As part of its bid to measure video-based programming anytime and anywhere consumers watch it, Nielsen this month will go mobile, deploying 100 new metering devices designed to plug into iPods, video cell phones and other so-called "portable video devices." The metering devices, dubbed "solo meters," are about the size of a lipstick case and plug in between the earphones and the earphone jack of the portable video gear. Nielsen unveiled the plan as part of an update on its mobile video measurement plans released to clients on Thursday. "About one hundred of the devices are currently being built and will be used for an internal technology test that will begin in July 2007," Nielsen said, adding that results would be released in the fourth quarter. The new meters are part of a multi-pronged plan Nielsen has begun implementing to assess the market for portable video devices and to figure out how to measure how people watch video programming on them. The portable media measurement plans were unveiled last year, and Nielsen said it has made considerable progress, including the formation of a panel of iPod owners that will specifically track how they utilize the Apple products to download video and audio content via Apple's iTunes portable and content management system. Nielsen said it also has formed a separate wireless division that has begun exploring new methods for measuring mobile video programming with the major wireless carriers, but no deals have been announced to date. Nielsen has also stepped up its tracking of portable and personal video devices via an ongoing technology tracking study, as well as by periodically asking members of its conventional TV ratings panels what type of personal video gear they have. "Nearly all panel members were contacted by the end of February," Nielsen said. "These PVD questions will become part of the regular household interview in May, 2007. Collecting this information from our samples will enable us to look at device penetration across the U.S. and produce television viewership analyses among households and persons who use these devices." Nielsen has not released official penetration estimates for such personal video devices, but in Thursday's update it provides some of the current tracking data coming out of its home technology studies. The data shows that portable and in-car DVD players are by far the most common of these devices, but that video-enabled MP3 players, including video iPods, are growing at the fastest rate, with ownership rising to 10% of the population in the first quarter of this year from 7% in the fourth quarter of 2006. Interestingly, Nielsen's tracking data shows that the penetration of video-enabled cell phones has actually fallen, dropping to 9% of the population from 11% (see data below). Does Your Home Own Or Rent: 3Q '06 4Q '06 1Q '07 Video Cell Phones 11% 11% 9% Video MP3 Players 6% 7% 10% Sony PSP 5% 5% 6% Portable DVD Player 10% 11% 14% In-Car DVD Player 11% 12% 12% Source: Nielsen Home Technology Report.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. -- CBS says "broadcast networks will increase audience share at the expense of the cable networks" when it comes to the new world of commercial ratings and new digital platforms. David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, said in a presentation to the Television Critics Association summer tour here that the long-term implications of commercial ratings will help to lift broadcast networks beyond cable networks. For instance, looking at commercial ratings plus seven days of DVR playback during May of this year, broadcast networks improved 13% among 25-54 viewers, versus program ratings of the same period. Cable networks gained 3%. Across other metrics, it's the same story. For commercial ratings plus three days of DVR playback--so-called C3--among adult 25-54 viewers during the month of May, the broadcast networks lost 2% relative to their program ratings. This is in comparison to cable networks that lost 8%. Examining same-day live commercial ratings, the broadcast networks were down 6% versus cable networks that were down 10%. Poltrack believes the DVR impact, as part of the commercial ratings, will also benefit broadcast--only losing 1% in C3 ratings versus program ratings. By contrast, cable will be down 8%. Poltrack's presentation, confirming other research findings, says the viewing of popular broadcast network shows will increase as DVR penetration increases. In the second quarter of 2008--around the time of the next upfront advertising market--Poltrack estimates that DVR penetration will grow to 25% of U.S. TV households from 16% in the second quarter of 2007. CBS notes that there is a slight decrease in ad recognition when it comes to viewing DVR commercials versus commercials that are seen in real time. Awareness of specific brands recall among DVR owners was 41% in playback versus 44% in real time. In regard to commercial-skipping, CBS says 52% of the time DVR owners "sometimes notice ads," 26% of the time they "rarely notice ads," 15% of the time they "always notice ads," and 7% of the time they "never notice ads." CBS also disclosed that so-called engagement statistics--highly desired by TV marketers--is the highest of other networks and cable overall. Among 18-49 viewers, from September 2006 to May 2007, per IAG Research, CBS scored a 76% program engagement score. ABC had 74%. CW, Fox and NBC each had 73%. Cable networks on average had a 59% number. Even with the incursion of new digital platforms, CBS research said television "is likely to maintain its dominant cultural and marketing position in the 21st century."
