The Marketing Ideanet Newsletters

Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 5/26/2009

In This Issue
Monetizing Online Video - Broadcasting's Big Problem
Fox Wins Demos, But All Post Decline
American Idol Posts Lowest Results Show Ever
Peabodys Celebrate Winners at Ceremony
The Most Creative Minds in Business
TiVo Charts Most-Watched TV Commercials
US Advertising Remains Suppressed
Attack Ads on the Rise
NBCU, Starcom, Applebee’s to Gauge Value of Video Ads
DTV Soft Test Fields 55,000 Helpline Calls
Redneck Engineering Exam

Quotes

“Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.”
- Eugene Debs, American Labor Organizer (1855-1926)

“Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise, for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.”
- Sun Tzu

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
- Viktor E. Frankl, Jewish psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, founder of Logotherapy & author of "Man's Search for Meaning" (1905 - 1997)

Monetizing Online Video - Broadcasting's Big Problem
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 don't measure something, you can't change it."
     -Mitt Romney

A few weeks ago traditional media scored yet another big online video win. Disney announced it is bringing ABC programming to the popular online video site Hulu. The Mouse joins Fox & NBC in live streaming its programming right to viewer’s desktops.    The past year has seen steady growth in online video, but if you were to name the biggest broadcast online video success, NBC's coverage of last year's Olympics would surely be at the top of the list. NBC streamed a zillion hours of great Olympics content.   Emarketer estimates that the site collected $5.75 million in advertising revenue over a 17-day period. Streaming video had arrived.

This past year brought record traffic to Hulu, Joost and YouTube. This has been a big step in bringing streaming video to the mainstream. We now have 11.4 billion streams per month. Three out of four people who use the Internet watch video online. Viewing of online video is now beating broadcast numbers with some younger demographic groups.   Access to broadband video is growing exponentially.

Everything's great, right? Well, not really. Despite the fact that NBC had record traffic, it was still a miniscule percentage of the total Olympic revenue - only 1.1% of the $505 million total in video ad spending.

Audiences are spending record amounts of time on the internet, but the problem is that advertisers have not caught up with this behavior. Online is still the video stepchild. If you compare gross audience impressions for online video versus broadcast video, you find that a single broadcast view is more valuable than that exact same view done over the Internet.   Advertiser spending does not reflect the audience's participation in the medium. NBC's Jeff Zucker confirmed this with his comment that he was not going to "exchange analog dollars for digital pennies."

So what's the problem? One is the purely logistical hurdle that there is a lack of advertising buying systems. Placing online video ads is still amazingly convoluted and complex. An advertiser that wants to make a national broadcast television buy can do so with just a single phone call. Right now, an effective national online video buy requires talking to dozens of people from many different companies.

But the biggest problems is a lack of quantifiable measuring tools. John Wanamaker once said that "half my advertising is wasted - I just don't know which half." At least Wanamaker had the comfort of knowing that his print ads ran a given number of times in specific publications. The basic measurement standards for internet advertising have yet to be nailed down. For the past ten years there has been a big fight on the definition of a click, and though we are getting closer, the debate still rages today. When is a video view, a view?   Do you need to watch 5 seconds? 10 seconds? What exactly is a gross rating point for online video?

For the past decade, TV ratings have been steadily declining, but the cost per point has been steadily increasing. A Superbowl ad cost $600,000 in 1987, 1.6 million in 1998 and in 2009 it cost $3 million. Why has the cost per point been so incredible for broadcasting? Because everyone has common agreement on the definition of a TV rating point.   It may not be the most cost-efficient buy, but at least you know exactly what you're getting. As the old proverb says: "Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't." Television is a $65 billion business and online is an $18 billion business. No matter how popular online video becomes, it is doomed to be an advertising back alley crap game unless the industry can nail down some universal measurement standards.

Some broadcast groups have largely given up selling clicks and gone to the sponsorship model to sell their ads. Why? Because they simply can't give clients reliable measurements of viewer interaction with their sites.   If the interactive industry can't even agree on the definition of a click, it is nearly impossible for ad buyers to create a verifyable media plan. No self-respecting ad buyer is going to report back to their client with wishy washy accountability.

Online salespeople will try to make their pitch sound rational and quantifiable by using mounds of comScore data, but there is a pervasive doubt in most ad buyer's minds. Traditional media has decades-old justification tools that can slice and dice any media buy so it reliably compares apples to apples, and gets the most bang for the lowest cost. Online media dollars will not start flowing until video streaming comes up with a reliable measurement gauge. That should be the top priority of all of us in this industry. Right now that 25-year-old agency media buyer cannot just plug numbers into an Excel spreadsheet and come up with an online media plan with established metrics and real accountability.

Part of the problem is an overload of information. Tools like Google Analytics provide acres of data to track every move of every person on a website. Media buyers are simply overloaded. Most have never been trained how to use these tools and very quickly atrophy to analysis paralysis. Making that traditional television or radio buy is just faster, and gets you out of the office in time to enjoy that 5pm happy hour with your buddies.

This is particularly evident in our own industry. Ask your own TV marketing director to describe her outside media buy.   Odds are, that online media will be a minuscule part of her strategy. She probably knows that online is quite effective and provides an opportunity to laser in on amazingly qualified potential viewers, but she likely has no idea how to effectively buy it, or how to measure its impact. The days of being a jack-of-all-trades media buyer are over. The measurement tools have become so complex and so specific that effective online media buyers must now be experienced math wizards and not fresh-out-of-college advertising wantabes.

So how do we get to this standard? Well, all of us in the media must put aside our own personal agendas and really work together. As with any emerging industry, streaming media's lack of standards is the biggest threat to all of us. We will learn to swallow our pride and get along with competitors or we will all fail together. Right now, the big players in online are rallying behind the Internet Advertising Bureau as they try to get all the participants speaking a common metrics language. Companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Disney and NBC are doing their damnedest to put aside petty squabbles and come up with these very necessary metrics. The good news is that it is beginning to work.

But we in the local broadcast business must do our part as well. Unfortunately, playing well with others is something that broadcast stations do rather hesitantly. Most broadcasters refuse to play ball with these companies.   After decades of being the top dog in local advertising markets, we are quite accustomed to leading the pack.

This is why so many local TV web sites are going it alone, refusing to partner with local bloggers, other media companies, or even to allow real viewer interaction on their sites. Recently, a top ten local TV station web site announced that it is suspending commenting altogether and may eliminate it permanently. This sends a clear message to a reader that her thoughts and opinions are not valued. The broadcaster is the important one, so you should just shut up and keep your little comments to yourself. I’ll tell you what to think.

For a generation, TV, radio and newspapers have run the show in local markets because we owned the primary mass communication mediums. Being in this exclusive local club meant we could invite others to participate solely on our terms. But now, the power players such as Google, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube will set the standards that the broadcast world will follow. Like it or not, they have won, and it is up to us to play their game.

There is an old saying in the internet business that you don’t put up a fight against those who get in your way - you simply and quietly go around them. If we hope to survive this economic downturn and be a force in local information, we must learn to play nicely with others and find some powerful friends before it’s too late.

Next week, how to turn our vast video libraries into online cash.

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.

Fox Wins Demos, But All Post Decline
Fox has officially claimed its fifth consecutive win among adults 18-49 for the 2008-09 TV season, while CBS wrapped up the season as the most-watched broadcast network for the sixth time out of the last seven years. With “America Idol” to bolster the second half of the season, Fox finished with a 3.6/8 among adults 18-49. The network edged out No. 2 CBS (3.1/8) by 14% even though Fox posted a 16% decline week over week. While CBS ranked second among the networks, it was the only one of the major four to post increases in the demo (+3%). Both ABC (2.9/8) and CBS (2.8/7) trailed closely behind, posting 3% and no losses, respectively.

Among total viewers, CBS finished first with 11.76 million for the season, up 11% over last. Again, CBS was the only one to post any yearly gains. Fox finished second with 9.80 million viewers, down 13% from last year, which ABC (8.95 million) and NBC (7.84) rounded off the rest, both posting a 3% decrease over last year.

Fox’s “Idol” finished the season as the top two shows. Wednesday night editions ranked at the top in both the demo and total viewers (9.8/24, 26.69 million), while Tuesday episodes tied for first in the demo and placed second in total viewers (9.8/25, 26.12 million).

ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” (5.7/13, 15.66 million) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (5.6/13, 14.52 million) gave the network a strong boost, coming in as the top two scripted shows among adults 18-49, placing 4th and 5th, respectively, among all programs.

CBS led the pack of scripted shows in total viewers, with “CSI” (5.2/12, 19.03 million), “NCIS” (3.8/10, 17.84 million) and freshman series “The Mentalist” (3.9/9, 17.45 million), each placing 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. The network also had the top performing comedy, “Two and a Half Men” (5.1/12, 14.98 million), which placed 8th in the demo and 10th among total viewers.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage (6.2/15, 16.27 million) broke the top ten in both categories as well, ranking 3rd in the demo and 8th among total viewers.
TV Week

American Idol Posts Lowest Results Show Ever
"American Idol" averaged almost 29 million total viewers for its two-hour season Finale Wednesday night, enough to easily win Wednesday's ratings — but not enough to save it from being the lowest-rated "Idol" finale ever. An average of 28.8 million viewers — more than the other major networks' combined audience — tuned in to watch Kris Allen upset Adam Lambert, according to Nielsen Media Research. As The Live Feed's James Hibberd and Nellie Andreeva note, this was the lowest rated "Idol" results finale in the show's eight-year history: "Those would be astonishing numbers for any other series. But for the juggernaut "Idol," they are only good enough for last place among its finales, behind the first season's ender when an average of 23 million viewers (10.8/30 in 18-49) tuned in to see Kelly Clarkson crowned as the first American Idol. It was down 12% from last year's finale among 18-49 and 9% in total viewers." Tuesday's performance finale also registered as the lowest in the show's run.
Huffington Post

Peabodys Celebrate Winners at Ceremony
The cream of the crop in electronic media gathered at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel mid-day Monday for the annual George Foster Peabody Awards ceremony. The event, emceed by NBC anchor Brian Williams, brought together such diverse talent as "Saturday Night Live" boss Lorne Michaels along with Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen, CBS News and CBS Sports president Sean McManus, ABC News president David Westin, Turner Classic Movies and THR veteran Robert Osborne, NBC Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol along with Bob Costas, Matt Lauer and CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Also on hand were some of the people behind "Breaking Bad," "Lost," the website of the New York Times, the Onion News Network and YouTube. The independent nonprofit organization behind the Peabodys is based at the University of Georgia in Athens and has been honoring the electronic media since 1940.
During Monday's ceremony that celebrated the 36 winners, Williams entertained the crowd with some comedic zingers. Introducing "Breaking Bad," he quipped it was the Wolf Blitzer story. After the acceptance of the award for "Breaking Bad," he joked that the celebration of crystal meth would continue in a few moments with another award. Here are backstage comments from some of the Peabody winners and attendees:

Lorne Michaels said that now that the "SNL" season is over, his team will start looking at new people and new writers in the coming weeks. When the show returns in September, "there will be something interesting to do" with political specials and "Weekend Updates" given that the elections are done, he said when quizzed about the next step for the political sides of "SNL." He didn't provide specifics. He also told THR that a "McGruber" film is still being looked at. "It would have to be in the summer because we are back in production in the fall," he told THR when asked about the possible production timing. "We're still in discussions" on details, he added. The award is the second Peabody in SNL's history. Seth Meyers said there remains room for smart political comedy, even though President Obama is harder to poke fun at than many past presidents. "He is just so aware and has a great sense of humor himself," Meyers told THR. "It's tougher to really beat him, because in speeches he often makes the best jokes himself."

