CBS' chief executive Les Moonves was upbeat that this year's TV upfront advertising market will be a positive one--even if total dollars might be lower. "Scatter is still up by double-digit [increases] from [last year's] upfront," says Moonves. "We are guardedly optimistic that [this year's] upfront is going up, and CPMs are going to be up. If volume is down, that doesn't bother us. That's one of the great misnomers [about the upfront], that volume matters." He added that as long as "we sell scatter higher than network pricing, we'll just sell less advertising." And at the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference, Moonves assured that the audience network program pricing will be higher. "We have begun the dance with major advertisers. I'm not going to give you a number. The marketplace will be up. We won't sell anything that is not up. How high up? It's still early to tell. It's going to be a slower process this year, primarily because a few networks have delayed even doing pilots. So there is a lot less to see and access." Moonves did confirm that local TV advertising for CBS stations has had a different picture. "Local has been softer. There is no question." But he noted that political advertising will continue to grow, grateful that [the presidential] "race is getting bitterer and bitterer by the day, so we make more money. That'll continue right into November. We also see senatorial campaigns that'll affect our advertising." He did confirm that automotive advertising has been slowing. The CEO declined to talk specifics about how CBS is doing on a pricing or volume level on a quarterly basis. His reticence was similar to Viacom's. The previous day, the company would only say that it was lowering its ad revenue picture for the second quarter. However, Moonves did say that for the May sweeps, there was a rush of movie companies buying up pricey advertising for their big summer movies. In regard to CW's rating losses, he said the network still offers programming benefits to a number of CBS-owned stations. Moonves also noted that CBS stations gain much from syndication programming, via CBS Television Distribution, with shows such as "Dr. Phil." While The Weather Channel was of some interest to CBS, Moonves says that ultimately, it isn't a good enough fit for the company. Oxygen was. Although he did not provide details, Moonves said the company continues to gain revenue from retransmission consent deals from cable operators.
No matter what cable networks may tell you about the depressing broadcast TV season, the Television Bureau of Advertising wants you to know that broadcast accounted for 486 of the top 500 rated shows. Only 16 cable programs made it into the top 500 shows in the most popular advertising buying demographic--adults 18-49. The best was ESPN's "Monday Night Football," which came in at 59th place with a 4.7 average rating through 14 telecasts--tied with the likes of a Fox "Back To You" episode. Still, ESPN's "MNF" did beat out shows such as CBS' "Survivor: Micronesia" and ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," both of which earned a 4.6 rating. Twelve of cable's top 16 shows were sports programming--including "The 2008 NBA AllStar Game" on TNT at 190th place and ESPN's NBA Playoffs Conference Finals game at 254th place. MTV scored the best non-sports cable show this season--"The Hills Live Aftershow" last December, which earned a 2.4 rating among 18-49 viewers. USA Network posted a 1.8 average rating for seven episodes of its drama/comedy "Psych." It came in at 417th place. The best-rated single TV show of the year was no surprise--Fox "Super Bowl XLII," which took in a 37.5 rating, the second-best-rated TV show in history. The best-rated single non-sports program was a special episode of Fox's "House," which ran after the Super Bowl and earned a 13.5 rating. The "American Idol" Tuesday edition tallied the best ratings for a series. Through 19 episodes, it earned an 11.5 rating. Hurt by a mid-season writers' strike and general viewer defections, broadcast networks collectively lost around 12% of their 18-49 viewers versus a year ago, while ad-supported cable networks gained single-digit percentage growth.
