For the fourth consecutive quarter in a row, major TV station groups posted eye-popping double-digit gains -- and saw rising profit margins, some nearing performance levels of the 1980s and 1990s. New York-based media investment/adviser M.C. Alcamo & Co. says profit margins for TV stations grew by 10 points to 40% for some 15 broadcasting companies it covers in the fourth quarter of 2010. This was versus a 30% profit margin number in fourth-quarter 2009. These results near the 50% or greater gains that virtually all TV station groups had garnered decades ago. Some, like Sinclair Broadcast Group and Meredith Corp., got to this magical mark, posting the quarter's highest profit margins of 51% for all TV companies. For the 15 broadcasting companies it covers, M.C. Alcamo says revenues rose 27.1% to $371.8 million -- in part helped by the turnaround from major ad categories such as automotive marketers, as well as a surging political ad market. The best performers: Fisher Communications grew 49% in revenue to $18.9 million; Gray Television added on 47.8% to $37.1 million. Alcamo covers seven "pure play" broadcasters: Belo Corp, Entravision Communications, Fisher Communications, Gray Television, Lin Television, Nexstar Broadcasting and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Eight other multimedia companies are also followed: Gannett Company, Journal Communications, Meredith, Media General, McGraw-Hill Companies, Saga Communications, E.W. Scripps and Washington Post Co. "The unusually strong profits will likely be utilized in three ways," says Michael Alcamo, president of M.C. Alcamo & Co. First, he says many broadcasters will continue to pay down outstanding debt. Plus, many will set aside these big cash reserves for strategic investments. Third, stations will look to upgrade station infrastructure, such as HD technology.
Advertisers will spend 17.8% of online ad budgets for local this year -- up from 14.9%, or $13.5 billion, according to a report by Borrell Associates. The Benchmarking Local Online Media: 2010 Revenue Survey points to mobile as the catalyst driving growth. While local advertising reached $90.4 billion across all media in 2010, mobile will drive local advertising through 2015. Borrell estimates that within five years, two-thirds of the $24 billion in local online advertising -- up from $18 billion in 2012 -- will arrive on mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and GPS-enabled laptops. Pure-play Internet companies that offer the best technologies are partnering with legacy media companies with the best local sales forces and promotional strength. Companies like Yahoo, Google, Local.com, Groupon, Zillow, Monster and others find it more productive and lucrative to work with legacy media companies than to compete. In 44 of more than 200 markets Borrell tracks, Groupon or Autotrader. com generate more revenue than the largest local newspaper, TV or radio station online operation in that market, according to the study. This year, about two dozen of Groupon's local offices will generate more than $10 million each. Craigslist brought in about $20 million from its New York location, and about $1.6 million each in Phoenix and Houston. Autotrader.com brings in more than $10 million per site in more than two dozen cities. The study, which analyzes 4,588 U.S. and Canada online operations and advertising projections in 2011, suggests that market share held by pure-play Internet companies has stopped growing. While they held the lion's share of local online ad dollars from zero to 48% between 2000 and 2008, growth for them slowed. The biggest have been forced to form partnerships with local newspapers, TV, radio and directories. AT&T YP.com, Autotrader.com, Groupon, CareerBuilder.com, YP.com in Canada, and Monster.com derive content from their own advertisers. Autotrader.com and Groupon expect to see their respective revenue in the U.S. exceed $1 billion this year. The remainder in the top five should see revenue between $400 million and $475 million. AT&T experienced a 125% increase in mobile searches across the YP Local Ad Network in 2010, according to AT&T Interactive Analytics. The division also estimates YP.com attracts over 30 million monthly online unique visitors. The report points to AT&T's YP.com as an example of a Yellow Page company making a quick adoption, and benchmarks a variety of traditional platforms from newspaper to television to radio.
