Characterizing February as "challenging," and noting that the foreseeable outlook for newspaper ad demand "remains limited," New York Times Co. President-CEO Janet Robinson Wednesday announced a tepid 1.4 percent gain in newspaper ad sales for January 2005. While the company's flagship New York Times fared slightly better, recording a 2.3 percent sales gain for that newspaper division, the relatively weak start to the new year mirrored that of the nation's other major newspapers. Gannett's USA Today reported a 1.2 percent decline in ad revenues and a 1.9 percent drop in ad pages for January 2005, citing erosion in the automotive, technology and packaged goods categories. Ad pages for the other major national newspaper, Dow Jones & Co.'s The Wall Street Journal fell due to continuing erosion in financial advertising. Because these three papers are seen as bellwethers for national ad demand, their weak initial results are a foreboding note for the newspaper industry in 2005. "Month to date at The New York Times, ad categories experiencing softness include financial services and telecommunications," disclosed The Times Co.'s Robinson, adding, "while banking and financial B2B/insurance advertising are seeing growth." There was at least one significant bright spot within the Times Co.'s January results. The company's Internet ad revenues, increased 35 percent compared with January 2004 due to strong growth in display advertising and in all classified advertising categories. The Times Co., however, is in the throes of rethinking its Web publishing strategy, with some strong internal forces pushing to switch from a free, ad-supported model to some form of paid subscription for the NewYorkTimes.com website, a move the digital division fears would hurt its coverage and curtail future advertising gains.
While there might not seem to be enough hours in the week, Cartoon Network is preparing to program 400 hours of new half-hour shows aimed at half-pints, the net's executives said in their presentation for the Kids Upfront. Those many hours will be filled by five new animated series, new episodes of returning original series, and new acquisitions. "We had success in 2004 with an emphasis on providing hundreds of hours of new programming and establishing new hit series, which, in conjunction with our dayparting strategy and a new on-air look, resulted in our best year ever with boys 6-11, kids and boys 2-11, and tweens," said Jim Samples, executive vice president and general manager for the Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network also announced the development of an as-yet untitled series created by André 3000, one-half of the rap duo Outkast. The forthcoming show will be a prime-time half-hour comedy, and is being billed as "the first animated series with a uniquely Southern sensibility." Other new shows include: "Krypto the Superdog," premiering on Cartoon Network on weekdays beginning Monday, April 4, at 9 a.m. (EST, PST); "IGPX: IGPX (The Immortal Grand Prix)" will debut in November and promises to take viewers inside the world of the "Immortal Grand Prix"; and "My Gym Partner is a Monkey," a series where going to school almost literally becomes a trip to the jungle. Through an administrative mix-up (a typo changing "Lyon" to "Lion"), 12-year-old Adam Lyon becomes the only human student at Charles Darwin Middle School, where the animal inhabitants of the local zoo and aquarium send their kids. Aside from promoting the new programs, Cartoon Network execs also took time out to mention the network's more wholesome intentions. In a clear nod to concerns about the increasing incidence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in children-- which helped prompt Kraft to announce that it was rescinding TV advertising to kids last month--Cartoon Network will launch a national healthy lifestyles initiative targeted to kids 6-14 entitled "Get Animated," an on-air, online, print, and off-channel campaign. The branded program, which kicks off Monday, Feb. 21st, will tap the network's roster of original cartoon characters and distinctive 3D on-air environment to communicate positive lifestyle messages through multiple public service announcements to air in Cartoon Network's morning, afternoon, and prime-time dayparts. And in a combination of both its entertainment and reformist values, the network is introducing a new program called "Tickle U," which will focus on "developing, nurturing and valuing a child's sense of humor" and is aimed at kids ages 2-5. "Tickle U" will air weekdays from 9-11 a.m. (EST, PST).