In another example of cable's burgeoning acclaimed dramas taking advantage of broadcasters' summer down time, AMC will debut season two of "Mad Men" on Sunday, July 27. It premiered in July a year ago, and this summer will join other cable networks' dramas, such as A&E's foray into the genre with "The Cleaner" (July 15) and the return of TNT's "The Closer," also in July. Lifetime's second season of "Army Wives" starts June 8, and USA's new drama "In Plain Sight" arrives Sunday. Lifetime was so confident that its show could take on broadcasters that it planned to launch it in the spring, but was delayed by the writers' strike. AMC will try to give "Mad Men" a boost, via a marathon of all 13 season-one episodes a week before July 27. The episodes will also be available on VOD, including in HD, starting June 30. AMC began production of season two in April, waiting until the writers' strike concluded. The series is set in a New York ad agency in the 1960s. Broadcasters no longer eschew original programming in the summer, but focus heavily on reality fare, offering an opening for cable networks. Both CBS and NBC are launching dramas next week--"Swingtown" and "Fear Itself," respectively.
The Carat Digital Exchange, one of the most visible leading edge initiatives inside Aegis Group's Carat Americas unit over the past four years, is looking for a new home. In a note to an ad hoc group of exchange participants sent by email late Thursday night, founder and organizer Mitch Oscar said Carat was disbanding the project - though he hinted it would reappear somewhere soon, adding, "see you in September." The move follows the recent announcement that David Verklin would step down as CEO of Carat Americas at the end of the year to pursue another job in the media industry. Verklin, who has overseen Aegis' American operations for a decade, is rumored to be the presumed candidate to run Project Canoe, a cable industry initiative to develop the kind of addressable TV advertising platform championed by the Carat Digital Exchange over the past several years. Several publications, including The New York Post have already reported Verklin's appointment as a fait accompli, though executives familiar with the discussions say there still are sticking points that need to be resolved. An official announcement is expected next week. Oscar, reached late last night by MediaDailyNews, would not comment specifically on where the Exchange might end up, but implied he was in conversations with other agencies and media companies, and vowed that the meetings would resume again somewhere soon. The meetings have been a rare thing in the ultra competitive advertising business: A place where both competitors and collaborators could exchange insights, updates and new future developments with peers to help inform and shape the industry's development of interactive and enhanced television platforms. Recently, the Exchange initiated a survey of the technology and media consumption habits of exchange members, as well as a broader cross-section of media industry insiders including members of MediaPost. A link to the survey, which is being conducted by OTX Research, can be accessed here . Oscar said the findings of that research would likely be revealed at the next exchange meeting, wherever it is held. Beyond that, Verklin declined to comment on his plans. While he also manages his own personal consultancy, Hocus Focus, he is known to be close to Verklin, and would be a logical recruit if Verklin were to end up managing Canoe.
The Census Bureau released some noteworthy details Thursday about the growth of American TV consumption in order to mark the "historic" February 2009 digital transition. *There were 110 million U.S. homes with TV sets in 2006, up from 76 million in 1980. *The average estimated hours a person (12 or older) will spend watching TV this year is 1,704 (4.7 per day), up from 1,502 (4.1) in 2000. *98.2% of all homes had a set in 2005, the same as 1999. *The average home had 2.6 sets in 2005, up from 1.7 in 1980. *Analog TVs accounted for $273 million in sales last year, down from $5.8 billion in 2003. *Digital TV sales accounted for $26.3 billion, compared to $8.7 billion in 2003. *Average monthly basic cable rate in 2006 was $41.17. In 1975: $6.50.
Opponents of the proposed merger between Sirius and XM Satellite Radio are coming out of the woodwork, with the creation of a new consumer advocacy group whose sole purpose appears to be stopping the merger from happening. The Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio, composed mostly of XM and Sirius subscribers as well as "volunteers," is attacking the merger based on confidential documents it says were filed by Sirius with the Federal Communications Commission--on April 10th of this year. Although heavily redacted, the public version of the letter from C3SR to the FCC alludes to highly confidential documents from Sirius that "cast the proposed merger in a very negative light, and call into question the truthfulness and candor of both Sirius and XM with respect to their dealings with the commission as licensees and during this proceeding." Specifically, the letter alleges that the two satcasters have failed to produce an inter-operable receiver, as required by their respective FCC licenses. According to C3SR, this failure has also been noted by the Consumer Federation of America, the Consumers Union and Free Press. "In sum, full and fair marketplace competition, as originally intended by the Commission, has never occurred because of the conduct of Sirius and XM," the letter says, implying that "the proposed merger is contrary to the public interest because it furthers an illegal conspiracy to restrain trade." The letter petitions the FCC to open an investigation and hearings about the merger--with the clear goal of stopping it. In a footnote, C3SR also argues that the Department of Justice's approval of the merger, granted in March, was based on faulty reasoning. The DOJ's Antitrust Division ruled that the merger would not be an anti-competitive move because currently consumers must incur high costs for switching from one service to the other; in other words, there is no real direct competition between the satcasters. C3SR seems to argue that this was precisely the intent of the satcasters in neglecting to produce an interoperable receiver, which would make it much easier for consumers to switch from one service to the other.
