Dodge (+24); Jaguar (+16); Land Rover (+15); Audi (+14); and Jeep (+14). In fact, 22 of the 32 brands included in the study improved from last year.

One big trend the study found: The satisfaction gap between cars and SUVs is shrinking. Cars continue to outperform SUVs for fuel economy and engine/transmission, largely because of the obvious: Cars are lighter than SUVs. However, SUVs gain the advantage in most other areas, including driving dynamics; storage and space; visibility and safety; and seats.

Also, “owners have higher satisfaction if their vehicle is equipped with safety features such as blind spot monitor, collision avoidance and lane departure warning,” said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power. “This should serve as a positive sign for manufacturers, as these features are some of the early building blocks for fully automated vehicles.”

The study, now in its 24th year, is based on responses gathered from February 2019 through May 2019 from nearly 68,000 purchasers and lessees of 2019 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership.

NBCU's Upfront Hits $7B, Digital Grows 50%

• by Wayne Friedman , 3 hours ago

NBCUniversal has completed its upfront advertising negotiations for “all screens” -- broadcast, cable, and digital -- with a 10% increase to $7 billion versus the upfront selling period a year ago.

These results include upfront deal revenue for next year’s 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Taking those results out, NBCU’s upfront posted a 3% hike. By way of comparison, NBC pulled in $1.2 billion for the 2016 Rio Summer Games.

TV upfront advertising deals are made before the start of the next TV season, which runs from September through August of the following year.

For its prime-time programming on the NBC Television Network, the network posted an average 14% hike in the price (cost) per thousand viewers (CPMs); cable programming saw a double-digit percentage pricing hike.

Overall, NBC averaged a 9% increase in CPMs across all networks/platforms/digital media.

NBC said it took in a 8% hike in total dollar volume from NFL programming, its “Sunday Night Football,” and a 6% rise at MSNBC, its cable TV news network.

The company says digitally “native” and technology companies were its largest buying category, with nearly $1 billion in total sales during this upfront. 

NBC says this includes so-called FAANG companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. In addition, big spenders include technology products, social platforms, streaming services and direct-to-consumer businesses.

Sales volume from these digital companies grew 25% versus last year’s upfront, adding four of its top 25 upfront ad spenders that are in this category.

Releasing some of its first data ever with regard to its upfront media deals for digital platforms, NBCU says digital video volume grew 50% to nearly $1.3 billion. NBC says its large digital native clients spent 92% of their buys on linear TV.

NBC adds that its CFlight metric, which measures a marketer’s entire campaign on all NBC networks/platforms with a unified number, helped the rise in upfront dollar volumes. NBC started CFlight a year ago.

So far this upfront selling season, other TV networks groups -- CBS, Fox, the CW, WarnerMedia’s Turner network, Univision and Hallmark Channels -- also claimed double-digit percentage CPM gains for their upfront advertising markets. They had anywhere from flat to 3% gains in total volume, according to media-buying executives.

COMMENTARY

Can Algorithms Feel? Use Emotion To Elevate Search Engine Marketing

• by Megan Markley , over 1 hour ago

Emotional resonance is essential in marketing. But how do you connect emotionally when writing keyword-targeted copy? To the uninitiated, copywriting for search engine optimization (SEO) may seem prescriptive, awkward and clunky, written for robot crawlers rather than human beings. No one even reads those SEO copy blocks, right?

The reality is, when you’re optimizing content throughout a site, you have to maintain brand voice and feeling, bringing users along on the journey. You have to capture their attention at any entry point and urge them to dive deeper. 

Long-form articles, beneficial to long-tail SEO keywords, give content writers more room to play and capture imagination or soothe fears, but they still have to resonate quickly or be left behind. Without emotion, content on a page falls flat and you lose the attention of readers — and their trust of your brand. SEO is no good if the traffic it brings to the website leaves right away.

Emotional intelligence generates superior keyword research. SEO is fundamentally rooted in understanding a customer’s needs and desires — and how that customer communicates those needs. It’s more than knowing someone is searching for “printer paper” 27,000 times a month. You also have to empathize with the exhausted office administrator in order to translate your solution into answers for their problems. When we consider not just the need, but the emotion behind it, we can find more relevant keywords and craft more authentic copy.

