• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, October 5, 2011

Hanna Gryncwajg, the senior vice president of advertising sales for RLTV, is a sales professional whose extensive experience includes local and national broadcast, large and niche cable networks and even digital and entrepreneurial media outlets. She is a savvy strategist who seeks the addition of research in all of her sales materials. Hanna and I worked together in the early days of Bravo, where I saw how she adeptly captured the audience essence and sales advantage of the network through the use of research to great success.

In my interview with her, Hanna talks about her background, RLTV, insights on the Boomer demographic, and the effects of the current economy on the media market. Hanna also offers some insights on the state of media in the next few years.

The interview can be viewed here. Below is an excerpt: 

CW: Hanna, you have worked at networks that use the current currency, and you have worked for networks that did not use the current currency. Are there some advantages of being able to look at data in a different way beyond the current currency?

HG: Of course the industry needs to measure media and our network in a consistent way so that advertisers and media companies are comparing apples to apples when we negotiate. However, I really believe that the medium in general is moving toward looking at more than just sheer numbers when trying to understand consumers.

Advertisers are grappling with ways to understand what motivates consumers to purchase their product -- because ultimately, it is not about how high the rating is, but how many people are engaged enough with their ads to be motivated to buy that product or service.  

When you do not have Nielsen tools to measure your media with, you look for other ways to try to understand who your audience is and their purchasing behavior.  Having recently worked at a variety of smaller digital companies as well as  nontraditional cable companies, we worked to establish metrics around consumer behavior, as well as seasonal and out-of-home behavior  towards a variety of  products and services. 

It is interesting from a psychographic basis, because what I've learned is that it is not simply about age that determines behavior but more about specific profiles of consumers that gets them to react in a certain way towards brands.

CW: The economy... and how it will impact the sales marketplace. What do you see over the next year or two?

HG: That is a great question because our ad marketplace is interesting and quickly evolving. The economy has still not recovered fully, yet we have just experienced a very strong upfront buying season in terms of volume as well as advertisers willing to pay a premium to position themselves for the long term. 

From an advertising perspective, it would seem the lesson here is that you cannot abandon advertising spending because your competition may not, and then may quickly gain ground.  I don't believe that the advertising industry will be hurt in the next year to two years as we climb out of a bad economy, which is so unpredictable now. Marketers have gotten really savvy about their approach, using promotional and local market efforts to keep their business going.  I feel very good about the advertising landscape in particular for the next twelve months.

CW: Can you tell us about RLTV and its market position?

HG: I am thrilled to join RLTV at this moment in time because we are going through a transformation of the channel. Our evolution is due in part because our core audience, Boomers, make up a significant piece of the large 50+ demographic and they are certainly evolving and growing.  

RLTV's goal is to provide programming to this new generation of Boomers as well as other segments (which I will speak to as well). Our programming is designed to inform and entertain with topics that are relevant and of interest to them.  While RLTV is a very niche network designed to reach this targeted group of Generation 50+, we also understand that not all 50+s are the same. So we try to create programming that is of interest to the multiple types of viewers that come to RLTV for information as well as for entertainment. 

We are now launching a new branding campaign that I am very excited about.  RLTV is the only cable network that provides information and entertainment that helps our viewers redefine life after 50. Our  award-winning programming focuses on new pursuits, living longer  financial planning, exploration, community building, reconnecting, care giving, mentoring and much more.  Our audience is very active. This generation of 50+ is certainly not my mother's generation of 50+ .  This is reflected in what we are doing at RLTV to provide programming and content for this new generation.