Even as Madison Avenue struggles to assess what to make of two new Google services, some influential researchers attending an important conference in New York this week wondered instead whether the tech giant would be willing to submit the programs to industry standard scrutiny. Specifically, they asked Google executives whether they would be willing to apply for accreditation by the Media Rating Council for both Google's TV Ads program and its newly unveiled Ad Planner? Their answer: somewhere between maybe and no. The potential reluctance caused a stir among some researchers--who, along with some marketing executives, place a premium on whether a service has received accreditation by the MRC industry arm. At the Advertising Research Foundation measurement conference Wednesday morning, a Google executive gave a presentation about the capabilities of the TV Ads service--which provides a detailed next-day report on where an ad ran, how many impressions it received, and viewer tune-in levels over the course of a particular spot via second-by-second data. The presenting executive, Keval Desai, a director of product management, then fielded questions. On came a simple and pointed one about submission of TV Ads to the MRC for review. In his response, Desai was noncommittal, saying he didn't have a point of view on whether the MRC would be the best evaluator, but that Google was "open for scrutiny." That came after Google executive Wayne Lin was asked a similar question the day before about Google's new Ad Planner service, which looks to direct buyers to Web sites that dovetail with their target audience and could even help determine ads' potential reach. Lin, too, was uncertain about an MRC process. Desai and Lin did not return calls seeking comment, and an email to Google was not immediately returned. Debate over the value of MRC accreditation for a research/buying tool can take on an art versus commerce dynamic, in that researchers seek the assurances that accreditation brings, while some buyers are merely interested in the end results. The audience question Wednesday about TV Ads and accreditation came from Tony Jarvis, the head of research for Clear Channel Outdoor, who has extensive industry experience. Jarvis said he could feel the air go out of the room as the Google executive demurred on the topic. Jarvis said later that both TV Ads and Ad Planner can offer "potentially tremendous insight." But, referring to the MRC process and Google, he said "apparently they weren't prepared to answer fundamental questions about quality." "We need an array of databases to help offer our bosses, our CFOs and CEOs, insight to help them make good decisions," Jarvis said, "and those decisions are worth a lot of money ... one way to get a fix on data you're using is (whether it's) accredited." Jarvis said that if Google opts not to go the MRC route, he hopes it will submit TV Ads and Ad Planner to an audit or full technical report. "I think we can all come together on this--they're potentially a terrific partner," he said. On Wednesday, on the panel that followed the TV Ads presentation, Ford marketing head Mark Kaline stressed the importance of MRC accreditation. He said his department doesn't have time to vet all the research tools available, and MRC approval at least provides some assurances. Google's designs on establishing a leadership position in advertising research were evident at the ARF conference. It was the event's "platinum sponsor," and the stage, halls and registration area were festooned with Google signage and promotions that made other dominant industry players such as Nielsen Co. look circumspect by comparison.
NBC said Wednesday it would release traffic data for the online streams of its full episodes available on NBC.com, including demographic segmentation. The figures will come after the June data is finalized. The data, which will be "show-specific," comes via Nielsen's VideoCensus. NBC says this is an example of its willingness to "deliver transparent metrics" that can help advertisers improve their channel-planning initiatives. Part and parcel, of course, is NBC's belief that the data will lead to marketers shifting more dollars its way. CPMs for ads in online streaming can be higher than on-air, but NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker recently lamented that dollars have not followed the increasing online consumption. NBC.com offers full episodes of hits such as "The Office" and "Heroes," and library content such as the "A-Team." The announcement, although not necessarily timed to do so, came while the Advertising Research Foundation held its New York measurement conference. "The digital entertainment business is maturing and part of the natural evolution is the ability to provide accurate measurement to our clients," said Vivi Zigler, head of NBC Digital Entertainment. "We especially like the transparency of the VideoCensus methodology because we know exactly what is being measured." One of the long-held promises of online advertising is the potential to obtain absolute traffic data--something that remains elusive with the company's TV business. Still, it remains questionable how on-target Nielsen's data will be as far as demo breakdowns. The number of streams is one thing, but who exactly is watching is harder to determine. Peter Naylor, SVP in digital media sales at NBC, said that "show-level data is something that advertisers have been asking for." He said NBCU "is confident the numbers we're releasing" via Nielsen are "accurate" and provide evidence of "dramatic engagement" that online streaming provides. NBC says its efforts to offer advertisers more actionable data also include a partnership with IAG and others with Nielsen.
