Fox is ramping up its lineup: Four new prime- time shows for this fall and seven new shows for the season overall. At the same time, the network's NFL advertising market is starting to move. "We are into discussions; there are some deals cut," says Jon Nesvig, president of advertising sales for Fox Broadcasting Co. "The NFL is an incredible growth story. It's a good predictor of prime time." Fox has the Super Bowl for 2011, and it will air a special "Glee" episode after the game -- sure to give the show a big viewership boost. Concerning the marketplace overall, Nesvig adds: "The conversations this year are totally different from last year. Automotive spending is up. We know there is going to be more money in the market." For the fall, Fox is launching four shows -- all with lead-ins from existing shows. "None of these shows are going to be hanging out there on their own," says Kevin Reilly, president of entertainment of the Fox Broadcasting Co. On Monday, "Lonestar" will follow "House" at 9 p.m. "Lonestar" is a kind of modern-day "Dallas," a serialized soap set against the backdrop of big Texas oil. "Glee" is moving to Tuesdays to help push two new half-hour comedies. "Running Wilde" is about a filthy-rich, immature playboy trying desperately to win -- or buy the heart of -- his childhood sweetheart. It airs at 9 p.m. "Raising Hope" is next at 9:30 p.m., a single-camera comedy that follows the Chance family as they find themselves adding an unexpected new member into their dysfunctional household. Wednesday stays pretty much the same with "Lie to Me" and then "Kitchen Nightmares" as its Thursday schedule, with "Bones" and "Fringe" returning. Reilly says both Thursday shows are up 15% in 18-49 versus a year before. Friday brings a funky new cop-duo show, "The Good Guys," starring Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks, which starts May 19. Regarding its big show "American Idol," Peter Rice, chairman of Fox Entertainment, says the show is off 9% this year, and there will be changes. He says Fox has listened to viewers who want more performance content and less results content. In that vein, there will be a 90-minute performance on Tuesday and a shortened results show on Wednesday, down to 30 minutes. While the executives agree that the departure of judge Simon Cowell is a major event, Reilly adds there is "a huge, huge swath of viewers that are very happy with it." For midseason, Fox will add to its Sunday animated prime-time lineup with "Bob's Burgers," about a man, his family and a burger joint. Also, by way of Steven Spielberg, there comes the futuristic and prehistoric sci-fi "Terra Nova." There is also "Ride Along," a gritty Chicago cop drama by way of Shawn Ryan who did FX's "The Shield." "Mixed Signals," a new comedy series, features three longtime friends and their attempts to reconcile their differences. It runs on Tuesdays at 9:30 in January. Fox's Fall 2010 Prime-time Schedule (EST/PST)Monday 8:00-9:00 PM "House" 9:00-10:00 PM "Lonestar" (new) Tuesday 8:00-9:00 PM "Glee" 9:00-9:30 PM "Raising Hope" (new) 9:30-10:00 PM "Running Wilde" (new) Wednesday 8:00-9:00 PM "Lie To Me" 9:00-10:00 PM "Hell's Kitchen" Thursday 8:00-9:00 PM "Bones" 9:00-10:00 PM "Fringe" Friday 8:00-9:00 PM "Human Target" 9:00-10:00 PM "The Good Guys" Saturday 8:00-8:30 PM "Cops" 8:30-9:00 PM "Cops" 9:00-10:00 PM "America's Most Wanted" Sunday 7:00-8:00 PM "The OT" (NFL post-game) 8:00-8:30 PM "The Simpsons" 8:30-9:00 PM "The Cleveland Show" 9:00-9:30 PM "Family Guy" 9:30-10:00 PM "American Dad" Fox Midseason 2011 Prime-Time Schedule (EST/PST)Monday 8:00-9:00 PM "House" 9:00-10:00 PM "Lonestar" (new) / "Ride-along" (new) Tuesday 8:00-9:30 PM "American Idol" performance show 9:30-10:00 PM "Running Wilde" (new) / "Mixed signals" (new; spring) Wednesday 8:00-8:30 PM "Raising Hope" (new) 8:30-9:00 PM "American Idol" results show 9:00-10:00 PM "Glee" Thursday 8:00-9:00 PM "Bones" 9:00-10:00 PM "Fringe" Friday 8:00-9:00 PM "Human Target" 9:00-10:00 PM "Kitchen Nightmares" Saturday 8:00-8:30 PM "Cops" 8:30-9:00 PM "Cops" 9:00-10:00 PM "America's Most Wanted" Sunday 7:00-7:30 PM "The Simpsons" (encores) 7:30-8:00 PM "American Dad" 8:00-8:30 PM "The Simpsons" 8:30-9:00 PM "Bob's Burgers" (new) 9:00-9:30 PM "Family Guy" 9:30-10:00 PM "The Cleveland Show"
A new report suggests that the historical trend of ad spending increasing in line with GDP upticks may be fraying. A principal reason: newspapers and magazines, which have driven ad spending for so many decades, are now under much-publicized pressure. In 2011, Credit Suisse projects a 4.3% growth in nominal GDP. Traditionally, that would suggest a 5.3% growth in ad spending. Instead, the Wall Street firm expects only a 1.4% increase in ad spend next year -- far below the would-be GDP increase. Expected healthy growth in the Internet, cable TV and outdoor is not expected to make up for "substantial declines" in newspapers. "Though demand for newspaper and magazine content remains strong, increasing access to digital forms of this content continue to place pressure on their traditional advertising models," Credit Suisse wrote. Ad spending has been known to come in at around 2% of GDP. While it is not forecasting beyond 2011, Credit Suisse does not anticipate a return to ad-spending increases topping GDP ones; the wild cards are digital media and consumer control. "While we may again witness GDP-like growth rates for traditional measured media types, we don't believe a return to substantial GDP out-performance is likely as audiences continue to fragment and concentrated advertising spend behind mass media does the same," Credit Suisse wrote. Credit Suisse did acknowledge that the change in ad spending increases at a comparable level to GDP may not be related to marketers' cutting back spending, or ups and downs in particular media. Instead, companies boosting spending in "below-the-line" initiatives, such as PR, event marketing and in-store promotions, have pulled money out of areas that economists might use to calculate ad spending. With those numbers "not fully captured by the leading monitors of media spend," results may be open to some interpretation.
