Hackers slipping malicious software into online advertisements and emails continue to create risks for consumers and brands. In fact, 91.7% of major brands fail to provide adequate email security, per an Online Trust Alliance study -- one of two released Wednesday suggesting that marketers are still losing the battle against malware and viruses embedded in content across the Internet. The other report from Cisco Systems attributes malvertising to the uptick. A recent example points to reports that Russian hackers stole 1.2 billion unique username and password combinations, and more than 500 million e-mail addresses, reports The New York Times. Experts agree this situation is becoming increasingly common, unfortunately -- across a variety of media from social to email and search, along with publisher, retail, and brand sites. The OTA's 2014 Email Integrity Audit report analyzed email campaigns from nearly 800 consumer Web sites and found that only 8.3% passed the audit, suggesting that companies protect the consumers visiting them; the remainder failed. The audit tracks the adoption of three critical email authentication standards aimed at improving the privacy of email communications in transit from one user to another. OTA Executive Director and President Craig Spiezle believes that businesses and government agencies fail to adopt email and other online security practices fast enough, which puts consumers at risk for losing sensitive information like credit card numbers, social security numbers and identities. A handful of government agencies and business continue to step up to protect consumers and site visitors. While the report doesn't list names, it runs through the percentages and the types of businesses doing the most to protect consumers. Those that have stepped up include 28% of the top 50 social media companies, 17% of the top 100 financial services companies, 14% of the top 100 Internet retail companies, 6% of the top 50 news companies, 6% of the top 500 Internet retailers, and 4% of the top 50 U.S. government agencies. The Ponemon Institute estimates the average cost of a company's data breach at $5.4 million in 2014, up from $4.5 million in 2013, per the Cisco Systems 2014 Midyear Security Report released this week. The report also cites stats from the Cost of Cyber Crime and Cyber Espionage that estimates the U.S. economy loses $100 billion annually -- and as many as 508,000 U.S. jobs are lost -- because of malicious online activity. Cisco points to malvertising as one reason for the increase as media and publishing sites attract more traffic from individuals across the globe. Cloud services supporting media and publishing sites hold the highest risk, followed by pharmaceutical and chemical, available, transportation and shipping, manufacturing, insurance, agriculture, professional services, and others like food and beverage, and retail. iFrames and malicious scripts dominate for all industries, although malicious events across the U.S. Europe and Asia-Pacific appear to rely on exploits to target specific industries. In APJC, scams, phishing, and click-fraud are used to compromise the trust of users in the transportation and shipping industries -- whereas mobile Web malware remains low, for now, in all three regions, per Cisco's report. "Paper note and fishing hook" photo from Shutterstock.
Against the backdrop of Walt Disney posting a strong financial second quarter, top company executives believe the TV upfront malaise could right itself in the scatter period. Bob Iger, chairman/CEO of Walt Disney, told analysts in an earnings call: “Some of the money just wasn’t expressed because advertisers are choosing to essentially commit the spending much closer to the time that the spots actually run. You’re going to see some of the money that wasn’t in the upfront expressed in scatter and some of it clearly move to new platforms.” With broadcast networks dropping around 7% in volume for this year’s upfront market and cable networks losing around 5%, according to estimates, many believe that money may have moved to digital advertising. But Iger said: “I don’t think all the money that’s flowed away from broadcasting in the upfront necessarily flowed directly into new digital platforms, even though I believe that these platforms have siphoned off some money from the traditional broadcasters.” Good news for Walt Disney’s powerful ESPN -- it bucked this overall trend, with higher upfront volume. Iger says: “It happened late so it basically just ended, but there the numbers were very compelling in that you had absolute increased volume of spending over last year. So not just increased rates or increased units sold but increased dollars committed to ESPN in the upfront.” Iger believes the draw of the immediacy of sports programming has brought new advertisers to the network -- as well as seeing existing advertisers raise budgets on ESPN. ESPN witnessed 10% growth in second-quarter advertising revenues, largely due to the World Cup. But without the World Cup, ESPN was still 5% higher. Jay Rasulo, senior executive vice president/CFO of Disney, says ESPN continues to pace higher in the third quarter. For its fiscal third quarter, Walt Disney posted a 8% gain in revenues to $12.5 billion. Net income was 22% higher to $2.2 billion.