Brian Williams told THR that he enjoys the Peabodys, because they celebrate the best work in the industry. "This is the most important of all the awards in our industry -- whether you're the Onion or 'Saturday Night Live' or NBC News," he said. He also told THR that he felt "fortunate" to have won a Peabody with his team before for their Hurricane Katrina coverage. "It is not why you do this (job), but it is a lovely validation. It is the last thing you're thinking of in the field when working out of a rental car in the water in New Orleans." Asked how he feels about the strong presence this year of online media, Williams told THR: "We happily share the electronic space. There's not a day in my life when I'm not on the Onion and YouTube."
Hollywood Reporter

The Most Creative Minds in Business
Creativity is a tough thing to put your finger on, but Fast Company takes a shot at picking world’s top 100 business innovators. The first five:

- Jonathan Ive: Apple’s design chief—responsible for the iPhone, iPod, MacBook, and iMac—ushered in an era of “design perfection” that became “the benchmark by which companies in all industries judge themselves.”
- Melinda Gates: The co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation essentially controls the world’s largest charity: “Maybe it should be called the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation.”
- Shai Agassi: The CEO of Better Place has a modest goal: make electric cars the norm, complete with charging stations. Countries around the world have already signed on as testing zones.
- Reed Hastings: The CEO of Netflix didn’t just create an innovative DVD mail service—he’s currently working on a plethora of projects with the biggest names in tech.
- Rich Ross: The President of Disney Channels Worldwide turned tween entertainment like Hannah Montana into a 100-channel, 163-country behemoth.

For the rest, click here: Fast Company

TiVo Charts Most-Watched TV Commercials
It pays to advertise in ABC’s top drama, “Grey’s Anatomy.” According to TiVo’s StopWatch ratings service, eight of the top 10 most-watched commercials aired during the medical show. But TiVo notes the most-watched commercial didn’t air in the top-rated episode of the series, which appeared March 26, and that only four of the 30-plus ads that aired that night made the list at all. “This data reinforces, as it does every month, that paying to be in the No. 1 program does not necessarily mean you will get the highest commercial audience,” said Todd Juenger, VP and general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement. The list of the top 10 commercials follows:

Total Viewing—March 2008

Rating - Commercial
         Show, Airdate

13.4 - Paramount "I Love You Man"
       Grey's Anatomy, March 19

12.9 - Carnival Cruise Line
       Grey's Anatomy, March 26

12.7 - Dove Go Fresh Body Wash
       Grey's Anatomy, March 26

12.7 - Old Navy Store Women
       Grey's Anatomy, March 12

12.5 - Summit Entertainment "Knowing"
       Grey's Anatomy, March 19

12.5 - Citibank Consumer Services
       Grey's Anatomy, March 12

12.4 - Sony Pictures "Angels & Demons"
       Grey's Anatomy, March 26

12.1 - Discover Card Online
       Grey's Anatomy, March 26

12.1 - Ford Motor Fusion Hybrid
       American Idol, March 10

11.8 - Apple Macbook
       American Idol, March 10

Source: TiVo's StopWatch Ratings Service
TV Week

US Advertising Remains Suppressed
U.S. advertising spending remained suppressed through March after dropping 9.2 in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to researcher TNS Media Intelligence. “Preliminary figures from the first quarter of 2009 indicate little change in the health of the overall ad economy as total spending continues to contract sharply,” Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at New York-based TNS, said today in a statement. Ad expenditures for newspapers, magazines and radio plunged at the end of 2008 as companies slashed marketing amid the recession and deteriorating consumer confidence. During the fourth quarter, newspaper advertising fell 17 percent, magazines dropped 14 percent and radio slid 15 percent from the year-ago period, according to TNS. U.S. ad spending for all of 2008 declined 4.1 percent to $141.7 billion, TNS said. Internet display ads increased 4.6 percent last year, the slowest growth for the category since 2002. The largest 100 marketers in the U.S. spent $61.4 billion, a 3.8 percent drop from 2007.
Bloomberg

Attack Ads on the Rise
It's going to be a cruel summer in advertising. Attack ads have been on the rise for the past year, but comparisons are getting sharper, responses are growing testier, and an increasing number of ad battles are ending up in court. Just don't expect a letup, because they're also working. Campbell Soup Co. actually released its third-quarter earnings a day early last week to disprove analyst reports, including one from UBS's David Palmer, that its comparative ads with rival Progresso had brought down the entire category. Not so, said Campbell: Its condensed-soup sales rose 2% in the third quarter. True, the category in which its Select Harvest soup -- pitted against Progresso in hard-hitting ads from BBDO, New York -- resides posted a 7% sales decrease during the quarter. But Campbell blamed pricier "convenience" items, such as cups and bowls, and said in the past nine months, its condensed-soup sales jumped 6%, and ready-to-serve soups 4%. "Select Harvest sales are strong, it was a very successful launch," said spokesman Anthony Sanzio. "In large part we think it's due to the successful advertising." And the case might be made that negative advertising floated all boats in the category. In March, General Mills' Progresso, which touted its products as "healthier and better tasting" in a campaign from agency Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, crowed that its soup sales were up 3% and the brand was continuing to gain share. Dominos, too, benefited from bashing a rival. Its ads claimed its subs had beaten Subway in a national taste test. When Subway responded with a cease-and-desist letter, Domino's President David Brandon burned the letter in a TV spot. Domino's even issued a press release asking, "Did you know Domino's was in a food fight?" The chain reported a 1% same-store-sales gain for the quarter, which CFO Wendy Beck said was "our first positive domestic comp in quite some time." Certainly, well-executed campaigns can boost sales, said Andy Jung, a media and marketing consultant and past senior director of media-advertising services at Kellogg Co. And Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business, said negative campaigns can be necessary when a business is under pressure. "The appeal of comparative advertising is to set yourself apart," he said, adding that marketers who find points of difference that matter to consumers can strike gold. These days, he said, "marketers are under so much pressure to improve their market share that they're becoming really aggressive." The million-dollar question, he said, is: "Do you get more for your money talking about the attributes of your brand or going after your competitor?" It's tough to say, especially as "a lot of these lead to litigation."
AdAge

NBCU, Starcom, Applebee’s to Gauge Value of Video Ads
Behavior models for media consumption are often as sloppy as an overdressed hamburger. The more online and mobile video content you load on top of the beefy fundamental base of linear TV, the harder it is to get a good grip on your burger. Take a bite into one side of the data stream, and a dollop of overlooked information dribbles out the other end and down your shirtsleeves. If teasing out the interrelations between television and online video can be as messy as tucking into a 10-oz. bacon cheddar cheeseburger, a new consumer study promises to offer marketers the research equivalent of a gross of wet wipes. Beginning this spring, Starcom is collaborating with Applebee’s and media partner NBC Universal to develop a model that defines the relative and combined value of video ads, both on-air and online, in order to gauge their true effectiveness against brand objectives. Over the course of the next three months, Starcom will measure the performance of Applebee’s creative across a number of MSNBC and NBC News properties, including prime-time cable news, the Today show, NBC Nightly News and online at MSNBC.com. Consumer impact will be examined through a number of lenses -- one element of the study will assess how media environments inform brand awareness -- thereby allowing the agency to establish the relative value of the ads across each platform. “Applebee’s has always been open to trying new things, and so they’re an ideal partner for this sort of collaboration,” said Karla Knecht, vp/director, Starcom USA. “This is a chance for us to really validate some of the assumptions we have about how TV and online work together to increase the effectiveness of advertising.” “When you think about it, consumers are actually leading this space. What we’re looking for is a collective snapshot of their media consumption as it relates to all these different factors,” said Bill Leibengood, Applebee’s executive director of national marketing. “For all the talk of integration, there’s really not a lot of good data out there.” Chalk it up to the hubris of the digerati. “There’s a lot of weirdly unfounded arrogance in the industry, a fundamental lack of cooperation,” said Mark Marvel, senior director of video monetization, MSNBC.com. “I’m almost ashamed to sit on panels with some of my peers in the digital space, the guys who say they’re taking over and television is dead.”
MediaWeek

DTV Soft Test Fields 55,000 Helpline Calls
A record number of consumers called the Federal Communications Commission’s national helpline Thursday in response to a nationwide DTV soft test. The FCC helpline received more than 55,000 calls from consumers, a single-day record. The helpline has averaged 15,000 calls per day since May 1 and prior to the soft test. The most common issues raised and information sought by callers included information about government coupons for DTV converter boxes, concerns about reception and instructions for installing DTV converter boxes. Consumers seeking information about coupons represented 51% of calls, while reception issues and installation accounted for 15% and 10% of calls, respectively. More than 125 broadcast markets participated in the soft test. The Chicago market generated the most calls at 1,310, followed by New York with 1,277 calls and Dallas-Fort Worth with 764 calls. The Dallas-Fort Worth market is the No. 2 most DTV-unready market, according to a report released by Nielsen last week. “This soft test did exactly what it was supposed to do,” Michael Copps, acting FCC chairman, said in a statement. “It was a wake-up call for consumers who are unprepared, alerting them to the fact that they need to take the necessary steps before the June 12 DTV transition.”
TV Week

Redneck Engineering Exam

(Thanks to BAFSoundWorks for supplyin' us Northerners the proper answers)

-----------------
1. Calculate the smallest limb diameter on a persimmon tree that will support a 10 lb possum.

By itself, one inch. With a couple of dogs hanging off it to get away from the bear, three inches.

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2. Which of these cars will rust out the quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard?
(A) '65 Ford Fairlane
(B) '69 Chevrolet Chevelle
(C) '64 Pontiac GTO

The Fairlane. The Chevelle and GTO were run through enough mud and water running moonshine to keep the undersides clean. The Fairlane sounds like a street at some New England college, and we know they salt the streets in New England so it'll rust out first.

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3. If your uncle builds a still which operates at a capacity of 20 gallons of moonshine produced per hour, how many car radiators are required to condense the product?

None. You use four F-150 truck radiators. Or one Caterpillar "D-series" bulldozer radiator. Of course, if all you're making is 20 gallons an hour, you ain't runnin' a serious still in the first place.

