New opposition is mounting against Nielsen's plans to switch to people meters for local audience measurement in New York. Only days before the April 8 switch, state and federal lawmakers are calling for a federal review of Nielsen's local people meter system, especially how it may undercount minority viewers and how those estimates might impact programming and advertising aimed at Hispanics and African Americans. "We are calling on the FCC and the FTC to force Nielsen to be fair and accurate," New York State Assemblyman Jose Rivera, said Sunday in support of a New York State Black, Puerto Rican and Hispanic Legislative Caucus petition to investigate Nielsen's "undercounting" of black and Hispanic viewers. The initiative follows a similar complaint by federal lawmakers on Thursday, which also called for an audit of Nielsen's methods following a report by the National Hispanic Media Council, which claims Nielsen under-represents Latino viewing to English-language programming. Both initiatives, as well as a complaint last week from Lachlan Murdoch, deputy COO of News Corp. and chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group, cited Nielsen's decision to delay the deployment of local people meters in Los Angeles due the ethnic "complexity" of that market. Nielsen last week said it was postponing the rollout of people meters in Los Angeles and Chicago, but would proceed with its plan to introduce people meters in New York on April 8. But the New York legislative caucus said the move would contribute to a "systemic undercounting could lead to the cancellation of numerous programs geared toward African American and Latino viewers, as well as impacting negatively on Spanish-speaking programming, dealing a serious blow to efforts to encourage diversity in the industry as a whole." The complaints are adding to pressures for a federal review of Nielsen's methods, and follow a separate "informal" complaint over Nielsen's business practices made by the American Association of Advertising Agencies to the FTC. The FTC has dropped that query, but ad industry executives said a "formal" complaint could be initiated soon, possibly by the Association of National Advertisers. An ANA spokesperson declined to comment on such plans.
In what appears to be the most aggressive effort yet by a television network to tie its advertising sales to the involvement viewers have with the programming and advertising it airs, Court TV today will unveil plans for a new advertising metric that will serve as the centerpiece of its 2004-05 upfront sales pitch. During its upfront sales presentation to Madison Avenue in New York this morning, Court will make a case that the CPI - or cost per involvement - is a better way of gauging the impact of its highly involved viewers on advertising effectiveness. The offer isn't just the latest effort to spin the ad industry's obsession with audience involvement. It comes complete with a mathematical formula that utilizes market-accepted data from Nielsen and other sources as its basis. "We're taking it out to dollars and cents. How ballsy is that?" crows Debbie Reichig, senior vice president-sales strategy at Court, who along with the network's Executive Vice President-General Manager/Sales Charlie Collier, previewed the pitch to MediaDailyNews. Collier says the effort is the latest progression of Court TV's so-called "return on investigation" theme, or what the network has been pitching as "ROI," a play off of Madison Avenue's focus on return on investment for ad spending. The effort began two years ago, when Court TV touted the "lean forward" aspect of its programming. It was backed up last year when Court introduced its "sticky" campaign, which tied that involvement to higher attentiveness to ad messages utilizing a custom analysis of Nielsen data that was correlated to ad attentiveness studies from other syndicated researchers, such as Knowledge Networks, Mediamark Research Inc. and Simmons. Court is utilizing those same research elements in its 2004-05 pitch, but in a more standardized and rigorous way based around a "generic" mathematical formula that can be applied to any advertiser's brand. Reichig says Court will work will advertisers and agencies to develop customized approaches that address specific needs of their brands. While Court is not yet prepared to guarantee audience delivery against the involved viewers, he said the network would be prepared to so if and when the industry agrees on a common definition that could be developed as a new Nielsen "market break," something that could be tabulated as a standard post-buy analysis. "If you believe that not all spots are equal, this is a way for us to set ourselves apart," says Collier. "What we're trying to do is tie it more to the buying process, but make it more than just a CPM. We want to look at an involved viewer as a new market break." Reichig says Court is not likely to take its ROI pitch to the next level of advertising effectiveness: direct product sales effects. "We can't tie it to sales, because there are too many variables that we can't account for, such as the creativity of the advertising message. But what we want to do is tie involvement into the buying process and make this more than just a CPM. We want to look at the involved viewer as a new market break."