Major wireless carriers are violating a Net neutrality principle by failing to fully explain their throttling policies to users, the group Public Knowledge alleged on Wednesday. The advocacy group sent letters to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, demanding that they publish details about the circumstances under which they slow down wireless users. The letters mark the first step toward filing a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, Public Knowledge said on Wednesday. The watchdog says the companies are violating their obligation to provide users with transparency into network management practices -- which is the only portion of the FCC's 2010 Net neutrality rules that wasn't struck down earlier this year by an appellate court. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint all say they potentially could throttle some users when the network is congested. AT&T and Verizon only throttle users who are still on “unlimited” data plans -- meaning that they pay a flat rate for all the data they wish to consume. Sprint says it might slow down anyone who uses more data than 95% of subscribers. AT&T reserves the right to slow down users on unlimited plans who have consumed either 3GB or 5GB of data in a month, depending on their phones. The company says that people with 3G and 4G phones can face slowdowns after consuming 3GB of data, while people who have 4G-LTE phones could face throttling once they have used 5GB of data. Verizon says it might slow down unlimited users who consume more data than 95% of its subscribers. Public Knowledge argues that none of those policies offer users clarity about when they are at risk of slowdowns. “Without access to network information, it is impossible for subscribers to translate 'top 5%' into an actual data amount on their own,” Public Knowledge says. The advocacy group also is urging the carriers to offer details about congestion on their networks. “As with the 5% threshold, it is impossible for subscribers to know where those congested parts of the network might be. That is why we are calling on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon to publish real time information about network congestion events that would trigger throttling for eligible subscribers in order to comply with the rule,” Public Knowledge says. Public Knowledge also takes issue with T-Mobile's decision regarding how they communicate network speeds to consumers. T-Mobile says it throttles pay-per-byte subscribers after they have exceeded their allotted usage. The company also offers a “speed test,” which gives people information about the speed of their connections. But when throttled users ask T-Mobile to perform a speed test, the company responds by informing them of the speed that non-throttled users are experiencing, according to Fierce Wireless. Public Knowledge is urging T-Mobile to change this practice. “While it may be academically interesting for subscribers to learn what their unthrottled connection speed might be, it is practically useful for them to be able to determine their actual, real world, connection speed,” the organization says. “If T-Mobile is concerned that these slow speeds will hurt customer retention, the more appropriate response would be to increase data caps, increase throttled networks speeds, or both.”
With the threat of Fox now over, after pulling its Time Warner offer the day before, Time Warner posted strong results for its second-quarter earning results -- including higher revenue for HBO and its Turner networks. Time Warner reported a 3% higher quarterly revenue to $6.79 billion, with net income 10% higher to $850 million. The gains were largely the result of increases from premium TV service HBO, which witnessed a 17% revenue gain to $1.4 billion. Breaking this down, HBO subscription revenue rose 10% (or $101 million) and content revenue soared 56% ($98 million), with licensing of HBO content to Amazon Prime as a big driver. Turner networks inched up by 5% to $2.75 billion, with 8% growth ($99 million) coming from subscription revenues and a 1% hike ($13 million) in advertising revenues. Advertising in the period benefited from two 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament semifinal games and higher pricing. Some of this was offset by lower audience delivery and demand. In terms of the current scatter period, Time Warner executives say scatter pricing is up in the third quarter, but not higher volume -- in general, what has existed through most of the current TV season for many networks. Company executives expect third-quarter volume will be “flat to down in the single digits [percentages].” Warner Bros. witnessed revenues sinking 2% ($71 million) to $2.9 billion due to tougher comparisons to a year ago when the studio’s theatrical slate included “Man of Steel,” “The Hangover Part III” and “The Great Gatsby.” Time Warner stock was down 12%, from $74.89 in midday Wednesday trading.