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4. A woodcutter has a chainsaw which operates at 2700 RPMs. The density of the pine trees in the plot he needs to harvest is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3 acres in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. How many Budweisers will be drunk before the trees are cut down?

6,486. Plus a case for the trip to the tree farm, and a case for the trip home. For a total of 6,534. When recycled, the cans will yield enough to pay for fuel.

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5. A front porch is constructed of 2X8 pine on 21 inch centers with a field rock foundation. The span is 8 feet and the porch length is 16 feet. The porch floor is 1 inch rough sawn pine. When the porch collapses, how many coon dogs will be killed?

None. Coon dogs sleep in the downstairs bed with the kids. They're family.

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6. A man owns a Georgia house and 3.7 acres of land in a hollow with an average slope of 15%. The man has five children. Can each of his grown children place a mobile home on the man's land and still have enough property for their electric appliances to sit out front?

With room to spare for the grandkids, too.

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7. A 2 ton truck is overloaded and proceeding 900 yards down a steep slope on a secondary road at 45 MPH. The brakes fail. Given average traffic conditions on secondary roads, what is the probability that it will strike a vehicle with a muffler?

In the winter, very good. Since the windows don't roll up, the driver is likely wearing a muffler with his cap and gloves. In the summer, very unlikely. It's not cold enough.

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8. With a gene pool reduction of 7.5% per generation, how long will it take a town which has been bypassed by the Interstate to breed a country and western singer?

No one's been able to work this one out as of yet. We get "country" singers, and "western" singers, but any attempts to crossbreed have ended up with something not worth tossing on the barbecue, much less sending to the special school over in Knoxville.

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Brandi & Andrew Frame SoundWorks
www.bafsoundworks.com

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Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 5/25/2009

Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 5/21/2009

Does Kash earn his keep?

602communications.com/VideoExamples

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FTC Looks to Help Fix News Industry
The Federal Trade Commission is concerned about the future of news on TV and radio as well as newspapers. The FTC has launched a new series entitled "Can News Media Survive the Internet Age? Competition, Consumer Protection and the First Amendment," and will consider a range of fixes including possible non-profit models. In announcing the series, the FTC said: "The news industry is in transition. Newspapers have lost much of their classified advertising revenues to online services, and some question how they will weather the development of targeted behavioral and other online advertising, online news aggregators, and other factors. How cable, broadcast, and other news organizations will respond to similar challenges is under discussion. Some predict that in a few years, television and radio will find themselves in situations similar to those facing newspapers." In announcing the workshops-the first one is not slated until Sept. 15-new FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said that while other industries have had to transition to new business models in response to Internet competition, with consumers generally benefiting in the process, "the news business may be different because of the First Amendment values at stake. Whether we get our news from ink on paper, TV, radio, laptops, or mobile devices, we need a strong news industry for our democracy to thrive." Up for discussion, according to the FTC, will be the roles of targeted behavioral advertising, online advertising, copyright protection, antitrust exemptions and more. Journalists, bloggers, privacy experts, direct marketers, online advertisers, academics and consumer advocates will all be part of that discussion. Congress has held a couple of hearings already, focused almost exclusively on the economic problems of newspapers. Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, who has been a leading voice on behavioral marketing and privacy issues, is concerned that the workshops will provide media companies an opportunity to justify targeted ad practices as a last-ditch effort to save the news business. "The media industry is going to use these FTC hearings as a forum to declare that unless we invade American's privacy with behavioral advertising, what is left of our news gatherers will be laid off," he says. "This is going to be a key lobbying moment." "The wholesale invasion of consumer privacy isn't the lifeboat that is going to keep the industry afloat," says Chester. But if they are going to use behavioral targeting, he says, "they are going to have to embrace meaningful consumer protection rules." The FTC is likely to become more active on issues like the broadcast news business and network neutrality as the new administration hones its consumer-protection focus on issues previously more the province of the FCC, and as it becomes more active in antitrust enforcement.
Broadcasting & Cable

Journalism All About Branding, Father of Internet Says
At IJ-6 (the Sixth Conference on Innovation Journalism), held at Stanford, the man often referred to the father of the Internet said that, in the digital world, branding will be more important than ever before for journalists. Prefacing his remarks by noting that the vast amount of information created online creates tough competition for the attention of readers, Vint Cerf, who designed Internet protocols and the first commercial email service, said "journalism is going to become all about branding." "In this gigantic mass of information that's accessible to anyone who's interacted with the Internet, how can we help people learn to trust opinions, learn to trust selections, choices and reports coming from journalists? ...[Branding] is one of the elements that will help you compete against all the other sources of information that people are exposed to." Cerf, who has worked at Google since 2005 as its Chief Internet Evangelist, said that, in the deluge of information, many of the classic journalistic functions—selection and prioritization—will still be in high demand. "We still are going to need to have our attention drawn to things," he said. "Just because all the information we could possibly want is out there, doesn't mean we have either the time or the energy or interest to read all of it." Cerf, who conceded that his comments were "mostly opinion"—and who invited the audience to disagree with him—said he didn't have an answer to the question of what the future business model of journalism will be. But he did say he believed the advertising model can work. "Anything that draws attention has the potential to be supported by advertising," he said. And for those who still believe that making news work on the Internet is simply a matter of digitizing the print product, Cerf had this to say: "You need to change your thinking about the use of the medium. It doesn't just transfer over. It really does force you to do something different."
MediaBistro

Americans Still Prefer Traditional TV: Nielsen
Traditional television remains the screen of choice for Americans, according to Nielsen’s recent Three Screen Report. The average American watches 153 hours of TV every month at home, the report found. That’s a 1.2% increase from last year. While Americans are watching more TV than ever, viewing on the Web and mobile video viewing also continue to grow. Online video consumption rose 13% in the first quarter of 2009, due in part to the presidential inauguration, Super Bowl and March Madness. Nielsen’s report found that 131 million Americans watch video on the Internet, averaging three hours of video watched online each month at home. Mobile video watchers represented 13.4 million Americans, an increase of 52% from last year. Mobile video watchers averaged 3.5 hours of mobile video each month.
TV Week

Morley Safer Suspicious of Blogosphere
CBS News veteran Morley Safer says he trusts citizen journalism as much as he would trust citizen surgery. The "60 Minutes" correspondent was honored by Quinnipiac University Wednesday with an award named for one of Safer's old bosses, Fred Friendly. He accepted it with a warning that the business problems of newspapers threaten all of journalism, and the public's precarious right to know. Safer said good journalism needs structure and responsibility. He considers the blogosphere no alternative, saying it is crammed with the ravings and manipulations of every nut with a keyboard. Safer is 77 now and works part time. He says he has no intention of giving up what he considers the best job in the world.
Yahoo TV

Women's Media Center Honors CNN
The Women's Media Center, which was co-founded in 2005 by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan, has named the honorees in its first Media Awards and CNN women swept the honors for best broadcast journalism. The awards acknowledge "some of the women who are making a difference in media." Under the heading of best "print and broadcast journalists," Christiane Amanpour and Candy Crowley were honored along with The New York Times Helene Cooper. Bonnie Erbe (PBS' To The Contrary) and Rachel Maddow (MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show) were tapped as best broadcast hosts, while NBC's Tina Fey (30 Rock) got the nod for entertainment. WMC will also take the opportunity of its first laurel-giving ceremony--a cocktail party June 17 at the Sackler Foundation in New York--to throw some darts as well. It will also take not of what it calls the year's most sexist media moments: the absence of a female moderator at the presidential debates, what WMC calls the failure to create a diverse White House press corps, and the lack of diversity of Sunday public affairs hosts.
MultiChannel

Nets Cater Creatively to Demanding Advertisers
As the broadcast TV networks tout their fall prime-time schedules this week, advertisers are looking for more than hit shows. With the economy continuing to teeter, marketers and media agencies opting to buy ads in the spring selling period known as the "upfront" — when networks sell much of the ad time for fall — are demanding unique campaigns, ever-more-specific information about viewers and multiple-platform packages to promote their brands from mobile devices to the Web. Some trends have been building for a few seasons, but the recession has upped the demands significantly. "With the scrutiny with clients' budgets ... the upfront meetings take on a little more of a heightened importance," says Andy Donchin, director of media investments for Carat, a media buying firm. "Every advertiser is looking to see what is really working for them, where they should spend money. I think there's a little more pressure on television to prove its worth." In the past, networks usually were able to get financial commitments for roughly three-fourths of their available fall prime-time ad inventory during the upfront period. But network ad spending was down 0.8% last year from 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Collaboration has become key to sales, with more advertisers demanding that networks work with them to create innovative campaigns weaving brands into shows and across platforms. In response, the networks began meeting with advertisers weeks or even months before the upfront presentations. "We've already had countless meetings with people on how they want to go forward in '09-10," says Jo Ann Ross, president of CBS TV network sales. "These clients want the big idea, something that's never been done before." One thing advertisers want to see more of is fast-forward-proof product integration in shows. In an April campaign, Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise was in an episode of CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine, as well as in a traditional commercial. Restaurant chain Applebee's is featured as the workplace for two characters in NBC's Friday Night Lights. Companies also want to know more about viewers than just how many there are and their basic demographics. They want to know who is paying attention to the commercials, and whether those ads compel them to actually make a purchase. "I think that kind of targeted reach is going to gain momentum in this year's upfront," said Mike Pilot, president of sales and marketing at NBC Universal.
USA Today

Fox Kicks Off with Upfront Plans
With Fox preaching stability in its lineup, its upfront presentation was reminiscent of last year’s. The main thing upsetting the sense of déjà vu was that this year’s presentation at New York’s City Center and party afterwards at Central Park’s Wollman Rink were held on the opening night of the broadcasters’ upfront week instead of celebrating its end on Thursday, as in years past. Jon Nesvig, president of sales for Fox, opened up the presentation by stressing the power of broadcast television to reach large numbers of consumers. He segued into talk of Fox’s high ratings among higher-income families, drawn by series such as “24.” The audience for top-rated “American Idol” is getting more affluent, he said. He also stated that while this has been a difficult year, Fox has not rolled back pricing on any of last year’s upfront deals, adding that upfront advertisers “maintained values versus short-term advertisers.” Last year, Fox surprised buyers with its remote-free TV plan, which featured two series—“Fringe” and “Dollhouse”—airing with about half the number of commercials that traditionally appear in series. Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said the remote-free TV concept is not coming back with an individual show, but that the network does plan to have special episodes with lower commercial loads. Mr. Reilly said Fox already has several such special episodes planned for November and he invited advertisers to sign up for them. “We’ll devise a remote-free episode on any series for you,” Mr. Reilly said. Sponsors in the low-commercial-load episodes of “Fringe” found they got higher recall and brand recognition, he said. However, Fox may be narrowing its application of the concept because, even with prices that are as much as 40% higher than in normal shows, the network found it hard to make as much money with remote-free TV. Mr. Reilly said the network had other plans to retain viewers through commercial breaks with what it is calling “Alive Air.” “Family Guy’s” Seth MacFarlane has created a series of interstitials called “Table Talk” designed to keep the commercial breaks lively. “Table Talk” features Mr. MacFarlane’s characters sitting around discussing such important topics as foods that sound like something sexual, like kumquats and fish tacos. The network also asked advertisers to support a special scavenger hunt as part of marking the 20th season of “The Simpsons.” Characters will pop up in interstitial breaks, promo spots and other series. Viewers can participate in an online sweepstakes. Another integration opportunity described by Mr. Reilly involves a live cooking show with Gordon Ramsey. The network will tell viewers what ingredients to buy and Mr. Ramsey will help them create a three-course gourmet meal in real time. “It’s a great sponsorship and integration opportunity,” Mr. Reilly said.
TV Week