TV-minded Web portal Yahoo!' has teamed with Viacom's Showtime Networks division on a deal to stream the complete first episode of Kirstie Alley's new series, "Fat Actress," on Yahoo! TV. "Even though we'd prefer viewers to watch Showtime on a huge high-definition flat screen TV, we're never going to attract the 120 million page views that Yahoo! gets every day," said Mark Greenberg, executive vice president of corporate strategy and communications at Showtime. Yahoo! will stream the first show simultaneously with the 10 p.m. March 7 broadcast, and will make the show available online through March 12. Greenberg added that Yahoo! was a more attractive partner than its rivals because Yahoo!'s offerings are available for free. "This publicity stunt is aimed at the biggest, broadest audience," said Greenberg. In January, Yahoo! drew 39.6 million unique visitors looking for information on movies, television, games, and music. That is more than competitor America Online, which drew 31.1 million, and MSN, which pulled in 19.7 million unique visitors. Yahoo! TV drew 4.6 million unique visitors in January. AOL has streamed complete network programs before, such as The WB's "Jack & Bobby," which was made available only to AOL subscribers last summer. More recently, AOL has made a push to attract non-subscribers by offering streaming video at its no-charge portal site, AOL.com. Yahoo! considers the "Fat Actress" video editorial content, and Yahoo! "does not proactively seek advertising for editorial," explained a Yahoo! spokeswoman. Yahoo! has made no secret of its designs to offer more entertainment content on the Web, and many Yahoo! top brass have deep connections with Hollywood. Terry Semel, chairman and CEO of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo!, previously served as chairman and co-CEO of Warner Bros. Lloyd Braun, the head of Yahoo! Media Group, earned his chops in the television industry, serving as co-chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group before he moved to Yahoo!. Referring to offices Yahoo! said it plans to open in Santa Monica, Braun told the Hollywood Reporter in January: "I believe we can really take advantage of that and leveraging Terry (Semel's) relationships, my relationships, and the new relationships we're going to make when we're down there every day." Jim Moloshok, senior vice president of Yahoo! content acquisitions and a former Warner Bros. executive, had the initial discussions with Showtime and Doug Hirsch, general manager of Yahoo! entertainment, and implemented the "Fat Actress" simulcast on Yahoo! TV, a Yahoo! spokeswoman said. Robert Greenblatt, president of entertainment at Showtime, told members of the press three weeks ago that something "big" was in the works with Yahoo!.
Bacardi's Grey Goose Vodka has just signed an endorsement deal with reigning U.S. Open Champion Retief Goosen. "The Goose," as he is known in golf circles, is currently ranked 5th in the world. By bringing each "goose" together, KSL believes it can help expand the brand's association with golf tournaments. Grey Goose Vodka is currently title sponsor of "The Grey Goose 19th Hole" on the Golf Channel, which airs Tuesdays at 11 p.m. (ET). As for Goosen, his multi-year promotional relationship with the spirits marketer includes the use of Goosen's name and image, and his services as a corporate host for Grey Goose Vodka's PGA Tour hospitality program and guest on "19th Hole." Most importantly, a spokesman for KSL noted, the brand gets to be part of any network's telecast of final rounds--since the final rounds are mostly on CBS, NBC, or ABC, having "The Goose" (the person, that is) come up the 18th fairway tied for the lead is as good as it can get for a vodka brand, considering the fact that spirits are effectively banned from advertising on networks.
Internet users with household incomes over $150,000 grew by nearly 20 percent between January 2004 and this January, Nielsen//NetRatings reported yesterday. Reaching 10.3 million last month, this group not only spends the most amount of time online--76 hours per month-compared to other income segments, but consumes more Web pages--2,126 pages--than any other group. Where are they spending their time online? Travel, financial, and entertainment sites, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The top Web sites capturing the largest percentage of men in this income group were Fidelity Investments, Sabre Travel Network, CBS MarketWatch, United Airlines, and American Airlines. The top Web sites drawing the highest percentage of high-income women were AOL Travel, Moviefone, AOL Living, Expedia, and AOL Entertainment. "The rise in the number of high-income Web surfers, combined with their propensity to spend the most amount of time surfing and consuming Web pages as compared to everyone else, represents a solid opportunity for marketers," said Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings, in a statement. "Advertisers would do well to turn to the sites they surf to most efficiently reach this high-income group." Nielsen//NetRatings found that men and women living in high-income households shared similarities in their preferences for travel sites. In terms of differences, men visited more financial sites, while women were drawn more to entertainment sites. But other experts expressed doubts over the accuracy of Nielsen//NetRatings' findings. "Nielsen's numbers seem extremely aggressive," Vikram Sehgal, analyst at JupiterResearch, said. "Income levels have traditionally correlated with online access, but the divide is increasingly modest." comScore Networks spokesman Graham Mudd considered Nielsen's numbers equally incongruous. "The high-income group was the first to enter the market, so it doesn't stand to reason that they should continue to lead by such a large margin," adding, "their year-over-year growth is more likely to be in the high single digits."
