The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com


In This Issue
One-Trick Pony Television Marketing
CBS to Spotlight Couric in Prime Time
CBS News Asks Viewers to Share Thoughts on Obama
Journalists Eyeing Public Service
Oprah Brings Taboo Topics To The Middle East
CNBC's Pot Documentary Scores New Highs
Young TV Viewers Prefer Web Over DVRs
Pope Welcomes Facebook, but Cautions
Copps Named Acting FCC Chair
DTV Coupon Wait-List Tops 2.5 Million
10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy


Quotes

“Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing.  Everything else is the Catskills.”
- Al Ries

“The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it”
- Ray Kroc

“Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable.  Have the patience, wait it out.  It's all about timing.”
- Stacey Charter


One-Trick Pony Television Marketing
by Graeme Newell
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http://www.602communications.com

Most station outside media advertising budgets have simply disappeared in the past few years and they are unlikely to come back any time soon.  This gradual decline in media diversity has brought about an accompanying change in the skill set of marketing directors.  TV marketing is quickly becoming a single tool game.  In the past, marketing directors utilized a wide mix of media: radio, direct mail, outdoor, and even some delightfully experimental media like inflatable mascots. 

Most of that media has now been eliminated.  These days, marketing directors primarily focus their skills on just one type of media - broadcast television.  At the very time when new marketing tools are blossoming, most stations just aren't willing to consider anything but their own on-air.  Right now, advertising is going through the biggest transition in its history - a shift from mass messaging to relationship branding.  Unfortunately, many station managers are getting left behind because of the hunker-down attitude that pervades the industry right now.  No experimentation.  Just survive.

For generations television has been the ultimate mass media tool.  There is no better medium for delivering a single message to a gigantic audience in a very short amount of time.  Because most of us have spent our entire careers immersed in the benefits of a mass message, TV executives have a tendency to underestimate the incredible opportunities that are available with new targeted marketing.  The advertising tools and media strategies that many TV stations follow still smack of the glory days of Walter Cronkite.  We default to the fire-hose strategy of a mass market campaign when the drip strategy of relationship branding can be more effective. 

For example, a marketing director creates a promo for a special report on the new smaller trucks coming out of Detroit.  She places her promo spots in Sunday football, in hopes of luring the large male audience. But this ad placement neglects women in the audience, who will have a very big say in what vehicles the family purchases.

For a long time our advertising strategy has been to target the most obvious demos for a story, and completely ignore everyone else.  If you aren't in the big majority, the ad placement snubs you.  Money stories target business people in morning news.  Health stories target women in Oprah.  That health promo probably ignores men, because women are the top consumer group for health stories.  We target only the biggest and the strongest.  We hunt demos with a shotgun, not a rifle.

The other increasingly important marketing variable is timing.  Let's say you are trying to attract a mid-30s woman to watch your special report on back-to-school immunizations.  You carefully place a promo inside Oprah.  Even if the ad escapes being zapped to oblivion by a DVR, your targeting may be faulty.  The mother may have previously taken her children to a clinic for their shots.  The ad must be there when the customer is ready to act.  Had the station bought Google ads for the keyword "immunization" and targeted local zip codes, it would have caught the potential viewer at the very moment she was seeking information. 

Research shows that ad recall levels are at best around 5% the day after a commercial airs.  This drops to near zero by the second day.  New media tools now provide a more effective and less wasteful way to spend our increasingly shrinking ad dollars and avoid the very wasteful strategy of general ad targeting.

If you start with a very targeted niche audience such as news viewers, then try to use a blunt instrument of mass media to attract them, the amount of waste in your ad placement will be quite high.  This was okay when we had huge on-air schedules and zillions of GRPs.  We could afford the wasted demos, but those days are gone.  Station on-air schedules are being cut to the bone.  Mass marketing is quickly showing its downside - a phenomenal ability to target general demos, but a real weakness when targeting smaller niche audiences with precise timing. 

Despite the fact targeted online advertising will greatly increase ad efficiency, it is something that few television stations are willing to even try.  Because outside media budgets are gone, most marketing directors have no idea how to even place an ad, let alone create an effective targeting strategy.  It is just much easier to fill out the log each day and rely on the same marketing strategy that has been used for the last 40 years.  But TV time is too expensive and budgets are too tight for local stations to permit this kind of egregious inefficiency in advertising.

The traditional concept of general audience targeting relies on the antiquated "push" model of advertising, in which marketers try to deliver a mass message that is relevant, timely, useful, and will be remembered.  The problem is that if any of these criteria fail, the ad will disappear from consciousness.  Mass media is all about power and punch.  It is great at getting a big message out there fast and intense.  That is a great strategy some of the time, but new finely targeted media buys are an incredibly valuable tool that is being underutilized. 

Savvy consumers just don't trust ad messages like before.  Most TV promos try to make a very rational case for viewing. "Here are three reason why you should watch our news."   But the decision to regularly view a news team is more akin to winning over a friend than the black-and-white decision to compare product features.  Hard sell will win them for a night or two, but it won't turn them into fans who come back night after night.

Maintaining a healthy media mix is critical to our success.  New media tools can bring a surgeon's touch to the craft of media placement, drastically cutting out waste and timing ads to the very moment customers yearn for the right information. 

We all know that no station is increasing outside media budgets right now, and it will probably get worse in the coming years.  So what can you do?  Consider trading in some of your less efficient on-air promo time.  Put a dollar value on that time, then go to your GSM and GM.  Ask for a trade for new media advertising dollars that can target very specific demos and be more efficient.  Despite the fact you'll have fewer spots in your on-air schedule, the remarkable targeting ability of on-line media should make up for the deficit. 

One final caution though - just make sure you're not giving back your promo schedule, only to have those outside media dollars cut in the next round of budget cuts.  You know what your company is like.  If they have a history of cutting all outside media at the first sign of trouble, don't go near this trade.  This would only leave your overall media schedule weaker in the future. 

Next week, specific strategies for using new media advertising during tough financial times.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and web marketing specialist.  He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free.  Find out more here.


CBS to Spotlight Couric in Prime Time
On Wednesday at 8 p.m., CBS will pre-empt “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to put on a program featuring a star arguably even bigger: a special edition of “The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.”   A Grammy Awards special featuring Ms. Couric's interviews with Lil Wayne, above, and other music stars will run Feb. 4 on CBS.  As near as CBS researchers have been able to determine, the one-night experiment will be a first, Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports, said in an interview on Thursday.  While broadcast news anchors like Ms. Couric periodically break into entertainment programming with news bulletins — or lead specials like those earlier this week on the presidential inauguration — no broadcast network has sought to put on an updated version of its dinner-hour network newscast in prime time, as CBS will do on Wednesday.  Mr. McManus said that Wednesday’s prime-time newscast is intended not as a tryout for a new show (CBS is already the most-watched network in prime time) but as a one-off to try to attract new viewers to “The CBS Evening News,” which has been stuck in third place in the ratings since more than a decade before Ms. Couric’s arrival in September 2006.  In a further attempt to use CBS’s powerful prime-time line-up to increase Ms. Couric’s audience, and to showcase her skills as an interviewer, the network said on Thursday that it has given over its 9 p.m. hour to her on Feb. 4 for a special pegged to CBS’s broadcast of the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8.  All of this follows a special three-minute news report that Ms. Couric delivered during half-time of CBS’s broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens N.F.L. playoff game on Jan. 18, which was seen by nearly 40 million viewers — more than five times as many as the estimated 7 million who, on average, watch her each night.  CBS’s promotional efforts on Ms. Couric’s behalf are coming at a crucial moment in her tenure there.

Last year several CBS executives and Ms. Couric met to discuss whether an alternative program format, like a syndicated talk show, would be a better fit for her than the evening news.  Nothing came of that, but it is still an open question whether Ms. Couric will remain on the news, or at the network, through the end of her five-year contract, which pays her an estimated $15 million a year (including for periodic reports on “60 Minutes”) and is to conclude in 2011.  In finding new ways to draw attention to her, CBS is trying to capitalize on the attention she has drawn away from her newscast — most notably the millions of people who turned to YouTube to watch clips of her interviews with Sarah Palin last fall.  Ms. Couric’s election coverage — including her recent interviews with Barack and Michelle Obama — appears to be having an impact on the ratings of “The CBS Evening News.”  On average, since election night, Ms. Couric’s broadcast has been drawing about 200,000 more viewers a night than during the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research.  And last week the program drew its highest audience since last February.  When she appears in prime time on Wednesday, Ms. Couric will be going up against no small opponent: “American Idol,” the country’s most popular program.  Mr. McManus, though, professed to be unaware. “I haven’t even looked at the competitive schedule yet,” he said.
NY Times


CBS News Asks Viewers to Share Thoughts on Obama
CBS News and CBSNews.com are teaming up to chronicle the Obama administration's first 100 days as seen through the eyes of ordinary Americans.  The network is soliciting videos from ordinary Americans who will talk about what they think President Obama should do to improve the country and which states and regions need the most help.  They're also giving away 50 Flip MinoHD camcorders, one in each state, to help viewers record their thoughts.  Video can be uploaded from any camera onto CBSNews.com.  In a statement, Couric said that she wanted ordinary Americans to talk about what they thought should be Obama's priorities.  "We want to open up a two-way dialogue between viewers and Katie and our news operation," CBS News vp programming Mark Larkin told The Hollywood Reporter.  Larkin said that typical videos will be in "the Internet sweet spot" of three to five minutes -- slices of life.  They're also being solicited from cell phones as part of CBS Mobile.  It's another part of CBS News' Web strategy that has included a number of special Webcasts hosted by Couric and featuring other CBS News correspondents during the election campaign.  Some of the videos will appear on CBSNews.com and also during the broadcast network's one-hour primetime special Tuesday called "Change and Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama."
Hollywood Reporter


Journalists Eyeing Public Service
Barack Obama may be hounded by reporters asking for more than just interviews.  Journalists from Time magazine and the ABC television network took government jobs ahead of Obama’s inauguration and more may follow.  With their knowledge of the inner workings of the Capitol, reporters can be an attractive hire for incoming department chiefs, said Ellen Shearer, a journalism professor.  “These can be good jobs for reporters,” said Shearer, who teaches at Northwestern University’s Washington program.  “They get to view the government from a different perspective and can make contacts that are helpful later on.”  A slump in the newspaper industry makes positions in the new administration even more desirable. Tribune Co., the bankrupt owner of the Los Angeles Times, Cox Enterprises Inc. and other publishers have closed or reduced their Washington bureaus as they face declining advertising sales and circulation.