In what may be an industry first, a leading research and consulting group has teamed up with a renowned American university to launch a new privately-held media research company that will utilize state-of-the-art methods to track consumer media behavior. The Media Behavior Institute (MBI), was unveiled by Mike Bloxham, director of insight and research at the Center of Media Design at Ball State University during an opening keynote at Wednesday's session of the Advertising Research Foundation's audience measurement conference in New York. BSU, which is perhaps best known for nearly a century's worth of so-called "Middletown Studies," highly regarded observational research that directly observes how people actually use media, had already been working closely with the private sector, especially Sequent Partners, the research and consulting group formed by former ARF President Jim Spaeth and Marketing Science Institute President Bill Moult, on a variety of industry research initiatives, including a $3.5 million Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence study that will employ BSU's observational methods. During his presentation, Bloxham said the institute's goal was a pragmatic understand of how people use media and how it affects their behavior, and that it would employ and embrace a wide variety of methodologies to do that in a way that would "scale" and be cost efficient for the industry. "We do not have the monopoly on good ideas," he said, adding, "It will start with the observational method, but the observational method is best when it is put in tandem with other methods." To that end, Bloxham revealed that the institute already had licensed the highly regarded "TouchPoints" methodology from U.K. based IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). Following the announcement, Bloxham was circumspect on the details of the collaborations, but told MediaDailyNews, "The institute is a private entity that has been born of the long-term collaboration between Ball State and Sequent Partners. It has been established to best facilitate the further development of the observational method, its integration with other methods, the development of new research products and services and the establishment of collaborations with third parties. By addressing these issues through a private entity we are better able to work flexibly and on terms that work for potential partners." During his keynote on the state of planning and measuring "cross-media," Bloxham characterized the current state of knowledge as something akin to "chaos theory," but indicated that progress is being made from a variety of sources that are beginning to map how people utilize multiple streams of media. Drawing upon BSU's own work, including its seminal observational studies, and more recent work, including the Council for Research Excellence, and a "media acceleration" project with Time Warner, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo., Bloxham described how new insights are coming to light on consumer media behavior, and suggested they may not be what industry executives necessarily assume them to be. Drawing on the media acceleration project, which measured what happens when households adopt new digital media technologies, Bloxham sought to dispel the industry notion that the presence of more media devices result in increased time spent with media. In reality, he said, BSU found that time spent with media either goes down or remains flat, but the quality of the time spent with specific media appears to improve. "What we found was that overall less time was spent with media, but more attention was spent with media," he said.
Publicis Groupe has reached an agreement with Yahoo that promises to upgrade its ability to speedily and easily deliver advertising on mobile devices worldwide. The complex relationship includes integrating a Publicis buying system with a Yahoo platform en route to easing how the mobile marketing is purchased. While the arrangement has a focus on mobile advertising, it also encompasses some online placements. In addition to easing logistics, the companies said the partnership will allow for segmented and "hyper-personalized" messages to be delivered to specific consumers. Yahoo's "Smart Ads" will facilitate the delivery of altered messages for the same brand to different consumers. "We are focused on helping our clients reach their audiences where they are--and that is increasingly on mobile devices," said Alexandre Mars, head of a mobile unit within Publicis. Yahoo has a similar partnership with a Havas unit involving online buying and selling.
Almost two-thirds of college students are streaming video and TV shows online, via services like Veoh, Hulu and Joost, as well as buying downloads from iTunes, according to Alloy Media and Marketing, which just completed the 2008 annual College Explorer survey. Conversely, rates of TV ownership fell slightly, compared to last year's survey, from 82% to 79%--suggesting the increasing role of computers as personal entertainment centers. At the same time, laptops are displacing desktops as the computer of choice: from 2007-2008, laptop ownership rose from 63% to 70%, while desktop ownership fell from 59% to 53%. The surge in laptop ownership probably reflects increasing memory and display quality, which makes them more suitable for multimedia consumption, as well as their traditional advantage of mobility. College students place a high premium on mobility, with MP3 ownership jumping from 58% in 2007 to 67% in 2008. Alloy also examined the use of online social networks like Facebook and MySpace, where it uncovered some significant gender differences. For example, girls are more likely to post photos than boys (82% of girls versus 60% of boys)--but boys are more likely to post videos than girls (31% of boys versus 24% of girls).
