In a surprise development, satellite TV giant EchoStar Monday announced a deal to acquire personalized TV content manager Sling Media for $380 million in cash and stock options. The deal, which puts Sling Media, developer of the Slingbox and Slingplayer, into EchoStar's Dish Network, one of the two major satellite TV providers in the U.S., and comes as Sling Media has been cutting deals to extend its reach beyond the consumer retail marketplace. In recent months, Sling Media has cut programming distribution and enhancement deals with CBS, and EchoStar rival DirecTV, and has worked to make its systems compatible with Microsoft's Windows mobile platform and Apple's Macintosh computers. Hailed by the consumer technology industry as a breakthrough developer, Sling Media's products enable consumers to record, store and retrieve TV programming over the Internet to a variety of personal media devices, including personal computers, PDAs and smart phones. While penetration of Sling Media's devices is still relatively small, it has been growing rapidly. EchoStar's Dish Network currently has more than 13 million digital TV subscribers. "As an early investor in Sling Media, EchoStar has been pleased with the progress and commitment the company has made establishing Sling Media and the Slingbox as powerful and beloved digital media brands," EchoStar CEO and Co-Founder Charlie Ergen stated. "With today's increasingly mobile lifestyle, EchoStar's acquisition of Sling Media will allow us to offer innovative and convenient ways for our customers to enjoy their programming on more displays and locations, including TVs, computers and mobile phones, both inside and outside of the home. This combination paves the way for the development of a host of new innovative products and services for our subscribers, new digital media consumers and strategic partners." The move is interesting for a television distribution operator, because satellite and cable operators normally adopt "walled garden" approaches that constrict access to TV programming and services directly on their backbone. Sling Media's approach is exactly the opposite, giving consumers supreme control over when, where and how they view their programming.
Looking to move into the high financial-stakes world of reality show sponsorships, ABC has made two major deals with AT&T and Macy's for the latest edition of "Dancing with the Stars." None of the parties disclosed terms in their announcement. Media executives estimate the AT&T deal is priced in the $10 million to $15 million range, somewhat lower for Macy's. Both include significant media plans on the network and online. Major "American Idol" sponsorship deals on Fox cost an eye-opening $50 million a year each for its three major sponsors: Coca-Cola, AT&T and Ford Motor Co., according to a variety of reports. As it has done with Fox's "American Idol," the highest-rated prime-time TV network show, AT&T will let viewers connect with the show through their mobile phones. In the AT&T deal with "Stars," viewers will be able to text-message and vote for their favorite dancing couple. AT&T customers will get exclusive, unaired video of "Stars." Users can also share video through a new AT&T service--Video Share--which will be integrated into each episode. The AT&T deal is a full-fledged media deal with ABC, and will include on-air, online and mobile media. Macy's, the nationwide department store chain, will sponsor five "Dancing with the Stars" results shows. Attached to each will be performances by well-known celebrities--the first is famous tap dancer Savion Glover. Macy's new fall advertising campaign features a host of celebrities--Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse, Donald Trump, and Tommy Hilfiger--among others. Both deals were put together by AT&T and Macy's media agency Mediaedge: cia. "Dancing with The Stars" will debut Sept. 24, with stars that include ex-Spice Girl Melanie Brown, Disney Channel's "Cheetah Girls" Sabrina Bryan, Indy race car champion Helio Castroneves, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, actress Jennie Garth, boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, singer-actress Marie Osmond and actress Jane Seymour.
NBC said Monday it would join ABC in offering prime-time series free on VOD. It's part of a test in which the same ads from the "live" broadcast will run in each episode, but won't be skipped as the fast-forward button is disabled. The test will run through next summer on the Cox cable system in and around Orange County, part of the Los Angeles DMA. ABC and Cox reached a deal last spring; an agreement with NBC was inked this summer. Episodes of the shows--four from ABC and five from NBC--will be available for viewing the day after they air on the respective networks and accessible for the next 28 days. In addition to ads from the "live" broadcast remaining, two additional spots will be inserted at the beginning (also not subject to ad-zapping)--one from Cox and the other from each network's respective owned-and-operated L.A. station. A Cox rep said that over the next several months, the parties hope to experiment with dynamic ad insertion; for example, a spot for a movie that can be updated during an episode's 28-day shelf life to include new content, such as a critic's opinion or early box success. Geo-targeting is also on the agenda, where different spots may be customized for various ZIP-codes. Cox has some 280,000 customers in the area where the test is taking place. A subset with digital cable will be able to view the shows, although Cox would not detail how many subscribers that entails. The nine series can be accessed within a video-on-demand section under a "My Primetime" moniker. All new episodes of the shows for the 2007-08 season will be available as part of the initiative, extending the test through next summer--28 days after each show's season finale. The two networks appear to be taking a decidedly different tack with what they're offering. ABC is making big hits "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" available, as well as "Ugly Betty." NBC may be more interested in using the trial to gauge whether free VOD can give a so-so performer a boost. It's offering critically acclaimed but ratings-challenged "30 Rock" and "Friday Night Lights," as well as new series "Bionic Woman" and "Life" and the returning "Las Vegas." The Cox rep said that while the deals can be re-negotiated, so far they only cover those nine shows--raising the question of whether NBC would look for an alteration if its new shows prove to be early flops and are later canceled. While the test is groundbreaking in the VOD arena--networks have resisted making their series available free if fast-forwarding is permitted--on another level, it's less of a watershed. Full episodes of all nine series are available on the networks' respective Web sites on-demand and with ad-skipping blocked. Also, the shows can still be recorded via DVRs and then fast-forwarded. Still, a cable operator agreeing to disable any fast-forward functionality is new territory as they aggressively market high-end technology, such as new waves of DVRs, hoping to persuade customers to upgrade and pay more. Cox and other MSOs have looked for some time to encourage broadcast networks to dive into free VOD, figuring that if they can offer robust video-on-demand libraries, they can gain a leg up on satellite competition. Striking back, DirecTV has promised to launch a VOD platform by year's end with superior search functionality. Broadcasters have dipped a toe into VOD, but charged 99 cents per episode. Cable networks--although still exploring business models--have been more aggressive with their programming.