Canoe Ventures, which has been developing a platform to allow cable networks to run interactive ads nationally, said four media companies have agreed to use the technology. Networks owned by Comcast, Discovery, NBC Universal and Rainbow have inked deals with Canoe, where they can sync up with the system and approach advertisers about airing the iTV ads. Two of Canoe's owners, Comcast and Cablevision, may have nudged networks they own to sign on. Comcast owns E! and Versus, while Cablevision has Rainbow, with AMC and WE. Also, NBCU is about to be acquired by Comcast, so its participation may not be a surprise. Comcast COO Steve Burke has been bullish about the revenue opportunities that Canoe can bring its owners. In addition to Comcast and Cablevision, those include Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter and Bright House -- the six largest cable distributors. Canoe says the networks pay it for licensing rights to the request-for-information services. Such RFI ads can show a person seeking more details about a product or request a coupon or sample through the mail. An overlay appears on screen, while an ad runs with a prompt for viewers to click their remote controls. In theory, advertisers would pay a premium for RFI spots, since data on how many people respond to a prompt would be readily available. The spots could also help generate sales leads, particularly if a mailing is requested. Canoe has apparently stitched together a footprint of homes, where the iTV ads can appear. But it declined to say how many homes would be available when its platform debuts by July 1 -- and whether ads can reach homes served by all cable companies at first. Ultimately, it is aiming to stream spots into millions of homes served by all six. Canoe CEO David Verklin has suggested that advanced advertising can bring some of the advantages of the digital sphere to TV. He said in a statement Monday the aim is to "turn television into the next great interconnected digital platform." The company said it plans to use its iTV footprint to debut other advanced advertising options. The Canoe system is propelled by EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) that each cable operator can deploy in their set-top-boxes, allowing the same ads to be delivered at the same time.
This week brought more good news for the radio business with reports of improved first-quarter results at Westwood One and Radio One. Westwood One reported an increase in revenues, while Radio One posted a smaller decline in the first quarter than in previous quarters. These results are encouraging, as both companies have struggled with financial woes. At Westwood One, which provides programming and traffic information to radio networks around the U.S., total revenues increased 8.1% from $85.9 million in the first quarter of 2009 to $92.8 million in the first quarter of 2010. President Rod Sherwood noted that this was the company's first year-over-year increase in quarterly revenues since 2005. The increase reflected an 8.6% increase in network radio revenues to $55.6 million, and a 7.5% increase in metro traffic revenues, to $37.3 million. In the first quarter, Westwood One was the exclusive network partner for the NFL, covering playoffs and the Super Bowl, which aired on a record-breaking 650 radio stations. Westwood One also carried the 2010 NCAA Men's basketball championship, including the Final Four, and the Masters Tournament. On the strength of this revenue increase, Westwood's earnings jumped from a $6.9 million loss in the first quarter of 2009 to a gain of $9 million in the first quarter of 2010. Earnings were also boosted by strict cost-reduction initiatives. Looking to the future, Westwood One said its outlook for 2010 is "cautiously optimistic," based on industry forecasts of modest advertising growth in network radio. Results at Radio One, which primarily targets African-American and urban listeners, were not quite as strong, but they also represented a marked improvement over previous quarters. Overall revenues declined 2.1% from $60.2 million in the first quarter of 2009 to $59 million this year. Thanks mostly to aggressive cost-control measures, the company said operating income jumped from a $42.8 million loss to a gain of $3.8 million. Radio One CEO and president Alfred C. Liggins, III said the moderation in revenue declines was mostly due to the 17.7% increase in national advertising and a 3.6% increase in local business. Internet revenue increased 72% to over $1 million in the first quarter.
The final Sunday in the May sweeps ended up giving CBS two top results: Best-rated show of the night and most-watched network overall. Nielsen preliminary results show that CBS won among 18-49 viewers on Sunday with a 3.4 rating/10 share. CBS' "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" finale took in a 4.2/12 for a special two-hour edition. Because of the extended "Survivor," the show ran head-to head against ABC's "Desperate Housewives," which had been winning Sunday nights. In the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot, "Housewives" earned a 4.0/10 against "Survivor"'s 4.3/11. The bad news: both shows' finales were down versus 2009. "Survivor," however, was down just 2%, while "Housewives" sank 17%. Better news for ABC came with other shows. At 8 p.m., "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was up 32% week-to-week with a 2.9/9; and at 10 p.m., "Brothers & Sisters" also earned a 2.9/9 -- up 16% from the week before, but down 3% versus last year's finale. Even against this, Fox seemed to be holding its own -- perhaps because its mostly young-skewing, male-animated comedies don't compete against older female viewer-type shows, which the other networks target. Fox was half a rating point behind ABC with a 2.4/7 among 18-49 viewers. With all the finales, NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" at 10 p.m. got clipped, down 21% to a 2.4/7. Combined with a two-hour "2010 Miss USA Pageant," which earned a slim 1.4/4 (about the same versus a year ago), NBC got to a 1.9/5. After NBC, Univision was at a 0.9/3, a bit lower than against other Sundays.