Creating emotional context for keywords. Well-optimized content demands not only understanding of the products, the competitors, the customers and their journeys, but also of how the process and final products make customers feel. 

• If I’m a mother whose child has a fever, I may feel anxious. I want accurate answers quickly from a reputable source. 
• If I’m a young couple buying a home for the first time, I’m overwhelmed, tired and confused. I need someone to clear out all the jargon and tell me what PMI is and how it affects my payments. 
• If I received a well-earned bonus, I’m proud and excited. I want to treat myself. Maybe I also want to save for the future, but my joy likely overrules my pragmatism in the moment. 

SEO isn’t just about providing the right information so pages rank for “teething fever,” “what is PMI,” or “handmade leather bags,” it’s also about creating context that comprehends and communicates emotion behind customer needs. 

Once More With Feeling

While much of SEO is data-driven, and it can — in theory — be executed in an emotionless void, optimized content that resonates with both client and consumer is ultimately going to drive greater KPIs. Empathizing with the emotional needs of customers as well as their literal demands helps SEO writers and marketers go beyond the basics

COMMENTARY

Fake News Battle Crucial As Gen Z Turns Off TV News

• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, 5 hours ago

The importance of tackling fake news suddenly seems more pressing this morning this side of the Atlantic, as well as in Washington.

The day after Mueller summed up the threat of Russian interference in US elections as one of the most serious challenges to American democracy he has come across, along comes some surprising research from the UK's media regulator, Ofcom.

It emerges that Gen Z has all but given up on watching the television news. The average 16- to-24-year-old watches just two minutes. Older generations watch more, rising to just over half an hour per day for those of retirement age. 

According to the Ofcom research, Facebook is the third-most trusted source for gathering news, after the BBC and ITV. It is hardly surprising to find that the figures show a half of the UK population gets its news from social media. That is pretty much exactly the same figure who get their news from newspapers or the sites and apps operated by news brands. 

We have hit a state of equilibrium where the indirect route, via social media, is as important to people as the direct route of buying a paper or opening up a newspaper's app.

It is this equilibrium that has allowed our own citizens, but also state-paid actors with ill intent, to spread disinformation.

The Telegraph has a breakdown of how many countries are spreading good news about themselves, and it is not impossible to then imagine potentially being behind fake news abroad that suits their foreign policy objectives. And yes, Russia and China are on the list.

It is for this reason that parliament has already concluded an investigation into online practices, including a look at disinformation -- you can download a pdf of the findings here.

In a nutshell, MPs told the Government of the pressing need to make social media sites responsible for monitoring fake news and taking down disinformation and harmful content.

The report also concluded that after Zuckerberg failed to show up for a hearing, two Facebook execs who did appear were either ill-informed on fake news or were instructed to misguide parliament about their knowledge of it. 

It was pretty damning stuff, and we will have to see whether its recommendations for an independent regulator of social media happens and whether the Government places a greater onus on the social media firms to protect the public from fake news and take down harmful content within a specified time frame.

It's a subject worth revisiting when one realises that not only is there an equilibrium for adults between social media and newspapers. but also that young people are switching off the tv news, presumably picking up their information and headlines from social. 

It's also crucial because there is a likelihood that a government with a shaky majority of two will at some stage in the coming months either willingly call an election or be forced to.

Just watch the fake news fly around then as the country votes, again, to decide our future. 

COMMENTARY

Prospects For Free, Ad-Supported Streaming Services Just Got Better

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 5 hours ago

NBCUniversal is working on its own streaming video service, angling to build a free ad-supported platform. It will have company.

Already, there are number of free-ad supported services.

Roku Channel has, by way of the Roku set-top box/smart TV platform, 29.1 million active accounts. Tubi TV is at 20 million; Pluto TV, 16 million; and Xumo 5.5 million. (Some might also include Amazon Fire TV’s 34 million active users, according to the company.)

In truth, NBCU might be on a different level, in terms of brand perception/premium content among consumers versus these services.

NBCU believes there is value in free, ad-supported TV. That’s how the broadcasting TV business started. Back then, consumers only needed a TV, antenna and the only version of interconnectivity: electricity.