Media and marketing research giant Nielsen Co. opened the beta for its new "Hey! Nielsen" social network to the general public. And based on what's happening on its pages, the site is destined to be a monitor of pop culture ranging from TV to music to online media content. And based on the initial conversations from 2,720 members--mainly Nielsen employees--TV is generating the most buzz, and shows like CBS' "Jericho," NBC's "Heroes," and ABC's "Ugly Betty" are the buzziest. http://publications.mediapost.com/publications/articles/images/10/updatedMDNNielsen.jpg Among the features on Hey! Nielsen is a ranking system that factors the volume of discussion and the degree of positive or negative comments taking place around entertainment content, and assigns it a "Hey! Nielsen Score." Based on the current panel's results, CBS' "Jericho" ranks highest with a score of 218, followed by NBC's "Heroes" (103), and "Ugly Betty" (52). The top seven rankings go to TV programs, but the ninth spot is a tie between YouTube and NBC's "The Office," which each generated a score of 42, followed by online social network Facebook (41). Interestingly, Hey! Nielsen also ranks on Hey! Nielsen, but 17th (it also ranks 18th due to some technical glitch) behind "Seinfeld," and ahead of Sci-Fi Channel series "The 4400." And the votes for Hey! Nielsen appeared to be decidedly mixed. "Not sure if I've been sucked into Nielsen's cheap way of gathering research and data?," one skeptic posted, generating a string of five replies. "Loving it so far! Thank goodness for ANYTHING that illustrates more true data than the current Nielsen system," a clear supporter posted, generating no replies. What would be helpful--at least until the user base of Hey! Nielsen broadens to be more representative--is to have posters disclose whether they are Nielsen employees.
Some of the most appealing characteristics of Hispanic consumers may be more transitory than marketers think. Take the notion of brand loyalty, where Hispanics supposedly show more long-term affinity for brands than their mainstream "Anglo" counterparts. New data from Nielsen Homescan's Hispanic market research suggests that brand loyalty among Hispanics drops, depending on their degree of acculturation, as measured by language of preference. For example, only 33% of English-preference Hispanic households purchased a particular cola to the exclusion of others, versus 70% for Spanish-preference households. And this trend is broadly reflected across a variety of categories in food and packaged-goods, including laundry detergent, cereal, toothpaste and beer. The Nielsen findings add depth to a number of studies investigating the broad aspects of the acculturation process among Hispanic immigrant communities in the first, second, and third generations. Language of preference is a common measure of acculturation: while 73% of Hispanic immigrants favor Spanish, only 25% of their children do, and that number falls to 15% by the second generation. Timing the release to coincide with National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Nielsen study paints a revealing portrait of Hispanic consumption habits in the United States. In the area of telecommunications, Scarborough Research, a service of Nielsen, found that Hispanics--regardless of language preference--were 95% more likely than the average consumer to have spent $100 on long distance in the last month. Likewise, they are 18% more likely to rack up a $150 cell phone bill. Nielsen attributes these trends to the desire to stay connected with friends and family in their countries of origin. Overall immigration from the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western hemisphere, led by Mexico, is creating America's largest demographic shift since the early 20th century. In 2005, it topped 42 million or 14.4 percent of the population. And well over one-third of the country's Hispanic population--about 16 million people--are immigrants. Combined, native-born and immigrant Hispanic-Americans now outnumber the 34.3 million Americans who claim Irish descent--and are poised to surpass the nation's biggest ethnic group, German-Americans, who number about 45 million.