CBS' new interactive advertising and programming platform, CBS Audience Network, which has signed up two dozen sites to run CBS content, could add one more: News Corp.-NBC Internet video venture. "I've love to work something out with them," says Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive, "especially if the destination starts to work. We were honored to be considered in the initial conversations. But a big piece of that is building a big destination site--which we don't think there is use for." CBS backed out of preliminary talks because of its firm belief that already established video sites--with strong unique user bases--would be duplicating efforts. Starting a new Internet site would require big start-up costs--something CBS is opposed to. "You have to syndicate your content," says Smith. "You don't always have to go to CBS.com." Smith adds, jokingly: "CBS is about open, non-exclusive sponsorships--sort of like [the new CBS show] 'Swingtown.'" CBS has grown from 13% reach of unique Internet users to 90%, hitting some 134 million unique monthly users. It has struck deals with a number of major video sites--MSN, AOL, Google, YouTube, Veoh, Joost, and cnettv.com, among others. "You can expect to see another 400 more in the fall," says Smith. All of CBS Interactive's video deals are based on a 90-10 revenue-sharing split, according to executives, where CBS keeps 90% of the revenue, giving its Internet partners 10%. CBS sells the advertising on the Internet, especially for all its current shows. But when it comes to older, niche or library programming, that's when the individual sites' sales efforts might take over. "There's a lot of monetizing [of CBS content] in the background," says Smith. The CBS Audience Network was structured to give major advertisers mass Internet reach, rather than making hundreds of tiny Internet video deals. In regard to the recent TV upfront advertising market--of which CBS Audience Network was a part--Smith didn't reveal much. "It's going great. It's a proposition that a lot of the advertisers wanted." Come this fall, virtually all CBS shows will be available on most, if not all, of its previously announced Internet video distribution partners. CBS' own innertube.com site will still be a place where CBS viewers can go. Says Smith: "You want to build community around the site--you don't just go there for regurgitated TV." Smith says the future of video content may not necessarily be about putting half-hour or hour-long TV shows online. New entertainment clips, like the series of seven-minute clips of "The Sopranos," which takes each season and condenses it down to seven-minute trailers, are engaging viewers. He asks: "Why not do that for shows like 'Jericho?'" CBS Interactive says its mobile strategy continues to be strong. It has deals with three of the major wireless companies: Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon's V Cast. Regarding the question of whether these interactive activities will help traditional TV grow, Patrick Keane, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at CBS Interactive, says: "I've been here for five months, and I'll be working with David Poltrack [chief research officer of CBS Corp.] to see whether we can lift TV from exposure online." What about other video competitors? Competition isn't necessarily coming from other big video players, such as the News Corp.-NBC online video venture. Says Smith: "We are not competing with 'American Idol' as much as 'LonelyGirl,' which is being downloaded everywhere."
Technically speaking, Madison Avenue is one block west of a multi-block area in the heart of Manhattan that New York City officials have cordoned off as the "frozen zone" in the aftermath of an underground steam pipe explosion that spewed steam and debris like a volcanic eruption in Midtown Wednesday, and left a 25-foot-wide crater in the street and city officials worried about the possibility of carcinogenic asbestos in the air. It also displaced hundreds of ad industry executives from their places of business. The American Association of Advertising Agencies' offices, headquartered in New York's famed Chrysler Building, was closed Thursday, and the trade association sent out an email alert to members alerting them that it would not be able to "answer rush research requests or overnight book orders" for the foreseeable future. The New York headquarters of McCann Worldgroup and media unit Universal McCann were also locked down in the "frozen zone," although McCann executives were networking Thursday via email and Web access. New York City officials froze residents and workers in buildings between 40th and 43rd Streets and between Vanderbilt and Third Avenue in Manhattan. While most New York-based agencies are now diffused throughout Manhattan, the steam pipe explosion created havoc in the blocks surrounding the area and disrupted many of the advertising and media industry professionals who commute through Grand Central Terminal.