Confirming many reports of a strong comeback, local broadcast stations had a big 23.5% rise in 2010 advertising revenue versus the previous year. Estimates from the TV stations' advertising group TVB, from data supplied by Kantar Media, said local broadcast TV rose to $15.6 billion. TV stations, however, are still down versus the $20 billion advertising totals of a few years ago. National broadcast networks continue to have the greatest share of all TV ad dollars, gaining 5.7% in 2010 to $24.97 billion. Closing in on national broadcasters are national cable networks, which added 10.2% to $21.3 billion for the year. Syndication TV slipped in 2010 -- 2.8%, to $4.1 billion -- partly reflecting lower-priced upfront deals set in 2009, in the midst of a weak ad market and a crushing economic recession. As the economy improved, syndication did as well, recovering in the fourth quarter of 2010 -- the start of a new broadcast season -- gaining 14.7% to $1.2 billion versus the same period the year before. The biggest improving national and local ad category was automotive advertisers -- rocketing up 53.7% to $2.6 billion. The second-biggest category, communications/telecommunications, was 14.7% higher to $1.5 billion. Restaurants were up 8.1% to $1.2 billion; political advertising had an eye-popping 598.8% gain to $763 million; and financial services grew 54.3% to $680 million. The big single advertiser -- after political advertising -- was Chrysler Group LLC, up 66.0% to $371.3 million. AT&T improved 41.2% to $334.8 million; Ford Motor Dealers Association gained 45.2% to $324.5 million; and Toyota Motor Dealers Association was 55.2% higher to $313.2 million.
Silk, maker of plant-based milk products, wants consumers to get off the dairy wagon for 10 days and see how their lives will change. The brand, owned by White Wave Inc. (which also produces almond and coconut milk products), has launched the "Silk for Milk 10 Challenge," which encourages people to substitute the dairy milk in their lives -- in their cereal, coffee, etc. -- with Silk soymilk. The company is backing the effort with a print, television and digital advertising campaign, as well as through a mobile tasting tour. "Our goal is to gain greater awareness around the value of plant-based nutrition," Jennifer Hartley, director of marketing for White Wave, tells Marketing Daily via e-mail. "Silk is a great way to get more plant-based foods in your diet with our wide assortment of products including soymilk, almondmilk and now coconutmilk." The television commercial promoting the 10-day challenge depicts a family from Wisconsin -- "the heart of dairy country" -- making the switch to Silk. In the commercial, the Dobrich family is shown trying the product with their cereal around the kitchen table, saying how surprised they are that they like the product. The commercial will air on broadcast and cable networks, including Lifetime, Food Network, TNT and Discovery. "Consumers are intrigued with milk alternatives, but have a concern about compromising taste for themselves or their family," Hartley says. "The idea behind the copy was to show that if dairy lovers could like Silk, then so will the whole family. The TV commercial was filmed so that the participating family did not know it would be a commercial, and the ad is their authentic reaction." Videos featuring other families will be unveiled on the Web site in the coming weeks, Hartley says. Similarly themed print ads will run in Us Weekly, as well as more specialized magazines such as Shape, Fitness, Weight Watchers and Yoga Journal. Both the print and television executions direct people to the campaign microsite, www.SwitchtoSilk.com, where they can get coupons to help get started and tips to help them accomplish the 10-day challenge, as well as nutritional information. "The site is energetic and engaging, and we hope that the takeaway is that it's easy to make the switch," Hartley says. The company is also taking its milks on a 10-city sampling tour, hitting metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. Ensuring its commitment to sustainability, Silk is offsetting carbon emissions from the tour with renewable Energy Certificates from Bonneville Environmental Foundation.
Fox Business Network is still a work in progress -- now 3.5 years old. FBN is soon to be a full-time client of The Nielsen Company, making it easier to formally pitch TV advertisers this upfront selling season. However, the viewer information of the News Corp.-owned business net will not be a surprise. Media agency executives have had its viewing data for some time. Fox has grown in those three years -- but from a very small base of viewers. Fox Business lags far behind the bigger CNBC by many measures. Consider the recent data: In daytime hours, CNBC has been averaging 53,000 key 25-54 viewers during "business day" hours in the first quarter of 2011; Fox had 11,000. For overall viewers, CNBC is at 219,000; Fox Business News is at 57,000. Much of the same data is similar in other dayparts. Analyzing the specific time period when the stock market is open -- 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. -- CNBC was at 55,000 25-54 viewers and FBN was at 8,000. Overall viewers in the time period were at 269,000 for CNBC and 57,000 for FBN. Looking at a recent period -- the first quarter versus the same period a year ago -- Fox is up 14% among 25-54 viewers, while CNBC is down anywhere from 15% to 20%, depending on the demo. CNBC suffered somewhat because of poorer comparisons, due to higher-rated Vancouver Winter Olympic programming from NBC in February 2010 that ran on the network. Fox's gains appear to have come the old-fashioned way, adding more cable subscriber distribution, which can instantly tack on more ratings to TV research estimates. Fox Business Network's distribution has almost doubled since its debut -- now at 57.3 million in February 2011, up from 30.0 million in October 2007. The older and more fully distributed CNBC is at 98.5 million. up from 94.9 million. A 2010 Mendelsohn research survey measuring affluent TV viewers in a given week shows CNBC pulling in almost double the viewers who make $100,000 or more -- 13.1 million -- to Fox Business Network's 5.3 million. (Bloomberg pulls in 2.6 million.) That said, FBN's bigger sister network, Fox News Network, pulls in more affluent viewers than CNBC in a given week: 14.3 million to 13.1 million. Overall, however, CNN is the leader, per Mendelsohn, with 20.8 million viewers in a given week who make $100,000 or more.