BuzzFeed has tapped former Huffington Post head Greg Coleman as its new president. The hire follows the loss of Jon Steinberg, BuzzFeed co-founder, former president and COO, who left in May to pursue other opportunities. (Last month, Steinberg joined The Daily Mail’s Web site, Mail Online, as its North American CEO.) “It brings Greg, [BuzzFeed Chairman] Ken Lerer and me all under the same roof again," BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti stated, referring to the Huffington Post alums. Along with overseeing sales, creative services, marketing, ad products and business development, Coleman will be expected to expand BuzzFeed overseas. Coleman comes directly from Criteo, where he led the ad technology company as president for about three years. Formerly, he served as president and chief revenue officer at the Huffington Post and executive vice president of global sales at Yahoo. He also served as president of Platform-A at AOL from February to April of 2009. Tapping into the social-media revolution better than most publishers, BuzzFeed has become a master at reaching young consumers. In particular, millennials -- who now find most of their content on customizable news feeds like those powered by Facebook and Twitter -- count BuzzFeed as one of their top 10 content-discovery resources, according to a recent study from SDL. BuzzFeed’s popularity among young consumers has not been lost on agencies. WPP’s Mindshare recently formed a strategic partnership with BuzzFeed, which is designed to identify and activate real-time media and marketing opportunities for clients. Per the deal, Mindshare is receiving detailed access to BuzzFeed Fre.sh data, which analyzes and ranks how its stories move across social media, while Mindshare has made a commitment to buy ads on BuzzFeed. A hot commodity, Disney was reportedly interested in buying BuzzFeed earlier this year. “Talks apparently broke down over price -- with BuzzFeed said to have sought upwards of $1 billion -- and are not believed to still be active,” Fortune reported in April.
Higher costs sent second-quarter profits down 1%, AOL said Wednesday, but the company’s ad technology business continued to shine -- contributing to a 20% increase in global ad revenue. During the period, third-party platform revenue soared by 60%, which AOL attributed to growth in the sale of premium formats across its programmatic platform and the inclusion of revenue from Adap.tv. (Excluding Adap.tv, Third Party Platform Revenue grew approximately 20%.) The second quarter was “a great example of our ecosystem showing growth driven by the future of media technology,” Tim Armstrong, AOL Chairman and CEO, told analysts on a Wednesday conference call. Driven by positive programmatic advertising trends, total revenue rose 12% year-over-year to just over $606 million, during the second quarter. “We continue to believe that moving AOL into the center of the mechanization of the global media and advertising business, we’ll offer … a differentiating and exciting opportunity to grow,” Armstrong said. The company also saw 6% growth in search revenue driven by increased queries from search marketing related efforts (which came with approximately $18 million of increased Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC). Patch -- Tim Armstrong’s biggest management misstep to date -- continues to haunt AOL. The company blamed a 1% decline in AOL Properties display revenue on the absence of about $15 million in revenue from “shuttered or de-emphasized brands,” i.e., Patch. The failed hyper-local media network also led to an annual decline in revenue for AOL’s Brand Group. Excluding the impact of Patch, Brand Group display revenue grew 4%, which AOL attributed to continued growth in inventory pricing. Brand Group search revenue grew 10% year-over-year, driven by increased queries from search marketing related efforts. Subscription revenue declined 7% year-over-year as 4% growth in average monthly subscription revenue per AOL subscriber partially offset a 9% decline in subscribers. As of June, AOL said it had $136 million in cash and equivalents, and $105 million of outstanding borrowings under its $250 million senior secured revolving credit facility agreement.