Kimmel Slams ABC’s Upfronts
If Jimmy Kimmel still has a job at ABC on Wednesday, he is either a very lucky or very deft comedian, or he has great blackmail photos of the network executives. At Tuesday afternoon’s upfront presentation in New York, Mr. Kimmel, the host of ABC’s late night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” delivered a withering, blistering monologue that took direct aim at ABC, its potential advertisers and his NBC late-night rival, Jay Leno. The assembled advertisers received his performance with a mixture of uneasy laughs and the occasional gasp. Bouncing onto the stage at just after 4 p.m., Mr. Kimmel self-deprecatingly declared, “All of ABC’s late night comedy talent is assembled here on one stage.” After rattling off a few statistics about the affluence of his viewers, he then admitted that he’d made all the numbers up. (He said so in a more obscene way.) Then, in a “Jerry Maguire”-like moment of clarity, Mr. Kimmel said, “Everything you’re going to hear this week is” nonsense. “Let’s get real here. Let’s get Dr. Phil-real here. These new fall shows? We’re going to cancel about 90 percent of them. Maybe more.” If ABC is so confident in its new fall shows, he asked, why is it announcing them at the same time it announces the midseason shows that will replace those fall shows? “This show ‘Shark Tank’ has the word tank right in the title,” he said. To the ABC advertisers, Mr. Kimmel said, “Every year we lie to you and every year you come back for more. You don’t need an upfront. You need therapy. We completely lie to you, and then you pass those lies onto your clients.” In closing, Mr. Kimmel said, “I think all our shows are going to work this year. I really do.” He paused. “I don’t, really.” Before departing the stage, he said: “The important thing to remember is: who cares, it’s not your money.”
ArtsBeat NY Times

NBC Offered Oprah 8pm Slot
Before deciding to put Jay Leno in prime time, NBC offered its 8 p.m. timeslot to Oprah Winfrey. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said that the notion of Oprah having a nightly show in prime time wasn’t a new idea. NBC talked to Ms. Winfrey about two years ago, Mr. Zucker said. She passed but said she might have considered it earlier in her career, he said. NBC also discussed an 8 p.m. show with David Letterman when the “Late Show” host’s contract was coming up at CBS. Mr. Zucker added that at a meeting with affiliates on Wednesday, he plans to share a memo from 1981 in which research was done on moving the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson to 10 p.m. Mr. Zucker said the time is right now for Mr. Leno’s move into prime time. The show will be more of a comedy show than a talk show, Mr. Leno said. Like the “Tonight Show,” it will open with a monologue that will last 11 to 14 minutes. Because affiliates need a lead-in to their late local news, Mr. Leno said he is devising new comedy bits for the end of his prime time show that will keep viewers tuned in. The time slot will give Mr. Leno the first shot at making jokes about the day’s events. “TV seems to be about immediacy now,” he said.
TV Week

ESPN Casts Wide Screen for 'New Make Customer'
More games, more screens, more opportunities for sponsors. Those were the messages delivered by ESPN at its upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday morning in New York. Despite the economy, ESPN continues to invest in content and technology, emphasizing live events and live studio programming to keep fans glued to the tube, network executives said. ESPN’s revenues have been hurt by the crisis among American car makers, traditionally among the most prominent advertisers in sports programming. That helped lead the sports network to talk about what it called a “new male consumer” whom a different set of advertisers need to reach. Those new males are booking family vacations, picking breakfast cereals and laundry detergent and even using grooming products. The network also reaches a large number of women who are light viewers of other television programming. At the same time, ESPN pitched another mantra: “New Markets of Time.” Its point is that while TV’s primetime is in the evening, daytime is primetime on the Internet and weekends are primetime on mobile devices. Advertisers can work with ESPN to follow consumers when they’re choosing to view its content on those platforms. Sean Bratches, executive VP for sales and marketing, talked about new findings from ESPN’s AdLab in Austin, Texas, which measures biometric responses to programming and commercial messages. Tests there showed that when brand images were overlaid onto sports highlights, awareness and recall of advertisers’ products were increased. That’s one of many ways ESPN is integrating its content with sponsor messages. ESPN also is doing a sports area on YouTube and is offering the first pre-roll ads on the Web video site. John Skipper, executive VP for content, said ESPN will be mounting its biggest marketing campaign ever for its coverage of the 2010 World Cup. During the tournament finals, “SportsCenter” will originate from South Africa.

Among ESPN’s other announcements:

—Comcast and DirecTV are expanding distribution of ESPNu, adding about 21 million homes to bring its reach to a total of about 46 million. Comcast also is adding distribution of ESPN360, bringing it to 41 million homes.

—ESPN is launching SportsNation, a show built around fan interaction and opinion that will air at 4 p.m. on ESPN2. The show, hosted by Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadel, launches July 4. Toyota is sponsoring the program.

—Scott Van Pelt’s radio show will be simulcast on ESPN2 starting July 6 at 3 p.m.

—ESPN is launching Love30, a feature on ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile that will give viewers highlights from the previous 30 minutes of the U.S. Open.

—ESPN is launching free iPhone apps, including SportsCenter for iPhone, Fantasy Football and ESPN Alerts.

TV Week

Bozell Calls Out Copps Over Fairness Doctrine Issue
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell called out acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps over the issue of the Fairness Doctrine. In a speech to a Free Press media reform forum last week, Copps said that the doctrine was not coming back, but he also called it a phony issue and echoed comments he had made earlier that those who connected the fairness doctrine with efforts to boost minority ownership and diversity were "issue mongering". The fairness doctrine, which the FCC scrapped as unconstitutional in 1987, required broadcasters to seek out oppopsing viewpoints on issues of public importance. In a posting on the center's Web site Tuesday, Bozell challenged Copps to support an up or down vote on the Broadcaster Freedom Act in the House. The bill, which would bar reimpostition of the doctrine by the FCC, passed the Senate in late February. In the online call-out to Copps, Bozell said: “I am most appreciative that my friend – FCC Chairman Michael Copps – has no intention of reinstating the anti-First Amendment so-called ‘Fairness’ Doctrine. But his statement that those of us concerned about its reimposition are ‘issue mongering’ ‘conspiracy theorists’ is off-base given the stated desires of so many members of Congress." He listed 17 legislators who he said have recently called for the doctrine's return, and "reminded" Copps that he would soon be joined by as many as four new commissioners who might vote to reinstate the doctrine. Certainly that would not be the case if Robert McDowell remained on the commission, since he has also warned of its resurrection in another form. "Chairman Copps should call on House Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader [Harry] Reid to allow a full, fair stand-alone vote on the Broadcaster Freedom Act. That way we will know once and for all how each member of Congress thinks – are they for free speech, or are they for the ‘Fairness’ Doctrine?” The president has said on several occasions he does not support the doctrine's return, but some conservatives are worried that the FCC's localism proposals, including community boards consulting on what programming broadcasters should air in the public interest, could be a form of fairness doctrine lite.
Broadcasting & Cable

Newspapers Plunge in Customer Satisfaction Survey
The American Customer Satisfaction Index--ACSI from here on down--tracks customer satisfaction across a wide range of industries and has done so since 1994. Each quarter it surveys consumers to come up with what they call a “satisfaction index” by assigning scores to key business sectors, and in many cases companies within these sectors, on a scale of 1 to 100. The first quarter ’09 Satisfaction Index data is out and can be seen in its entirety here. How did newspapers do? Not good. In fact, really not good. In the first quarter of '09, newspaper customers’ satisfaction rating was 63. To put this in some perspective, those surveyed expressed a greater deal of satisfaction with airlines (airlines!) which scored 64. And cell phone providers (cell phone providers?) which score a 69. (The most-satisfactory segment, per the survey? Full-service restaurants, which notched an ACSI rating of 84. Comfort food and comfort rituals for uncomfortable times.) That’s bad enough, but what’s worse is how badly newspapers’ ACSI score has slipped since the surveys began plumbing consumer sentiment. It’s off 12.5% since the survey's debut in 1994. This marks the steepest “satisfaction” drop of any industry in this quarter's survey.
Business Week

Message From Michael
TELEVISION – THE 600 POUND GORILLA: Not one, but several studies have been released recently showing that mainstream television is THE mainstay of the American media diet. The top study is the Video Consumer Mapping Study done by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design for the Council for Research Excellence. In short, it showed that no other media comes even close to television when it came to daily reach (94%) or daily duration (5 hours and 31 minutes). Even among the media-savvy 18 to 24 year olds, live television watching alone accounted for more time (210 minutes) than all of the so-called “second screen” use, which, adding up web-surfing, emailing, IM’ing, software use and the meager two minutes of video use, ‘only’ totaled 164 minutes. A survey by a pair of youth oriented groups confirms the higher interest in television. Online quiz company Pangea Media and YPulse which describes itself as ‘the leading media platform for youth’ say their survey of their own teen and tween audience found that two-thirds (64%) prefer to watch live television versus the quarter (26%) who prefer DVR’s and the 11% who watch online. However, as a point of balance, when asked to give up TV or the Internet, three quarters (76%) said they would give up television.

And if that isn’t enough, another study by the prestigious Advertising Research Foundation will gladden the hearts of my television sales brethren. Its analysis of nearly 400 case studies found that TV ads are not only as effective as ever, but may in fact be even more effective in increasing sales. The analysis said the number of units sold per various items increased as the number of television impressions increased. Yet another study, this one by media planning and research firm McPheters and Company, showed that net recall of TV ads was twice that of magazine ads which, in turn, had a recall almost three times that of Internet ads. The study tested people watching the various ads in a laboratory setting and then asked them questions afterwards. A caveat of sorts, the Internet ads were Banner Ads, not Internet video ads, and the study, using eye tracking software, showed that two thirds of the web users (63%) didn’t even see the banner ads. But still the same point about effectiveness of TV ads was shown in an analysis of personal care products by TNS Media Intelligence which showed that companies that cut advertising during a recession lost market share to private labels – and market share they didn’t regain. Most particularly, the analysis cited research by a University of North Carolina professor that showed companies maintained or hiked ad spending – particularly TV spending – lost limited share.