- Sanjay Gupta, the medical journalist on Time Warner Inc.’s CNN cable network, may be among those joining the new administration. He was approached for the post of surgeon general, CNN said Jan. 6. Obama is still weighing his choices for the position, which educates the public on health issues, said his spokesman, Tommy Vietor.  Gupta, 39, a neurosurgeon in Atlanta, declined an interview request through a spokeswoman, Jennifer Dargan. His possible appointment was opposed by Michigan Congressman and Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, who said he lacks experience.

- Jay Carney, formerly Washington bureau chief for Time Warner’s Time magazine, was named head of communications for Vice President Joe Biden. 

- Douglas Frantz, a former managing editor of the Los Angeles Times and Washington-based reporter for the New York Times, will join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as chief investigator. 

- Obama hired Linda Douglass, chief Capitol Hill correspondent for Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, as a spokeswoman for his inaugural effort.  Obama was also advised during the transition by Samantha Power, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.”

Reporters appeal as public servants particularly because of their ability to write and to ask difficult questions of people in power, Tim Graham, director of media analysis for Media Research Center in Alexandria, Virginia, said in an interview.  Previous administrations hired former journalists.  The late Tony Snow, former President George W. Bush’s chief press secretary, had been host for News Corp.’s Fox News Sunday and newspaper columnist.  Eric Draper, Bush’s official photographer, worked for the Associated Press before joining the White House.  “It’s natural for reporters to look to the government for work when a new administration comes in,” Wendy Oscarson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Senate, said in an interview.  “Plus more and more reporters are out of work with the job cuts and Washington bureau closings.”
Bloomberg


Oprah Brings Taboo Topics To The Middle East
Satellite television has reached even conservative parts of the Arab world, where hundreds of programs are now available.  The Middle East's MBC-4 began airing "The Oprah Winfrey Show" more than four years ago, and the program now reaches about 6 million viewers in the Arab world each day.  Though aimed at an American audience, the program has brought formerly taboo topics -- like reproduction or homosexuality -- into discussion.  Worldfocus correspondent Kristen Gillespie reports from Jordan on the "Oprah effect" in the Middle East.  Read her blog post about her reporting experience here: Watching Oprah in a Syrian refugee
Huffington Post


CNBC's Pot Documentary Scores New Highs
Sorry, couldn't resist.  CNBC's "Marijuana Inc." anchored by Trish Regan was CNBC's best documentary premiere in both A25-54 viewers and Total Viewers.  The first airing Thursday night at 9pmET averaged 696,000 A25-54 demo viewers, beating MSNBC, CNN and HLN in that hour.  The re-air at 1amET averaged 349,000 demo viewers putting it first of all cable news channels in that hour.
MediaBistro

Young TV Viewers Prefer Web Over DVRs
The Web is a growing destination for watching television shows among younger TV watchers, who are more apt to head online than use a digital video recorder, a study released Friday showed.  A November survey of 1,200 Americans aged 12 and older found that people from 18 to 34 years old are already living in a post-DVR world, Solutions Research Group said.  While 70% had watched TV online, only 36% had ever viewed a show on a DVR or TiVo, which enables people to record shows for viewing later.  More TV viewers overall are heading to the Web to watch online video legally or through peer-to-peer networks, the research and consulting firm said.  The survey found that 50% of the respondents had watched a TV show online, double the percentage found in a similar survey in 2006.  Video site Hulu has significantly increased its awareness among online video watchers, with 24% of the survey respondents saying they had heard of the site, SRG said.  The Hulu audience skews young and male with an average age of 33 and two-thirds of the visitors are men.  Fifteen percent of online Americans had visited the Web site of one of the major networks over the prior 30 days specifically to watch a TV show, the survey showed.  Among those viewers, 54% were female and the average age was 39, which is much closer to the broader Internet audience.  In general, online TV audiences were happier with the viewing experience than they were a year ago, with 46% rating the experience excellent, the survey found.  That's seven percentage points higher than in 2007.  Among the top network shows for online viewing were Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, The Office, and House. Outside of YouTube, the "top-of-mind" destinations for video, TV shows, and movies were ABC, Yahoo, NBC, Hulu, MySpace, and CBS, each receiving more than 5% in mentions from survey respondents.
Information Week


Pope Welcomes Facebook, but Cautions
Pope Benedict XVI says social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can foster friendships and understanding, but warns they also can isolate people and marginalize others.  Benedict urged a culture of online respect in his annual message Friday for the World Day of Communications.  Benedict welcomes as a "gift" new technologies such as social networking sites, saying they respond to the "fundamental desire" of people to communicate.  But he also warns that "obsessive" virtual socializing can isolate people from real interaction and deepen the digital divide by excluding those already marginalized.  He urges producers to ensure that the content respects human dignity and the "goodness and intimacy of human sexuality."
Google News


Copps Named Acting FCC Chair
President Obama appointed Michael J. Copps as acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.  Copps is a Democratic commissioner of the agency who has championed media diversity, rules that would prevent consolidated ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations by the same entity in one town, as well as the blocking of Internet traffic by network carriers.  The appointment is expected to be temporary. Julius Genachowski, Obama's tech adviser, is expected to be named head of the agency.
Washington Post


DTV Coupon Wait-List Tops 2.5 Million
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration's waiting list for DTV-to-analog converter box coupons continues to grow.  As of midnight Wednesday, it had reached 2,527,839 coupons from 1,426,717 households, half of which (50.2%) identified themselves as over-the-air only.  Those 700,000, even if they came off the waiting list today, would not be able to get their coupons/boxes by the Feb. 17 transition date, NTIA has conceded.  NTIA says it has gotten 1,191,663 coupons off the waiting list since it was started Jan. 4 after the agency ran out of money to distribute the coupons.  There are currently two bills in Congress to move that DTV transition date to June 12 so the box issue can be cleared up. The Obama administration has asked Congress to move the date and has put $650 million in its proposed economic stimulus package to help with the DTV switch.
Broadcasting & Cable


10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy
In the last few years, psychologists and researchers have been digging up hard data on a question previously left to philosophers: What makes us happy?  Researchers like the father-son team Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, Stanford psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky, and ethicist Stephen Post have studied people all over the world to find out how things like money, attitude, culture, memory, health, altruism, and our day-to-day habits affect our well-being.  The emerging field of positive psychology is bursting with new findings that suggest your actions can have a significant effect on your happiness and satisfaction with life.  Here are 10 scientifically proven strategies for getting happy.

1. Savor Everyday Moments
Pause now and then to smell a rose or watch children at play.  Study participants who took time to “savor” ordinary events that they normally hurried through, or to think back on pleasant moments from their day, “showed significant increases in happiness and reductions in depression,” says psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky.

2. Avoid Comparisons
While keeping up with the Joneses is part of American culture, comparing ourselves with others can be damaging to happiness and self-esteem.  Instead of comparing ourselves to others, focusing on our own personal achievement leads to greater satisfaction, according to Lyubomirsky.

3. Put Money Low on the List
People who put money high on their priority list are more at risk for depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, according to researchers Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan.  Their findings hold true across nations and cultures.  “The more we seek satisfactions in material goods, the less we find them there,” Ryan says.  “The satisfaction has a short half-life -- it’s very fleeting.”  Money-seekers also score lower on tests of vitality and self-actualization.

4. Have Meaningful Goals
“People who strive for something significant, whether it’s learning a new craft or raising moral children, are far happier than those who don’t have strong dreams or aspirations,” say Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener.  “As humans, we actually require a sense of meaning to thrive.” Harvard’s resident happiness professor, Tal Ben-Shahar, agrees, “Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning.  Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable.”

5. Take Initiative at Work
How happy you are at work depends in part on how much initiative you take.  Researcher Amy Wrzesniewski says that when we express creativity, help others, suggest improvements, or do additional tasks on the job, we make our work more rewarding and feel more in control.

6. Make Friends, Treasure Family
Happier people tend to have good families, friends, and supportive relationships, say Diener and Biswas-Diener.  But it’s not enough to be the life of the party if you’re surrounded by shallow acquaintances.  “We don’t just need relationships, we need close ones” that involve understanding and caring.

7. Smile Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
It sounds simple, but it works. “Happy people…see possibilities, opportunities, and success.  When they think of the future, they are optimistic, and when they review the past, they tend to savor the high points,” say Diener and Biswas-Diener.  Even if you weren’t born looking at the glass as half-full, with practice, a positive outlook can become a habit.

8. Say Thank You Like You Mean It
People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis are healthier, more optimistic, and more likely to make progress toward achieving personal goals, according to author Robert Emmons.  Research by Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, revealed that people who write “gratitude letters” to someone who made a difference in their lives score higher on happiness, and lower on depression -- and the effect lasts for weeks.

9. Get Out and Exercise
A Duke University study shows that exercise may be just as effective as drugs in treating depression, without all the side effects and expense.  Other research shows that in addition to health benefits, regular exercise offers a sense of accomplishment and opportunity for social interaction, releases feel-good endorphins, and boosts self-esteem.

10. Give It Away, Give It Away Now!
Make altruism and giving part of your life, and be purposeful about it.  Researcher Stephen Post says helping a neighbor, volunteering, or donating goods and services results in a “helper’s high,” and you get more health benefits than you would from exercise or quitting smoking.  Listening to a friend, passing on your skills, celebrating others’ successes, and forgiveness also contribute to happiness, he says.  Researcher Elizabeth Dunn found that those who spend money on others reported much greater happiness than those who spend it on themselves.
AlterNet

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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

TVSpy.com is home to ShopTalk, the FREE daily newsletter for the TV news industry, read by more than 25,000 subscribers. For more than 20 years, ShopTalk has given TV news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE.

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com


In This Issue
Promo of the Day
Inauguration Watched by 29.2% Of Households
Battle of the Idols
CNN Tops Cable with Inauguration Ratings
News Web Sites See Traffic Soar on Inauguration Day
'Daily Show' Awaits New Narrative
Obama Overturns Era of White House Secrecy
Obama Pledges Online Comment Period on Most Bills
FCC Martin Aims Parting Shot at Cable Industry
Message From Michael: The Barack Obama Inaugural Edition
Fears Grow For World Satire Depression Following Election


Quotes

"Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity."
- Lord Acton

"The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it."
- Jean Jacques Rousseau

"Where secrecy reigns, carelessness and ignorance delight to hide while skill loves the light."
- Daniel C. Gelman


Promo of the Day
'Sex and the City' splashed on the scene on HBO in 1998 and ran for 6 seasons.  With taboo topics and strong, sexually charged attractive female characters, promos wrote themselves.

