Television time-shifted viewing is growing this season -- for almost all shows. Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate media director for Horizon Media, says throughout the season so far there are 19 shows that witnessed 3 million or more viewers after seven days of time-shifted viewing. By comparison, in 2009, there were 11 shows and in 2008 there were only 3 shows. Much of this comes from higher penetration of DVR technology in U.S. TV homes -- now at 37.2% in November 2010, according to Nielsen, versus 32.3% in November 2009 and 26.9% in November 2008. Despite this situation, Adgate says, some programs report a drop in their time-shifted audiences: Fox's "The Cleveland Show" rose to 13.5% -- from 15.3% of its audience coming from time-shifting. Even CW's "90210" dipped a bit -- 35.3% from 36.0% -- while CW's "Smallville" dropped to 31.5% from 35.8%. NBC's "The Office" is the most time-shifted program; in terms of its overall percentage, it grabbed 38.8% more viewers -- up to seven days of time-shifting. Overall, NBC comedy was also first in 2009, with 37.5% compared to 29.0% in 2008. In terms of actual time-shifted viewers, ABC's "Modern Family" had the highest number with 5.465 million; ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" was next at 5.067 million. Both shows topped last year's number for ABC's "House," at 5.038 million. Among first-year shows, NBC's "The Event" was best in time-shifting -- in terms of percentage -- 34% or 3.083 million viewers. CBS' "Hawaii 5-0" had the most time-shifted viewers overall for a new show -- 3.976 million -- accounting for 27.1% of its total seven days audience. One of the biggest upward movers was ABC's "Modern Family," which doubled its time-shifted viewership to 5.465 million in 2010, from 2.613 million in 2009. Fox's "Glee" also climbed high -- to 4.8 million from 2.969 million. And CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" doubled its time-shifted viewers over the last two years. One of the biggest declines was seen with "House," which dropped to 4.148 million in 2010 from 5.038 million in 2009.
Maybe it's the recession. Maybe it's just more conservative times, but people may be taking it a little easier than in previous years when it comes to holiday overindulgence. Procter & Gamble's Pepto-Bismol is on the lookout for such "under-indulgers" and is instead encouraging people to live it up a little bit via a tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign. The campaign, which includes a television commercial and a series of Web videos, stars comedic actor Ken Jeong, who is probably best known for his role as Senor Chang on NBC's "Community" (or the crazed mobster in "The Hangover"). In the videos (available on the brand's Facebook page), Jeong and two pink lab-suited assistants look to eradicate under-indulgence. In the television commercial, for instance, Jeong crashes a boring holiday party, knocking partially filled plates out of people's hands and repopulating sparse party tables with giant meats, cheeses and cookies. "Together, we're going to eradicate under-indulgence once and for all," Jeong tells the camera. "And if you overdo it, Pepto-Bismol: got you covered." "Ken fits perfectly with our witty brand character given his comedic background and increasing popularity onscreen," says Nathan Fox, brand manager for Pepto-Bismol at Procter & Gamble, in response to e-mailed questions. A longer Web video, "Tummy Time," takes place in an under-indulger's stomach, which is -- as Jeong describes it -- "joyless" and "empty." When the under-indulger finally eats a couple of cookies (depicted as huge foam pieces that fall from the "sky") Jeong goes into action, spraying them with pink liquid. "And if you overdo it," he says, "choose Pepto-Bismol." But the wit also extends to the brand's place in popular culture, he says. "Pepto has generated an incredible pop-culture relevance ranging from multiple references to our recognizable 'Pepto-Bismol Pink' color to inclusion in humorous news stories and social media conversations regarding upset stomach," Fox says. "This allows us to execute a tongue-in-cheek strategy." In addition to Facebook and television, the campaign, created by Funnyordie.com, will also be supported through a YouTube channel and through extensive public relations, Fox says.