And if that isn’t enough, proof that every cloud has a silver lining, research by the good folks at Frank Magid Associates for the Hearst-Argyle group showed that 99% of the people surveyed said they are tuning in as much or even more to local television news, to keep track of the economic news. One in six said they were watching television more (16%) and going to the Internet more (17%). Similar to the McPheters study, those surveyed said they pay more attention to TV ads than magazine ads (57% versus 43%), TV ads over newspaper ads (64% versus 36%), TV ads over radio (72% versus 28%) and TV ads over the Internet (85% versus 15%). Finally, if that isn’t enough, it turns out that happiness is not, as the Beatles song says, a warm gun, but rather a warm TV. A series of studies by the University at Buffalo and Miami University of Ohio has found that watching TV can drive away feelings of loneliness and isolation. The four studies carried in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that people felt less lonely when watching TV, that writing about their favorite TV programs aroused “belongingness needs”, that they expressed fewer feelings of loneliness after writing about their TV programs, and that just thinking about their favorite TV programs proved a buffer against “drops in self esteem.”

NOW YOU SEE IT; NOW YOU DON’T: In all candor this could have been headlined – now you understand it; now you don’t. The point is… it’s a little confusing. The Video Consumer Mapping Study cross-examines the issue of “concurrent media exposure.” In other words, are people watching other media or doing something else when watching TV, online or listening to the radio. And if so, is the media the sole focus of attention, the primary focus of attention or the secondary focus of attention. As the report says, concurrent media exposure isn’t a phenomenon restricted to 18 to 24 year olds; it is a phenomenon for the 18 to 54 year olds as well. In this area, television wins hands down again. Television was more likely (80%) to be the sole source of media attention, meaning people only watched it and nothing else. Television was also more likely to be the primary source of media attention, meaning there may be other media being used but the prime focus is on the television. What was somewhat surprising is that people are more likely to be using “any print” as their second media of choice when watching television, not computers as we’ve been told so often. And when the computer is their ‘primary’ focus, the second choice is not television but “any phone.” However, by way of balance, in the Pangea Media study cited earlier, teens and tweens said they were multi-tasking when watching TV, either going online (78%) or text messaging (66%).

THE MISSING SCREEN: You’ve no doubt heard references to the “three screen” description of media viewing – television, computer, and mobile phone. Actually, the report says there is a fourth screen – environmental, as in movie screen ads, TV’s in stores and GPS screens. In fact when you add these ‘out of home TV minutes’ into the equation, they amount to ten times as much video viewing as video on the Internet and video on the mobile phone combined. In fact, when it comes to watching video in general, 99% of the time is spent watching it on the TV or DVR. Watching video on the Internet (when you’re only doing the three screen approach) accounted for less than half a percent of the time spent and watching video on a mobile device accounted for only one tenth of one percent.

Again, by way of balance, we should note a report by Microsoft about European video viewing that may be a harbinger for the U.S. That report predicts that by next month European Internet consumption will reach 14.5 hours compared to 11.5 hours for TV. Also Nielsen Online reports that online video viewing passed a milestone in March with the average viewer consuming three hours per month for the first time. It says viewers are spending more time watching full-length episodes and longer-form shows.

LEAN FORWARD; LEAN BACK: Another reference you’ve probably heard used, and which popped up several times in the various readings. The contention is that television is a ‘lean back’ medium, meaning you are further from the screen, sitting back, just hitting the remote; and also implying it is a more passive, non-interactive medium. Personal computer use on the other hand is a ‘lean forward’ medium, meaning you are closer to the screen, using the mouse; and implying it is a more interactive and engaging medium. Several of those quoted in regard to the Ball State University study say the video consumer mapping study shows those lines are becoming more blurred. Several new technological developments are further blurring that line. For example, Adobe is developing a TV version of the Flash video player normally associated with computers and the Internet. The result, according to observers, will be the ability to watch more web-based video on TV. Chip maker Intel has partnered with online service Yahoo to create “TV Widgets” – mini-apps that appear as icons on the screen and connect to the web. TV maker Samsung has already come out with a TV widget equipped set and Sony and Vizio are expected to follow shortly, according to PCWorld magazine. In an article headlined PC/TV Convergence: turn on, tune in, log on, MediaWeek reporter Adrian Pennington makes the somewhat obvious statement that the key to bringing the Internet to TV is to strike the balance between the viewing differences of television and the computer. He says the BBC iPlayer has led the way by bringing online TV viewing into the mainstream. Research firm In-Stat says 40% of ‘young adult’ US households view Internet video on the TV once a month now, and predicts Web-to-TV streaming devices will generate $3 Billion in revenue by 2013. In a statement so obvious that it borders on stupid, an In-State analyst says once Web-to-TV video becomes “simple and convenient, mass adoption will follow quite rapidly.”

FINAL FOOTNOTE: The VCM study was based on actual observation of people during the day – 376 people over two full days, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. The study authors contend this is much more accurate method measurement than the questioning of people as to what they remembered or thought they did. The council members questioned the idea that people under 30 were all watching Internet video and not TV, that the 30-second spot is dead, and that everyone is record TV on their DVR’s instead of watching. And the report appears to show they were right to question those assumptions.

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.

Top 10 Classified Pieces of Information Revealed by Joe Biden

10. Biden confirmed Vice President has no actual responsibilities.

9. Obama also bought his kids a kangaroo.

8. Nixon faked his death to escape gambling debts.

7. In case of trouble, President's car can turn into a fighting robot.

6. To enter Oval Office, you must know the President's secret fist-bump.

5. Biden often skips staff meetings to watch "Jon And Kate Plus Eight."

4. America will declare it's going out of business next Tuesday.

3. Obama smokes in his sleep.

2. When Bush ran out of pate at a state dinner, he fed Queen Elizabeth week-old taco meat.

1. Dick Cheney once caught waterboarding himself

The Late Show with David Letterman

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Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 5/18/2009

CBS Evening News To Debut New Logo, Graphics Monday
Exclusive: The CBS Evening News will debut a new logo and new graphics Monday, with an eye toward HD. TVNewser got a sneak peek at the new look today. CBS news and sports president Sean McManus told us the graphics came about late last year. "It was motivated by looking at the election graphics and realizing they look so much more contemporary, so much clearer, and so much cleaner than the Evening News graphics," he said. "At that time we charged Bob Peterson with coming up with a new graphic look which he has done." Peterson, CBS News' executive creative director, and his team came up with the graphic design and concept entirely in house in the span of approximately six months. The "convergence of different designs," as Peterson put it, features a logo with three interlocking globes, moving images in the OTS box and a bolder blue and red color scheme. But there's also a notable Web feel. There are headers for each image, and what appears to be drop-down tabs and boxes that would close a window. So what will the graphics do for viewership? "I'm not a subscriber to the fact that graphics make a difference in the ratings," says McManus. "This is not about trying to get the ratings up, it's about trying to make the overall broadcast look and feel cleaner and better."
MediaBistro

‘60 Minutes' Wins Second Peabody
In an unprecedented occurrence, CBS News’ Scott Pelley has won a Peabody Award in two consecutive years. Last year, Mr. Pelley, a “60 Minutes” correspondent since 2004, was honored for “The Killings in Haditha,” an interview with Marine Sgt. Frank Woodrich, who lost a comrade to an IED and led his men in a subsequent operation that killed many civilians. This year, Mr. Pelley’s “60 Minutes” story “Lifeline” presented the world of the uninsured and underinsured in America. Mr. Pelley followed a free-clinic mission, originally designed for Third World communities, that set up shop in Tennessee for a weekend and treated hundreds of patients. “It was a humbling experience to see those people sleeping in their cars, hundreds of them, in the freezing cold of winter, overnight, just to get a chance to see a doctor or a dentist or some patient care,” said Mr. Pelley. “And heartbreaking at the end of that weekend that the RAM [remote area medical] expedition has to wrap up, all the volunteers have to go home, and still there are a few hundred more people who were turned away at the gates just because there’s a limit to what RAM can do on a given weekend. “RAM had been operating on a budget of about $200,000 a year,” said Mr. Pelley. “But now, they’re expanding their work all over the country. There are going to be some big expeditions this summer, in Ohio and Los Angeles. They have taken every dollar that they’ve gotten from being exposed to the nation via the broadcast and plowed that back into the program and their work.” For Mr. Pelley, doing this kind of story wasn’t new. “I have seen organizations like this all around the world, in Africa and in Asia, providing emergency medical relief,” he said. “To see one of them here in the United States doing the same for my people, in a situation that wasn’t a natural disaster but a man-made disaster, was very, very troubling. “There is a large subset of people who need a voice, and when you can do that, I think you’ve reached the highest calling of journalism,” Mr. Pelley said. When Mr. Pelley received the word that he had won the Peabody for the second year in a row, he was stunned. “In fact, it was so unexpected that before I called the rest of the team to tell them, I called back to make sure that it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke. It was quite a surprise and an honor as well.”
TV Week

ABC, PBS Tally Most Daytime Emmy Noms
Vanessa Williams will host the 36th annual Daytime Emmy Awards this summer, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced today. The Academy also announced the award nominees. The Awards will take place August 30 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles and will air on the CW. The three major broadcast networks will be up against each other in the category of Outstanding Drama Series, with ABC's All My Children nominated along with NBC's Days of Our Lives and CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful. The networks are also nominated for Outstanding Morning Show with Good Morning America (ABC), The Early Show (CBS), and Today Show (NBC). Discovery Channel's Cash Cab, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and Jeopardy! were nominated for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show. Nominations for Outstanding Lifestyle Program were MTV's Made, The Style Network's Peter Perfect and Clean House, PBS' This Old House, and The Martha Stewart Show. Disney-ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly, Rachel Ray, and The Ellen Degeneres Show are up for Outstanding Talk Show in the entertainment category. In the informative talk show category, the nominees are Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and The Tyra Banks Show. Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal), Meredith Vieira (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire), Alex Trebek (Jeopardy!), and Ben Bailey (Cash Cab) were nominated for Outstanding Game Show Host. Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, Rachel Ray, Ellen Degeneres, and the five women from The View line up as the nominees for Outstanding Talk Show Host. The Academy is recognizing Sesame Street with this year's Lifetime Achievement Award, as the show is celebrating its 40 year anniversary. PBS led all networks with 56 nominations followed by ABC with 50. 49 syndicated programs come in next, followed by 30 nominations for CBS and 20 for NBC. Nickelodeon is the top cabler with 13 nominations, followed by Disney Channel (10) and Food Network (10). Other notables include Cartoon Network and MTV (both with four nominations), YouTube (2), and Fox (1). For a complete list of all the nominees, check Emmyonline.tv.
Broadcasting & Cable