But 10 years later, most TV savvy viewers have long been acquainted with Carrie and her gang and their dramas, and with the emergence of new media, viewers are becoming more involved in their daily media habits.  To promote the show by rehashing the characters and their stories is a lazy thinking approach.

Smart producers turn a passive viewing role into an active one and allow the target audience to feel empowered by the promo, to be allowed to take part in the show's fantasy-reality.

Linda Lim, SPE Networks - Asia Senior Producer shares a promo she did a while back for 'Sex and the City": "This is to promote the drama series "Sex and the City" that has been shown to death by lots of channels.  Instead of promoting the plot, I tried appealing to the interests of our core target market, that is modern, career women who have a mind of their own.  By deviating away from a generic angles, I hope to give our channel a certain character as well."

And aside from the 'twice-a-day' smile approach that TBS took, viewer-centricity was hard to come by with most 'Sex and the City' promos.

602communications.com/VideoExamples

Have a video clip to share?  Email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Flash (.flv) or QuickTime (.mov) files, size 320 x 240, are preferred, but WindowsMedia (.wmv) files will also be accepted.  Large files may be sent via http://www.yousendit.com.  You can also mail your clip on VHS or DVD to Graeme Newell at 1011 Lyndhurst Falls Lane, Knightdale, NC  27545.


Inauguration Watched by 29.2% Of Households
The combined overall household rating for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Nielsen’s top 56 metered markets was 29.2%.  That puts Obama way ahead of the second inauguration of George W. Bush four years ago.  That inaugural was among the least watched at 11.8% in the top markets with a mere 15.5 million tuning in.  The 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan is still the most-watched inaugural with 37.4% penetration in the top markets and 41.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen.  The audience estimate for yesterday’s inaugural includes live coverage on 14 broadcast and cable networks from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on CNBC and ESPN from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Of course Nielsen’s audience measurement is based on home viewing only and does not account for the potentially substantial number of viewers that watched the inauguration at offices, schools and public spaces.
Broadcasting & Cable


Battle of the Idols
Apparently there is something that can pull viewers away from “American Idol:” Inauguration coverage.  The second week of Fox’s smash singing reality show saw viewership tumble last night, partly due to big tune-in for competing inauguration coverage from ABC and the cable news networks.  “Idol” averaged 22.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnights, off 26 percent from the 30.1 million who watched last week’s season debut.  “Idol” also slipped 23 percent among adults 18-49, to an 8.9 rating, though that was still easily the night’s top-rated show.  The 8 p.m. show was down 23 percent in total viewers and 24 percent in 18-49s compared to the same night last year.  Meanwhile, ABC’s inaugural ball coverage at 8 p.m. averaged a 3.5 18-49 rating and 12.6 million total viewers, roughly double the numbers it put up in the timeslot last week.  That undoubtedly pulled some viewers from “Idol,” as did the cable news coverage of President Barack Obama’s inauguration.  As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback.  Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks.  Twenty-eight percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.
 
Fox was first for the night among 18-49s with a 6.8 average overnight rating and a 16 share. ABC and NBC tied for second at 3.4/8, with CBS fourth at 2.2/5, Univision fifth at 1.7/4 and CW sixth at 0.9/2.  At 8 p.m. Fox led with an 8.9 for “Idol,” followed by ABC with a 3.5 for “Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration.” NBC was third with a 3.2 for “The Biggest Loser,” CBS fourth with a 2.3 for a repeat of “NCIS,” Univision fifth with a 1.9 for “Cuidado con el Angel” and CW sixth with a 1.1 for “90210.”  Fox and NBC tied for first at 9 p.m., each with a 4.7 rating, Fox for “Fringe” and NBC for more “Loser.”  ABC was third with a 3.9 for the second half of “Neighborhood Ball,” Univision fourth with a 2.0 for “Fuego en la Sangre,” CBS fifth with a 1.8 for “Change and Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama” and CW sixth with a 0.8 for “Privileged.”  At 10 p.m. ABC took the lead with a 2.9 for “A Moment in History: The Inauguration of Barack Obama,” with CBS second with a 2.6 for “The Mentalist.” NBC was third with a 2.2 for “Dateline” and Univision fourth with a 1.3 for “Aqui y Ahora.”  Among households, Fox was first for the night with a 9.6 average overnight rating and a 14 share. ABC was second at 7.3/11, CBS third at 6.1/9, NBC fourth at 5.5/8, Univision fifth at 2.2/3 and CW sixth at 1.4/2.
MediaLife Magazine


CNN Tops Cable with Inauguration Ratings
Among the cable-news networks, CNN emerged the ratings champ with its coverage of Tuesday's inauguration of President Barack Obama, according to Nielsen data released Wednesday.  CNN drew 8.5 million total viewers -- for the actual swearing-in ceremony and Inaugural Address in Washington -- from noon to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, with more Americans turning to that all-news cable channel than any other, according to Nielsen Media Fast National data provided by both CNN and Fox News Channel.  CNN also surpassed CBS, which was watched by an average of 8.45 million in that half-hour period.  For the swearing-in, CNN was followed by Fox News Channel with 5.5 million total viewers, with MSNBC trailing in third place with 3.1 million, according to Nielsen data.  From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, CNN was also rated No. 1 among cable news channels, tallying 6.9 million viewers, with Fox News Channel averaging 4.4 million and MSNBC attracting an audience of 2.6 million.  For the total day of the inauguration, 6 a.m. to 3 a.m., CNN placed first again, racking up 4.0 million total viewers, versus Fox's 2.5 million and MSNBC's 1.7 million, according to Nielsen.  It marked CNN's highest 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. average in its history.  CNN dominated in the key news demographic, 25 to 54, as well.  For the actual swearing-in ceremony, CNN drew 3.5 million viewers in that age group, more than Fox News and MSNBC combined.  Fox News had 1.7 million in that age group for the swearing-in and address, while MSNBC had 1.1 million.  From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the 25-to-54 demo, CNN delivered 2.8 million, Fox News had 1.4 million and MSNBC had 900,000.  And for total day in adults 25 to 54 Tuesday, CNN delivered 1.6 million, with Fox News drawing 749,740 and MSNBC only 610,357.
MultiChannel


News Web Sites See Traffic Soar on Inauguration Day
News organizations are capitalizing on the worldwide interest in the first truly Web 2.0 president.  According to preliminary, internal data, CNN.com generated more than 182 million page views and served more than 36.7 million total video streams on Inauguration Day, according to CNN.  Of the 36.7 million video streams, CNN.com Live served 26.9 million live video streams globally, breaking its all time total daily streaming record set on Election Day with 5.3 million live streams.  Additionally, CNN.com Live estimates it served more than 1.3 million concurrent live streams during its peak, which occurred immediately prior to President Obama's Inaugural Address.  Also, iReport.com, CNN's user-generated community, more than doubled its previous submission record of 5,100 set the day before the 2008 Election with more than 11,300 photos and videos uploaded to the site on Inauguration Day. FoxNews.com was poised to break 5 million live streams for its inauguration coverage, also a network Web record.  The Internet demand was so intense that CNN had to place users into a queue.  The network built capacity “to handle well above and beyond what was, to our knowledge, the most viewed live video event in Internet history,” according to a statement.  A “waiting room” was set up so that the experience for users in active sessions would not be degraded.
Broadcasting & Cable


'Daily Show' Awaits New Narrative
With George Bush back in Crawford, Texas, and Barack Obama in the White House trying to deal with the nation's woes, will "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" still have enough satirical fodder for its four-nights-per week/161-episodes-per-year broadcast?  "With a whole new administration, we're going to have to adjust," admits co-exec producer Josh Lieb.  "It would be backwards to plan the adjustment first," explains the vet comedy writer, who notes that in the waning days of the Bush administration the ex-president was an easy laugh.  But the future is not without promise.  "There's going to be plenty of scandals, plenty of missteps and plenty of things to take out of context to get our 22 minutes of comedy every night.  I'm not worried."  As co-exec producer Rory Albanese explains, the show's objective is to find stories that are not only funny but are meaningful, a directive that comes from the show's top comical voice, Jon Stewart.  "With Bush, we found the narrative pretty quickly.  He was doing what he was doing and we were calling him on it," Albanese says, comparing the show's attitude to that of the smart-mouthed kid in the back of class who challenges the status quo.  The 2000 election certainly provided a clear narrative for the show that will be missed.  "We knew we had a ton of election stories and pundits spinning stories and saying ridiculous things.  We were not worried about material coming in, it was just a matter of sifting through it," Albanese recalls.
Variety


Obama Overturns Era of White House Secrecy
In his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum ordering government agencies to examine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with a bias toward release of the documents -- overturning eight years of a Bush administration directives to find ways not to disclose information.  "For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said.  "The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed.  That era is now over.  Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."  Obama's "Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government" was immediately hailed by open government advocates, including the Sunshine in Government Initiative, an umbrella of media groups including the American Society of Newspaper Editors, The Associated Press, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, National Newspaper Association, Newspaper Association of America, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.  "It's wonderful that Priority One on Day One for this administration is transparency and restoring public trust," said Rick Blum, the coalition's coordinator.  “Yesterday’s policy of 'When in doubt, leave it out,' today became, 'When it doubt, let it out.'  And this policy will help keep the public informed in our technology-driven, connected society.  On open government, the dawn is breaking."  Obama also signed an "Executive Order on Presidential Records" that removes many of the barriers to public access to documents of past administrations. "This order ends the practice of having others besides the President assert executive privilege for records after an administration ends," a White House press release said.  That's an allusion to the Bush administration's novel interpretation of the Watergate-era law that allowed current and former vice presidents, including George H.W. Bush, to assert executive privilege to bar release of historic documents.  "Now, only the President will have that power, limiting its potential for abuse," the White House said.  "And the order also requires the Attorney General and the White House Counsel to review claims of executive privilege about covered records to make sure those claims are fully warranted by the Constitution."  "I will also hold myself, as president, to a new standard of openness," Obama added.
Editor & Publisher


Obama Pledges Online Comment Period on Most Bills
President Barack Obama has sent an immediate signal that the Internet will be an important part of his pledge for a more open and transparent government.  And taking a page from regulatory agencies like the FCC, which have public comment periods before making decisions, the new president has promised to publish all "non-emergency" legislation online and allow the public to review and comment on it for five days before he signs it.  The new, and revamped, White House Web site opened with a blog posting from Macom Phillips, director of new media for the White House, who seemed to liken the site to a social network, saying it would "serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world."  Sounding like an online marketer, Phillips said the site was just the first in many efforts to "expand and deepen this online engagement."  He encouraged surfers to keep tabs on the White House Blog via RSS feed, sign up for e-mail updates from the President.  Describing the site as an "online community," Phillips asked for input on how to make the site better, even including an online form for the purpose.
Broadcasting & Cable