These days, consumers need more, a broadband service, as well as electricity. Consumers now think more critically about their monthly TV/entertainment formulas.

Though ad-supported streaming platforms contribute to fractionalized media viewership and consumption, it's good for marketers. Most services offer “brand safe” content and low commercial loads.

Even with a lack of common TV viewing measurements on these platforms, traditional media companies are not waiting around.

Viacom has placed its bets with Pluto TV,  buying up the ad-supported pay TV service for $340 million. Viacom’s potential merger partner, CBS, is moving in the same direction.

CBS has placed its bets around its own CBS All Access -- primarily an ad-supported service, with a low $5.99 a month subscription fee. (There is an ad-free streaming option at $9.99.)

Roku has been following this model, believing ad-connected TV services are a good idea.

Roku Channel, by way of Roku set-top devices and software platforms, continues to be lauded as a big deal — at least according to Wall Street investors. Much of this is due to its projections of growing ad revenues. Roku’s stock price has grown nearly fourfold to $106.85 as of July 23, from $27.28 in mid-December.

How to succeed at developing the women on your team

How to succeed at developing the women on your team

Alaina Love

July 22, 2019

Stencil

“I just don’t understand why they reduced my span of responsibility,” Amanda said. ‘’I’ve done everything they’ve asked of me over the 10 years I’ve been with this company. We’ve been growing rapidly, and I know I’ve tackled things that I had no experience with, but I’ve always made it work.”
Amanda was reeling from the news that her staff had been cut in half when a major function that was under her area of responsibility was shifted to a male colleague.

When I spoke with the CEO of the midsize company Amanda worked for, he described her as a high-potential talent, someone he hoped had the capacity to become chief marketing officer. That possibility now seemed in question as Amanda struggled to accept her new reality. From her perspective, she’d not only been stripped of responsibility, authority and power, she’d also been diminished in the eyes of her direct reports and colleagues and was having to prove herself all over again. Her confidence was shaken, and her sense of identity as a valued employee was shattered.
In reviewing Amanda’s decadelong career trajectory with the CEO, it was clear that she became known as someone who got things done, who readily took on any challenge thrown her way and capably navigated a variety of business transitions. Yet, a recent acquisition made by this fast-growing company posed a stumbling block for Amanda. She struggled to integrate teams from the parent company with the talent obtained through the acquisition, which resulted in rising competition among the teams and escalating in-fighting.

“We began to see some flat sides of Amanda’s leadership capabilities after the acquisition,” the CEO shared. “I just felt that we needed take a pause and rethink how prepared Amanda actually is for her role. We don’t want to lose her, but she’s just not ready for this next step.”

Like many women, Amanda was committed to preparing herself for success. She came into the company with a baccalaureate degree and obtained a master's and an MBA while working full time. Among recipients of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, women are in the majority. Yet the same is not true with respect to training and development. Compared with her male colleagues, Amanda was more highly educated yet lagged in formal and informal development. -- as well as salary.

Data suggest that companies are more likely to send men to work related training by as much as 18%. The gap in the training that Amanda had received was now evident as she struggled with the complexity of managing an integration. Worse, this gap, now 10 years in the making, places Amanda’s retention in jeopardy as she grapples with the emotional fallout of what feels to her like a demotion.

There are five actions that you can take to better develop and retain top female talent:

1. Acknowledge that the playing field is not level; uncover and fix gaps. By and large, women have addressed gender parity discrepancy by choosing to pursue advanced degrees, beyond those held by their male counterparts, just to place themselves on equal footing from a pay perspective. Examine the backgrounds of the women and men in your talent pool. Is there parity in education, role level, pay and development? Is it possible that you’ve deprioritized women for promotions, projects or other learning opportunities, especially women who have returned from maternity leave?
2. 
   
3. Insist on gender representation in internal training and development programs. There should be at least equal numbers of men and women in such programs, but if your company is lagging behind in female representation at managerial levels and above, then management skill-building programs should exceed 50% women.
4. 
   