You walk into a conference room. Sitting there is a team of four media buyers. This is your first time meeting with them, and on this account. You shake hands, while listening to their names and the scuffle rumbling inside your head trying to remember them. You identify where you are to sit and start your descent, maintaining eye contact all the way down. As names start to float above the room, you casually reach into your carry-on bag without looking, as your hidden hand frantically searches for additional business cards. It is show time. Sales meetings are such an odd event. Planned in advance, packed with intensity, and yet so little information is actually retained once concluded. In every sales call, there is always a beginning, a false ending, and a final ending. And in between, we sellers always talk too much. We try so hard not to--but once given the microphone, we verbally vomit in an effort to passionately disseminate information we carry in our bag about our product's virtues. Just like any form of regurgitation, those lighter for the effort feel immediately better at the moment. That is, until you remind yourself on your trip back to the office of the mess you made in there. The good news is that so little information is actually retained after a sales meeting--the mess evaporates with no cleaning required. Retention of specific sales information is a problem because media buyers are literally under assault with sales communication. It is so important that media sellers today fully comprehend how much sales noise is in the marketplace. All of the IMs, the e-mails, the phone calls, the voice mails, the meetings, the delivered packages, the mailings, the lunches, the dinners, and the e-mails from MediaPost. Who could blame a media person for turning a deaf ear on occasion? So, how can you avoid that occasion being yours? How do you make sure your core sales message sticks? Simplify your message to one word, and engage your listener with a corresponding question. Let me share an example of what I mean. At Tennis magazine, that one word was "competitive." Our reader, at their very core, was competitive. That is why they played the sport, and reading the magazine helped them compete. The corresponding question I would attach to this one-word description was: "How will your client's product help my reader compete?" The answer was more obvious for endemic products, but when posed to Hewlett-Packard, for example, it forced the media buyer to try to make the connection. "How can the HP Pavilion computer make my reader compete better in business?" This approach starts a dialogue that rises above the demopsychographic babble media buyers tune out, and can set the stage for a creatively driven sale. I tried this exercise with a print media sales rep recently. She determined that the word that best described the core of their reader was elegant. What a great word. The magazine was a beautiful property, gorgeously designed and quite elegant. She deduced that the reader too, was elegant. So now the corresponding question: "How can your client's product (or service) make my reader even more elegant? Let's try another one. How about a finance magazine like Worth? Upscale is too broad. How about diligent? Getting closer, as it does a good job of describing the kind of reader who consumes a financial magazine, but the corresponding question--"How does your client's product make my reader more diligent?"--does not engage a strong and creative connection. Well-informed. Let's see how that would work. "Worth magazine meets our readers' needs to be well-informed. How will T. Rowe Price keep our readers more well-informed?" Yes, that works. And as the meeting with Worth magazine adjourns, hands are shaken and names repeated with confidence. The plate of surviving muffins is placed out for non-media personnel to feed on as the media team returns to their respective offices. As they start their descent into their chair in preparation to sift through the accumulation of voice mails, e-mails, and mail mails delivered over the past hour, they place the rep's card on the growing pile in the corner of their desk near the phone. As they take their seat, they look at the cover of the magazine they just met with, and feel slightly more well-informed than when they left. Game on.