FCC Martin Aims Parting Shot at Cable Industry
Kevin Martin closed his chairmanship of the FCC with hundreds of thousands of dollars in proposed fines against cable operators for failing to provide sufficient information to the commission in its investigation of the migration of channels from analog to digital, changing rates without sufficient notice, and more.  Hit with the fines were a who's who of cable operators, including Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, Charter, Cox, Comcast, Bright House, and Harron.  The investigations were in response to complaints from Consumers Union and others that operators were migrating channels from analog to digital without lowering the price of the analog tier and in some cases raising it.  Martin said in the letter that the FCC had gotten almost 600 complaints from cable subscribers.  Martin called the practice "unacceptable."  Cable operators have been trying to get their customers to move to digital to free up bandwidth for advanced services, including migrating channels.  In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockfeller (D-W.Va.) and ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), Martin said it had been "Unacceptable" that nine of 13 cable companies "did not provide the Commission with all of the information we requested," saying it had inhibited the investigation.  In the letter, Martin reiterated that cable rates have doubled while rates for other services have decreased in the same period of time.  The cable industry points out that on a per-channel basis, the story is quite different.  "When cable operators migrate analog channels to a digital tier, consumers are forced to pay more if they wish to continue watching the same channels," wrote Martin.  "Or, consumers may continue to pay the same amount to watch fewer channels.  This is not the type of consumer choice that the Communications Act envisions.  The commission has taken this issue seriously and I hope that Congress will as well."  Cable operators have long thought Martin was being punative toward their industry, but Martin has stuck to his criticism of cable rates and pushed for cable to unbundle its channels.
Broadcasting & Cable


Message From Michael: The Barack Obama Inaugural Edition
OVERVIEW: AdWeek says Franklin D. Roosevelt was the “radio president”, John F. Kennedy was the “television president” and Barack Obama will be the first “Internet president.”  Media newsletter Cynopsis calls it, “Camelot for the digital age.”   It may be “THE” media event of the year.  In a paroxysm of hyperbole, some are calling it the media event of the decade and more.  And it may not be hyperbole.  The head of research for Horizon Media says it will be the most watched “video event ever” and is being made available on more channels than the media-saturated Olympics.  Researcher Brad Adgate adds, in an article in AdWeek, that as a result, no-one will know for sure just how big it was because of its three screen delivery in home and out of home.  General manager K.C. Estonson of CNN.com says he thinks it will probably be “one of the most watched events in Internet history.”  It may give some indication of the size of the viewing that Obama’s victory speech in Chicago has had more than 4.3 Million views on YouTube.  All that said, let’s look at some of the media implications of the Obama inauguration and presidency.

IT’S BIBLICAL IN SIZE:  That’s the description used by CNN’s Washington bureau chief David Bohrman in describing the coverage plans for the inauguration.  With a crowd estimated at 2 Million or more, he and other network executives say the public interest is higher than any other inauguration they’ve seen and they have to match that interest with their coverage.  CBS executive producer Rick Kaplan only half jokingly told TVWeek that it seemed like the network had every camera it owned at the inauguration.  Of course all four networks and the cable news channels will have extensive television coverage, but all of them are also  supplementing, or complementing, it with equally extensive online coverage.  CBS will have live streaming video on its recently re-formatted TV.com website but will also provide it on Joost’s Everything Obama page.  NBC will, of course, live stream on MSNBC which also has a special inauguration day page with past inauguration’s footage.  Fox will live stream on Hulu which has a special Obama Presidency page.

MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS:  Even more interesting are the partnerships between media entities.  Cnet.com writer Stephanie Condon cites the partnership between CNN and Facebook, with the network streaming its coverage on the website where viewers can also share their thoughts.  In turn, the Facebook stream will be carried on the CNN site.  Current TV is partnering with Twitter to add “real time tweets” to its broadcast.  But then again even C-Span is getting in on the Twitter act with a partnership.  Even the official websites have forged partnerships.  The Presidential Inauguration Committee (yes, there is such a thing) is partnering with new (only 13 months old) blogging site Tumblr (no, I never heard of it before) to provide “a feed of content.”  And if you don’t like that official site, you can go to the other official site (yes, there are two.)  The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugurations will not only stream live coverage of the event, but also provides such interesting tidbits such as what not to bring to the inauguration (firearms, knives, your leatherman, bags of any sort and laser pointers) and what’s on the luncheon day menu (seafood stew followed by pheasant and duck in sour cherry chutney and a desert of apple cinnamon sponge cake.)

ESTABLISHMENT EMBRACE OF NEW MEDIA:  If you want a litmus test of how the ‘establishment’ has embraced new media, there are websites on YouTube specifically provided for your elected representative to communicate with their constituencies about the inauguration and their agenda.  It’s an interesting exercise to see if your Congressman or Senator is on the site. Equally interesting (again, as always, to me) it seemed that Representatives are more likely to take advantage of the YouTube site than Senators.  The introduction to the YouTube inauguration site has “bi-partisan support.” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi telling the youtubers that “we may not see eye to eye on everything but one thing we can agree on is the importance of utilizing technology to communicate with constituents.”  House Republican leader John Boehner says “new media tools let us provide you with a level of access and transparency never seen before in government.”  And there is interest in the site.  When I last checked, the introductory inauguration video had 247,231 views.  Of course, it says something that Nancy Pelosi’s “cat cam” video (don’t ask me – I don’t get it)  on the same site had two thousand more views – 249,410.

A VERY CRITICAL TIME IN TECHNOLOGY:  Those words from law professor and Common Sense Media founder James Steyer in talking about the expected appointment of Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission.  He could just as easily be talking about the incoming administration.  To state the obvious, more critical than what is going on with media and technology today in Washington, D.C., is what the future holds for media and technology under the Obama administration.  Some of that can be seen from the website, change.gov, mentioned in a previous MfM.  (Interestingly, there are now two change sites – change.gov and change.org.)  But it can also be seen in the $825 Billion stimulus bill proposed by House Democrats.  The bill includes $6 Billion to expand Broadband access “so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy.”  Another $10 Billion is earmarked for ‘scientific research’ ranging from the National Science Foundation getting $3 Billion to expand employment opportunities in fundamental science and engineering to meet environmental changes and improve global economic competitiveness; $2 Billion for the National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research; $1.5 Billion to renovate university research facilities, also in biomedical areas.  Do you begin to see a pattern here?  Actually, there are several, including an emphasis on the global economy.  Of course, that’s not all.  The bill also calls for several measures to stimulate technology usage in small businesses.  We’ll have more on this in future MfM’s.   

The technology section of the government change site is a must read for anybody interested in media.  It starts with a quote from Barack Obama’s 2007 Presidential announcement speech:  “Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age.” Topping his agenda is the same topic that tops the Democratic stimulus bill – Broadband access.  But there’s more.  Here is just a partial list of the items on the President’s agenda:  Support network neutrality; encourage diversity in broadcast ownership; strengthen privacy protections; use cutting-edge technology to create a new level of transparency, accountability and participation; make the R&D tax credit permanent; protect American intellectual property at home and abroad; and “restore scientific integrity to the White House.  The so-called TIGR Team (Technology, Innovation and Government Reform) says it will offer citizens a “Seat at the Table.”  Look for the presentation of the so-called Citizens’ Briefing Book to President Obama.

The Change.Org website lists a series of causes ranging from: global warming, global health, gay rights, animal rights, women ’s rights, ending homelessness and ending human trafficking.  Interestingly there are a number of ‘side’ websites, including whitehouse2.org, where the leading issue that visitors want the new President to address is replacing the income tax with the ‘fair tax’ concept, followed by “defend the Constitution.”

COCKTAIL CHATTER:  Despite the broad support cited by many in the media, Barack Obama only got 52% of the popular vote.  And despite the high interest cited for this election cycle, more than a third (38.4%) of eligible voters didn’t cast a ballot for President, according to website factcheck.org.  That’s only slightly less than the number who failed to vote in 2006 (39.9%).  The list of inaugural events put together by the ConklinScott political consulting firm runs 52 pages in length and includes such events as the Hip Hop Caucus, the Georgia State Society gala  (where sponsorships run from $10K to $100k), and my favorite, The Spirit of 92/ Clinton-Gore alumni reunion bash.  An architectural group has created a competition with the idea of how would the symbol of American power, The White House, be built if it were designed today.  You can see some of the myriad of weird and wonderful designs at whitehouseredux.org.   And as a side note to this, I will be curious to look at the official White House website after the inauguration.

Finally, in case you were wondering what one drinks with the pheasant and duck mentioned in the luncheon menu earlier, the wine being served was a Goldeneye 2005 Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley.  The seafood stew was paired with Duckhorn Vineyards 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley and the desert was topped off with Korbel Natural “Special Inaugural Cuvee” California Champagne.  (And if you’re truly OCD, the recipes are available on the congressional inaugural site.)       

 Michael Castengera is an instructor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia AND President of Media Strategies and Tactics Inc., a consulting firm that works with all media but primarily broadcasting.  You can visit his website at MediaConsultant.tv.


Fears Grow For World Satire Depression Following Election

World leaders from the satire industry are to meet for an emergency summit next week following the end of the Bush-Cheney era, only days following the inauguration of the new US president Barack Obama.

Fears are growing that the end of the Bush-Cheney era will lead to one of the worst political comedy depressions in living memory.

Early plans for Comedy Central and The Daily Show to pump satire into the market are being considered to avoid the satire depression worsening.

One distraught uninspired satirist told this website:

"Even though Obama sort of fluffed his lines a little bit during the inauguration, I still just can't think of anything funny to write about him.  That might change, but at the moment this has all the signs that this is going to be the worst satirical depression we have seen since the great satirical depression of the 1930s.  And that was only saved by comedy geniuses Laurel and Hardy."

Speaking of criticising the inauguration, one satirist pointed out that the only thing he thought was funny was the sight of former vice president Dick Cheney in a wheelchair.  Even the poet failed to deliver any belly laughs.

Professor of Laughter at the University of Mirth, Helsinki, mused:

"When the history of satire is written, 2000-2008 will go down as a great satirical golden age with George Bush and Dick Cheney at times literally writing the Daily Show themselves.  Now it looks like we face a satirical bust not seen in the last 80 years or more - some say this is as bad as the 1930s in the USA, but I think this is worse even than following the Russian Revolution in 1917."