Despite predictions that the advertising marketplace is traveling further into recovery, a new report says that 2004 may only end up slightly better than 2003. Television could be in for some uncertain seas in the rest of 2004, according to the report released Friday by Standard & Poor's. "Broadcast TV ad demand continues to exhibit the lassitude of late 2003, with indications that network demand may only be a shade stronger than national spot," says Heather Goodchild, an analyst with the New York-based ratings company. She notes that on the way to the upfront negotiations, advertisers aren't too happy about the potential for another round of double-digit increases. She predicts that total ad spending would rise only 5.9 percent on the strength of television's results leading up to the November election and the Olympics in late summer. That compares to the 5.2 percent growth registered last year. "Despite the election and Olympics, which especially add to TV spending, advertising is recovering only slowly from its plunge into recession in 2001," Goodchild writes. That includes up and down auto sales and consumer confidence. She predicts only gradual improvement in much of the ad market. The elections should contribute about $1.2 billion in advertising; presidential election spending may end up less on the TV networks because of the incumbent president and some "dissipation" of spending to local cable. The Olympics should account for less than the $1.3 billion for the last summer games, held in Sydney, because the Australian games will have more live events in prime time than Athens, Greece, where it is held.
Asked about his plans for the first 12 months of Healthy Family, publisher and founder Richard Bulman doesn't recite the usual drivel about overall economic conditions, forging marketing partnerships, and meeting readers' expectations. Rather, he quickly snaps, "I think we have a good shot at being the launch of the year." Bulman doesn't base his thinking on anything other than an ardent belief that he has identified one of the few unoccupied niches in mass-market publishing. "There is no national consumer magazine that focuses on the health of the entire family," he explains. "We think we can be the user's manual for raising a healthy family in today's world." Although there's no shortage of would-be publishing mavens who believe that they've stumbled upon a similarly unique opportunity, Bulman might have a point. Parenting titles tend to focus on newborns--just look at their cover images--while women's service books tend to view health as a peripheral issue. As for gender-specific health/fitness titles (Self, Shape, Men's Health), they emphasize the individual over the family unit. Set to launch in May, Healthy Family probably won't reinvent the wheel editorially. The magazine plans to offer a range of family-oriented features, split between weighty topics (serious health issues) and lighter ones (home and pet care, travel). Where the magazine might differ from its print counterparts, as well as health-heavy local TV broadcasts, is in its relatively sober tone. "As much health information as you see reported, the confidence Americans have in the information they're getting is really low," Bulman says. "It's so sensationalistic, and it's usually really inconsistent--is fish good for you? Is it bad? The key to our success will be defining ourselves as the most trusted source for family health information." The mag's initial circulation has been set at 220,000, yet Bulman is optimistic about driving it to 300,000 before too long. Like every publisher of a budding title, he makes all the right noises about "wanting to grow the magazine organically" and "delivering the highest-quality readership." Still, a circulation of 220,000 might not immediately command advertisers' attention. Bulman dismisses such concerns brusquely: "If you get traction with a new title, you can grow the circulation quickly." Judging from the list of advertisers on board for the mag's first issue, scheduled to hit newsstands in May, his optimism doesn't seem misplaced. Companies like Kraft, Ford, and Disney, as well as brands like Dove and Dannon, have already committed. "It's not uncommon for the first issue of a new magazine to have two or three major national brands," Bulman notes. "We have around 25." Healthy Family projects a primarily female readership, with a median household income slightly more than $78,000 and a median age of 39.9 years. Research conducted by the mag suggests that 42 percent of readers will be homemakers; of the 49 percent of readers who work, 63 percent will hold managerial-level jobs. The average HF reader's household will have 2.4 children, 81 percent of whom are younger than 18. This reader, Bulman believes, will likely prove the mag's greatest asset. "Health is a primary part of their lifestyle," he explains. "It informs the car they buy, the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the vacations they take." Thus, Bulman and his staff are targeting a wide range of advertisers--everybody from auto companies (especially those with environment-friendly models and minivans) to insurers ("our audience should be great customers--living healthy is one of their top priorities"). Food companies, though, seem most important to Bulman, especially at a time when a line of salads helped revive McDonald's flagging sales. "Virtually every major food brand in America is developing a more nutritious food line. They're all moving towards a more healthful mission, and our magazine features a branding environment that underscores their commitment to health," he says. Beyond wordsmithing his launch-of-the-year acceptance speech, Bulman has ambitious plans for the months and years ahead. He sees brand extensions in Healthy Family's not-so-distant future (broadcast and electronic media), and has already fine-tuned his pitch to beauty and fashion marketers. "'Active moms think what they're putting on their bodies is as important as what they're putting in,'" he says. "Pretty good, right?" Healthy Family will debut in May with a joint May/June issue, then produce five more issues in 2004. Its cover price has been set at $3.99.