Phillips-Van Heusen's (PVH) Izod brand, as well as Honda and Verizon, are among the brands activating against the centennial of the Indianapolis 500 race on Memorial Day weekend. Izod, which is title sponsor of the Izod IndyCar Series, sponsored an event at New York's Classic Car Club of Manhattan to kick off the series, which begins this weekend with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla. Among a host of programs around the IndyCar series, the IndyCar title sponsor is launching a TV ad this weekend around the St. Petersburg race and has inked deals with brands like Verizon, Honda and Macy's that puts those brands in Izod IndyCar ads and vice versa. Case in point is the new Izod spot touting its Indy sponsorship and featuring the alt band Weezer. The ad also features racing legend and entrepreneur Roger Penske, a Honda Civic Indy pace car and Verizon branding. Honda is launching its own ads this weekend touting Civic, Izod, and Macy's. One of Honda's spots features Indy icon and Formula racing legend Mario Andretti, who is appearing in at least one TV spot for the Civic. In the ad, which also breaks this weekend, Andretti is talking with a guy about his Civic, with the guy trying to tout the Civic's virtues to a guy used to driving at 200 mph-plus in an open-wheeled racer. Unimpressed with the fact that the Civic has air conditioning, Andretti shows him his Honda-branded racecar. "Mine has air conditioning, too," he says. Cut to the two of them screaming down the track in the two-seater. Jeff Belskus, president and CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said the race track will celebrate the centennial of the Indy 500 with a series of events, including a lineup of 250 vintage racers and pace cars; an emerging-technology day in May, and "the world's largest-ever autograph signing," featuring 269 IndyCar drivers on May 28, race weekend. Randy Bernard, CEO of the IndyCar series, says the series will include a multimillion-dollar fan experience at every track this year and a new garage-themed area for kids, as well as a change in how the race is started based on fan input. Mike Kelly, EVP of marketing for PVH, whose Izod brand is in its second year of a five-year title sponsorship deal with the IndyCar series, said he decided to get into IndyCar even though "I knew nothing about motorsports" when IndyCar called the company after the race series had reunified its business with Champ Car in 2008. IndyCar wanted Izod to manufacture Indy-themed shirts. "I went to the race and it took five minutes to get the needle in the arm," he says. "The cars are works of art; it's the fastest motorsport on the planet," says Kelly, adding that part of Izod's activation will include putting the vehicles in Macy's show windows in the flagship New York store and possibly bringing IndyCar races back to the Izod Center venue in New Jersey. "We have fallen in love with the sport." Kelly said that Izod is also involved in the NBA and NFL, but "when I go to a basketball event and sit courtside, there's nobody I can do business with. I go to the track paddock and there are Fortune 500 companies." In addition to Honda and Izod, Mattel will have activation, as will Verizon, which has moved out of NASCAR to IndyCar. Izod and Verizon have a co-branded mobile app that shows race video and data. Honda is using IndyCar and cross promotions with Izod and Macy's to tout ShopHonda.com, dangling Izod products and a chance to ride in the back seat of an open-wheeled racer with Andretti at the wheel. A second Honda ad touting Izod shows the women's cosmetics section of Macy's. While sophisticated women shop for makeup, a group of rough-looking guys stroll through. "Men, the shopping event of the year has arrived," says the voiceover. "Visit Macy's to get an Izod shopping spree." As part of Honda's promotion at shophonda.com the Torrance, Calif.-based automaker is giving away Civics in 10 markets. Mattel will tout its Hot Wheels brand with a global program on Hot Wheels' Facebook page. Kelly says last year saw a 40% growth in sponsors who joined the series and the largest increase in the 18- to-24 audience base. "Appealing to those audiences is very exciting for sponsors," says Kelly.