Cablevision, which spent years building its lucrative footprint in the New York area, is now operating in the Rockies. The company has completed its acquisition of cable operator Bresnan Communications, which has about 300,000 TV customers in four Western states. The operator has a potential customer base of 629,000 homes in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, giving Cablevision expansion opportunities. Cablevision serves 3 million TV customers in the New York region. The acquisition price is $1.37 billion, from a group of owners led by Providence Equity Partners. Cablevision's share price has soared recently, as it has spun off Madison Square Garden and likely will do so with the Rainbow programming unit. The rise continued Tuesday, as the stock price was up slightly to $34.70. Bresnan offers TV, Internet and phone service and sells them as a triple-play with a starter offer of about $100 a month. Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge stated that his company has "tremendous respect for the Bresnan management team and employees" and plans to continue a "strong commitment to localism and local operations." The 26-year-old Bresnan displayed some of the technological bent Cablevision is known for. Last year, it entered into a trial of dynamic ad insertion into VOD programming in four Montana markets. It has also been in a similar trial with Cablevision's Rainbow unit as it seeks to allow networks to insert updated creative into VOD streams, even as the same programming sits on a menu for months at a time.
Marketers thought Americans spend as much time online as they do watching television, but a Forrester study released Monday confirms it. The average U.S. household watches 13 hours weekly of traditional broadcast TV, equaling the same amount of hours spent online, according to "Understanding The Changing Needs Of The US Online Consumer, 2010." The report, released Monday, bases the findings on Forrester's survey of more than 30,000 consumers. While Gen Yers, ages 18 to 30, spent equal or more time with the Internet, this is the first year where Gen Xers ages 31 to 44 joined the trend. Younger Boomers, ages 45 to 54, also now spend an equal amount of time with both media. The amount of time spent watching TV has remained constant in the past five years, but Internet use rose 121% since 2005. Mobile devices spurred the trend. The percentage of mobile users who report texting on a monthly basis jumped from 54% to 61%, with an increasing amount of older users communicating beyond phone calls. In fact, one-quarter of online mobile owners now log on to the mobile Internet. More than one-third of Gen Yers online mobile consumers connect at least monthly. About 200 million consumers now access their Facebook page through a mobile device globally, according to Forrester. Search anywhere, any time has become a major attraction for mobile users. About 16% of online mobile users now use their mobile phone to check news, sports, or weather, and 13% look up directions or maps. When Forrester analyzed individuals who access the mobile Internet at least weekly, the numbers skyrocketed to 60% and 52%, respectively. Some mobile users go online for knowledge to gain the most updated information, whether it's checking fantasy sports scores on Yahoo or the latest news on CNN. These mobile users are most likely male and college-educated, and their average household income is more than $92,000. It appears that marketers have begun to understand the value of these behaviors. The study finds nearly one-quarter of U.S. interactive marketers plan to pilot mobile search programs in the next 12 months. Shopping also attracts consumers online. In 2010, 60% of consumers shop online, up from slightly more than one-third in 2007. Similar to email, Forrester suggests that consumers are familiar with the task and based on a behavior they already do. Interestingly, the barriers of moving this offline behavior online are higher than for other replacement activities like email, but don't require learning a brand-new behavior. Gen Xers fuel the adoption of shopping online, with 68% participating in the activity. Although fewer Boomers buy online, they outspend Gen Xers by more than $4.5 billion a year. Aside from buying stuff online, the use of social networks has seen the biggest jump in adoption since 2007. In fact, they connect 62 million U.S. adults, according to Forrester. Gen Yers are the biggest social network users, with nearly two-thirds reporting they update or maintain a social networking site profile at least monthly.
Landel Hobbs, an advocate for cable operators' boosting ad sales and a leader in the formation of Canoe Ventures, is stepping down as COO of Time Warner Cable. Hobbs has also overseen TWC's recent emphasis on tiering, where it tries to find ways to market differently to customers based on their usage patterns. He will be replaced by CFO Robert Marcus, who becomes president-COO. Glenn Britt remains chairman-CEO, but the move puts Marcus in position to take over the country's second-largest cable operator when Britt retires. Hobbs and Comcast's Steve Burke have helped move Canoe along by converting set-top-boxes in their respective systems to an EBIF-based technology. That has allowed Canoe -- owned by the six largest cable operators -- to offer cable networks the opportunity to sell interactive advertising that can run simultaneously in homes served by both TWC and Comcast. Hobbs joined TWC in 2001, and Britt stated he has offered "leadership in operations and marketing" as TWC has faced "increased competition and technological change." Much of the competition has come from AT&T and Verizon becoming pay-TV distributors. As for tiering, TWC recently launched a SignatureHome package targeting consumers who want multi-room DVRs and rocket-speed Internet and attentive service, while also teeing up a service that offers only selected cable channels for a discount price. Britt said Hobbs' replacement, Marcus, has "strategic insight and clear understanding of consumers." He joined TWC in 2005 as senior executive vice president, a role that included oversight over M&A and programming.