Apparently, assembly-line workers and call-center operators are not the only ones whose jobs are being outsourced overseas. Builder.com, a CNET site for software application developers, is--on an experimental basis, it is said--cutting 40 percent of its freelance budget and using the money to outsource the authoring of many of its articles to an editorial firm in India. I guess you can thank Esther Dyson if this is the straw that finally tips the trade balance and sends the economy into ruin. While this might send a shiver down the spine of any white-collar worker, I saw it as opportunity to throw off the yoke of my MediaPost slave masters and put it on the shoulders of some willingly underpaid citizen of the land Mark Twain described as "the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked." Here is a transcript of my attempted transaction: Editorial firm in India (EFII): Yes please, a betty good day to you, sir? ME: Uh, yes, I'm in the United States and I'd like to outsource my weekly online column. EFII: Ah, yes, betty good, sir. We do lots of columns from United States. Me: You do? Like whose? EFII: Oh my--let's see now, we are at the moment doing: Dave Barry, Camille Paglia, Art Buchwald, Matt Drudge, Garrison Keillor, Jimmy Breslin, and Peggy Noonan. Me: Holy mackerel! EFII: Oh yes, I am sorry to be forgetting George Will and Tina Brown. Me: How does it work--do they send you an outline? EFII: Oh, my goodness--no, we just write the columns and send them with no input from our clients. Remember that idea in Dave Barry's column to publish the telemarketers' phone numbers? We thought that up. Me: Where do you get your information, say, for the Drudge report? EFII: Mostly from our network of subcontinent taxi drivers in every major U.S. city. Oh, and also cell phones, surely a blessing sent by Krishna. Americans talk like no one else can hear them. All we have to do is listen and take notes. Me: How do you do someone like George Will? EFII: We collected everything he has ever written and run it through a computer program that simply rearranges the ideas and the quotes. Me: Can anyone tell? EFII: You tell me. Do you think Mr. George has written anything about Mr. Bush that he didn't write about President Reagan or Mr. Bush's father? Or that Tina Brown has had an original thought in the past three years? Me: Hmm, point well made. Do you just write columns? EFII: Oh my--no, we do all sorts of writing. We wrote Tom Clancy's last four books. Me: Let me guess--the computer reorganizer program? EFII: Indeed, sir. We also wrote Martha Stewart's attorney's closing argument, the Yahoo! speech for Howard Dean, the first three drafts of The Passion of Christ, and the CIA briefing paper on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. We'll write anything. That tag on your pillow that says you'll go to jail if you tear it off ... we wrote that as a little joke on our American friends. Me: Wow, who knew? How much do your pay your writers? EFII: Betty good, betty good.1000 rupees a day!! Me: That sounds pretty good ... how much is ...? EFII: 24 American dollars at the current exchange rate. But remember, in Bombay a 4 bdrm, 2bth, new kitch, river vws is only $67.50 a month. Me: Can you help me? EFII: Most certainly, sir--what do you write? Me: A column for MediaPost. EFII: Yes, yes--very fine, continue. What is it about? Me: A sort of humorous look at the world of advertising and media. EFII: Oh, very sorry, sir--very sorry indeed. We cannot help you! Me: Why not? EFII: Haven't you been reading the trades? There's nothing funny about advertising or media. A very goodbye, sir.