A new, limited-edition flavor of Snapple is carrying the name of a TV show -- CBS's "The Amazing Race" -- on its label, as well as being featured in the show's product placements and ads. The partnership also includes a co-branded contest hosted on Snapple's Facebook site India's rich tea tradition and the CBS show's stop in Kolkata, India during last night's episode "inspired" the new Papaya Mango Tea, according to the brand's promotions. The labels of the new flavor's regular and diet versions feature "The Amazing Race" below the Snapple logo, and have also been embellished with graphics that are evocative of traditional Indian decorative motifs. Snapple was highlighted within the episode, in which the contestants followed the ancient tea-trading route between China and India. At the show's end, the new flavor was unveiled as "Race" host Phil Keoghan presented the prize package to the first-place team. New spots on Snapple's "Real Facts" theme were created for the new flavor, and will run during "Amazing Race" episodes through the rest of the season, starting next week. Snapple will also sponsor the show's 10th anniversary celebration in Miami on May 7, preceding the May 8 airing of the season finale. The "Snap-a-Snapple" Facebook contest, like the campaign's other elements, emphasizes the limited time window in which to buy the Papaya Mango Tea. Fans are presented with various scenarios in which to snap a photo of a bottle of the new flavor, and the first to post for a given challenge is featured in a winner's gallery and earns a chance to win $5,000. A $1 coupon for Papaya Mango, and other promotions, are also being featured on Snapple's Facebook page.
FX, the general entertainment network that has added high-profile sports as it goes up against TBS and TNT, will carry a college football game of the week this fall. The minimum 13-game schedule will include Saturday games from the Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA. It will be programmed by the broader Fox Sports Media Group. There is an element of flex scheduling with Fox, determining which games will be carried some six to 12 days beforehand. (The first three will be locked in.) FX has carried NASCAR, Major League Baseball and college football, but has been out of the sports arena for some time. "Sports programming is a key component that has been missing on FX for a while, and we look forward to its return on our schedule," stated FX President John Landgraf. He added that the football match-ups will "provide an excellent promotional platform" for networks shows. Fox-owned and affiliated regional sports networks will also carry games from the three conferences.
Univision has waited eagerly for validation for its excitement about the U.S. Census results to indicate massive growth in its potential audience. Results on Friday showed the number of U.S. Hispanic residents soared 43% since 2000 to 50.48 million. On an average night, the Univision network reaches 3.71 million viewers -- a small percentage may be non-Hispanics -- while competitor Telemundo averages 1.01 million. Univision sister network TeleFutura averages 880,000. The census data shows that Hispanics make up 16.3 of the country's population, and are growing four times faster than the population at large. Univision Networks president Cesar Conde stated that the data "validate what we've known for years -- Hispanics are ... redefining the changing face of America." Univision has a slew of local stations that also stand to benefit from the population growth, notably in Raleigh-Durham as the Hispanic population more than doubled in North Carolina over the last 10 years. Univision also has a station in the Atlanta market, where there was major Hispanic growth. Telemundo's owned station group stands to gain as well, notably with its Boston outlet, as the Hispanic population in Massachusetts grew 46% since 2000. Both businesses own the stations in the significant New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Houston and Dallas markets, which should grow for years to come.