5. Plan for success. Create individual development plans for talented women you want to fast-track to leadership. Be sure these plans include participation in robust external development programs with action-learning components and diverse representation across industries. This will increase exposure to and collaboration with other high potentials and allow talented women to test and hone their skills in a structured setting, preparing them for actual business situations they may face.
6. 
   
7. Think beyond today. Structure the development of women for both current and future opportunities. Development plans should be forward-focused and include stretch assignments, exposure to senior leadership and projects that allow women to practice skills they will need for advanced roles. Progress on such plans should be reviewed at least quarterly.
8. 
   
9. Sponsor and mentor. Women may mentor or sponsor other women, but you certainly want men to play a role. If your company lacks females in leadership positions, it becomes imperative for influential male leaders to sponsor talented women below the leadership level. Sponsorship means that these male leaders advocate for women, by taking responsibility for seeing that women are selected for high-profile assignments, learning opportunities and internal work teams. Mentorship means that male leaders are willing to guide women in their development by acting as a resource for information, feedback and advice. Make sure your sponsors and mentors understand their distinct roles and are prepared for the part they will play in the development of women. Providing them with training on unconscious bias and inclusion is a must.

The benefits of developing the women on your team exceed the contribution they will be able to make to the organization. You, too, will grow and gain important insights through the process.

Alaina Love is CEO of Purpose Linked Consulting and co-author of “The Purpose Linked Organization: How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results” (McGraw-Hill). She is a recovering HR executive, a global speaker and leadership expert, and passionate about everything having to do with, well … passion. Her passion archetypes are Builder, Transformer and Healer.

Commentary

Media Sales: Don't Overlook The Human Connection

• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, July 17, 2019

Once in a while I like to comment on the topic of media salespeople.   Please don’t get me wrong — I like media salespeople.  I really do.  I married a media salesperson.  I know how hard that job can be.  
That being said, I really wish that connecting to me on LinkedIn were not the primary way for a media salesperson to reach out and try to get a foot in the door these days.  There has to be a better way, because they are single-handedly diminishing the perceived value of the LinkedIn network.
Let’s start with the “lazy” outreach: “Hi, I see that we are connected to some of the same people.  Maybe we should connect too.”

Just because we know some of the same people does not make us open to connecting.  I know this because when I do accept these connection requests, the next message I get is inevitably, “Now that we’re connected, I would love to show you our platform for .”  

It’s  clear these folks are trolling LinkedIn on a numbers game.  They reach out to as many people as they can in hope of getting a response.

What about the more engaged aggressive “calendar with me” outreach? “Hi.  I was checking out you and< insert company> and I think I can help you with your efforts.  Let’s schedule 20 minutes this week – Here is a link to my calendar so please feel free to book a time.”  This is certainly more assertive outreach, but I find it to be a turn-off. I would think that salesperson would have better success if they offered an idea or two and suggested a couple of times that might work rather than putting me in a position to suggest the times by clicking on their calendar link.

I realize these tools are intended to make connecting easier.  They truly do cut down on the back-and-forth, but they also dehumanize the connection and make it much harder for me to want to engage.
Great salespeople know that to be successful you have to do two things:  First, create a personal connection that humanizes you and makes it harder for the lead to shut the door on your proverbial face.

To this day, I still remember the salespeople who did the best job of connecting with me when I was a media planner. Many of those people are still good friends.  They found something we had in common and took the time to get to know what motivated me before we met.  They tried to separate themselves from the masses, which made them successful. Media is a relationship business, and no one will do business with a company they don’t know.

Second, the best salespeople listen before they talk too much.  This is hard to do, especially in a world where programmatic and self-serve platforms rule the day.  80+% of dollars are spent on Google, Facebook and Amazon, and I’d guess that well over 50% of those dollars are spent in a way that has no human connection.

To me that is sad, and not where the future of sales lies.  I think human connection will lead to bigger and better deals and longer-lasting relationships.

Call me old-fashioned, but the salesperson who asks the right question and then listens for the response so he/she can understand our needs and what we are trying to accomplish is still better than any self-service platform.  Self-service systems can be shut off and you can move on.

So the next time you want to write that cold email on LinkedIn, take a moment to know the person you’re reaching out to rather than copying and pasting a message.  I bet you your commission that might work out better for you.