Fox Contest Seeks Next Great Animated Holiday Idea
Fox is offering a development deal to anybody who can create the next great animated holiday special. The network is teaming with animation studio Aniboom to launch a contest where animators can submit holiday-inspired short films for cash prizes. The winner will receive a deal with the network that could lead to a show getting on the air. "Fox has long been the sole primetime animation powerhouse, and we're searching for a fresh new animated holiday special that could potentially become an instant classic and maybe even a weekly series," said Fox president Kevin Reilly. "By tapping into Aniboom's community of undiscovered talent, we hope to find the next original hit holiday concept, like 'Simpsons Treehouse of Horror' or 'A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas.'" Broadcasters lean heavily on holiday programming to bolster ratings and protect their regular series from reduced average viewing levels. Some, like "Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," manage to get large ratings for decades despite airing every year. Crafting new holiday animated hits has proved challenging, however, with Fox's "Family Guy" special ABC's "Shrek the Halls" standing as exceptions in recent years. Also, Comedy Central's "South Park" started as an amateur holiday-themed short.
Hollywood Reporter

PepsiCo Seeks Out-of-Work Journos for Experiment
As the ranks of out-of-work journalists swell, PepsiCo is stepping in with an offer: cover Internet Week events, using many forms of digital media. PepsiCo is calling the experiment of an "open newsroom" an effort to align the brand with the social media space. It is hiring nine people to use blogging, Twitter, Web video events from Internet Week, running June 1-8 in New York City. The program is open to journalists, students, social media gadflies and anyone with a hankering to report using new social media tools. Their reports will appear on the PepsiCo Content Network (pepsicontentnetwork.com.) Participants will receive $750. The "social communicators" will be outfitted with press passes and assigned to cover everything from panels to parties. They will create packages of content including photos, videos and blog posts. PepsiCo is providing tools like Flip video cameras. The company hired former Mediabistro editorial director Dorian Benkoil as editor in chief for the site. "What we're looking for storytellers or journalists or professionals that are at work in this space," said Bonin Bough, director of digital and social media at PepsiCo. PepsiCo is opening its casting call to those with journalism experience, students at journalism schools, and also bloggers and those adept in digital communications platforms. It will advertise for the positions on Craigslist and Mediabistro. The brand hopes PCN will generate 100 pieces of content over the course of the week, which will be available for any site to take and repost. PepsiCo has made a concerted push to align itself with social media. It was among the top sponsors at South by Southwest, a social media Woodstock held in April. Its efforts there included a Twitter visualizer that tracked sentiment from the event and a podcast area. It also hosted a "PepTrends" event, in which it moderated a conversation over Twitter about global trends. "We see the benefits of creating these relationships," Bough said. "We want to move from impressions to connections."
Editor & Publisher

Kutcher Punks CNN
The scene was more reminiscent of a Hollywood production than an elaborate prank by the Punk'd-master himself. A banner with Ashton Kutcher's Twitter name, aplusk, was unfurled Wednesday over the CNN logo at CNN Center. A banner with Ashton Kutcher's Twitter name, aplusk, was unfurled Wednesday over the CNN logo at CNN Center. Ashton Kutcher, along with his wife, Demi Moore, dropped by Atlanta, Georgia's CNN Center on Wednesday to fulfill his promise to "ding-dong-ditch" CNN founder Ted Turner's house after winning last April's race to attract 1 million followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter. With the precision of a Hollywood director, Kutcher barked into his two-way radio as his light and sound crews followed with the Twitter entourage hot on their heels and an Internet audience watching on Ustream. Moments after Kutcher yelled "lights" into his two-way, his crew unfurled a banner with his Twitter name, aplusk, over the CNN's neon logo on the building. "You know, CNN lost. That's what happened," Kutcher told a tag-along crowd of more than 100 fans whom he calls "tweeps." "I'm just fulfilling a promise I made ... that I'd do this thing and I'm doing it." Kutcher had challenged CNN to the Twitter race, saying he would donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day if he beat CNN, and 1,000 if he lost. CNN agreed to do the same.
CNN

Fairness Doctrine Is A 'Phony' Issue, Copps Says
Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps Thursday used yet another venue to try to make it clear that his call for media reform does extend to reimposing the fairness doctrine, which he called a "phony issue." "The Fairness Doctrine is long gone and it’s not coming back, he said in a speech to media reform group Free Press at the Newseum in Washington Thursday. Copps was referring to criticism from the right of the FCC's diversity committee. "A couple of weeks ago, when we finally got the FCC back on track to do something about the shameful state of minority and female ownership of media properties, some had the gall to suggest it was just a ruse to bring the Fairness Doctrine back," he said. In a speech to that committee's first meeting last week, Copps called the fairness doctrine connection "issue mongering," a phrase he repeated Thursday. In his Free Press speech, Copps was calling for more localism and diversity in broadcast programming and ownership, and holding broadcasters to a more quantifiable public interest standard, saying that was necessary to "nurture the democratic dialog." But he followed up that phrase with a long and pointed caveat. "When I say 'democratic dialogue,'" he told his audience, "it is not code for 'the Fairness Doctrine.'" Copps said conspiracy theorists were, "lurking behind every corner," but that they should not be allowed to derail efforts to boost minority and female ownership. "We will not lose this opportunity to make real and lasting progress on media reform because some find it is in their self-interest to keep this phony issue alive."
Broadcasting & Cable

Top Ten Film Misquotes
'Luke, I am your father' from The Empire Strikes Back tops a poll of memorable movie misquotes, which also includes the perennial 'Play it again, Sam' from Casablanca and Star Trek's 'Beam me up, Scotty'

They are the five words which turned the world of young Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker upside down in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. But they were never actually uttered by Darth Vader.

The phrase, "Luke, I am your father", has topped a list of memorable movie misquotes compiled by the website lovefilm.com following a poll of 1,500 filmgoers. In fact, the words uttered by Vader are the rather less impactful: "No, I am your father."

Fans of vintage Disney may also be somewhat surprised to learn that the evil queen in 1937's Snow White never actually says, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall - who is the fairest of them all?" The immortal line actually begins with the words, "Magic mirror ..."

Also in the top five is the menacing challenge issued by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry in 1971. Commonly misremembered as, "Do you feel lucky, punk?", the correct phrase is the rather less pithy: "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"

Then there's possibly the best-known movie misquote – "Play it again, Sam" from 1942's Casablanca. Ingrid Bergman actually cajoles pianist Dooley Wilson with, "Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By", while the closest Humphrey Bogart ever gets to these words is: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it!"

Further down the chart is Hannibal Lecter's misquoted, "Hello, Clarice", in 1991's Silence of the Lambs (the line that Anthony Hopkins imbues with goose-pimply sinister intent is, "Good evening, Clarice") and "Beam me up, Scotty" – never uttered by William Shatner's James T Kirk in any of the Star Trek films; rather, it's "Scotty, beam us up".

Lovefilm's Darren Bignell said: "Iconic film lines are part of everyone's vocabulary these days, but it's interesting how years of quoting have had a Chinese whisper effect on accuracy."

Top 10 misquotes

1. "Luke, I am your father" – Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

2. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

3. "Do you feel lucky, punk?" – Dirty Harry (1971)

4. "Play it again, Sam" – Casablanca (1942)

5. "Hello, Clarice" – The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

6. "Beam me up, Scotty" – Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

7. "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn" – Gone With the Wind (1939)

8. "If you build it, they will come" – Field of Dreams (1989)

9. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto" – The Wizard of Oz (1939)

10. "Mrs Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?" – The Graduate (1967)

The Guardian

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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's Marketing Ideanet 5/14/2009

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
Promo of the Day
The TV News Love Affair with Hard Sell Marketing
NBCU Struts Brand Campaign
Hoops Lifts TNT to 2nd Ratings Win
‘NewsHour’ to Get Makeover
'60 Minutes' vs Chevron: Battle of the Reporters
2009 Could See $1B in Political Spending
TV Market Ad Cancellations Unfolding
NY Times Going Non-Profit?
3.5 Mil Still Not Ready for DTV Switch, Lake Says
DVRs a Boon for Nets; Study
Cell Phones, TVs Undo Efficiency Gains: Study
Top Ten Lines Never Before Said In A "Star Trek" Film

Quotes

"Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."
- Barack Obama

"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail."
- Napoleon Hill

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!"
- Randy Paush

Promo of the Day
Hulu's cynical celebrity cadre are evil - and proud of it!

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

**note: today's Marketing Ideanet is featuring a rerun of Graeme's Advice & Ideas column from 5/4/09 as there was some delivery issues last week

The TV News Love Affair with Hard Sell Marketing
by Graeme Newell
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http://www.602communications.com

"What you are shouts so loud in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
             Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is the characteristic of a great marketing campaign? It will achieve two goals - one for the head and one for the heart. But these two goals can be masterfully intertwined so both are achieved without the need for a hard sell. The best advertisers will leave you with such a great feeling that you don't realize you've been sold something. Their ads establish a clear product position with few, if any, facts about that product. They use clever creative vehicles such as metaphor, exaggeration, fantasy, or humor to hide the hard sell with a chuckle or a warm glow.

Unsophisticated ads like this one go at their customer straight-on with a very hard sell. If you have an amazing product feature that is remarkably differentiating, this kind of sell can work well. It also works well with new products with few competitors. "Head On" was remarkably successful using this approach. If you are truly the low-price leader on cars in your town, then repetitive, hard-sell marketing can strike a chord and get customers to remember that one fact about you when it is time to buy.

Most local news operations primarily rely on this kind of hard-sell, million-watt marketing - identify a product feature, then scream it over and over and over again. Just compare the tone of this weather promo with this "all inventory must go" ad from a local car dealer. Just replace the words "$7000 minimum trade" with "Live SuperDoppler 5000" and it's pretty much the same ad.

To succeed in this hard sell game, you must do two things:

1) Keep an amazingly tight focus.

If you are the "low price leader" in the car market, then stick with that. Don't talk about the friendliness of your service team, the beauty of your showroom, or the tastiness of your lobby coffee. Be one thing, all the time. Price, price, price. This means you may need to neglect other parts of your business in order to maintain dominance in your chosen marketable point.

Hard-sell TV stations frequently get in trouble in this area. They sell too many things and dilute that single memorable message. "We have great weather, in-depth reporters, web dominance and are the sports leader."

Also some stations sabotage themselves by doing hard-sell advertising with a slogan that encompasses everything. They confuse a slogan with a brand. "We are 'on your side' with today's weather and the latest drug murder downtown." In this ad, the station claims to be all things to all people. This is poison for a brand that relies on hard sell.

If you plan to use the simple tool of hard-sell advertising, you must continually resist the temptation to complicate your brand message. Hard-sell advertising easily collapses when it wanders away from a single central point.   If you plan to be more than one thing, then you must use a more sophisticated advertising approach and move away from hard sell.

Hard-sell advertising gets high recognition in traditional phone survey research. If you say your product name often enough and loud enough, then people will remember it. A word of caution here though.   Just because the audience can spout back a slogan or product feature doesn't mean they like you. Rod Blagojevich, Halliburton and Jeffery Dahmer all have incredible name recognition. It is important that you never confuse recognition with actual affection for your brand.

2) Constantly monitor your product for commoditization.

Remember, hard-sell advertising is all about features, and you must invest a lot of your capital to keep your one chosen feature superior. The moment your product slips into ubiquity, you must transition to a brand strategy that is better suited to making a personal connection. Hard sell typically uses abrasive repetition to drive home a point. It is about "talking at" people, not "talking with" them.