TV shows with a sudden rise in viewership are rare these days: NBC now has one of those in "The Sing-Off." The second-year limited series "Sing-Off," an a cappella group competition program, has been on a tear lately. Monday night's performance rose sharply, up nearly 20% to a Nielsen preliminary 3.3 rating/10 share among 18-49 viewers. The previous week, its second season debut, was at a 2.8 rating. All this was on top of a 22% gain from a year ago, when it posted a 2.3 rating in its season debut and a 2.3 rating in its season finale -- typically the two biggest episodes of a reality competition show. In between, the series had a dip in ratings. For NBC, the numbers added to glimmers of good fortune -- at least on the reality genre front. On Monday, the network announced a new reality singing competition show, "The Voice of America" -- to be launched next spring and produced by successful and veteran reality producers Mark Burnett of "Survivor" and "Apprentice" fame, and John de Mol, producer of "Big Brother" and "Fear Factor." The show aims to go after Fox's "American Idol" and its new competition show produced by Simon Cowell, "The X Factor." On Monday, NBC lifted its fortunes from a week ago to a 2.6/7 from a 2.4. But it still couldn't catch Monday night leader CBS, which saw its strong comedy lineup rise to a 3.5/9 from a 3.3 rating. CBS' "Two and a Half Men" grew to a 4.4/11 from a 4.2 rating a week ago at 9 p.m. -- the best-performing show of the night. "Mike & Molly" put on three-tenths of a rating point to a 3.7/9. Some of CBS' and NBC's gains may have come from lackluster competition, particularly ABC. "Skating with the Stars" continued to suffer, now down to a 0.7 rating/2 share among 18-49 viewers -- a 30% drop from its rating the previous week. After that. ABC's "Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You" dropped to a low 1.1 rating/3 share. Fox also witnessed growth this week -- running a better-viewed lineup of "House" (2.4 rating/6 share) and "Lie To Me" (1.9 rating/5 share) repeats versus fresh programming of "American Country Awards" (1.5 rating) of a week ago. For the night, Fox was at a 2.1 rating/5 share versus its 1.5 rating of a week ago.
ESPN has acquired the bulk of intellectual property rights held by PVI Virtual Media Services from Cablevision. PVI made its mark by developing the yellow first-down line that appears in all football broadcasts, while capabilities also include virtual product placement. ESPN will hire most of PVI's staff, including engineers, working at its base in New Jersey. PVI has also developed applications in the field of interactive TV and 3D graphics.(ESPN has a fledgling 3D network.) Separately, some of PVI's technology has been sold to an undisclosed other party. In sports, PVI technology allows for the virtual placement of an ad on the field in a football broadcast or behind home plate during a baseball game. Also, in-game stats about a player's performance can pop up on the screen during a game -- an opportunity that should become even more important as interest in fantasy sports grows. PVI has deals with ESPN, but also competitors such as CBS College Sports, Fox Sports Net and the Big Ten Network. Chuck Pagano, an ESPN executive vice president, stated: "PVI has developed some of the television industry's leading virtual content, and now the addition of their engineering team will help ESPN continue to invent ... production enhancements." The virtual product placement option has applications in scripted TV -- allowing a network to insert a Pepsi bottle, for example, on the counter in a scene, which has already been shot.
With the FCC considering new regulations, the broadcast industry's trade group is launching an ad campaign to forestall any government action it deems harmful. The National Association of Broadcasters will debut the campaign that promotes broadcast TV's vitality and potential next month. The NAB, which represents TV and radio broadcasters, has prepared 30-second TV and radio ads asking its members to clear inventory and run them gratis. That includes asking radio stations to air spots for TV stations they compete with for ad dollars. The ads ask with a rhyme: "The future of broadcast TV? It's HD, 3D, mobile TV, technology, not regulation from Washington, D.C." The spot also promotes broadcasters' roles in providing local news, and mobile emergency alerts. The NAB is hoping to get the attention of lawmakers as the FCC considers regulations on the increasingly contentious "retransmission consent" negotiations between TV stations and cable/satellite/telco TV operators. Also, the FCC could move to reclaim broadcast spectrum to be used for wireless and broadband initiatives. For companies such as CBS and Univision, which each have TV and radio stations, it makes sense that their radio outlets would run the pro-TV spots. But would independently owned radio stations? Maybe payback is in order. An NAB spokesman said some TV stations with no skin in the game ran spots earlier this year as Congress considered a bill that would make radio outlets paying another stream of royalties for songs played. The NAB is making the spots available to members in January, a time of year when ad sales tend to be light. The ads are in English and Spanish.