With more broadcast radio groups announcing their financial results, it’s becoming clear that the radio business had a slow second quarter, with broadcast radio revenues flat or down in most cases. The latest and less than spectacular figures come from Cumulus Media, Entercom, and Radio One. When newly acquired stations are included in the comparison, Cumulus Media said total nonpolitical broadcast radio advertising revenues slipped 1.3% from $305.2 million in the second quarter of 2013 to $301.2 million in the second quarter of 2014. However, this decline was more than offset by gains in political advertising, up 219% from $1.2 million to $3.8 million, and digital advertising, up 98% from $6.5 million to $12.9 million. As a result, Cumulus’ total revenues edged up 2% from $321.9 million to $328.2 million, again when newly acquired properties are included. Cumulus broadcast radio revenues were boosted by last year’s acquisition of WestwoodOne, a radio network that provides syndicated news, sports, talk and music programming, as well as advertising and events services, and a station swap with Townsquare Media, also completed in 2013. Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey attributed the weak second-quarter results for broadcast radio to a slump in advertising demand in a number of categories in May and June, including retail healthcare, entertainment and real estate. Also this week, Entercom announced that total revenues were basically flat at $100.2 million in the second quarter of 2014, down about 1% from $101.2 million in the second quarter of 2013, with president and CEO David Field blaming “sluggish business conditions” that “persisted throughout the quarter,” although June results showed a modest improvement. The company’s best performing categories were insurance, telecom, TV and cable, grocery and professional services. Radio One, which targets mostly African-American and Hispanic audiences, said broadcast radio revenues decreased 4.1% from $58.8 million to $55.8 million. Radio advertising revenues fell 3.8%, offsetting a small increase in the company’s cable TV revenues, from $37.7 million to $38 million. Between the fall in radio revenues and the changed timing of the annual “Tom Joyner’s Fantastic Voyage” cruise hosted by Reach Media, the company’s total revenues fell 9.4% from $119.6 million to $108.4 million. Previously, Beasley Broadcast Group said total revenues fell 3.6% from $26.9 million in the second quarter of 2013 to $25.9 million in the second quarter of 2014, the company announced Friday. Emmis said total radio revenues were flat at $45 million in March, April, and May (the broadcaster’s first fiscal quarter). And Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, formerly Clear Channel Radio, revealed that total revenues edged up less than 1% from $805.6 million to $806.3 million.
Chrysler Group's Dodge division hasn't put a lot of wax on Dart for a while, but now the chamois is on the hood to buff the model to a blinding gleam. Just don't touch it. A new campaign for the car features comedian/actors Craig Robinson, probably best known for "The Office," and Jake Johnson from "Let's Be Cops" with a theme: "Don't Touch My Dart” that launches this week. The effort, launching this week, comprises vignette ads in which Robinson owns a new Dart and Johnson, his neighbor, wishes he did. The launch spot sets the theme and successive ads go from there, with Robinson ever more obsessed with keeping the sheet metal absolutely pristine. The effort, via Portland, Ore.-based Wieden + Kennedy, also uses original music by Robinson in some of the spots. Olivier Francois, Chrysler Group CMO, said each chapter will focus on different Dart product attributes and features. "[The comedians] deliver that while maintaining the essence of the Dodge brand spirit, character and full-of-life attitude," he said in a statement. The company says it will have 24 variations of 5-second TV billboards and 15- and 30-second commercials both for digital and TV. The first three ads start this week on CBS’ “Mike and Molly” and “Under the Dome”; ABC’s “NY Med”; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; and the dedicated site, www.DontTouchMyDart.com. In one of the ads, Robinson does not subscribe to the idea that the first scratch on a new car is a rite of passage -- a necessary one. Another takes protectionism to an extreme with the idea that Robinson doesn't even want a car touched with his friend's voice, while touting Dart’s Uconnect touchscreen media center. The company says forthcoming spots will air on network and cable entertainment, sports and news programs. Also, Dodge is partnering with CollegeHumor.com for native, contextually relevant content around “Don’t Touch My Dart,” meaning that it is suitable for "a more mature audience," per the automaker. Then, later in the month comes an interactive element to the Web site, where, on a YouTube extension, people can get a humorous response when they try to "touch" Robinson's new Dart.
