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Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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In This Issue
TV Viewing Increased in 2010
LeBron 'Decision' Delivers Huge Audience for ESPN
New Faces in Emmy Nominations
Risk Taking Pays Off for Nets with Emmy Nods
'SNL' Breaks Emmy Record
More Late-Night Drama?
Younger Viewers Bailing on Late Night Talkers
CNN Fires Middle East Affairs Editor Over Tweet
Writers Guild Says Merged Media Could Fund Public TV
National Public Radio Rebrands as 'NPR'
Bruised G.E. Plans People-Focused Campaign
No More Porn for Pols
Pepsi-Sponsored Nutrition Blog Pulled
Sauza Tequila, Redbook Mix for "Chiconomical Celebrations"
Open Wide ...and Buy
Digital Tracking Reveals Unusual Commonalities
Conan O'Brien Tweets
Quotes
"There must be bands of enthusiasts for everything on earth -- fanatics who shared a vocabulary, a batch of technical skills and equipment, and, perhaps, a vision of some single slice of the beauty and mystery of things, of their complexity, fascination, and unexpectedness."
- Annie Dillard, American author, poet
“The thing that's between us is fascination, and the fascination resides in our being alike. Whether you're a man or a woman, the fascination resides in finding out that we're alike.”
- Marguerite Duras, French Novelist, Screenwriter, Playwright and Film Director (1914-1996)
"The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more you must allure the senses to it”
- Friedrich Nietzsche, German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture (1844-1900)
TV Viewing Increased in 2010
The obituary for traditional television viewing is far from being written as the number of hours viewers watched the boob tube increased during the first half of 2010. Despite increased viewing of video content on other platforms such as the Internet and mobile phones, the average hours of viewing per person per week among all viewers topped out at 34.3 hours from Dec. 28, 2009 to June 13, 2010 -- slightly above the 34.1 hours during the same period in 2009 and nearly two hours more than the 32.6 hours in 2006, according to Turner Research analysis of Nielsen data for the second quarter of 2010. Viewing among ad-supported networks was also up during the second quarter to an average of 17 hours, slightly above last year's 16.9 hours. On the flip side, viewing among the four broadcast networks was down to 8.4 hours a week, compared to 8.5 hours in 2009 and 9.9 hours in 2006. While viewership has increased, so has the penetration of DVRs into the home. DVR's are now in 36% of all households, nearly three times the DVR penetration in 2006, according to Turner. Among total viewers, 38.7% of all watchers have access to a DVR, up from only 4.2% in 2006.
Meanwhile, more viewers tuned into USA Network in prime time during the second quarter, the "character's Welcome" network's second straight quarter triumph in 2010, according to an Disney-ABC Television analysis of Nielsen data. USA rode the return of its top scripted series Royal Pains and Burn Notice to finish tops among all basic cable networks in prime time during the period of March 29 to June 27, averaging a flat 3.2 million viewers compared to the same period in 2009. TNT finished a distant second, averaging 2.44 million viewers - down 8%, barely edging out Disney Channel, which drew 2.42 million viewers, up 1% from second quarter 2009. Fox News dropped 10% to 1.9 million viewers to settle into fourth place, followed by ESPN, which posted a 2% increase, averaging 1.7 million viewers for the period. Rounding out the top 10 were Nick At Nite (1.7 million, up 6%); History (1.6 million, up 40%); TBS (1.5 million, down 3%); A&E (1.3 million, up 4%) and Discovery Channel (1.3 million, down 4%). Kids-targeted Nickelodeon made it 61 consecutive quarters as the most watched cable network on a 24-hour basis, averaging 2.2 million viewers, up 3% over second quarter 2009. Disney Channel finished second with 1.6 million viewers, followed by Nick at Nite (1.5 million viewers), USA (1.4 million) and TNT (1.3 million).