TV Guide On Upswing After 15 consecutive quarters of losses, TV Guide magazine returned to profitability during the first quarter, according to publisher Scott Crystal, who noted that the milestone came alongside substantial increases in total audience, as measured by MRI, as well as ad pages at the magazine. The first-quarter results mark the title's emergence from a decade-long rough patch, following its demise as a digest-sized guide and reinvention as a full-sized entertainment magazine. "I don't think anybody has ever done this before," Crystal boasted of the magazine's extreme makeover. "I can't think of any magazine that has scrapped the core product and rolled out an entirely new one, with a completely new editorial form and a different audience profile." The switch to a full-sized magazine came in October 2005, following a 7.2% decline in ad pages in 2004 and a 20.1% decline in the first nine months of 2005. Increasingly overwhelmed by the proliferation of TV options--including cable, satellite and Internet video--the magazine's owners decided to jettison most of the listings and remake the title as a gossipy full-sized glossy covering the goings-on of the TV world. They also drastically reduced the rate base, from 9 million to 3.2 million, with greater emphasis on newsstand sales versus subs. This move also reflected a strategic shift to a core audience of younger women. Women currently constitute 59% of readers, according to Crystal, who believes that figure will stabilize around 65%. The shift seems to be paying off. Building on a small base at first, ad pages continue to grow by double digits almost three years later. In 2007, they rose 23% to 1,138, and in the first quarter of 2008 they grew 10.9% to 281. This Old House Goes All-UGC for First IssueThis Old House magazine turned the June issue's editorial content entirely over to its audience, featuring stories and photos submitted by readers or viewers of the show. Aspiring home-repair mavens submitted their content to a Web site created especially for this purpose; significant editorial decisions, including the choice of cover story and photo, were made by online votes. According to Scott Omelianuk, editor of the magazine: "The editors sure learned a lot about you while sifting through the thousands of emails and photos... I think this is the best issue of This Old House I've ever read." The all-audience-created issue of TOH hit the newsstands May 27, just a few weeks after Budget Travel said its June issue would also be created almost entirely by readers. The reader-generated content includes virtually all the articles and photos in the magazine, from 324 contributors--selected from among 2,800 reader pitches. New Launch: The Hip Hop Business Journal Vincent Carroll is launching a new magazine, The Hip Hop Business Journal, according to Folio, which first reported the news this week. The new magazine's target audience of hip-hop entrepreneurs wields potential spending power of $500 billion to $600 billion, Carroll says. The magazine will launch with a circulation of 150,000 and a bimonthly publication schedule. Forbes.com Launches New Markets Channel Forbes.com has redesigned its Markets channel home page to include more coverage of stock and financial markets. The new coverage will include stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies and will highlight perspectives from Forbes.com's global team of reporters on various market trends. There's also a new Editor's Watch List, and video market bulletins from Forbes studios in New York and London. Wellington Leaves Reader's Digest After just seven months on the job, publisher Jeff Wellington is leaving Reader's Digest, according to Women's Wear Daily. No specific reason was given for the abrupt departure, but Wellington hinted that it was a clash of personalities as well as editorial approach. Wellington was hired by Eva Dillon--herself a recent appointee of Mary Berner, who took over as CEO after Reader's Digest Association was bought by a private equity firm, Ripplewood Holdings, last year.