Publicis Groupe’s Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) has a new leader. Neil Munn, the current Chief Operating Officer of BBH Group, will become the new Group CEO at the beginning of 2015. Gwyn Jones, the current Group CEO, is leaving the agency after 27 years to pursue interests outside advertising. “The timing is great for Neil," says Simon Sherwood, BBH Group Chairman. "We are a more mature business, owned by a Holding company. Neil is perfect casting for what is now needed from the Group CEO, he has proper marketing and comms pedigree, is highly commercial with a deep understanding of client organizations and brands, and has a truly global perspective. I know that his leadership style will be very effective for the business we now are.” Neil's COO role will be split between Niall Hadden, Global Head of Talent and David Pearce, Chief Financial Officer. Hadden has been at BBH since 2006 and Pearce since 2009. Munn has been at BBH for ten years. He joined from Unilever and launched and ran BBH's venturing company ZAG. He was promoted to COO of the BBH Group in 2012 and, with Jones, has worked on integrating the agency after it was acquired fully by Publicis Groupe in 2012. Meanwhile, founders Sir John Hegarty and Sir Nigel Bogle will continue to work at BBH for the foreseeable future. Hegarty works part-time, largely on the development of BBH's creative profile globally as well as work on outside ventures. Bogle continues to work across a number of key accounts including British Airways, Audi and Weetabix. Both serve as figureheads that embody and reinforce the strong culture at BBH, and help ensure that creativity remains at the top of the agenda, say BBH executives. This executive shuffling is reportedly due to lifestyle changes. "Culture is the thing that binds and builds a business more than anything and BBH has the best culture going, it isn't easy to leave," says Jones. "But 27 years is a long time and variety is the spice of life." He expressed interest in pursuing other investments and opportunities and "maybe spend a little less time on planes." BBH was founded in London in 1982 and employs 1,000 people across eight offices: London, Singapore, New York, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Mumbai, Los Angeles and Sweden.
Pushing its three key kids networks to higher revenue levels -- Nickelodeon, Nicktoons and TeenNick -- the Nickelodeon group of networks posted single-digit percentage revenue volume gains this kids upfront TV season. “Going in the market, we were in a good position,” says Jim Perry, head of advertising sales for Nickelodeon Group, with ratings overall higher by single digits -- especially higher viewership in Nicktoons and TeenNick. “We finished with volume up and pricing up and led the market in both areas,” says Perry, around single-digit percentage gains in each area. Perry estimates the overall kids market at around $750 million, down a bit overall from a year ago. He says Nickelodeon picked up share from its competitors. Estimates are that Nickelodeon networks collectively have a 60% share kids TV 2-11 viewing. In particular, Nickelodeon was looking to improve the price performance of its faster-growing networks -- Nicktoons and TeenNick, looking to package those networks in with the big Nickelodeon. In the first quarter, Nicktoons total day viewership climbed 6% to 180,000 average viewers; and then moved up to average 202,000 in the second quarter. TeenNick was up 85% to 211,000 in the first quarter, then grew to 254,000 in the second quarter. Nickelodeon slipped 3% to 1.802 million viewers in the first quarter, and then declined to 1.6 million in the second quarter. The aim was to package those networks because of their complementary audiences -- younger to older, ages 2-14. The effort was to “keep the viewer in the Nickelodeon ecosystem,” says Perry. One kids media-buying executive said there was some big sticker price shock at Nickelodeon’s upfront pricing. “They were trying to sell all three at the same price” -- which the buyer says resulted in a 15% to 20% overall cost-per-thousand viewer price increases in package deals when factoring in Nickelodeon, TeenNick and NickToons. “It was an education process, and there was a variety of responses,” says Perry, who declined to reveal pricing specifics. “But we ended up in the great place.” Perry insists there was overall reach and frequency, as well as CPM benefits for those TV marketers who bought in. Some of the growing categories, he said, included movie studios and retailers. Toys and movies marketers remain two of the biggest kids TV advertising categories, says Perry. After that comes consumer packaged goods. Food marketers remained a depressed category, says Perry, down from a year ago -- no longer major kids TV advertisers. A new growing category is wireless services/consumer electronic products and general electronic retailers targeted at kids TV viewers. Concerning Nickelodeon’s main competitor, Turner’s Cartoon Network, one executive close to the company said with its reduction in its programming hours -- due to expansion of Adult Swim -- it wrote some high single-digit CPM increases among its TV advertisers in the key 10 weeks of the pre-fourth-quarter holiday period. There were also high single-digit price increases in the pre-Easter and back to school fall periods. Executives also believe Cartoon Network overall upfront revenue volume declined year-to-year partly as a result of its programming schedule contraction. Total gross ratings points for Cartoon Network were 18% versus the year before.