Networks posting double-digit gains for the quarter include Cartoon Network (1.3 million, up 12%); Bravo (820,000, 11%); TV Land (812,000, 10%); Nick Jr. (759,000, 23%); Animal Planet (634,000, 10%); E! Entertainment (624,000, 13%); Oxygen (431,000, 12%); Investigation Discovery (306,000, 59%); Nicktoons (306,000, up 23%); Science Channel (240,000 up 30%), TeenNick (215,000, 38%); TV One (202,000, 12%); BIO Channel (170,000, 18%); G4 (167,000, 22%); BBC America (154,0000, 35%); Military Channel (152,000, 13%); Galavision (147,000, 19%); RFD-TV (136,000, 37%), DIY Network (121,000, 7%); NFL Network (92,000, 51%); Mun2 (56,000, 33%); and Fox Soccer Channel (38,000, 27%).
Networks struggling in prime time during the quarter include FX (1.1 million, down 11%), Spike TV (855,000, 16%); Hallmark Channel (730,000, 23%); CNN (596,000 31%); VH1 (527,000, 32%); HLN (490,000, 12%); National Geographic Channel (380,000, 10%): Country Music Television (369,000, 12%); SoapNet (311,000, 16%); Speed (243,000, 19%); and Golf Channel (136,000, 19%); Great American Country (71,000, 10%); and VH1 Classic (46,000 23%).
MultiChannel
LeBron 'Decision' Delivers Huge Audience for ESPN
ESPN announced that its telecast Thursday night of “The Decision,” in which NBA superstar LeBron James announced his decision to join the Miami Heat, generated a 7.3 overnight rating in households from 9-10:15 p.m. ET. The 7.3 is the highest overnight rating for any non-NFL ESPN program this calendar year, according to the network. Additionally, the ESPN telecast was the highest-rated program of the night, for cable or broadcast, based on overnights. The telecast peaked with a 9.6 rating from 9:15-9:30 p.m., when James officially made the announcement, the network reported. The top three local markets were Cleveland (26.0 metered market rating); Columbus (14.2) and Miami (12.8). Chicago was sixth with a 10.7 rating and New York ranked seventh with a 10.4 rating. The numbers topped the audience for ESPN’s exclusive interview with Tiger Woods on March 21, 2010, which posted a 0.4 metered market rating for SportsCenter from 6-8 p.m. and peaked with a 0.8 rating from 7:45-8 p.m. The telecast also trumped ESPN’s exclusive interview with Alex Rodriguez on Feb. 9, 2009, which had a 0.9 metered market rating (6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter). James’ decision attracted more than 300,000 unique viewers on ESPN3.com, one of the platform’s largest audiences ever for a non-World Cup event.
TV Week
New Faces in Emmy Nominations
Quirky musical comedy "Glee" and 1960s advertising drama series "Mad Men" led the nominations on Thursday for primetime Emmy Awards in a cross section of new faces and old TV favorites. Newcomer "Glee", which features a group of high school misfits in a show choir, garnered 19 nominations including best comedy series and acting nods for its stars Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele and Jane Lynch and guest performers Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth. Two-time Emmy champion "Mad Men" claimed 17 nods for the television industry's highest honors. It will defend its best drama series crown against HBO's vampire show "True Blood", lawyer drama "The Good Wife" with Julianna Margulies, "Dexter", "Breaking Bad" and the final season of sci-fi favorite "Lost." The HBO World War Two series "The Pacific" got the largest number of nominations, with a record 24 mentions in the mini-series category. The cable channel was also the leading network with 101 nominations overall, followed by networks ABC with 63, CBS with 57, NBC with 48 and Fox with 47. Five of the 12 comedy and drama series were first time nominees in a move that should inject new excitement into a race that has been dominated for two years by the same faces. Comedies got the biggest shake-up. ABC's new hit "Modern Family", with 14 nods including supporting acting nods for five of its cast, will challenge NBC's reigning champion "30 Rock" and its Emmy-winning stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. After a strong season that included a long hoped-for "Seinfeld" cast reunion, actor and writer Larry David's wry "Curb Your Enthusiasm" earned best comedy and best actor nods. Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," starring former "Sopranos" star Edie Falco as a subversive pill-popping nurse, was also a new entry in the best comedy category and gave Falco a shot at another Emmy trophy. In TV dramas, two-time winner Bryan Cranston's drug-dealing teacher in "Breaking Bad" is likely to face a stiff challenge from Michael C. Hall, who has already won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards this year for his role as a vigilante serial killer in "Dexter". Best actor contenders Jon Hamm of "Mad Men" and Hugh Laurie's grouchy doctor in "House" are return nominees. One of the biggest surprises came in the variety show nominations. Although both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien's version of "The Tonight Show" were both submitted for consideration, only O'Brien's episode will compete for the Emmy. The Emmys will be handed out in Los Angeles on Aug 29 in a live ceremony hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
Reuters
Risk Taking Pays Off for Nets with Emmy Nods
The 2010 Primetime Emmy nominations, announced yesterday, have everyone agreeing on one thing: the heavily-skewed nods to the broadcast networks is the result of risk-taking that paid off. "The recognition for “Glee” and “Modern Family” — and, in the best drama category, the CBS newcomer "The Good Wife"— reflects last year’s critical consensus that there's a resurgence in quality on the broadcast networks," report Brian Stelter and Dave Itzkoff in the New York Times. The article points out that "Lost," another show that scrapped the playbook, received seven nominations for its final episode. Scott Collins at the Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, concludes that the nominations herald "the legacy networks are back, if not hogging the Emmy nominations, at least holding their own against the more daring, critical darlings of cable TV." The broadcast networks received more nominations this year than in 2009, except for NBC, which, funnily enough, will be airing the Emmy telecast on Aug. 29, the LA Times article points out. That last fact may allow for another bit of compelling broadcast viewing, points out Joe Flint in the Los Angeles Times. That's because Conan O'Brien was nominated for an Emmy Award for his brief job as the host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" (Jay Leno's version of the program, meanwhile, didn't receive a nomination.) If O'Brien wins and shows up to claim his prize on NBC, "it has the potential to be an incredibly awkward televised moment, as O'Brien could tell his former employers exactly what he thinks about them on his old network," Flint writes. O'Brien responded to his Emmy nominations on Twitter by writing, "Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien."
TV Week
'SNL' Breaks Emmy Record
Here are three words we never expected to hear from Lorne Michaels: “It’s all good.” Mr. Michaels, the creator and veteran producer of “Saturday Night Live,” was reacting to the news he learned on Thursday – having flown home from London the night before, watched the World Cup matches recorded on his DVR, and gone to bed at 2 a.m. – that “S.N.L.” had received 13 Emmy Award nominations, making it the most nominated show in the awards program’s history. “We’ve run longer than most television critics,” Mr. Michaels said of “Saturday Night Live,” which has racked up a total of 126 Emmy nominations since its debut in 1975. Mr. Michaels said he took particular pride that six of the Emmy nods “S.N.L.” earned were for the May 8 broadcast hosted by Betty White: Ms. White was nominated as guest actress in a comedy series, and the episode was nominated for writing, directing, hairstyling, lighting direction and makeup. “And,” Mr. Michaels said, “it was one of those shows that it turned out that everyone was at home. It’s just a tribute to her and how that all came together. I was really proud of that show.” He was more bemused by the new lifetime Emmy record that “S.N.L.” now holds, and the fact that his show had surpassed “E.R.”, which racked up 124 nominations in its history.
NY Times
More Late-Night Drama?