As the season winds down, NFL football ratings winds up -- and NBC gets a windfall. On the back of continued big NFL ratings -- this time featuring the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys -- NBC grew almost a full rating point to a Nielsen 6.9 rating/17 share among 18-49 viewers. The closely fought game between two major NFL brands rocketed to a 8.7 rating/23 share among 18-49 viewers for the last two hours of the contest. NBC says the game tied its best result in the five-year history of "Sunday Night Football," the best Sunday or Monday Night NFL game in nearly 12 years. The week before, NBC earned a 5.8 rating among 18-49 viewers. In second place was CBS. Early in the evening, it had a nice boost of a 5.7 rating/16 share from the afternoon remains of the New New England Patriots blowout of the New York Jets. That's more than double its 2.1 rating for the Oakland Raiders-San Diego Chargers the week before. CBS then got some strength from the finale of the "Amazing Race," which reached a 3.7/10. All that lifted CBS into a second-place win on Sunday, getting to a 3.8/10, up over its 2.6 average Sunday night rating the week before. Without the benefit of its own early-evening NFL viewers, Fox could only manage a 2.9/7, good for third place -- down from a 4.7 the previous Sunday. Still, Fox's comedies delivered their usual strong performance among young viewers. Fox had a 3.5/10 against NBC's still first-place -- and robust -- 5.8/16, among 18-34 viewers. ABC moved up two-tenths of a rating point to a 2.7/7. Most of its shows were on par with their numbers of a week ago. But the network got a big push from "Brothers & Sisters," which improved four-tenths of a rating point to a bigger 2.6/6. Univision was at a 0.6/2 versus its 0.7 rating of a week ago among 18-49 viewers.
This guy in a gym is talking: "So I go to sleep watching TV; when I wake up, it's watching me." You may not think privacy issues are much of a concern for traditional media, but some people think otherwise. Interactive TV promotions, video-on-demand services, TiVo prompts in the middle of commercials, addressable advertising -- these are all asking for our attention, and in theory giving us more entertainment value. Though Internet and mobile platforms seem to garner more concerns over privacy, TV, for all its laid-back, lean-back media profile, still makes the average consumer wonder a bit -- even if he/she isn't exactly sure what is going on. All this will only get worse as traditional TV services, Internet platforms, and new devices look to make our entertaining-needy lives easier. Future TV remotes will look more like our most portable mobile devices -- iPads, tablets, and perhaps bigger and smarter mobile phones. In return for this convenience, those who are watching "The Good Wife" will be told there is an important "Hoarders" episodes to be seen or that Hyundai has a great deal on a turbo-powered car they can't live without, or there's some new natural pet food on the market, perfect for their lazy cats (redundant!) No matter. Suspicious TV consumers will carefully eye TV marketers in this new age. Seems that the guy in the gym was watching ESPN's "SportsCenter" at bedtime, and then drifted off. In the morning, the gym man, in a somewhat confused state, said the TV set was still on -- but not on the same station. (Ah. Hah!) No LeBron James-Dwayne Wade Miami Heat highlights. "DirecTV was doing something," he said. (Or maybe it was because he was asleep, crushing the remote for 10 hours!) Instead, NBC's Al Roker "or some other guy was giving me the weather" -- in big full-screen view. "Was he staring at you?" TV Watch asked. "Seems that way," says the guy. Yeah, but was he selling anything? "I don't think so." Sneaky bastards.