Y&R’s Shelley Diamond has been promoted to chief client officer, a new post at the WPP agency. Diamond was previously Worldwide Managing Partner of Y&R and is a member of Y&R Global CEO David Sable’s Global Executive Committee. In this new role, Diamond will help identify, develop and migrate Y&R’s best practices and talent around the global network, in order to optimize the distribution of resources among clients. Diamond will also focus on the agency’s organic growth by driving collaboration across geography and disciplines, and will ensure that the Y&R network is training their people in the most “leveragable and forward-thinking ways,” the agency said. Sable said that Diamond was well-suited for the new role, given that she “has been exemplifying every day of her 23 years at the agency what it means to be a client's most valued partner. At a time when we have an unrivaled set of proprietary tools and resources…we can truly help our clients engage their customers with great, innovative work that creates opportunities for them and, as a result, for us.” Diamond, a 23-year Y&R veteran, has helped build the Xerox, Dell and Campbell’s teams and other key accounts. Her relationship with Xerox spans 25 years and two agencies and she has worked with Campbell’s for over 16 years, helping Y&R to become one of two lead agencies for their brands. She led Y&R New York from 2007 to 2010, and during that time she presided over strong organic growth with Y&R’s clients and helped bring in new business, per the agency. Diamond is a mentor with W.O.M.E.N. in America, Fortune/U.S. State Department’s Global Mentorship Program. In 2005, she was recognized as "Working Mother of the Year” by The Advertising Women of New York and Working Mother Magazine.
Without calling Foursquare’s new personalized recommendation product a success, The Verge says it has a ton of potential. “After spending the better part of the last year rebuilding its app from scratch … Foursquare is finally ready to start telling a new story, starting at chapter one,” it writes. “That new story revolves around personalized recommendations -- something [Foursquare founder Dennis] Crowley says Yelp can’t do.”
As a meta-comment on TV itself, the phrase “jump the shark" is now the age of the average bare-chested contestant on “Survivor.” Could it be, therefore, that as an expression, “jump the shark “ has perhaps jumped the shark? Certainly, it’s such a knowing, insider-ish take on TV that by now it has become a reference to a reference. Even the writers on “Arrested Development” slyly recreated the action for Henry Winkler’s character in one episode, as have writers for “The Simpsons (The phrase was famously coined after Fonzie himself waterskied in his leather jacket on a special episode of “Happy Days.” Ay!) So, if jump the shark is indeed getting long in the tooth (or two sets of teeth), what could succeed it as a way of describing an outlandishly fake and grasping, attention-seeking gimmick? How about “toss the leg”? That’s as in “toss the prosthetic leg” -- the one with the hellaciously pricey Jimmy Choo shoe attached to the foot that "Real Housewife of New York City" amputee Aviva Drescher actually used as a projectile weapon on RHONY’s recent season closer. Apparently having the limb disengaged and at the ready, she hurled the latest designer accessory across the table at Le Cirque, in the direction of her fellow housewives, while announcing that it was the only “artificial” thing about her. (Changing the expression from “ladies who lunch” to “ladies who launch.”) Where to begin? With the fact that Bravo actually promoted the shot of the well-shod device lying on the floor, poignant and bereft like a sad orphan, all season, so it was no great surprise? (But it was still a shock in this, um, well-heeled context.) Or that the producers and casting execs apparently hired Aviva last year with the famous Chekhov line about the revolver in mind (If you see it in the first act, it has to go off by the third)? Otherwise, she hasn’t contributed much to the story line, except for all her various complaints and neuroses, and the fascinating revelation that asthma can be caused by reflux. (Her disgusting, sex-crazed, X-rated father and creepy, sex-crazed ex-husband are another story.) But you see, I’m already getting in too deep. I’m not proud that I know way too much about it, but by now watching has devolved into a guilty non-pleasure. And I swear I’m not going to continue. (Really, I