Who will be able to resist tuning in to NBC on Aug. 29 to see what happens if Conan O’Brien wins the award for best comedy/variety series for “The Tonight Show,” the program he used to host on that very network? The presence of Mr. O’Brien will probably provide a theme for the night. With four nominations, he will hear his short-lived version of “Tonight” mentioned repeatedly. Jay Leno’s version of the show was not nominated. The award show’s host, Jimmy Fallon, succeeded Mr. O’Brien as the host of NBC’s “Late Night,” and can be expected to deliver a few lines on the year’s late-night drama. Mr. O’Brien displaced the CBS host and frequent nominee David Letterman on the Emmy list. Mr. Leno has been snubbed by the Emmys for years, so his exclusion did not have to be interpreted as a shot at him even as it was a bouquet to Mr. O’Brien. TBS, Mr. O’Brien’s new employer, campaigned extensively for nominations for Mr. O’Brien and his “Tonight” shows. He reacted to the news of the nominations by sending a message on Twitter: “Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”
NY Times
Younger Viewers Bailing on Late Night Talkers
Late-night talk shows were once considered bulletproof against digital video recorders because it was thought their topical nature would encourage viewers to watch the shows in their time slots, reports Bill Carter in The New York Times. But it's turning out that the shows are losing younger viewers, who don't feel the need to watch or tape the shows and who may be turning to competitors such as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the story says. Television shows airing at 11:30 p.m. generally draw a 2.5 rating with viewers between 18 and 49 years old, but Jay Leno’s and David Letterman's shows combined are drawing only a 2 rating with the demographic. The sole network talk show at 11:30 p.m. to gain viewers during the second quarter was "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which added 150,000 viewers from a year earlier, the story says. Leno's show has seen its average viewer age jump from 46.6 years old to 55.6, while Letterman's average audience age is 54.7 years old, the article adds. Nevertheless, both Leno’s and Letterman's shows sold well in this year's upfront advertising market. David F. Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS, said the late-night talk shows may stabilize in the fall following last season's disruption with the shuffling between Leno and Conan O'Brien. “Some late-night viewers just went elsewhere,” Poltrack told The Times. “We may see some of them come back.”
TV Week
CNN Fires Middle East Affairs Editor Over Tweet
CNN on Wednesday removed its senior editor of Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, after she published a Twitter message saying that she respected the Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Parisa Khosravi, the senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide, said in an internal memorandum that she “had a conversation” with Ms. Nasr on Wednesday morning and that “we have decided that she will be leaving the company.” For her coverage of events like last year’s protests in Iran, CNN had previously called Ms. Nasr a “leader” in integrating social media Web sites like Twitter within its newsgathering process. Ms. Nasr, a 20-year veteran of the network, wrote on Twitter after the cleric died on Sunday, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah ... One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” The ayatollah routinely denounced the United States and supported suicide bombings against Israel. Some supporters of Israel seized on the Twitter message as an indication of bias. A CNN spokesman said Tuesday that Ms. Nasr had made an “error of judgment” that “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards.” In an explanatory blog post on CNN.com Tuesday evening, Ms. Nasr said she was sorry about the message “because it conveyed that I supported Fadlallah’s life’s work. That’s not the case at all.” She said she used the words “respect” and “sad” because “to me as a Middle Eastern woman, Fadlallah took a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on woman’s rights. She continued, “This does not mean I respected him for what else he did or said. Far from it.” Her explanation of the Twitter message was apparently not enough for her CNN bosses. Ms. Khosravi wrote in the memo, “at this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward.”
NY Times
Writers Guild Says Merged Media Could Fund Public TV
The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) has advised the FCC that if it lets any more big media companies merge, it should make them help pay for public affairs programming on public television. It also advised it against allowing more consolidation of operations or ownership of news media outlets--like local TV stations--and wants the FCC to start thinking about concentration of power in multichannel video distribution by companies that are also Internet Service Providers. That came in comments to the commission Thursday on its quadrennial review of media ownership rules and which to keep, change or dispense with. "[I]f media conglomerates insist on being permitted to consolidate their hold on the media marketplace, in exchange they can be required to contribute assets to public programming," said WGAE. On the issue of convergence and control, WGAE cited the Comcast/NBCU deal, which it opposes as advertised, as an example of the concentration of content production and distribution by cable and Internet that it wants the FCC to consider as it analyzes ownership rules. The Guild represents thousands of TV writers, editors and producers in entertainment and news.