TV Guide is taking advantage of interest in the new fall crop of TV shows to promote itself, piggy-backing a TV campaign onto the programs. The campaign, which runs through November, pushes the theme "We'll Get You Through the Week"--and includes 13 TV commercials that refer to some of the more popular programs, airing during each show's broadcast. The ads, created in coordination with the networks, will always appear in the second half of the program to appeal to devoted viewers. The show-specific TV spots will appear weekly during "America's Next Top Model," "Brothers & Sisters," "CSI," "Dancing With the Stars," "Desperate Housewives," "Friday Night Lights," "Grey's Anatomy," "Heroes," "House," "Prison Break," "Survivor: China," "The Office" and "Ugly Betty." Alan Cohen, CMO at Gemstar-TV Guide, says the work is "an important step in the continued revitalization of the TV Guide brand and in driving further awareness and usage of our products and services across the multiple platforms in which we operate." The campaign's theme is based on the idea that viewers love certain television shows so much they'll want additional interaction with the content between episodes. TV Guide positions itself as the source of that content, delivered via the magazine's print and online components and the TV Guide Network. Cohen claims a total reach of 73 million consumers a week, citing the popularity of multimedia content that includes breaking news, inside scoop, celebrity interviews, blogs and social network functionality.
For the first time in its history, The New York Times on Monday ran "spadia" advertisements--a page wrapped around an entire section--to promote four new and returning NBC shows this fall season: "Bionic Woman," "Chuck," "Heroes," and "Journeyman." In the New York metro area, the spadia ads appeared wrapped around the spines of the Arts, Business Day, Metro, and Sports sections. The ads were reinforced with strip ads on the front of the sections and full-page ads on their backs. At over 2,000 column inches, the NBC campaign is the largest single promotion for an entertainment property in the paper's history. John Miller, chief marketing officer for NBC Universal Television Group, praised the paper's flexibility: "The New York Times is a great strategic ally in creating their first-ever spadia unit for our Monday premieres. These will be heroic units for a heroic lineup." Faced with stiff competition from the Internet across all their main ad categories, newspapers have begun experimenting with unorthodox, eye-catching ad formats to pique advertiser interest. Some examples include allowing column borders to trace the irregular shape of an ad in the center of the page, banner ads that slice across the middle of the page, front-page ads, and the spadia ads partially wrapping the front page.
Scripps Networks has tapped Norwalk, Conn. agency Media Storm to handle media duties for its DIY and Fine Living networks. The shop already handles the company's larger Food Network. The indie shop has worked on that business for four years, as well as a slew of other cable outlets ranging from Court TV to FX. Tim Williams, managing partner, said: "We see terrific potential for both networks and look forward to helping them to achieve their goals." Last week, Scripps CEO Ken Lowe said he expects the two networks--as well as GAC, another in the company's portfolio--to gain distribution in up to 60 million homes. Both are in about 40 million so far. Food Network and HGTV, which together are the growth engines for Scripps, are each in some 90 million homes.
Sunday night turned into the big night for young men and TV--but before you blurt out "football game," think "Family Guy." Against NBC's "Sunday Night Football"--and a strong match-up featuring the Dallas Cowboys-Chicago Bears--Fox's "Family Guy" earned a surprising best rating since returning to the network over two-and-a-half years ago: a preliminary 5.5 rating/13 share among 18-49 viewers. Fox's other stable comedy, the long-running "Simpsons," garnered a 4.7/12--its best score since January. Still, "The Simpsons" was down versus last year's premiere of a 5.3 rating. Earlier in the evening, Fox grabbed a 5.0 rating from its afternoon NFL football game overrun. For its own part, NBC took the night--leading 7.0/17 for "Sunday Night Football" and 16.9 million viewers. Not to be outdone, PBS was also competing for male viewers' attention. The network's "The War," from TV documentarians Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, posted some 15.5 million viewers between 8 p.m. ad 10:30 p.m. for the World War II documentary. The biggest misstep of the night was with CBS. The network's "Cold Case" at 9 p.m. sank to a 3.0 from its 4.1 premiere last season. At 10 p.m., "Shark" took over the time slot for "Without a Trace" and was promptly eaten up a bit--pulling a 2.7, down a big-time 44% from "Trace's" 4.8 rating premiere in 2006. NBC won the night among viewers 18-49 with a 5.8 rating/15 share. Fox was a little bit behind at a 4.9/13, CBS was third at 2.4/6, ABC--with no new programming--was just behind a tick at 2.3/6, and Univision came in fifth at 1.1/3. In the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. hour, CW's two new magazine shows--"CD Now" and "Online Nation"--took it on the chin in their premieres. "CW Now" saw a minuscule 0.2/1 in 18-49 and 1.0 million viewers overall, and "Online Nation" did virtually the same--a 0.3/1 in 18-49, and 1.0 million viewers overall. Repeats of "Gossip Girl" (0.4 rating) and "America's Next Top Model" (0.8 rating) helped CW save the night, averaging a 0.5 rating/1 share.