mean it!) I got pissed at Aviva when she and Carole Radziwill (a respected journalist and TV producer, who probably made a big mistake agreeing to be on the show at all), sunk to new lows by engaging in an epic on-camera fight. That’s when the single-limbed one, who probably lied about not using a ghostwriter for her own book, “Leggy Blonde” accused Carole of having a ghost for her books. Aviva maintained that writing her memoir in one summer was "easy," just like "writing a long email." And Carole, a real writer (and no housewife), burned. A writers’ fight on RHONY? This was not only a “toss the leg” moment, it practically sunk the show and our entire civilization. Because as people have stopped reading books, celebrities are the only ones who get to write them. Since it started in 2006, the whole franchise has become a revolving door of narcissistic, ever-desperate, variously false-eyelashed, hair-extended, nipped-n-boosted contenders, all ready to put their crumbling marriages/ felonious or cheating spouses/embarrassed children on camera in exchange for the promise of possible book/fashion/liquor/music/underwear/handbag/microwave oven tie-in deals and the possibility of being worshipped. This makes watching the actual “reality” of the show rather tiresome. Also, they have learned from their predecessors that brawlers get more screen time. So if they are not monsters to begin with, these Housewives-come-lately all learn to play them on TV. The series was actually misnamed from the start, as these characters were neither real nor housewives. The gold standard is Bethenny Frankel, one of the original "Real Housewives of New York" -- a single workaholic entrepreneur, a chef by training who barely eats but had a rabid appetite for work, fame and fortune. After several seasons of filming, she was able to sell her SkinnyGirl Margaritas line of for $100 million. (It has since expanded considerably.) Also during that time, viewers got the pleasure of seeing her sitting, pants down, on the toilet waving a pregnancy wand, freshly out of her urine stream, to announce to the cameras that she was pregnant. This augured a special wedding program, (she married the father, Jason Hobby) and a new family series, “Bethenny Ever After.” But the show was cut short as the marriage turned into an epic divorce battle. You’d think that the reverse fairy tale of Bethenny’s life would dampen the ardor of some of the others, but it has not. Then again, “toss the leg” is an outgrowth of the scene that put the whole series on the map: “Toss the table” with Teresa Giudice, the New Jersey Housewife who overturned a table at a dinner with the force of ten men, while calling fellow Housewife Danielle a “prostitution/whore” in front of her children. Even Teresa, the mother of four daughters, would probably admit to not having a terrific grasp on the English language or grammar, but to the chagrin of writers everywhere, her books are on the bestseller lists of the The New York Times, and she constantly adds to her food empire. She needs to: she and her husband Joe have been indicted for tax fraud and other crimes in the off-season, and the pall of a possible prison term hangs over this season of the Jersey Housewives like a blingy sword of Damocles. A cautionary tale? Never. Indeed, Aviva understood that each episode has to have at least one table-tossing tentpole event -- and she, okay, went out on a limb. The promo material for her book says: “When Aviva was six years-old, she was in a farm accident when her left foot got severely hurt at a friend’s upstate New York dairy farm. A few months later her leg was amputated as a result of that accident. Aviva has never let this tragedy define who she is.” No, she hasn’t. Except for having scene after scene on RHONY in which she talks about removing her leg to swim, or falls. In another episode, she is sent to have a pedicure. Then, of course, she came up with the projectile stunt as a way to deal with her fellow sharks. But as Woody Allen said: “A relationship is like a shark. It has to keep moving. And what we have on our hands is, unfortunately, a dead shark.” Actually, with RHONY, what we have on our hands is a dead shark, with a Jimmy Choo shoe on it. Indeed, there are enough last-legs joke to go around. Whether she is a nightmare or just playing one on TV, Aviva is one cold fish. And the whole leg-toss has sunk the show, and the franchise. RIP, Real Housewives. You’ve got no more legs to stand on.