The Voice of Reason

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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

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Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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In This Issue
Mix up the Structure of Story Packages
Obama 2.0 Launched
USA Network Campaigns for Tolerance
Conan Hopes to Stay Edgy in New Time Slot
Conan Exits Early than Thought
PaleyFest to Honor 'Fringe', 'True Blood'
Al Jazeera to Provide Content for Public TV News Program
Message From Michael: 2009 Predictions and Forecasts
Martin Luther King, Jr: Excerpts from Strength to Love (1963)


Quotes

“A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness.”
- Edith Wharton, American novelist and short-story writer (1862-1937)

"That man is a creature who needs order yet yearns for change is the creative contradiction at the heart of the laws which structure his conformity and define his deviancy."
- Freda Adler

"In times of storm, the shallowness of the root structure is revealed."
- Author Unknown


Mix up the Structure of Story Packages
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com
 
If you look at the basic structure of a newscast, it has changed very little since it was invented more than 50 years ago.  Back in the days before clicker-happy viewers, the audience was more tolerant of less-interesting portions of a newscast.  Changing the channel meant getting up from the chair.  Now, viewers make snap one-second judgments about news programs.  If you don't entertain them right NOW, they won't hesitate to blow past your newscast.

All newscasts have points where viewers are more likely to switch away -  just before the break, after the lead story, and after weather, are some of the more common ones.  The beginning of a package is one of these vulnerable moments.  Viewers will watch the intro to a story, then make a judgment.   This means the beginning of any package is a vulnerable time.

For generations, we've followed a classic formula when building a news package.
1) Anchor introduction
2) Toss to reporter in the newsroom or field
3) Toss to the recorded story.

Problem is, all the good stuff is in the last part.  If you follow this format, the first 30 seconds of your package will be talking heads.  At the very point where viewers are making the decision to watch or surf out of there, you have an extended period of lip flap.  All that great, interesting video, fascinating interviews, and field shots are yet to come.  Most packages reach their peak two-thirds of the way through the story.  By that time, a lot of your audience may have cruised on over to the Speed Channel.  It makes more sense to put some good stuff at the top, at the very place where viewers make their decision.

Mix up the structure of your packages.  Start packages with the best components - the sound and video.   Grab 'em with the good stuff, then, go to your anchors. This interesting, demonstrative content makes the anchors look smarter and more involved.  It creates a nice moment because the anchor is simply continuing the flow of the package right out of a great soundbite or clip.  The anchors won't be forced to cold start every package using just words.  They'll appear more interesting and animated because they have the full support of great interesting video.

Making this change is never easy.  It means reporters must be willing to give up some of their best material so the anchors will look better.  Most reporters are hesitant to do this with simple facts, let alone precious video and sound.  Win them by showing that more people will actually watch their package if they begin the intro with a bang. 

Take a hard look at the structure of your packages.  Is that newsroom toss adding to the story, or just putting more lip flap in front of the great video and sound?  Break the mold on your package, and redesign it so great content gets used where it will hold the most viewers.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and web marketing specialist.  He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free.  Find out more here.

Obama 2.0 Launched
As the first president-elect with a Facebook page and a YouTube channel, Barack Obama is poised to use the Internet to communicate directly with Americans in a way unknown to previous presidents.  Judging by Obama's savvy use of social-networking sites during his campaign and the interactive nature of his transition team's Web site, Americans can expect a president who bypasses the traditional media's filters while reaching out to citizens for input, observers say.  "The rebooting of our democracy has begun," said Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Forum and the techPresident blog.  "[Obama] has the potential to transform the relationship between the American public and their democracy."

During the presidential race, Obama's campaign won praise for its innovative use of social-networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace and MyBarackObama.com, to announce events, rally volunteers and raise money. Facebook has more than 150 million active users, and the average user has 100 friends on the site, according to the company. iReport.com:  Obama has more than 1 million MySpace "friends" and more than 3.7 million "supporters" on his official Facebook page -- some 700,000 more than when he was elected in November.  His campaign also has a database of almost 13 million supporters and their e-mail addresses.

Transition officials hope to transform Obama's vast Web operation and electronic list of supporters into a 21st-century tool to help accomplish his goals as president.  They even have a name for this ambitious effort: Obama 2.0.

"Obama has invented an alternative media model," said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. "In the old model, the president talks to the people on television [and] the people talk back in polls.  In the new model, communication is online, and two-way."

Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter didn't exist when George W. Bush took office eight years ago. But since last November's election, Obama has wasted no time embracing these online communication portals.  In recent weeks he has taped weekly video addresses and posted them to YouTube, where most have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Obama's staffers also have stopped posting information to social-networking sites since the election, preferring to reach out to constituents through YouTube and Change.gov, the official site of the president-elect's transition team.  Visitors to Change.gov can read a frequently updated blog, post their ideas on issues facing the country, and rate others' ideas.  Top-rated ideas will be gathered into a briefing book and given to Obama after he takes office.

"They want information going not just from them to the voters, but from the voters back to them," Democratic strategist Steve McMahon said Wednesday on CNN's "The Situation Room."  "Thirteen million people pushing a button, sending an e-mail to their elected representatives, making a phone call, taking action, is a powerful, powerful lobbying tool."

"It's a very smart use of the Internet, to get people to offer ideas," said David All, a Republican Internet strategist.  All hopes that Obama and his staff take a similar approach to WhiteHouse.gov, the president's official Web site.  The current WhiteHouse.gov site, operated by the Bush administration, contains few interactive features.

A statement on the president-elect's transition site says that Obama hopes to "use cutting-edge technologies to create a new level of transparency, accountability, and participation for America's citizens."

It's fitting, then, that Obama's inauguration next week could be one of the most watched video events in Internet history.  Rasiej expects that hordes of users will be watching online when Obama takes the oath of office, visiting WhiteHouse.gov and refreshing their browsers to capture the moment the site switches to proclaim Obama, not George W. Bush, as president.

As president, Obama will likely not just rely on WhiteHouse.gov but use multiple Internet sites and technological tools to build grass-roots support for his agenda, observers say.

"[Obama] is using the tools that are available to him today," All told CNN.  "The next president will be using some of the same tools, and also some tools that haven't been invented yet."
CNN

USA Network Campaigns for Tolerance
USA Network, which supported a social campaign to "Erase the Hate" in the 1990s, is launching a new public affairs campaign, Characters Unite, which launches on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, Jan. 19.  The new campaign is based on the premise that "life is richer when people see beyond stereotypes on race, sex and religion."  The channel will host a multi-media pledge drive for tolerance and understanding.  USA will be guided in its effort by an advisory board including participants from the American Association of People with Disabilities, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Amnesty International USA, the Asian American Justice Center and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.  Other advisors are the National Council of La Raza, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center.  The on-air and on-line campaign will kick off with an aggressive call to action, network officials said.  Those who sign the pledge will have a chance to see their names featured on future Characters Unite promos and on a rolling ticker online.  At charactersunite.com, viewers can share their personal stories and suggestions and utilize an interactive Facebook application.
MultiChannel


Conan Hopes to Stay Edgy in New Time Slot
Conan O'Brien said he doesn't want to shave the edges off his comedy when he steps in as "Tonight Show" host and doesn't see the need for it.  "I want to make sure I don't over-think it," O'Brien told a meeting of the Television Critics Association on Thursday.  "Television is changing drastically.  I want to make sure my show isn't too buttoned-up."  It's archaic to think the comedy that works on a post-midnight show like his current "Late Night" won't work an hour earlier on "Tonight," O'Brien said. Besides, he said, only so much change is possible.  "Johnny Carson said these shows are all about the person behind the desk.  So I'd need a brain transplant" for "Tonight" to be completely different than his New York show, O'Brien said.  But his "Tonight" won't be a continuation of "Late Night," O'Brien said, and inevitably will evolve as he does the job and settles into his new Los Angeles studio and life.  The show's pieces are being assembled, including deciding which writers and other staff members will come to Los Angeles, he said -- then couldn't resist cracking a joke.  "Everyone's been fired," O'Brien said.  He's set to replace Jay Leno as "Tonight" host in June, with Leno moving to a new daily prime-time show for NBC.  Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Jimmy Fallon will take over "Late Night" in March.  O'Brien said he'll compete with himself on "Tonight" and not with David Letterman's "Late Show" on CBS.  "I'm just going to run my race and do the best show I can. I don't think I can touch David Letterman's legacy in television," he said.
Yahoo TV


Conan Exits Early than Thought
Conan O'Brien is quitting "Late Night" a bit earlier than thought.  Mr. O'Brien's final 12:35 a.m. broadcast will come on Feb. 20.  His replacement, Jimmy Fallon, is still scheduled to premiere March 2.  There had been talk that Mr. O'Brien would work at 12:35 until Feb. 27.  "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" is still slated to premiere on Monday, June 1.
TV Week


PaleyFest to Honor 'Fringe', 'True Blood'
The 26th annual William S. Paley Television Festival will honor new series “Fringe” and “True Blood.”  The full schedule, featuring 10 more panels with cast and creative teams, will be announced Feb. 18.  Named for William S. Paley, founder of both the Paley Center and CBS, the annual William S. Paley Television Festival has celebrated television's rich and diverse programming and the creative process behind the medium for the last twenty-five years.
TV Week


Al Jazeera to Provide Content for Public TV News Program
Al Jazeera Network has entered into a deal with to provide content for Worldfocus, an internationally centered nightly news program developed by New York’s WLIW, officials said Thursday.  Under the agreement, news from Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic will be included in Worldfocus as part of the show’s daily broadcasts on public television stations nationwide.  The deal marks another step for Al Jazeera English’s distribution efforts in America, increasing exposure of its award-winning news coverage to millions of new U.S. households.  Worldfocus, hosted by former NBC News correspondent Martin Savidge, was launched to fill the void in international news coverage and inform American viewers about the relevance of international events.  The newscast premiered nationwide in October on a lineup of public television stations in over 60 U.S. markets, and 27 of the Top 30, including a variety of prominent PBS affiliates.
MultiChannel


Message From Michael: 2009 Predictions and Forecasts
THE HEADLINE:  Let’s just get the major forecast issue out of the way at the start – 2009 will stink… stink being a relative term.  If you’re in traditional media, it will stink bad.  If you’re in new media, it will stink less.  But, regardless, it will stink.  The Television Bureau of Advertising predicts total TV spot advertising will drop anywhere from 7% to 11%.  The BIA Advisory Services says radio will drop 10% and MediaWeek says 2009 will be the worst year for radio since 1954 when The Lone Ranger went off the air.  Online advertising will actually grow, but at a much slower rate.  Research firm eMarketer puts the growth at 9% which is a significant drop from the double digit growth of the past. And as Borrell Associates points out, online is a small part (3.5%) of radio and television revenue.  Rating service Fitch Ratings has similar dire predictions for newspaper, even going so far as to say that some major cities will be without a newspaper by 2010.  So, now that we’ve gotten all the depressing news out of the way, let’s move on to the rest of the predictions.