Broadcasting & Cable
National Public Radio Rebrands as 'NPR'
No need for formalities here: National Public Radio now says it wants to be known simply as NPR. So the Washington-based organization has quietly changed its name to its familiar initials. Much like the corporate names KFC or AT&T, the initials now stand for the initials. NPR says it's abbreviating the name it has used since its debut in 1971 because it's more than radio these days. Its news, music and informational programming is heard over a variety of digital devices that aren't radios; it also operates news and music Web sites. Hence: "NPR is more modern, streamlined," says Vivian Schiller, NPR's chief executive. She points to other "re-brandings" by media organizations, such as Cable News Network, which has been plain old CNN for years. NPR hasn't formally announced the change. But it has told its staff and some 900 affiliated stations in recent months to use only the initials on the air or online. There's a little bit of tension in those three initials. NPR's affiliates, which contribute about 40 percent of NPR's $154 million operating budget, are still primarily in the radio business. Some station managers have grumbled that NPR has invested in digital operations at the expense of more and better radio programs. The Public Broadcasting Service, NPR's public TV counterpart, still officially refers to itself by its full name, according to a PBS spokeswoman.
Washington Post
Bruised G.E. Plans People-Focused Campaign
Can a warm and fuzzy, people-focused advertising campaign help restore the reputation of the bruised financial unit of General Electric? G.E. will start to find that out as it rolls out ads for its GE Capital unit, which was battered by the financial crisis because of its exposure in areas like commercial real estate and consumer credit card debt. The ads are under the umbrella of the long-running “Imagination at work” promotional platform for G.E. They assert that “people don’t just come to GE Capital for money,” but also for help to build businesses. The campaign features actual companies with which GE Capital works. The first is Taylor Guitars, founded in 1974, and others will include Kalitta Air, JetBlue Airways and Triumph Motorcycles. The campaign is being featured on the GE Capital Web site, as well as in television commercials and print and digital advertisements. The campaign began this week, and additional commercials are to be introduced next week and in August. The campaign is being created by the G.E. agency of record, BBDO New York, which is part of the BBDO North America unit of the BBDO Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group.
Media Decoder
No More Porn for Pols
Productivity levels in Washington stand to skyrocket now the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to block the viewing or downloading of porn on government computers. “After all, a series of news reports have highlighted … how some financial regulators earning six-figure salaries were watching porn at work as Wall Street imploded,” writes CNet’s Politics and Law blog. “So, as it turns out, did employees of the National Science Foundation and the Interior Department — including ones who were supposed to be inspecting oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.” Not surprisingly, civil libertarians warn that the legislation unreasonably infringes on Americans’ First Amendment rights. The wording of the measure — which states, “None of the funds made available in this act may be used to maintain or establish a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography” — is far-reaching. According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, such wording implicates government contractors as well as federal agencies.
MediaPost
Pepsi-Sponsored Nutrition Blog Pulled
PepsiCo has earned a good deal of publicity and praise for its aggressive push into social media through efforts like the Pepsi Refresh Project and crowdsourcing of new flavors for Mountain Dew as well as its decision not to buy a Super Bowl TV spot this year. But the beverage giant's plan to sponsor a blog on food nutrition may have been a step too far. ScienceBlogs, a site aggregating dozens of science blogs, on Thursday killed Food Frontiers, a new blog developed and written by Pepsi following a fierce backlash by the site's bloggers and others in the scientific community. Launched earlier this week, the blog was pulled after an outpouring of criticism over the Pepsi-sponsored blog undermining the scientific credibility of the entire ScienceBlogs platform, operated by privately held Seed Media. Acknowledging the outcry, the site's editor, Adam Bly, wrote in a blog post yesterday, "We apologize for what some of you viewed as a violation of your immense trust in ScienceBlogs." "Although we (and many of you) believe strongly in the need to engage industry in pursuit of science-driven social change, this was clearly not the right way."The new Pepsi blog was met with a swift and scathing response from other site bloggers including PalMD of The White Coat Underground who called Food Frontiers not only "a spectacularly foolish decision" but "deceptive" because it should "clearly be labeled as advertising." Many also expressed concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest in a Pepsi-sponsored blog and blurring the line between independent editorial and promotional content. Still others said they would quit the network. For its part, PepsiCo said Friday it concurred with the decision to pull the Food Frontiers blog and would reconsider its approach in light of the controversy. "In hearing the community's feedback, we agree with this decision and feel that the best approach is to take a step back and first examine the role industry scientists, such as myself, can play in the discussion about nutrition science within the larger scientific community," wrote Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo's chief scientific officer in a blog post. He added that the company would continue to run Food Frontiers -- one of five corporate blogs it operates along with ones for Frito-Lay Snacks and the Refresh campaign -- separately from ScienceBlogs to "talk about specific science, nutrition and global health policy topics." But that wasn't enough to end the uproar. Not surprisingly, the removal of Food Frontiers from ScienceBlogs was welcomed by many posting comments to Bly's announcement Thursday. But the debate over finding the right balance between advertising and editorial on the site is likely to go on.