U.S. social media advertising revenues will exceed $11 billion in 2017, almost double last year’s total of $6.1 billion, according to the latest forecast from Mintel -- but don’t look for much spending growth in traditional display ads. Instead, newer ad formats -- including much ballyhooed native advertising -- will account for the lion’s share of growth over the next few years, the market and media intelligence firm predicts. Mintel observes that all the trends are pointed in the right direction for a big increase in social media ad spending: 50% of U.S. social network users say social media has at least some influence on them when they are researching purchase decisions for products and services. Admittedly, just 9% of networks said they have purchased something by clicking on a social media ad, but the number is higher among men and women ages 18-34, with 21% of men in this age group saying they have purchased a product by doing so. Furthermore, 79% of respondents said they have viewed or shared content from a company or the company’s social media page, and a quarter said they have sought more information via search after seeing content on social media. Mintel’s forecast indicates a cumulative annual growth of 16% per year from 2014-2017. In terms of formats, Mintel sees total ad spending on native advertising increasing at an even faster rate, from $1.8 billion in 2013 to $9.4 billion in 2018, for a cumulative annual growth rate just shy of 40% per year. Not surprisingly, 86% of social network users say they visit Facebook at least once a week -- followed by YouTube at 60%, Google at 43%, Twitter at 37%, LinkedIn at 30%, Pinterest also at 30%, and Instagram at 28%. Mintel’s forecast for advertising spending on social media is in line with other predictions. In April BIA/Kelsey also predicted social media ad spending to reach $11 billion in 2017, with locally targeted ad revenues set to increase from $1.1 billion in 2012 to $3.6 billion in 2017, for a cumulative annual growth of 26.4%. Meanwhile, eMarketer forecasts total mobile social ad spending to increase from $1 billion this year to $2.2 billion in 2017.
As of this writing it is only a rumor -- one that may be confirmed or denied by the time you read this -- but it’s too tantalizing to resist commenting on. Given the play it is already getting in the press, it seems I am not alone in my enthusiasm. Apparently, the very entertaining British actor James Corden is in the running to take over as host of CBS’ “The Late Late Show” when Craig Ferguson departs at the end of the year. When I first heard about this, my thoughts immediately went to the BBC’s “The Graham Norton Show” -- arguably the most consistently entertaining talk show of any kind anywhere and one on which Corden has appeared more than once as a guest. Joining Corden during his most recent appearance on that program were Katy Perry, Sir Paul McCartney, Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. Like I’ve always said, nobody does it better than Graham Norton. It’s hard for even the driest of guests not to be amusing on that show once its energetic host gets him or her going, or once all of the guests who typically crowd onto Norton’s couch start playing off each other -- as they invariably do, especially with a funnyman like Corden in the mix. I have often wished, sometimes in this very column, that one of the broadcast or cable networks here would try to put together a similarly styled talk show in which a comparably witty host gathered impressive ensembles of guests each night and interacted with all of them at once. I realize that Norton-worthy, high-wattage groups of stars cannot be assembled every night on any show, especially in this country where managers and publicists wouldn’t hear of their clients having to share the spotlight with so many other celebrities at the same time, but I can dream can’t I? I also realize that Norton’s show is once a week and does not run every week of the year, making it easier to stack impressive guests. Still, even if A-listers are in short supply or carefully controlled here, there is no shortage of interesting B- and C- listers who would make themselves available to a man as comically gifted as Corden at a moment’s notice should he have a talk show, so let’s proceed I had long ago put aside any hope of any network putting together a nightly talk show with half the comic energy of Norton’s weekly wonder when along came this rumor about Corden replacing Ferguson. Is he really interested and available to do something like this? After all, the man has an impressive resume, which includes co-creating and starring in the hit British sitcom “Gavin & Stacey” (for which he won a BAFTA Award) and appearing on the West End and on Broadway in two highly acclaimed plays, “The History Boys” (which was honored with the Tony Award for Best Play) and “One Man, Two Guvnors” (which earned Corden a Tony for Best Actor in a Play). He is also a star of the British series “The Wrong Mans,” a hit on Hulu. So why would he want to join the ranks of middle-aged white male hosts of late night talk shows in this country, especially in the late-late position where Seth Meyers currently dominates? I don’t know and I don’t care. Corden would undoubtedly bring something very different to late night -- as different in his own way as Ferguson -- and that would be good enough for me. I certainly hope that Corden and his producers, whoever they might be, would take full advantage of whatever creative freedom they are given and strive to reinvent the format a bit (the way Netflix claims it will do with Chelsea Handler’s upcoming streaming talk show). But even if he is made to conform to current standards and expectations in the role, he can’t help but be worth staying up for.