Americans who dream about having a Porsche in their garage don't have to envision leaving it there until the weekend. That's the message of a new campaign that eschews mountain roads and high-speed driving imagery for real-life experiences. The campaign, "Engineered for Magic. Everyday," shows people doing such very unsportscar-like activities with Porsches like picking up kids from school and getting groceries. No, the Atlanta-based U.S. arm of the sports car maker isn't rolling out a turbocharged minivan to go with the Cayenne SUV. Rather, the effort, via Chicago-based AOR Cramer-Krasselt, is designed to promulgate the idea that if you buy one of Porsche's roadsters or sports cars, you aren't relegating yourself to a life of wistful glances at the garage each morning before slumping into your four-door appliance with a baleful sigh for the drive to work or the shopping center. Scott Baker, marketing manager for Porsche Cars North America (PCNA), explains that the campaign follows a raft of market research showing that potential customers might be balking at the idea of buying a car just to let it sit around. "We asked people what was keeping them from considering [a Porsche car and they said,] 'I don't feel I will be comfortable driving in L.A. traffic; it doesn't have new technology that I need to manage my everyday life; it doesn't have space to take people with me.' And so that really kind of solidified this understanding that, from an everyday drivability standpoint, people don't think we are relevant," he says. Baker adds that to alter this perception the company took a TV, print, online, mobile, direct mail and in-cinema "swarming" approach. "We are trying to overcome the perception that they can't drive a Porsche car in everyday situations, and to overcome that we need to show several pieces of evidence," says Baker, adding that the TV vector of the campaign includes both the 30-second ad and a series of 15-second vignettes showing how relevant Porsche cars are to everyday circumstances. The TV advertisements will run on national cable channels like History, ESPN and Discovery, and print will appear in April issues of newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Fast Company and Condé Nast Traveler. Headlines include, "Turns small errands into short adventures" and "Passion should never take a snow day." The automaker is also using the effort to launch a consumer-content website similar in scope to [and inspired by the success of, per Baker] the ongoing Porsche Family Tree site (PorscheFamilyTree.com) it introduced for the launch of its first sedan, the Panamera, in 2009. The PorscheEveryday.com site pairs professionally produced videos and images with owner-submitted content in mosaic style. To prime the content pump, Porsche gave out 200 Flip video cameras to owners with the suggestion that they contribute videos. The brand has also tapped Porsche Club of America, dealers and their customers, and its million-plus Facebook fans Porsche also has partnered with the Reelz channel for a program to get amateur filmmakers to create short films about "daily magic." The best of them will be shown before feature films in Spotlight cinemas around the country. Baker says the short-film element came from Porsche's insistence on using media partners as more than distribution channels. "When we RFP for partners we expect a lot out of them -- it's going to be predicated on how well they understand not just our audience but exactly what we are trying to communicate," says Baker. "If we can get media properties to be not only amplifiers but content partners, that becomes another huge leverage for the campaign."
The Hub, the fledgling kids/family network from Discovery and Hasbro, will debut a limited series featuring an animated Warren Buffett, who also provides the voiceover. Tabbed "Secret Millionaire's Club," four half-hour shows have the animated Buffett as a clandestine adviser to kids learning about basic business and other matters from the investor extraordinaire. Buffett is credited as a creator, while producers are A Squared Entertainment and Andy Heyward, former CEO of DIC Entertainment. As to Buffett's compensation, a Hub representative said that is a matter between Buffett and the production company, A Squared. Overall, as the kids' upfront approaches, the Hub -- which was launched in October -- said it has nine new original series on deck for the 2011-12 programming year. The Hub, which runs kids' programming during the day and promotes co-viewing in prime time, is in 60 million homes. On tap is "Clue," based on the venerable Hasbro game, presented as a live-action series with six teens that come together and work to solve a crime mystery. Taking advantage of the Hasbro properties, there is also "Scrabble Showdown," a game show with families competing in word games and puzzles testing "speed, spelling and vocabulary." "Majors & Minors" is a new reality-competition series in music with 16 young performers. No one is voted off, yet one winner gets a recording deal with the RCA/Jive label and a role in a tour. The Hub also said it has acquired syndicated episodes of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"
Two digital media industry pioneers - Adam Gerber and Joe Marchese - officially jumped to senior marketing roles at traditional media companies Thursday, marking a bit of a mini exodus. Gerber, who most recently was CMO of Web site analytics firm Quantcast, and was a veteran Madison Avenue digital media buyer before that, landed as vice president-sales development and marketing for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Television Network (see related story in MediaDailyNews). Marchese, founder and president of online social media marketing platform SocialVibe.com and SVnetwork, was named senior vice president-digital and marketing strategy at Madison Square Garden's FUSE music TV network. The moves came just two days after another digital media pioneer, Tacoda Founder Dave Morgan, delivered a sobering keynote at the OMMA Behavioral conference in New York explaining to the digerati why he has abandoned the digital media industry to launch Simulmedia, a company focused on developing better ways for advertisers to target TV viewers. Marchese, who recently took a hiatus from his weekly column on MediaPost's "Online Spin Board" in order to make the transition, said the move was part of a long-term strategy to broaden his personal perspective in managing media companies. In a symbolic gesture, his move was announced the day after he turned 30.