DIGITAL TV.  It’s an obvious point, but it should be made anyway.  The big change for many of us is the transition to digital TV scheduled for February 17, 2009… unless President-elect Barack Obama does delay it.  Not surprising, the Consumer Electronics Association which is putting on its annual show as we speak, says unit shipments of digital TV’s will increase six percent in 2009 with an expected 35 Million units being shipped out.  The association notes that digital TV’s are the primary revenue driver for the industry.  Okay, now that we’ve gotten that other obvious point out of the way, let’s really move on to the rest of the predictions.

SOCIALIZE YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS:  That seems to be the main message for 2009.  Social network this… social media that… Many of the articles I read talk about social media coming of age in 2008 and growing in 2009 as a marketing and branding tool.  One of the reasons for companies and marketers to focus on social networking is the growth and interest in ratings and review sites. That is why several groups recommend companies create a kind of CCO position – Chief Conversation Officer – to monitor the online conversation.  Here’s a simple metric that says a lot.  When I did a search with the key terms media, predictions and 2009, more than 80% of the responses came back with “social media.”  However, a note of reality -- our friends at eMarketer predict that while social network spending will outpace other online advertising (10% versus 8.9%), that is down from 126% growth in 2007 and 34% growth in 2008.  Several other reports noted the demise of Pownce and Values of n social networks, plus the cutbacks at LinkedIn, Hi5 and Jive.  And the much bally-hooed Twitter still is not generating revenue.  Be that as it may, several groups, including MediaPost and OMMA (Online Media Marketing Advertising) are planning events and offering webinars to show you how to “make money making friends.”  As Marketing Daily’s Diane Mermigas so well puts it, “social media is becoming the new CRM (customer relationship management.) The new ROI is Return On Involvement.”

WHAT YOU GET IS WHAT YOU SEE:  And more and more people want to get it at their convenience, which is cited as one of the main reasons for the growth in online video.  Research firm Mediamark Research and Intelligence  (MRI) reports that downloading TV programs posted the greatest gain in the online world with a 141% jump; but to put that in perspective, that ‘whopping’ increase amounted to a relatively insignificant 3.2% of the online users.  Still, watching video online also posted a strong gain (35.4%) but even more significant, that translated into a quarter (23.3%) of all online users which was actually just one step ahead of the popular downloading of music (21.6%), according to MRI. Earlier this year, marketing and research firm Magna Insights predicted a 45% growth in online video in 2009, lower than the 67% in 2007 and the 54% in 2008, but still huge.  Researcher Jack Myers goes even further, forecasting a 70% growth in 2009 in online video along with social networking and widgets, which he lumps all together.  Looking even further ahead tech research firm ABI Research says the number of online video viewers will grow from the present 563 Million to 941 Million in 2013 because, as research director Michael Wolf puts it, “all stakeholders in the online video ecosystem are eyeing the living room.”

As a Side Note that probably deserves to be more than that, networked video games online is the other major category to watch in 2009.  According to projections from the Consumer Electronics Show, the online video game market is expected to grow 11% this year generating a high mark of $22 Billion a year in revenue.  The Magna Insights report more than doubles that estimate with a forecast of a 27.4% growth in video gaming, including off-line as well as online.

CLOUDS GET IN YOUR WAY:  Despite the lyrics of the Joni Mitchell song, most people in the media technology world believe just the opposite – clouds will guide the way for future computing.  Several groups are predicting that 2009 will be the year of cloud computing.  Shock of shocks, most of those projections come from the major cloud computing sites, but as website cloudcomputing.sys-con.com points out, with Amazon rolling out CloudFront, Microsoft rolling out Azure, Hosting.com rolling out CloudNine and VMware rolling out vCloud, there is a lot of validity to the claim.  Just as a reminder about what cloud computing is, Wikipedia callsit is a metaphor for the Internet.  It means all your applications plus IT-technology infrastructure and data are hosted on-line and not on your computer.  Much of the future of cloud computing will be seen when the 2nd international cloud computing conference takes place in New York City at the end of March.  As the expo website puts it, “entrepreneurial opportunities abound as this classic disruptive technology begins to proliferate.”

As a Side Note, watch for the sale of ‘netbooks’ to grow in 2009.  These mini-me’s of computers are becoming mainstream with Hewlett Packard jumping into the manufacture of the devices along with Lenovo.  Weighing less than three pounds and with a small solid state hard drive, their main purpose is just to get you on the Internet where cloud computing offerings will replace your maxed out home computer.  (I will confess that I am looking at trying this approach.)

And as an only semi-related side note to the side note, look for the acronym OLPC to emerge this year.  It stands for One Laptop Per Child.  A non-profit U.S. organization funded by several major corporations has been established to provide these ‘educational devices’ to children in third world, developing nations.

BUSINESS LOOK AT TECHNOLOGY IN 2009.  As much, if not more, than any of the media guru’s prognostications, the recommendation by Forbes Magazine of “dirt cheap” tech stocks to buy, may tell us more about the upcoming year.  At less than six bucks a share ($5.93 at last check), Harmonic (listed as HLIT) is worth a look as the transition from SDTV to HDTV gathers momentum.  The company makes and sells high-performance products designed to deliver the next generation of broadcast and on-demand services.  If you have a little more money, take a look at Skyworks Solutions ($6.42 and listed as SWKS), which makes and markets high performance analog and mixed signal semi-conductors used for wireless communication.  Old-line company Corning (GLW and $10) is worth a look because it is definitely not old-line in its products.  It is the leading global maker of advanced glass products used in LCD’s.  Forbes editors say they expect an ‘inventory correction’ and the transition from tube TV’s to LCD TV’s is far from over.  Netgear (NTGR and $10.74) specializes in networking products and solutions – LAN’s – for the home and small business market.  The Forbes editors cite the ongoing transition from wired to wireless markets.  Another old stand-by is Western Digital (WDC and $15.35), the leading maker and supplier of hard drives used not just in personal computers but consumer electronics in general.  The Forbes editors say the weakened consumer spending will put pressure on hard drive sales short-term, but long-term, the need for greater data storage will only grow and grow.  Lastly a complete unknown (at least, to me) is MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR and $17.76) which is one of the world’s largest makers of wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries.  The Forbes forecasters admit the semiconductor market is down and that may last a while, but they anticipate another ‘inventory correction’ with growth in markets like China and India.  But more particularly, the solar application wafer business should grow.

OTHER THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:  This is my addition to the list – things I didn’t see mentioned in great detail in other reports, but which I think will be worth noting.  Watch for WiMax to become more prevalent in 2009, replacing WiFix transmission in many cases.  Microsoft may actually get it right, or at least closer to right, when it releases Windows v.7, replacing the clunky Vista operating system, but there will still be bugs.  Google will release its new browser system, Chrome, onto an unsuspecting public as it continues its efforts to dominate the on-line world.

Last year the buzz phrase was ‘cause marketing’ – tying your product to a public service, ‘feel good’ cause.  This year watch for the new buzz phrase to be ‘content marketing’ – in which relevant information is made part of your advertising message to provide value to the consumer.  Also look for “personal branding” to come into the ‘buzz-ophere’ (a word I just made up) as blogging, web 2.0 and Internet Interactivity spreads people’s individual social networking needs.

But the big issue of the year, especially considering the economy situation, will be measurement and metrics.  Several groups are offering differing measures for everything from the Internet to social networking to word of mouth.  Stay tuned for more, as marketers and companies look to get more “bang for their buck.”

FOOTNOTE #1:  We didn’t mention Mobile growth in this report although several reports predict continuing growth in this area.  The reason I didn’t is that we talked about it in the previous MfM report looking back at 2008, and besides, I couldn’t beat the headline I wrote in the last MfM – Bear Bryant’s Agile, Mobile and Hostile.  I would note that the Magna Insight report cited earlier, predicts that mobile will grow 42.6% in 2009 which is pretty impressive given other areas, but not as impressive as the doubling (118.2%) in 2007 and the 73.4% in 2008.   

I also made a brief mention of the newspaper dilemma at the top of this report.  Again, I touched on it in the previous MfM, but it too is probably one of the scarier scenarios.  On the upside of this, there are several prognostications that journalists may find unexpected sources of work with corporations as marketers realize they need the natural story telling skills of journalists to tell the narrative of their particular product.  Ann Handley of MarketingProfs says such writers are ‘natural’ content managers, a sentiment echoed by content management site Junta42.com.  Columnist Jon Fine of BusinessWeek goes several steps further, predicting a “shadow” media industry staffed by the laid off journalists.  Lastly I didn’t talk much about Widgets, but this is another area to watch as they become – in the words of one group – the new ad unit.  Or as I put, the new coin of the realm.

Michael Castengera is an instructor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia AND President of Media Strategies and Tactics Inc., a consulting firm that works with all media but primarily broadcasting.  You can visit his website at MediaConsultant.tv.


Martin Luther King, Jr: Excerpts from Strength to Love (1963)
The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites.  The idealists are usually not realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic.  The militant are not generally known to be passive, nor the passive to be militant.  Seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self-assertive humble.  But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.  The philosopher Hegel said that truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in the emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.

Jesus recognized the need for blending opposites.  He knew that his disciples would face a difficult and hostile world, where they would confront the recalcitrance of political officials and the intransigence of the protectors of the old order.  He knew that they would meet cold and arrogant men whose hearts had been hardened by the long winter of traditionalism. ... And he gave them a formula for action, "Be ye therefore as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." ... We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.

The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false.  The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning.  He has a strong austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment.  Who doubts that this toughness is one of man's greatest needs?  Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.  There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions.  Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

Softmindedness often invades religion. ... Softminded persons have revised the Beautitudes to read "Blessed are the pure in ignorance: for they shall see God."  This has led to a widespread belief that there is a conflict between science and religion.  But this is not true.  There may be a conflict between softminded religionists and toughminded scientists, but not between science and religion. ... Science investigates; religion interprets.  Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.  Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values.  The two are not rivals.  They are complementary.

There is little hope for us until we become toughminded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance.  The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of softmindedness.  A nation or civilization that continues to produce softminded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.  But we must not stop with the cultivation of a tough mind.  The gospel also demands a tender heart. ... What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of toughmindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hardheartedness?