Three leading newspaper companies reported their second-quarter results this week, and the news was bad--more or less--across the board. Although it recorded an anomalous increase in earnings due to the sale of several newspapers, Gannett's newspaper revenues slipped 7.7%, reflecting the general industry trend. Excluding newly acquired properties, McClatchy's ad revenues fell 9.8%. And while revenue grew 16% at Dow Jones, that was mostly due to non-newspaper properties, including its substantial online holdings; revenue at The Wall Street Journal fell 6.8%. Gannett executives attributed the weak second quarter to continuing declines in classified ad revenue, which fell 7.5%. Of particular concern was the real-estate category, where slowdowns in the California and Florida markets hurt both companies. Likewise, McClatchy's total classified revenues fell 17.3%, with chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt remarking: "Advertising results worsened across the board in the second quarter of 2007, but particularly in real-estate advertising." McClatchy's real-estate revenue fell 22.5% in the second quarter. Pruitt predicts continued declines in third-quarter real estate advertising, particularly in the California and Florida newspapers. "We expect no substantial improvement in advertising trends before the fourth quarter of 2007, and expect that revenues will likely still be negative in that quarter." To turn things around in the job-recruitment category, Pruitt said McClatchy is in talks with Gannett and the Tribune Co. to get a bigger share of business from CareerBuilder, the online job network co-owned by the three companies. Dow Jones has the most promising news to report, as its online operations continue to grow at a rate far outstripping other newspaper companies. In particular, paid subscriptions to WSJ.com grew 24% to 983,000, helping drive overall 16% revenue growth in the second quarter. But Dow Jones' print operations clearly aren't immune to the general industry trend, with WSJ revenue down 6.8% and local newspapers falling 8.8%.
As cable and satellite operators try to outfox each other by offering more ethnic channels to boost subscriber rolls, DirecTV added two Spanish-language networks to its lineup this week--a local broadcast channel in a leading market and a network geared toward Dominicans living in the U.S. In the Philadelphia market, DirecTV will now carry the local Azteca America channel. For Azteca, the move gives it exposure in a top-10 market, boosting its availability to 26 in all. The net now reaches 73% of Hispanic TV homes, as it seeks to compete with market-leader Univision and Telemundo. Azteca is available to DirecTV subscribers in Philadelphia who receive the local channel bundle. Programming includes top Mexican professional soccer. Separately, Television Dominicana is now available nationwide as part of a Spanish-language tier for an extra monthly fee, giving DirecTV content from the Dominican Republic for the first time. "Our viewers are constantly telling us that our channel offerings help them feel connected with their home countries," said John de Armas, a vice president at DirecTV. The Dominican programming includes a variety show and magazine show, as well as a program produced specifically for Dominicans living in the U.S. With the number of TV homes subscribing to multichannel offerings arguably reaching a peak, cable and satellite operators want to peel viewers away from each other by appealing to growing ethnic audiences, using channels to entice them. The stakes are heightened as AT&T and Verizon expand their TelcoTV services and compete for subscribers. Earlier this year, Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge said the operator in the wider New York market hopes to gain more subscribers by bolstering its foreign-language offerings in the DMA with a heavily multi-ethnic population. Cablevision said it launched 60 foreign-language channels in 2006, with a principal goal of appealing to Spanish speakers. DirecTV is likely to tap into the growing Spanish-language ad market with the new channels, via its sales of the avails it gets each hour.
Programmers take note: A JP Morgan analyst wrote Thursday that 2008 presidential contenders are flush with cash. So far, the slate of candidates has raised almost $300 million as a group, with $140 million coming in during 2Q, analyst John Blackledge wrote in a report. Tellingly, the report--the second in an ongoing series--carries "a political advertising bonanza" moniker. Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are leading the pack, the report said, with second-quarter totals of $33 million and $27 million, respectively. Leading Republicans trailed noticeably, with Mitt Romney pulling in $21 million, and Rudy Giuliani gathering $18 million. Blackledge expects the presidential candidates to continue to raise funds at a healthy pace in the third quarter and throughout the rest of 2007, as we head into the primary season in early '08. The most likely beneficiaries are local TV and radio stations, as well as some cable news channels.
Food Network operator Scripps has acquired a Web site with user-generated content and communities built around some 230,000 recipes. The Recipezaar purchase is another step in Scripps' efforts to bolster its online offerings that dovetail with its growing cable portfolio, but also have distinctive brands. "By focusing even more on the consumer and the online user experience--much in the way Recipezaar does--we believe we can broaden our reach and deepen our relationship with the consumer in these categories, as well as other aspects of lifestyle," said John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks, which also offers HGTV. Recipezaar was founded in 1999 by two ex-Microsoft executives and boasted 2.3 million unique visitors last month, Scripps said. The site offers "personalized features, including "My Cookbook," "My Grocery List" and recipe ratings and suggestions. Overall, Scripps Networks' online properties count an average of 13.6 million unique visitors per month, the company said. Recipezaar will be a distinct operating unit within Scripps out of Seattle, but will capitalize on synergies with Food Network.com. Scripps says overall it doubled its ad sales revenue for interactive operations in 2005, and then again in 2006. It says it's "on pace for another year of significant growth in 2007."