MediaPost
Sauza Tequila, Redbook Mix for "Chiconomical Celebrations"
Little-known (at least outside the liquor industry) fact: Due to the margarita craze, women are the major decision-makers when it comes to buying tequila. With that insight in hand, Sauza tequila, a Beam Global Spirits & Wine brand, has developed a partnership with Hearst's Redbook to employ platforms including print advertorials, a brand ambassador deal with celebrity party planner Cathy Riva, "intimate" parties for Redbook readers, special drink recipes, online and social media exposure and a satellite media tour -- all under a "Chiconomical Celebrations" theme. Research shows that margaritas are the #1 cocktail in the world now, accounting for nearly half of tequila consumption, according to Beam. But while 74% of margaritas are consumed by women, more than half of women 30+ don't have a tequila brand preference. Furthermore, most women don't drink margaritas at home because they think they're too complicated to make. Aiming to establish itself as womens' tequila brand of choice and to combat the "too-complicated" perception, Sauza honed in on Redbook because the magazine's readers -- women 30 to 44 -- are the brand's "sweet spot," reports Amy Weisenbach, director, tequila and rum for Beam. "We're trying to spread the word to women that margaritas can be fun and easy to make at home if you start with a fresh-tasting tequila like Sauza and a simple recipe," she tells Marketing Daily. "With our Sauza-Rita recipe, it takes under a minute to throw together a pitcher of fresh-tasting margaritas ready to share with friends. Redbook is the perfect partner to help us share our Sauza-Ritas with women as they're looking for tips on planning their next ladies' night in."
MediaPost
Open Wide ...and Buy
A television commercial about how the calcium in milk can benefit dental health is being shown in — natch — dentists’ offices. The commercial is part of the “Got milk?” campaign for the California Milk Processor Board, which is created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, part of the Omnicom Group. The commercial is one in a new series about a make-believe land, Mootopia, which seems perfect because of the benefits that milk bestows on its residents. But of course, people being people, there is some trouble in paradise, too. For instance, the commercial is devoted to the dentist who lives in Mootopia. Because everyone drinks milk, the spot declares, they are all in perfect dental health, meaning that the dentist is bored out of his mind — no patients, nothing to do. The spot is being shown in the waiting rooms of more than 150 dentists around the state of California. It is the first time, the milk board says, that is it distributing a television commercial in this fashion. The California milk board licenses the “Got milk?” slogan for national milk marketing campaigns, which are not created by Goodby, Silverstein; those campaigns feature celebrities and athletes sporting milk mustaches. Perhaps the two milk campaigns can be brought together if the commercial is shown in the waiting rooms of California dentists with mustaches.
Media Decoder
Digital Tracking Reveals Unusual Commonalities
If you mention the word "chocolate" here and there in your online blog and comment posts, the odds are pretty good you are also interested in Audis, lacrosse, Easthampton and weeds. Huh? One of the fun aspects of digital tracking, especially behavioral segmentation, is how the data reveals unexpected affinities among groups and interests. According to Peerset, an ad targeting venture that leverages social data in a unique way, our interests are reflected most accurately by our expressions online rather than our browsing history.
"We're like a Pandora of advertising," says Mike John-Baptiste, CEO. "We understand what people like from what they express about themselves. We create correlated interests." It turns out that people who mention "Starbucks" also show an interest in John Mayer at a much higher rate than they do for Beyonce.
Peerset gathers data from publicly available sources of user-generated content that are already fairly well structured. So social networking and dating sites, bookmarking sites, etc. are places where people tend to express their tastes and voice their interests explicitly. A patented technology scours this information without tracking users. Peerset simply is taking a picture of personal expression to chart the correlations in tastes. Chocolate mentioners for some reason also have an interest in weeds. Go figure.