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.   Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.  Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.  Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.  So when Jesus says "Love your enemies," he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. ... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

WikiQuote

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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

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In This Issue
Promo of the Day
Letters
Midseason TV Rules Change
CLIOs Add PR Award
House Republicans Oppose DTV Transition Delay
Obama's Stance on Consumer Privacy to Get Tested
FCC to Enter into the 21st Century
Obama Team Out to Create Broadband Jobs
Ad Council Launches Obama's Volunteerism Spots
CNN.com, Facebook Team on Live Inauguration Stream
Coming to a Theater Near You...the Obama Inauguration
Late Night Licks


Quotes

"The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do.  It lets people be creative.  It lets people be productive.  It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential."
- Steve Ballmer

"The Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people at each level of the network to innovate free of any central control.  By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform for innovation."
- Vinton Cerf

"We can believe that we know where the world should go.  But unless we're in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality.  There's no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either."
- Steve Ballmer


Promo of the Day
The incredible selling feature of the first cell phone was the ability to connect...anywhere! In a car or on a boat...you could lug one of these behemoths to your ears to listen to the cooing voice of your loved ones (as this 1989 Centel ad shows).

But 20 years later, portability is no longer a novelty.  So check out how some companies advertise their strong features and the audiences they appeal to:

602communications.com/VideoExamples

Have a video clip to share?  Email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Flash (.flv) or QuickTime (.mov) files, size 320 x 240, are preferred, but WindowsMedia (.wmv) files will also be accepted.  Large files may be sent via http://www.yousendit.com.  You can also mail your clip on VHS or DVD to Graeme Newell at 1011 Lyndhurst Falls Lane, Knightdale, NC  27545.


Letters
A question regarding Graeme's article of 1/5/09 "Avoid overuse of the words "who, what, when, where, why and how" in teases":
 
You wrote that we should avoid the words "who, what, when, where…etc." in teases.  Does that apply to weather teases?  As I recall, you suggested we use these type of words in our weather teases.  For example, "….WHERE the freeze line will be tonight,"  "…WHO is in the path of the storm."  Etc.

Or did I misunderstand something?

Thanks for your help!

Tim Heller
Chief Meteorologist
AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
KTRK ABC 13
 
----------------------
I think the thing to remember here is that this is not a hard and fast rule. It's perfectly okay to use these words in teases, and in weather teases that will happen a lot.  Use them as often as you feel you need. I like to think of  eliminating these words as "extra credit."  It is a chance to get more descriptive and more passionate in writing.

So for example, instead of just saying, "when" the storm will hit, get more descriptive on that "when." Instead, say "the inconvenient time the storm will hit." Those first few words in that sentence promise a much more in-depth and intriguing story than a plain, vanilla "when." It sounds complex.  It sounds like there's a real weather backstory going on.

Instead of saying "where" it will rain the hardest, replace that "where" with "the already waterlogged communities that will get the hardest rain showers."  By doing that, we're giving adding character and intrigue to that location and foreshadowing a real story, not just a cold fact.

But remember, it is perfectly okay to use the who, what, etc. words whenever you need them. They are perfectly fine, and in weather, you will need to use them a lot.  There are times where really isn't anything more descriptive or special about that "when" and it is perfectly fine to use the simple term.  Sometimes, 2pm is just 2pm, and that's the time you want to use a simple "when."

Just take a second look at them after you write them, and see if you can't drill down on something more active, descriptive and passionate.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Graeme


Midseason TV Rules Change
January may turn out to be the cruelest month for TV types this year, with a crush of broadcast and cable premieres threatening to forever change the rules of midseason launches.  Networks, particularly on the broadcast side, have long considered the winter months somewhat safer havens for debuting shows—at least compared to the traditional fall onslaught.  While the rise of Fox’s “American Idol” has made things more difficult, the first weeks of the year still generally provide a more hospitable environment for kicking off new shows.

Not any more.

After a lackluster fall that saw fewer broadcast premieres than usual—and a paucity of buzz for those series that did debut—networks have started throwing on fresh fare as frequently as an F-bomb on a Rod Blagojevich surveillance tape. More than 30 major new and returning series will debut before Valentine’s Day on broadcast and cable outlets. Add in some smaller cable series and the number swells to more than four dozen.

So much for the advantages of year-round programming.

This year, January is the new September—and DVRs everywhere (not to mention network marketing executives) will be struggling to keep up.

“The first quarter is going to be more like a fall launch for us,” ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader admitted last month in an interview with TelevisionWeek.

One of the biggest woes for networks now is simply figuring out how to get their new shows on viewer radar screens.  Fox marketing chief Joe Earley said it “absolutely has become a challenge” to stand out in midseason, particularly at a time when off-air marketing budgets have been trimmed due to the economy.

“When shows like ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ and even the first few years of ‘American Idol’ premiered, [midseason premieres were] strategic counterprogramming at a time when we could grab a share of voice,” Mr. Earley said.  “Now, with so many series premiering over several weeks, January seems more cluttered than the fall.”’

Mr. Earley’s News Corp. colleague, FX President and General Manager John Landgraf, believes the January rush is due in part to the “writers strike, which delayed many shows ... and because cable is ramping up.

“Seasonality has become much less meaningful in general as the broadcast networks have diminished in ratings punch,” he said.  “Sweeps have become less important as well.”

“In the fall, we’re mainly competing with other media outlets and ‘going back to school’ messaging, but for January, we’re competing with each other, retail, feature films, holiday music and traveling,” Mr. Earley said.  “Compound that with the fact that viewing levels dip in December, undercutting the reach of on-air, publicity outlets go on hiatus during the holidays, and the off-air budgets have been cut due to the economy, and you can understand why building awareness—and then converting that to intent to view—is an uphill climb.”

Mr. Landgraf warned of what he calls “marketing fatigue,” which he argued can set in “virtually any week of the year any more.”

“Marketing, which is always timed to a day and date, is becoming less and less effective as the audience stops watching programs on a specific day and date and is constantly told that everything they want will be available everywhere at all times.  This is a serious issue,” he said.
TV Week


CLIOs Add PR Award
For its 50th anniversary celebrating the best in advertising, Nielsen's CLIO Awards are adding an award for strategic communications and public relations.  According to Nielsen, the new category will "celebrate innovative and creative use of any form of unpaid publicity and messaging that drives credibility, awareness, reputation, and relationships between a company or organization and its consumers or constituents."  The Executive Jury Chair for the new award was given to none other than Richard Edelman, president & CEO of Edelman. It's a fair choice since Edelman is the biggest independent PR shop.  Meaning, they're not a PR division of a giant conglomerate like WPP, Omnicom or Publicis.  There are PR CLIOs in three core categories: consumer, corporate and crisis management for campaigns appearing in the 2008 calendar year.  Campaigns or efforts to be considered include those in the area of arts and entertainment, cause-related/non-profit, corporate branding, multicultural, international and new media.  Better hurry up if you want to be one of the first winners.  The online entry system opens on January 16th and closes on February 13th.  The awards will be given out during the three-day on May 12th through 14th in Las Vegas.
MediaBistro


House Republicans Oppose DTV Transition Delay
Fourteen House Republicans are urging President-elect Barack Obama to reverse course on delaying the digital TV changeover, warning that a delay would be “a monumental error in judgment.”  “No one said that this was going to be easy, but we have unquestionably made the right decision to complete the digital television transition of Feb. 17,” said the letter.  “We believe that panicky talk of a delay is breeding stultifying uncertainty.”  In the letter today, the 14, led by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, said that the deadline had provided a certainty that helped to assure that broadcasters informed consumers about the changeover, that consumers became aware of the switch and that consumers asked for discount coupons for converter boxes.  “None of this would have happened without the certainty of a deadline.  America understood that we said what we meant and meant what we said and that the digital transition was coming for sure.”  The letter suggested that the Obama transition office’s delay request is already creating consequences.  “Industry groups are nervously withdrawing from what had been vigorous consumer education efforts.  There is rising fear that consumers may be refraining from requesting coupons because they have read that the program is broke and the switch is off.”  Suggesting that TV station engineers are standing by to make the conversion on Feb. 17, the letter urged they not be headed off.  “The last thing we need is for them to stand down and stand around, waiting for us to make up our minds.”  It also suggested running both analog and digital transmitters at the same time would be expensive and not “green.”  The latest letter may reflect a long-term fight between Democrats and Republicans in the House on whether adequate money was set aside for the DTV switchover publicity and coupons.
TV Week


Obama's Stance on Consumer Privacy to Get Tested
Consumer advocates filed a complaint seeking new federal safeguards for mobile-phone users, a move that may provide an early test of President-elect Barack Obama’s stance on consumer privacy.  Google Inc., owner of the most popular search engine, is among companies “most energetically pushing the envelope” in tracking consumers’ mobile Web-surfing habits in order to target advertisements to them, according to the complaint, which the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group filed today with the Federal Trade Commission.  U.S. spending on mobile ads may increase to $6.5 billion in 2012 from $1.7 billion last year, according to New York-based researcher EMarketer Inc.  Mobile-ad providers are using technology to track the location and Web-browsing habits of users to advertise everything from neighborhood pizza parlors to movie show times.  “Policies governing consumer privacy on the mobile Web have failed to keep pace with these new marketing practices,” said Ed Mierzwinski, director of consumer protection for U.S. PIRG, in an e-mailed statement.  The privacy groups asked the FTC to adopt rules such as new disclosure requirements that would make it easier for consumers to control how information about them is used.  The complaint could become a “keystone test” for the new administration’s approach to Internet privacy, said Rob Enderle, president of the research firm Enderle Group in San Jose, California.  “The Obama administration has made it clear that the Bush administration was way too passive with regard to privacy, and they will want to make a statement,” he said.  Obama’s ties to Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, who campaigned for him, aren’t likely to give Google an advantage as the FTC weighs new privacy rules, Enderle said.  Rather, the administration may use the privacy groups’ complaint as an opportunity to “showcase, right out of the gate, that they’re not playing favorites,” he said.  Obama plans to “strengthen privacy protections for the digital age and harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy,” according to a technology agenda posted on his transition Web site.  The privacy complaint may put more pressure on advertisers such as Google and Microsoft Corp. to develop voluntary mobile- Web safeguards to avert new government rules, said Rebecca Arbogast, a Washington-based analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
Bloomberg


FCC to Enter into the 21st Century
Julius Genachowski, technology adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, is poised to become chairman of the Federal Communications Commission at a time when communications policy lies at the intersection of sweeping changes in the high-tech business landscape.  With Genachowski's private-sector experience and ear to Silicon Valley, the appointment could signal greater focus on new Internet technologies for the agency, analysts said.  The 46-year-old is a Harvard Law School classmate and longtime friend of Obama and raised $500,000 for his campaign.  He worked as an executive at Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive and as a local venture capital investor.  He has invested in "Web 2.0" companies like the social-networking site MyGameMug and the mobile game distributor MPowerPlayer through his incubator, LaunchBox Digital, based in the District.  Genachowski also served as general counsel to then-FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, as a Supreme Court clerk and as an aide for  Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).  Though his appointment hasn't officially been announced, sources in Obama's transition team said Genachowski is expected to be named chairman. 