The Boston Herald will cut 130-160 employees in the next few months, focusing on the production staff, according to Herald President and Publisher Patrick J. Purcell, who announced the decision in a meeting with union leaders. Purcell said printing will be outsourced to presses in nearby Chicopee and Norwood, Mass.; the Chicopee facility is owned by Dow Jones, the Norwood facility by Boston Offset. The move will allow the company to avoid the expense of replacing its aging printing presses, some of which are 50 years old. In happier times, newspaper publishers viewed presses as valuable assets, worth modernizing through long-term, amortized investments. Owning a press not only made a newspaper independent, but allowed it to run a commercial printing business for outside clients, providing a profitable sideline. The steady decline in print readership, the flight of advertisers to the Internet and the soaring price of newsprint have altered the equation, making presses liabilities rather than profit centers. Meanwhile, the Herald's main competitor, The Boston Globe, is asking union members--many associated with printing operations--to take a pay cut of 10%. The proposed pay cut comes after a round of layoffs at the newspaper, which has been hit especially hard by the secular downturn in the newspaper business. The Boston Globe has been a steady drain on the finances of its owner, the New York Times Corp., and periodically the company is rumored to be considering selling it. In January 2007, NYTCO CEO Janet Robinson stated that the Globe was not for sale, but its continuing dismal performance, and shareholder pressure, may prompt a change of heart. In 2007, the New England Media Group, led by The Boston Globe, saw total ad revenue drop 8.6% compared to 2006, to $389 million. In the first quarter of 2008, ad revenues at the group tumbled 16.3% to $81.4 million.
Earlier this week, it emerged that some politicians in Washington may actually be like the rest of America. Apparently, they've had enough of Donald Trump--in particular, his endless shilling on "The Apprentice." It's a bit unclear what the FCC commissioners are actually doing, but they're engaging in some process to review regulations governing product placement, and could be looking to crack down. Not so much to limit the amount of Chevys in dramas and Pepsis in comedies--just seeking some way to more directly inform the audience that the Chevy was placed there intentionally, and to make it clear to the viewing public that they are in the midst of a marketing pitch. Apparently--and who knew this?--current regulations call for some disclosure about product placements, but don't require it on-air until a show finishes. Cable networks are exempt, according to The Wall Street Journal, but the FCC might look to rein in whatever Fine Living and Planet Green may be up to. According to the Journal: "The FCC will look at whether it should require TV shows to include notices similar to what political candidates must say before or after campaign ads." So ... "I'm Mark Kaline, the head of marketing at Ford. In tonight's episode of 'American Idol,' Ford opted to run a vignette with the contestants driving Mustangs because we're hoping tomorrow you'll go out and buy a souped-up 2009 model. We thought David Archuleta behind the wheel would be an inspiration. I approve this message." There's considerable drama in what the FCC might eventually require--or is it comedy? Nonetheless, if toothy regulations are enacted and begin to impact cable, executives at Bravo might need disclosure speeches longer than the State of the Union in light of the heavy load of product placement filling their programming. (Maybe the FCC should put in some sort of Bravo grandfather clause.) Which begs the question: At what point would a disclosure be flat-out insulting to the American public? If there are so many close-ups of John Frieda hair products and the on-air talent is so enthusiastically touting how rich and vibrant they are, it's pretty obvious what's going on--so is some sort of stilted disclosure necessary? The would-be John Frieda conundrum was on display during June 12's "A-List Awards" on Bravo. The first-annual honors claim to celebrate "the creative process" and recognize "people that have made an indelible mark in the arts." Kathy Griffin was the host. The "arts" in Bravo's realm include beauty, design, fashion, food and pop culture. One of the honors was the "John Frieda Beauty Icon Award," which was won by Lauren Hutton. But the Frieda involvement--the hair products marketer is part of Kao Brands--didn't stop with the eponymous award. Backstage, there was a "John Frieda Collection See For Yourself Salon," where Niki Taylor was having her hair done when the camera honed in (one of the top product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX). Bravo star Tim Gunn appeared with the stylist prepping Taylor for the stage with help from a Frieda specialty, Weather Works, which apparently "actually can weather-proof your hair." Gunn wasn't blown away by that, more so that the Frieda products--Weather Works can be found for $6.99 online--are "so accessible ... (and) really about the democratization of beauty." Hair care that's democracy in action. What would the FCC have to say about that? ProductShowQ-Ratio John Frieda Collection Bravo's A-List Awards 1.8652 Alltel My Boys 1.5559 People Tori & Dean 0.6541 Nestle Coffeemate Flipping Out 0.6519 Coca-Cola Celebracadabra 0.6347 Click here to view these placements. Data and analysis provided by iTVX.