All products move through a life cycle. They start out new and different with unique features and attributes. Competitors then quickly move in, steal your great idea, water down your message and cut into your share. This is an inescapable cycle that all good products face.

When FedEx came on the market back in the 80s, it had unique product features and created a branding campaign that sold those features - hard. This spot became an icon of the decade, but as competitors moved into the overnight shipping business, this service became a commodity. Fedex adroitly transitioned their brand to be about "trust" and moved to a more sophisticated brand position. Watch how this commercial sells an emotional connection (peace of mind), and not a product feature (fastest package delivery).

Sure, Fedex still does commercials that sell product features, but the features are now used to bolster the emotionally connected brand position, not the other way around. In this ad, FedEx is selling the ease of use of their on-line system, but it was clearly born from the companies "trust" brand. The slogan is all about pushing that emotional connection, "Relax, it's Fedex." This brand has the flexibility to weather new services, new product lines and other changes. All their product lines can now support their brand. If their brand was still about "overnight," this expansion would destroy it.

This means you must constantly monitor yourself and other news operations (analog & digital) for signs of the commonplace. Do a realistic assessment of your staffing, hardware and other resources, then dispassionately acknowledge when your product is no longer substantially different. The worst thing you can do is delude yourself. Don't take this as a defeat. Most products aren't different. Alcoholic beverages, shoes, paper products, cosmetics and most all mature product categories have unremarkable product feature differences. It is the natural life cycle of all products. If you are the weather station and the competitor has comparable weather coverage, it is time that you move away from a hard-sell branding model.

The Branding Life Cycle

So as your product moves through the branding life cycle, it will move away from hard sell, feature-based advertising to customer-focused emotional motivator branding. This means your advertising will take the focus off you and put it firmly on the customer and her personal connection with your product.

Beer is pretty much beer, so each product manufacturer has carved out an exclusive emotionally based position for their product. In this ad Bud shows itself as fun and boisterous. In this ad, Castle shows itself as an international adventure. In this ad, Miller shows itself as traditional and sophisticated. They never mention their product, because they know that "taste" is not a branding battle they can win.

This kind of advertising is very hard to do. You are trying to decipher customer's feelings - a very baffling and complex process. It is so much easier to do perfunctory research that simply asks viewers how they feel about your news, but this won't get you where you need to go. Traditional product-focused research will help you tweak show content, but has limited ability to divine complex relationship motivators. Customer-focused research necessitates continual listening. It requires a lot of trial and error, and an internal paradigm shift within your station - something that is probably not going to happen in the current economic climate.

How to Get Started

So if your product really isn't that much different from the guys across town, how can you take the first steps in transitioning your brand? How can you "practice" this so you're ready to go guns blazing when economic conditions improve? Start by experimenting with very simple emotional drivers in your branding. Create commercials with emotion in them. Add more creativity to your sell.

This is something that TV stations find very hard to do. We are so accustom to the hard-sell advertising model of self-obsessed feature crowing that customer-based marketing requires a lot of practice. Journalism tends to consider itself sacred. The typical feedback is that you aren't "taking the news seriously" when you rely on common advertising creative vehicles to sell journalism. But if very serious companies like law offices, hospitals, banks and drug manufacturers regularly utilize these creative vehicles, why can't we?

Take a look at this ad that clearly makes the hard sell that their camera easily allows people to see others who are far away. The bonus - a great emotional and funny moment. They couched their very pragmatic product feature in an emotional wrapper. They don't endlessly repeat the copy line that "our camera allows you to connect," instead they creatively show how people connect.

In this ad they use fun exaggeration to sell a very hard-nosed feature. So if your weather radar can see a great distance, take that concept to its absurd next step. Put away the hackneyed shots of pulsing radar maps and weather staffers pointing at monitors.

In this ad, they use metaphor to clearly make the point that H&R Block will get your tax refund back to you fast. Race cars are fast and so is H&R Block. So if your news team quickly gets breaking news on the air, come up with a list of all the other things that are "fast" and create a metaphor commercial. Put away the shots of photographers running with cameras, and speeding live trucks.

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.

NBCU Struts Brand Campaign
Celebrating its fifth year under the NBC Universal banner, the big media company is unveiling a rare overarching brand campaign as part of an overall marketing effort that will last an entire year. A special 30-second commercial "roadblock" of messages will run at 8 p.m. EST/PST on May 12 on all NBC Universal channels, as well as its associated Web sites, NBCU's video billboard in Times Square, at the Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando and Los Angeles, and in New York City taxis. The commercial will portray all of the company's media and entertainment assets to both business and consumer audiences. NBC's brand campaign is a rare occurrence for media companies, which have generally eschewed such promotional efforts in recent years, tending to market assets -- networks, TV shows, films and entertainment events -- separately. John Miller, chief marketing officer of NBC Universal Television Group, speaking in a video release, said this is just the start of a full-year branding campaign to tout all of NBC Universal's entertainment and media assets. In May 2004, NBC acquired Vivendi Universal Entertainment to create NBC Universal. The NBC assets at that time included broadcast networks NBC and Telemundo, cable networks Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC, and television stations in major markets. Vivendi media assets then included Universal Pictures movie studio, Universal Hollywood and Orlando theme parks, and cable networks USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel.
MediaPost

Hoops Lifts TNT to 2nd Ratings Win
TNT last week notched its second consecutive ratings win, as the network’s coverage of the second round of the NBA playoffs delivered a sweep of all three major demos. According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data, TNT averaged 3.48 million total viewers during the week ended May 10, thanks to a rough-and-tumble Lakers-Rockets series and an equally physical standoff between the defending champion Boston Celtics and Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic. Through the first week of the conference semi-finals, TNT is up 30 percent in total viewers, averaging 4.86 million fans per telecast versus the year-ago 3.75 million. On Wednesday night, TNT served up 6.32 million viewers as Kobe Bryant’s 40-point performance evened out the Lakers-Rockets series at a game apiece. The game drew the week’s biggest deliveries across the demos, averaging 3.94 million viewers 18-49, 3.47 million adults 25-54 and 2.21 million 18-34s. All told, TNT boasted five of the week’s most-watched programs on ad-supported cable. For the week, TNT averaged 1.95 million viewers 18-49, 1.87 million adults 25-54 and 1.02 million 18-49s.

USA Network repeated its stint as bridesmaid, hanging on in second place with 2.67 million total viewers, 1.26 million 25-54s, 1.22 million 18-49s and 558,000 18-34s. The net posted its biggest program delivery with Monday night’s WWE Raw, which drew 4.64 million viewers between 9 p.m. and 11:11 p.m. Basketball gave ESPN a leg up, as the sports net passed Fox News Channel to take over third place in prime. With an average 1.98 million total viewers tuning in, ESPN out-delivered FNC by approximately 58,000 viewers. ESPN also took the bronze among the three demos, averaging 1.02 million 18-49s, 1 million 25-54s and 512,000 18-34s. As Kobe Bryant lit up the Rockets for 33 points Friday night, ESPN drew 5.95 million viewers, 3.42 million of which were members of the 18-49 demo. Fifth place went to Nickelodeon/Nick-at-Nite, which averaged 1.72 million viewers on the week. While Kobe, Yao, Big Baby and ‘Melo had hoops fans glued to TNT and ESPN, the week’s biggest star was iCarly. The one-hour Nick special iDate a Bad Boy out-delivered the rest of the field, averaging 6.47 million viewers, an improvement of 183 percent over the network’s year-ago delivery. The Saturday night iCarly movie also put up big numbers among the target demos, averaging 3.3 million kids 2-11 and 2.7 million kids 6-11. Disney Channel last week finished fourth among all basic-cable nets, as the non-ad-supported net averaged 1.93 million total viewers. The Mouse edged Fox News by a slender 8,000-viewer margin.
MediaWeek

‘NewsHour’ to Get Makeover
“The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,” public broadcasting’s nightly newscast, is getting a makeover, designed to bring it more fully into the digital era, give it a livelier look and nudge it, however slowly, toward the day when its longtime anchor decides to retire. Mr. Lehrer, who will turn 75 next Tuesday, isn’t stepping down. But in September the program will be retitled “PBS NewsHour” and return to a two-anchor format, which it had until 1995, when Robert MacNeil left. Linda Winslow, the executive producer of “NewsHour,” said the changes will be made for a simple reason: “What we were trying to accomplish was a more engaging program.” In the fall Mr. Lehrer will be joined by one of three co-anchors drawn from the show’s current team: Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff or Jeffrey Brown. The co-anchor will vary, and when Mr. Lehrer, who remains the executive editor, is off, two of them will anchor. “This is not a succession plan in disguise,” Ms. Winslow said. “NewsHour” is also searching for a correspondent to read the day’s news summary, now read by Mr. Lehrer, and anchor daily Webcasts from the newsroom in an effort to knit the program’s online and broadcast presence. “NewsHour” will merge its online and broadcast news desks, make its reports more easily distributable on digital platforms and send the correspondents Margaret Warner and Ray Suarez into the field more often. Some of the changes resulted from research the program commissioned in 2008 to see how viewers felt about it, “NewsHour” executives said. The changes will be unveiled to public television stations on Tuesday at PBS’s annual Showcase meeting in Baltimore. They are part of a broader effort to re-evaluate public broadcasting’s news and public affairs programs. The goal is to have them take a more coordinated, collaborative approach, by featuring “Frontline” reports on the “NewsHour,” say, or possibly creating a single Web site with content from several programs. Joint ventures with public radio are also being discussed.
NY Times

'60 Minutes' vs Chevron: Battle of the Reporters
Oil giant Chevron had a unique response to a story assembled by 60 Minutes hotshot Scott Pelley on allegations that its facilities in Ecuador purchased from Texaco years ago are now polluting an area the size of Rhode Island. Chevron hired an ex-CNN newsman to create their own report. The New York Times reported Sunday that Gene Randall, a former reporter who left CNN in 2001, spent six months developing a report that is something of a mirror image of Pelley's account, except it is focused, Randall says, "to tell (Chevron's) side of the story." As more journalists lose jobs, this is a issue that will surface repeatedly. Like former Congressmen-turned-lobbyists, prominent journalists have a level of public name recognition, storytelling expertise and credibility that can be put to just about any purpose once they leave the Fourth Estate. CBS Sports anchor Greg Gumbel says he was tricked into a similar arrangement, paid $110,000 for two days spent recording introductions for what he thought would be educational programs, only to find they were used before infomercials for time shares and cellphone chargers. Check out the 60 Minutes report and Randall's Chevron piece and decide for yourself: Who makes the better case?
Tampa Bay Blogs