Under the past few chairmen, the FCC has focused on policies of telephone and cable carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, analysts said. Reform of a $7 billion federal fund to bring phone service to rural and underserved areas, for example, has been wrangled over for years even as consumers increasingly cut their traditional wireline phone service for cellphones.  But high-tech Internet and software giants and start-ups have expressed more interest in communications policy, highlighting the expanded scope of an agency that was first formed to hand out broadcast licenses but now oversees wireless industry competition, the convergence of Internet technology with phone and televisions, and new uses for radio wave spectrum to bring high-speed Internet to urban centers.

Over the past year, the Internet search giant Google pushed more aggressively at the FCC and won a rule that forced Verizon to open part of its network to outside technologies.  Microsoft founder Bill Gates has also lobbied the commission over the past year to free up unused radio waves for anyone to use for high-speed Internet access.  "The regulatory initiative is likely to shift some from incumbents . . . to new entrants and other nontraditional telecom and media players, including Internet application/content providers," Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at the investment firm Stifel Nicolaus, wrote in a report.  That could mean greater opportunities for high-tech companies like Google, Yahoo and eBay and for nascent start-ups in social media and networking. 

Genachowski, who helped spearhead Obama's online strategy during the campaign, used the social networking site Facebook to spread campaign messages and organize volunteers.  The Obama transition has also used the video-sharing site YouTube and applications on its transition Web site for weekly addresses.  In a bid for greater transparency, documents and meetings between transition staff and lobbyists on education, health care and energy are tracked on the transition Web site.  "It used to be that communications policy was about voice and hardware.  Now it's about voice, video, chat, conference calling and screen sharing," said Josh Silverman, president of Skype, a service that provides voice calls and video conferencing over the Web.  "It's at the bleeding edge of where innovation is happening."

Indeed, the transition staff has been guided by executives at Silicon Valley giants like Google. Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, became an adviser on technology, along with the Silicon Valley search company's chief Internet evangelist, Vint Cerf.  That has some worried that companies like Google might have too much influence in the new administration's tech agenda.  Hundt said that rapid changes in technology have long affected communications policy and that Genachowski would synthesize those themes with a Wall Street sensibility.  "That's what the next 10 years is going to be about -- the integration and convergence of technology and media," said Ted Leonsis, a former AOL executive.  As the lead writer of Obama's technology plan, Genachowski is expected to focus on a concept called net neutrality, which would prevent carriers from blocking or slowing Internet traffic.  "Your job as the FCC chair is to play a shaping role with respect to market structures of the future," Hundt said.  "Julius is more equipped than anyone for the job in the FCC's 70-year history to actually understand fundamental dynamics of the market."
Washington Post


Obama Team Out to Create Broadband Jobs
President-elect Barack Obama believes that the speed of internet broadband service needs to be increased nationally, but a broadband stimulus package that will be part of his economic recovery package is more narrowly tailored, a member of the Obama transition team said today.  Blair Levin, a former Federal Communications Commission official declined to say how much money will be allotted for work on the nation’s broadband system, but he said the target of any immediate aid is to quickly create jobs by providing broadband to communities either now unserved now or only served at lesser speeds.  Mr. Levin, who now is now a managing director and lead telecom analyst for Stifel Nicolaus on leave to participate on the transition team, told the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus that Mr. Obama’s overall goal for a faster broadband nationally is being confused with the far narrower targets of the economic recovery package.  “Don’t confuse a piece of the puzzle with the puzzle,” said Mr. Levin.  He said the broadband stimulus package is part of an economic stimulus package aimed at creating jobs swiftly using resources that are quickly available.  It doesn’t represent the new administration’s overall plan to speed deployment of higher-speed broadband.
TV Week


Ad Council Launches Obama's Volunteerism Spots
The Ad Council is launching its first ad campaign of the new administration–a campaign featuring President-elect Obama and urging volunteerism.  The Presidential Inaugural Committee and the Ad Council formally announced the “Step Forward” campaign today.  The English version of the TV and radio ads feature President-elect Obama urging people to volunteer.  A Spanish version features an announcer, but President-elect Obama delivers the closing line in Spanish.  All the ads promote USAService.org.  As part of the presidential inauguration, the president-elect has urged making Martin Luther King Day a symbol of Americans willingness to engage in service projects.  President-elect Obama and his family are to personally engage in a service project on Monday.  "President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, has a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens,” said Josh Earnest, communications director for the inauguration committee.  “We've launched USAService.org to connect volunteer organizations with Americans in their community and make it easier to serve on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and beyond."  Ad Council president Peggy Conlon said major media companies and the cable industry have agreed to provide air time for the message.  She said the message was a result of talks between the Ad Council and the new administration and represents a volunteering message that the Ad Council is committed to supporting in the new administration.
TV Week


CNN.com, Facebook Team on Live Inauguration Stream
CNN.com and Facebook are joining forces in an effort to create what they hope will become the largest--and most social--live event in the history of the Web—the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama.  On Jan. 20 CNN.com Live will stream live footage from the inauguration ceremonies, including Obama being sworn in and his subsequent speech.  As they view the live Web cast, viewers will be able to provide status updates to their Facebook profiles—letting their friends know in real time what they are thinking or feeling about the day’s historic events.  And via a mini-Facebook window which will be integrated within the CNN.com Live channel, they’ll be able to see instant updates on what their various friends are saying.  In addition, as users make comments while watching the inauguration on CNN.com, their profiles on Facebook.com will be instantly updated—along with links carrying the phrase “via CNN.com Live”--potentially driving more viewership, said officials.  That viral potential, on top of the already intense interest in Obama’s election, and the fact that the event is unfolding during the middle of a workday—could generate an enormous audience.  “We’re building the technical infrastructure for the possibility that this may be the most watched event ever on the Internet,” said KC Estenson, president CNN.com, speaking just following a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Estenson said that the idea to blend live online video and social networking in such a fashion was sparked by the way that voters took to the Web on and just after Election Day.  “A lot of us were going home after the election and checking our Facebook accounts and updating our statuses, whether we were happy or sad about the results,” he said.  “We thought, ‘what if we brought that into real time?’”  It’ something we thought would be cool differentiate and unique. It turns out the Facebook group was thinking the same thing.”  CNN has begun to talk to several of its top advertisers about sponsoring the event, according to Estenson. During breaks in its the Webcast of the inauguration, CNN.com Live will run video ad spots, as well as adjacent banner ads.
MediaWeek


Coming to a Theater Near You...the Obama Inauguration
President-elect Barack Obama is on his way to the big screen, thanks to a deal between MSNBC and Screenvision that will put the news channel's inaugural coverage in 27 theaters around the country.  Free tickets are being handed out via MSNBC.com to see the inauguration and parade from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET at the 27 theaters run by 11 exhibitor partners in 21 markets.  Midday Tuesday isn't necessarily a big movie time, so it helps to fill the theater -- and boost popcorn and soda sales -- at a time when it's not usually busy.  That means that Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and other MSNBC and NBC personalities will play the big movie screen in addition to the usual MSNBC cable and satellite stream.  MSNBC won't be in high-definition until the second quarter, but both the channel and Screenvision say the quality will still be high.  "It'll look great," MSNBC president Phil Griffin said. "We're thrilled about it."  For MSNBC, it's a chance to continue the momentum that vaulted it into the fastest-growing channel in all of cable in 2008.  That's the strategy, and Griffin said Monday afternoon to expect more in 2009 to build MSNBC's brand.  "We want to reach people we've never reached before," Griffin said. "We're going to do numerous things like that to get our name out there. Ubiquity is the name of the game in 2009."  Registration for the event is now open at www.MSNBCEvents.com.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i64ab5b30222e725ff274c4907e5fa45b


Late Night Licks

"It looks like Barack Obama wants the surgeon general to be Sanjay Gupta, the TV doctor.   you familiar with Sanjay?  I went to see him a couple of years ago because I had an inflamed gupta."
- David Letterman

"The Washington Post reports today that Barack Obama wants to select Sanjay Gupta to be surgeon general.  Yeah, Obama said the CNN doctor must be pretty good, because he's kept Larry King alive all these years."
- Conan O'Brien

"But Sanjay Gupta says if he becomes the surgeon general the first thing he wants to do is warn people about one thing — the Regis Philbin show in high def.  He said it could cause nausea and headaches."
- David Letterman

"Well, we're just a couple of weeks from new President Barack Obama being sworn in.  And he's been very busy naming a lot of cabinet positions.  And today he announced that he wants the surgeon general to be TV Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  That was the kid on 'American Idol,' wasn't it?"
- David Letterman

"But surgeon general, that's a tough position, and it was hard for Obama to make the choice.  It was between Gupta, Dr. Phil and a guy on 'Scrubs.'"
- David Letterman

"Now, during his speech, it's interesting, Barack Obama said, 'It will soon be too late to change course if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible.'  It's a quote, yeah.  And Obama said the same thing about NBC's prime-time lineup."
- Conan O'Brien

"ABC has a new reality show about how our government protects our borders, waterways, and airports.  Have you seen this?  It's called 'Homeland Security USA,' or, as they call it in Afghanistan, 'the Terrorist Learning Channel.'"
- Jay Leno

"Well, that's the name of the show: 'Homeland Security USA.'  I think that's better than the original title, which was 'Hey, Not So Fast, Ahmed.'"
- Jay Leno

"President Bush has asked all the major networks for 15 minutes of air time on Thursday to give his farewell speech to the nation.  Well, the White House says he's going to use part of the time to list his accomplishments.  No word yet what he's going to do with the other 14 minutes."
- Jay Leno

"Actually, listen to this.  NBC said if the speech does really well in ratings, they're going to offer President Bush his own show every night at 9 o'clock."
- Jay Leno

"After eight years, it is kind of sad President Bush had his final press conference.  And you know what that means for us here at the ‘Late Show.’ We’re going to have to start writing our own comedy again."
- David Letterman


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