A Canadian TV campaign from January touted the miracle health benefits broccoli has to offer. The company behind the campaign, however, might surprise you. Was it a local grocery store chain? A group of farmers? No and no. The Television Bureau of Canada made the big revelation in September that it created the five-week campaign in an effort to prove that TV ads can sell anything. And they have the metrics to prove it. The campaign, created by john st., Toronto, increased broccoli sales by 8% compared to store sales from last year. In addition, a whopping 188,574 pounds of broccoli made its way into Canadians' grocery carts during the campaign. The "Miracle Food" TV campaign consisted of three TV spots, each starring an obsessive broccoli-lover as the veggie's spokesman. One TV spot, "Parachute," begins with a skydiver surviving a fall after his parachute fails. "It's a miracle," proclaim fellow skydivers. One rogue extreme sports enthusiast, however, doesn't believe his feat was miraculous. He believes broccoli, packed with 12 vitamins and minerals, is a bigger miracle. See it here. "Octuplets" is set in "Little House on the Prairie" days, showing a wife giving birth to eight babies, at home, sans midwife or modern-day meds. The wife believes it's a miracle. The creepy broccoli-lover from "Parachute" sits at a nearby table, with a different opinion. Babies are just babies, but broccoli is a real miracle, he says as he strokes his veggie stalks. Watch it here. A man and his dog survive a tornado by taking cover in a "Chimney." Too bad it doesn't rate high in sketchy broccoli-loving man's book. See it here. "The TVB wasn't setting out to prove that television should be the only medium on every media plan, but they did want to debunk many of the rumors plaguing the medium," said Chris Hirsch, associate creative director/copywriter at john st. "And while we all know television is generally just one ingredient in the media plan, we think this experiment firmly plants television as an essential option for advertisers." Each TV spot directs viewers to the faux Web site, TheMiracleFood.ca, where users can read the history of broccoli, view four broccoli recipes and read articles touting broccoli's nutritional benefits. The reveal print ad, seen here, is copy-heavy, describing TVB's January experiment with broccoli. "They say the camera adds 10 pounds. In our case it added 188,574," reads lead copy. Hirsch explained why broccoli, of all things, was selected as the "tough sell." Not that I'm complaining, I love broccoli. "When your target is the advertising and media industry itself, we knew we couldn't just tell people that TV works. We needed to prove it, with a product that was already a tough sell to begin with. So we chose broccoli. We figured while we're at it, why not choose a product that may make a few people a little healthier along the way." The biggest challenge of the campaign was keeping the secret under wraps. "Productions such as this often involve close to a hundred people, so keeping the lid on the fact that it was a fake campaign for the duration of the campaign was definitely the hardest part. We just wanted to prove that the rumors of TV's death have been greatly exaggerated," concluded Hirsch.
"The Closer" and "The Biggest Loser" are closing and losing -- respectively. Kyra Sedgwick is leaving, ending the longtime TNT drama; fitness trainer Jillian Michaels is departing NBC's "The Biggest Loser" -- which gets TV Watch's mind working in mysterious ways. Why are these things happening? TNT's "The Closer" has been the network's -- and perhaps cable's -- biggest ad-supported drama hit to date. After six seasons, it is still on top of the leaderboard (along with TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles") at around 8 million viewers for its original first-run episodes. "Closer" will end with the show's 2011 season. Still, seven seasons and out? Seems kind of quick. What happened? Money problems? TNT and its TV producing studio, sister company, Warner Bros, didn't elaborate on production budgets or casting costs or network licenses fees structures. That's typical television M.O. Little secret: Many cable dramas like "The Closer" have viewers that skew way older than many broadcast network shows. Brad Adgate, senior vp and corporate research director for Horizon Media, says many cable dramas/comedies are not strong in the 18-49 demo or 25-54 demo. Many cable series' best numbers are in the "50 plus" viewer category -- typically the least desirable for TV advertisers. The goods news was, "Closer" was still big among all viewers -- which is always worth something to marketers. The show was also a launching pad for a number of TNT dramas, including now top-rated "Rizzoli & Isles." In Michaels' case, NBC's strong-performing reality show, "The Biggest Loser," already has some replacement trainers waiting in the wings. After eleven editions of the show that started in 2004, Michaels has been branching out -- with fitness DVDs, and last summer the weak-rated health-fitness NBC show, "Losing it with Jillian." "I want to take a year off TV and focus on becoming a mommy and doing more charity work," she tweeted. OK it must be a good time of year to make changes -- New Year's resolutions and all. In this iffy economy we always worry about pressing money and health issues -- for the networks, actors, producers -- and, sometimes, for older, out-of-shape viewers.