Although it has a certain futurist appeal, it's far from certain that voice-recognition technology will dominate mobile-search functionality in coming years, according to a panel of search executives who convened at the iHollywood Forum on Thursday. Regardless of the outcome, one definite prediction was issued: Ad support is critical to the growth of mobile search. On the pro-voice recognition side, Michael Libes, the chief architect and co-founder of Medio, noted that in addition to text-based search, his company "has had voice recognition live for over a year now." He says it has better than 90% success in recognizing spoken words--and even more for words that it "knows" (i.e., pre-programmed vocabulary). Making the case for voice recognition tech, Libes distinguished between "voice-in, voice-out" applications, which return search results with automated speech, and Medio's "voice-in, visual-out," which responds to verbal-search queries with text displays. According to Libes, most consumers prefer the latter. But Libes' co-panelists disagreed, led by Doug Leeds, vice president of product management for Ask.com. According to Leeds: "Voice recognition is a transitory technology. I don't think it's going to be the killer app for mobile search." Leeds cited continuing difficulties with voice-driven systems, including high recognition failure rates, as well as consumers' existing familiarity with text-based search. Rather, he forecast that the "killer app will be better data entry devices"--for example, larger keyboards using touch screen interfaces. Likewise, Zaw Thet--CEO and co-founder of 4Info, a text-message search service--was skeptical about voice-recognition search functionality. In part, he noted, "it's the need for asynchronous communication in our ADD society"--meaning the ability to send a query without having to dial a number and speak during other activities. Text-messaging allows users to multitask. The panel was able to agree, however, on one point--as stated by Darcia de Freitas, Microsoft product manager for live search for mobile. When Freitas polled media executives in the audience to find out how many were using mobile advertising in marketing campaigns, only two out of approximately 200 audience members raised their hands. "That's the big barrier going forward," Freitas said. "Users expect search to be free, as it is to them today on the PC. Free to them means an ad-funded model to the rest of us." Seeing that revenue stream come to life, she concludes, is going to be one of the critical steps to building mobile search as a viable business.
Global warming can be good news, at least for media companies. According to Affinity Research, National Geographic's article on "The Big Thaw" was the most-read article in the first half of 2007. Of 1,300 articles in over 100 magazines measured by Affinity, "The Big Thaw" had the highest read/looked-into rate (90%), with 79% of respondents reading more than half the article. What's more, 87% of readers said they took some kind of action afterward, with 49% saving it for future reference, 38% giving it to someone else and 30% seeking more information on the topic--including 21% who visited a Web site to do more research. National Geographic has worked to expand its "green" content offerings in recent months. On April 22, the venerable society announced the launch of Green.nationalgeographic.com, which highlights the numerous environmental issues covered by its journalists, photographers and field researchers. Along with the reporting--which boasts the added incentive of adventure in exotic locales--the new site provides readers with environment-friendly tips and techniques for everyday living. The site is a full multimedia experience, with video, podcasts, photos, daily news updates, quizzes, surveys and social networking. Chelstowski New Publisher Of Rolling Stone Ray Chelstowski has been named publisher at Rolling Stone, stepping up from his previous role as associate publisher of the magazine. Before joining Rolling Stone, Chelstowski held a variety of posts, including national sales director for Entertainment Weekly. Earlier this week, Tim Castelli, the pop-culture mag's former publisher, joined Google as head of ad sales for its New York office. Journal Broadcast Group Gets "Better" The Meredith Corporation will license "Better," a daily TV show covering lifestyle issues, to the Journal Broadcast Group. The licensing agreement, scheduled to launch this fall, will bring "Better" to Journal stations in the Milwaukee, Green Bay and Fort Myers, Florida markets. "Better" content is drawn from a variety of Meredith properties, including Better Homes and Gardens, More, Family Circle and Parents magazines. More Names Gail Kim Ad Director, Beauty Gail Kim has been named the director of advertising for More magazine's beauty category, the publication announced this week. Kim is moving to More from Glamour, where she worked with accounts including Revlon, Gemini Cosmetics and P&G Prestige Fragrances to produce 20% growth in the ad category. Kim also served as beauty director at Marie Claire. Working Mother Names Beth Brandes Roth Beauty and Fashion Director Beth Brandes Roth has been named beauty and fashion director for advertising sales at Working Mother Media. Before joining Working Mother, Roth served as beauty director at CosmoGirl!.