But that is exactly what Peerset tries to do when it takes that one set of data on correlated interests and applies them to ad targeting among its publishing partners like Hi5 and Justin.tv. "If Joe on Hi5 says he likes John Mayer and romantic walks and basketball, we take those three interests and, based on those three things, we see how relevant he is to Starbucks," says John-Baptiste. Basically it is a predictive targeting technology that uses previous expressions and statistical analysis to anticipate the likelihood of that person's interest in the marketer's product. Among publishing partners Peerset addresses about 12 million users, but it is also partnering with demand-side platforms to reach a much larger potential audience. The DSP can take the technology and apply it against the data points they already have on a user.
John-Baptiste argues that looking for correlated interests based on explicit personal statements is a more reliable use of social media than some other methods. Leveraging the social graph may render the friends of a chocolate lover, for instance, but only so many of those friends are also chocolate lovers or favor a particular brand. Peerset is not actually interested in the social graph, per se. It simply uses social media content because it is the best place to find people stating the full range of their interests. "We take people independently of friendship," he says. "We just care about what they like."
Exploring correlations in taste really became possible only when people started expressing themselves so relentlessly online. "You can target on psychographics," he says. "The introduction of Web 2.0 allowed people to express themselves to the world, and we can deliver advertising based on what they said and what they asked for." But predictive technologies go even beyond that. "We principally believe we understand people's tastes, the hard wiring, the things people don't even say themselves."
And if the model holds true, it leads to some puzzling correlations that may make sense statistically, but seem nonsensical otherwise. Do you like chocolate? Interested in a weed killer with that?
MediaPost
Conan O'Brien Tweets
Congratulations to Spain on their World Cup victory! May the streets run red with blood-orange sangria and ham!
A new study says that men who take drugs for ED have significantly more STDs. Also, men who take drugs for STDs have a lot of STDs.
Another perfect day in CA, the land of jobs & money. (Gov. Schwarzenegger has me at gunpoint. We're under the Santa Monica Pier. Send help.)
Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
The Queen recycled a dress for a ball in Toronto that she had previously worn before. Now to Google "monarch+nip slips".
My horoscope says I "never let a struggle stop me." At least that's what I think it says, I can't get the cookie all the way open.
This laptop is hot on my legs. I shall invent a space age Kevlar pad that protects my legs from heat. Or maybe I'll just put on pants.
Scholars have revealed Jefferson changed "Subjects" to "Citizens" in the Dec of Ind. Also, "Pursuit of Happiness" was "Score me some stank".
Today's the 25th anniversary of "Back to the Future" - The movie that popularized DeLoreans, Flux Capacitors, & almost nailing your own mom.
Twilight Eclipse has been smashing box office records since it opened. For the record, I was sickly pale before it was cool.
I don't care where LeBron James ends up... As long as it's not at 11pm on TBS.
Larry King’s retiring after hosting “Larry King Live” for 25 years. Personally, I think hosting anything longer than 7 months is overkill.
I’m #51 on Forbes “Celebrity 100.” To help you fully comprehend the enormity of my achievement, consider this: Judge Judy is only #72.
Yesterday a Marilyn Monroe chest x-ray sold for $45,000. Meanwhile, my dr's note saying I have a mild case of shingles just sits on e-Bay.
My writers' stand up special airs tonight at 10 on TBS. It's like watching my kids perform... if my kids were all neurotic men in their 30s.
Cable’s ability to attract top-tier talk show hosts continues. Welcome aboard, disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer!
11 years between “Toy Story’s” and 7 months between “Twilight’s.” By that measure, the “Jonah Hex” sequel should be out in 3 days.
Don’t underestimate the influence of the World Cup. I’m already adding a vuvuzela section to our TBS band.
“Rolling Stone” may have brought down the US military commander in Afghanistan. Worse, they only gave Miley’s new album 3 out of 5 stars.
twitter.com/ConanOBrien
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Graeme Newell
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