2009 Could See $1B in Political Spending
A rise in issue advertising, the so-called “permanent presidential campaign” and early primary elections could combine to drive 2009 political advertising to "well over $1 billion this year," according to Evan Tracey, founder and president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Commenting following an address he made to the Media Financial Management Association’s convention in Atlanta, Tracey warned it’s too early for solid predictions, given how much is still up in the air, and said that $1 billion is the high end of a wide range that could go as low as $400 million to $700 million. Even that lower amount would be a record for an off political year, however, as Tracey pointed out in his address. One reason is an increase in advocacy advertising, which “is headed for a record year this year,” he said. The administration’s tough rules requiring public officials to wait at least two years before entering the ranks of lobbyists has restricted traditional lobbying avenues, he said. “This forces advocacy groups to go outside the Beltway” and do more advertising. Also fueling advocacy advertising is the fact there are now as many liberal groups advertising to support the Democratic Party’s agenda as there are conservative ones opposing it, Tracey said. The so-called permanent presidential campaign also contributes to issue advertising, Tracey said, launching a video of an ad the Democratic National Committee ran not long ago supporting the Obama administration’s effort to pass its budget bill. “The DNC isn’t resting,” he said. “They are still in campaign mode and willing to spend on advertising even in an off year.” Corporations are also spending on issue advocacy, Tracey said, showing an ad Wal-Mart is running promoting universal healthcare. Other companies have run ads opposing a bill that would make it easier for employees to opt for unions. “Corporations are willing to use their brands to advocate for policy initiatives,” Tracey said, noting that Wal-Mart’s issue campaign hasn’t diverted funds from its regular advertising budget.
TV Newsday

TV Market Ad Cancellations Unfolding
Advertisers are still taking money off the table, but some think the rate might be slowing. Third quarter cancellation options are underway with broadcast networks running at around 10%-15%, according to several agencies. A slew of big marketers from Procter & Gamble to Unilever and Visa are rumored to have exercised options, though that money may reappear in the market as the season comes to a close. Across the TV universe, which includes cable and syndication, options are put at anywhere between 12% to 20%. Some agencies have been given until June to make their decisions on third quarter spending; cancellations are usually wrapped by May 1. If that prediction proves correct, it’s likely to be a good sign for the vitality of the ad market since third quarter is generally seen as the heaviest period for cancellation option taking. June is the end of the fiscal year for companies such as Procter & Gamble and can involve marketers putting money back into corporate coffers. Another reason cancellations are generally heavier in the third quarter is that they were booked almost a year in advance when business conditions were quite different. On earnings calls last week, few media chiefs were willing to shed light on the extent of option taking, though the standard line has been that its in the ballpark of second quarter which ran in the low-to-mid double digits for most. Given that marketers are permitted to take back up to 50 percent of their commitments each quarter, the percentages aren’t as bad as they appear, since they relate only to half of the booked dollars.
Broadcasting & Cable

NY Times Going Non-Profit?
At 66, David Geffen has amassed a fortune that Forbes estimates at $4.5 billion in its annual list of the global megawealthy. The Hollywood impresario, one of the world's most prescient investors, has scored mammoth returns in art and hedge funds, having cashed out of the financial and art markets well ahead of the crashes. But the foundation of Geffen's wealth—and his first love—remains the media industry, where his touch has been consistently golden, managing and producing legendary music acts such as Joni Mitchell and the Eagles and to helping launch DreamWorks. So why is Geffen, having already sought unsuccessfully to acquire the Los Angeles Times and now reportedly eyeing The New York Times, so keen on stuffing his portfolio with an investment that seems dead on arrival—newspapers? Geffen declined to publicly comment on media reports that he recently tried to acquire a large stake in the financially distressed New York Times Co., parent of the storied newspaper. But two people familiar with Geffen's thinking say the answer is simple: an acquisition of the Times wouldn't be a financial investment. If Geffen were successful in landing The New York Times, said one of the confidantes, he'd convert it into a nonprofit institution. He would regard the newspaper, perhaps the world's most influential journalistic enterprise, as a national treasure meriting preservation into perpetuity. His model would be the ownership structure of Florida's St. Petersburg Times, which is controlled by a nonprofit educational institution, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "David would hope the newspaper makes a profit," said the confidante. "But he believes that operating without the ultimate responsibility of paying dividends or necessarily having to be profitable is the best way to run an institution like The New York Times." The Geffen sources NEWSWEEK spoke to are knowledgeable about his investment decisions and specifically about his overture to acquire a Times stake, but they declined to be identified. "The New York Times is a very special institution," said one of the persons. "It's essential to be preserved. And David believes the correct model to preserve it is nonprofit."
Newsweek

3.5 Mil Still Not Ready for DTV Switch, Lake Says
"Yes, June 12 is Congress' final answer," said FCC DTV transition coordinator William Lake, in a status report to the commissioners 30 days out from the DTV transition date. Lake warned that 3.5 million people had still not taken the actions necessary to avoid losing access to their TV signal, saying many of those were in the most vulnerable populations, including the elderly, low income, disabled minority and rural areas. Conveying a sense of urgency, Lake told the commissioners that the key was doing everything possible so that those viewers did not lose their, "only link, in some cases, to news and the world at large."   Lake said the FCC is prepared to handle over 200,000 in-home installations of converter boxes. T he FCC call center will be ready to ramp up to 4,000 operators and can now handle calls in about 100 languages. He said that the FCC has issued 46 contracts for assistance programs, 21 for in-home installations, 13 for in-home expert advice, and 12 for walk-in help centers. Firefighters will pitch in and help in areas not covered by the contracts. AmeriCorps volunteers and FCC boots on the ground continue their outreach efforts as well. The FCC is also starting a media push, particularly to ethnic media, to get the word out. Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps gave a shout out to trade press for their coverage of the transition, but said he wished the national media were doing more on the story. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein joked that he kind of liked the idea of seeing the ads on buses because they "go slower than NASCARs and crash less often," a reference to the sponsorship of a DTV transition-themed race car under former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Copps echoed his sentiment that the Feb. 17 transition date would have been a disaster and thanked the president and Congress for moving the date.
Broadcasting & Cable

DVRs a Boon for Nets; Study
A few years ago, the TV networks had good reason to fear digital video recorders, with their capacity to zip through ads. But as it turns out, DVRs are proving a boon for the networks in one important way. They're creating more opportunities for viewers to watch television, and viewers are doing just that--watching more TV, and more network TV at peak primetime hours. DVRs, which are now in 31 percent of homes, up from virtually nothing just three years ago, are being used primarily to record network primetime shows, particularly on nights when the networks have hit shows competing against one another, according to a new study by Nielsen. Nielsen found that DVR users are watching more episodes of high-rated shows each month than viewers without DVRs. People who recorded programs and watched hit shows up to a week after their original broadcast saw an average 2.5 episodes of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” for example, compared to people without DVRs, who were found to have watched 2.1 episodes. DVR viewing actually spikes in October and November, early into the new broadcast season when networks are loading up on original episodes. During those two months last fall, program playback in DVR homes generated a 10.3 rating among adults 18-49, most of it for network programs, compared to about a 6 rating during the summer and roughly an 8 rating for much of the rest of the year. Nielsen also found that most DVR playback among 18-49s occurs during primetime, peaking at 9 p.m., when almost 12 percent of all playback takes place. The vast majority of playback, nearly 100 percent, occurs within a week of a show’s original broadcast, but even more important to the networks, about 90 percent of playback takes place within three days. That's a key figure in media buying. Buyers and sellers negotiate based on C3 ratings--commercial ratings for live viewing and three days of DVR playback.

As for ad skipping, it appears not to be nearly the threat the networks once thought. Researchers report that fast-forwarding through commercials doesn’t vary much between heavy users of DVRs and light users, suggesting the amount of commercial skipping going on now probably won’t change much as DVR penetration increases. In November last year, the heaviest DVR users watched commercials about 44 percent of the time. The lightest users watched commercials about 45 percent of the time. In his study, Leichtman found that 90 percent of DVR users say they sometimes fast-forward through commercials. But a large percentage of people without DVRs also avoid commercials. About 64 percent of people without a DVR in LRG’s research say they don’t watch commercials, either by flipping channels or leaving the room. “People are skipping commercials, absolutely,” says Leichtman. “But we operate under the assumption that DVRs invented commercial slipping. No, the dial invented commercial skipping and remote controls made it easier.”
MediaLife Magazine

Cell Phones, TVs Undo Efficiency Gains: Study
Demand for energy-thirsty gadgets such as cell phones, iPods, PCs and plasma TVs is undoing efficiency gains elsewhere, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. The Paris-based energy adviser to 28 developed countries urged governments in a report to keep pace with the invention of new consumer devices when crafting efficiency standards, and implored people to make thriftier choices. The IEA warned that otherwise energy used by household electronic devices could triple by 2030. Energy consumption is associated with carbon emissions because most electricity is generated from burning high-carbon fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. But the world doesn't have to curb an insatiable appetite for ever more clever, exciting or fashionable gadgets, provided people chose the most efficient versions available, said IEA analyst Paul Waide. "There is a way of having our cake and eating it at the same time by being much more proactive on efficiency," he said. "We can hold total consumption at today's levels by using best available technologies, despite a dramatic growth in use." He said that governments have generally been a bit more reluctant to introduce policies for these types of products because they've been changing so much. "They need to be less hung up on what they call the product and focus on functions," he added referring to categories such as surfing the internet. Technologies were already available to improve efficiency by at least 40 percent across most appliances, the report found, but uptake depends on choices by fickle consumers. "The extent of savings is large; however the energy and financial savings on individual residential appliances often appear insignificant to consumers," the report said.

Green activists have dubbed 2009 as the year of climate change because of a deadline to agree in December a U.N.-led global climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol. But rising home energy use underlines how dramatic action on climate change would need action by individuals as well as governments. The report underlined the difficulty of cutting greenhouse gases as people's lifestyles became increasingly affluent. Residential electricity consumption has been growing in all regions of the world at an average of 3.4 percent a year since 1990, the report said. In many rich countries electricity use by appliances which had previously accounted for most usage, white goods such as refrigerators and clothes washers, was now falling. But growth in use of electronic devices such as iPods, video games, televisions, personal computers, modems, mobile phones and printers more than offset those falls. The study estimated that the number of people using a PC would pass one billion this year. Already there were nearly 2 billion television sets in use and over half the global population subscribe to a mobile telephone service.
Reuters

Top Ten Lines Never Before Said In A "Star Trek" Film

10. Warp factor 8! Arby's closes in ten minutes

9. We're entering a breach in the space-time continuum or a wormhole or some crazy crap like that

8. Set phasers to fabulous!

7. Welcome aboard the Starship Enterprise -- today's in-flight movie is "Big Momma's House 2"

6. We've been hijacked by Somali Pirates

5. Sir, I'm going to need Saturday off to attend my nephew's Bar Mitzvah

4. My baby-daddy is a Vulcan -- on the next "Maury"

3. The Enterprise just hit a goose -- we're gonna have to land in the Hudson

2. Live long, prosper, and keep on hangin' and bangin'

1. I find your choice of a hairpiece highly illogical

The Late Show with David Letterman

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