On a recent episode of NBC comedy "My Name is Earl," arguably both the best and worst of branded integration were showcased. The best: a somewhat dormant brand was thrust back into viewer consciousness. The worst: it was accomplished with a story arc that was largely gratuitous--if it had been lifted from the script, the impact would have been minimal at best. On the positive side of the dichotomy: With product placement becoming an increasing staple in prime time, the very purpose of the tactic--generating viewer notice, or if lucky, interest--loses some of its effectiveness. It's the Clutter Principle 101. But what seems to work well is when a far-back-burner brand makes an appearance. A Jiffy Pop, a Capri Sun, an Absorbine Jr.--something that seems to have a place in the history books, not the Stop & Shop. Something like ... a Klondike bar. For many, the vanilla ice cream wrapped in a thin chocolate crust only catches their attention when they casually peer into the freezer at a 7-Eleven or Exxon Mart. There, the silver packages with the polar bear logo chill next to the Chipwiches and Drumsticks. Klondike, however, has something those and other single-pack freezer dwellers don't: an unforgettable, catchy, infectious jingle. The melodious "What would you do for a Klondike bar?"--which hit the air some time around 1982--is easily recognized and brings an appreciative smile to the faces of Gen Xers and older folks. So, when the treat and the jingle showed up in the May 15 episode of "Earl," the sleeping brand got an awakening (one of the top product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX). The brand's marketer, Unilever, succeeded where the mass of automakers that have over-flooded reality series with their SUVs have failed. Unilever's brand stood out and caught the attention of the viewer. The Nostalgia Theory of Product Placement was at work. A formerly well-known brand looking for some fanfare got it by making an appearance at an unexpected time. Viewers intrigued by the integration--who perhaps were persuaded to look for the 24-pack at the grocer, rather than the single-serve once a summer in the mini-mart--may have received some positive reinforcement if they continued watching NBC on the night the "Earl" episode aired. (Of course, that would mean linear, live viewing--and who does that anymore?) But Klondike was the subject of a live TV spot on the "Tonight Show" several hours later. (Both integrations were used by Unilever to kick off a "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" contest aimed at boosting awareness of the treats heading into the summer months. Consumers are prompted to submit their homemade videos based around the jingle's theme--how far would they go, what crazy thing would they do for a Klondike--with a $100,000 prize at stake.) Still, while the appearance on "Earl's" season finale could be tabbed a marketing hit, it may have lacked appreciation from naysayers who fear prime time is becoming overly fertile ground for in-show spinning. Reason being, it appears the scenes were inserted in "Earl" simply as a vehicle to plug Klondike. Recapping the episode, the blog TV Fodder meticulously went through the action. But at one point, its recapitulation reached a virtual interlude--with the following: "The Klondike bar people paid a pretty chocolate-covered penny here for this next bit ... and let's just move along people." The bit involved Randy (Earl's brother played Ethan Suplee) coveting a Klondike as Earl's wife Billie (Alyssa Milano) joyfully consumes one. Billie has a bucketful nearby--which the camera doesn't miss. And Randy asks for one. "That depends," Billie says--then on cue launches into "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" Randy breaks out in a chicken dance. Billie's unimpressed. She makes Randy dress as a Girl Scout and try to peddle cookies, then hold up a sign on the roadside asking people to throw trash at him. Indeed, he gets nailed and topples over. Now, Billie's impressed. She tosses him a Klondike and says, "Enjoy." The camera lingers for nearly 10 seconds as he excitedly unwraps it and takes a bite. Meanwhile, the 1997 hit "Sell Out" plays. ProductShowQ-Ratio Klondike My Name Is Earl 2.0062 Starburst One Tree Hill 1.1989 Toyota Corolla Beauty and the Geek 1.0345 Scrabble NCIS 1.5492 Sprint Survivor: Micronesia 0.9981 Subway Saturday Night Live 0.7039 Williams-Sonoma Aliens in America 0.2983 Click here to view these placements. Data and analysis provided by iTVX.