Turner and CBS said viewership for Thursday's first batch of Sweet 16 games improved on last year by 14%, as the NCAA tournament moved into its second week. One sure reason: all four games were shown in their entirety in every market, unlike in previous years, in which CBS had to make some unavailable in particular areas. On TBS and CBS, the four games combined to average 12 million viewers. Household ratings, according to early Nielsen returns, were up 15% to a 7.6 on Thursday night, which marked the highest in 17 years. Overall for the tournament this year, with all games available across four networks, total viewing is up by 13% over a year ago. Through Thursday, the average was 8.8 million vs. 7.8 million in 2010. The 8.8 million is also a 17-year high. This year's numbers include four more games than a year ago, which actually may have slightly lessened the average, since those were effectively play-in games on TruTV. In household ratings for the full tournament this year, the household average rating is a 5.7, up 14% from 2010. Among men 18 to 34, viewing for the tournament is up 38%.
Change is in the air, and I don't mean the weather. Last week at the annual convention of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), dubbed Re:Think 2011, both Nielsen Catalina Solutions and Kantar Media Research announced new media analytics solutions that I found extremely interesting for a number of reasons. Nielsen Catalina, a partnership between the ratings mega-provider and a leading loyalty-marketing firm, proposed a new model for measuring TV audiences based on viewer-purchaser behavior, replacing demographics-based ratings (more on that in a moment). Kantar introduced a similar product, connecting set-top box and consumer-purchase data to try to help marketers better target their ads. You may know that each of these solutions shares more than a few characteristics with that provided by my firm, TRA. Not that I'm even a little bit surprised. The television advertising measurement system has been broken for a long time. Television remains the biggest ad bucket around, at more than $70 billion, yet there's never been a way for advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their ads outside of survey work and econometric modeling. There's never been a good way to know whether those exposed to ads are buying products, especially in the world of time-shifted viewing. Until fairly recently, all any marketer had to go on was a hope and a prayer, tied to an age- and sex-driven demographic segment. We've suspected those demos to be obsolete for a while now. But it wasn't until this week that CBS Research head David Poltrack confirmed the industry's worst fears. Age and sex, which have driven market segmentation for television advertising since its inception, have absolutely no correlation with ad effectiveness, he reported in his address to the ARF. And while set-top-box data may provide more granular ratings, it's the matching to other databases that enables media buying and selling based on actual consumer behavior. Forrester, Delaney, Deutsche Bank, and Needham have stated as much in recent industry reports. It's no coincidence that the TV industry is finally converging in the direction of ROI-driven, measurable, data-centric analytics solutions for audience measurement and targeting. Because to fix television advertising, the industry has to concede that it really isn't just about "ratings" anymore; it's about helping marketers target the right programs and networks, and finding the right audience for their products. So the industry should continue using age and sex demo ratings, but supplement those with purchaser information to find the right audience and drive ROI. It's an interesting pivot point for the media-measurement world, and an exciting validation of the analytics approach only a few of us have been touting for several years. Does the entrance of Nielsen and Kantar change the game now that the big boys have arrived? Sure. But as a lifelong street ball player, I know that there's nothing as sweet as getting an elbow in the eye and still winning the game. So while the new players are talking the talk and making the mistakes that new players do, watch as networks and advertisers "action" data from the existing players to actually make money (aka sell more ads and sell more products). And remember, those who can, innovate; for the others, well, let's just say I see a nice parallel to Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" here.
Stop the storyline and sell me some product. But take your chances with what comes next. Slugging our eyeballs and ear lobes, two heavy-handed branded entertainment messages will now subtract one more person from the already dwindling supply of those watching NBC's "Chuck." According to my professional scientific survey, my wife may be another in a small stream of people looking to back away from the four-year old critical (but not with the overall public) favorite NBC show. Her change has to do with a specific branded food product being snarfed down by a character -- while being held hostage -- on a recent episode of the spoofy spy dramedy. Watching an episode with her, I heard an audible groan from the other end of the couch when a Subway sandwich was mentioned and shown. "That's the second time this has happened recently," she said, meaning the second time in as many episodes she witnessed some product placement not to her liking. The first time, main character Chuck was playing around with all the features of a Toyota minivan. My wife said this interfered with the action of the storyline as well as her "interaction" and interest in the show. I'm guessing that you branded entertainment professionals would call this kind of placement inorganic. I know what you are going to tell me -- all the research on branded entertainment has shown few, if any, people abandon a show because of product placement. Good news, Subway executives: My wife is more pissed with the show's producers than with your fine line of chipotle-laced food products. More good news: We do remember Subway's name in all of this, thus you can keep you nice, high "awareness" numbers intact. But we probably have little-to-no "intent" to run out and buy your sandwich. That may still be enough for you, Subway. You probably spent $300,000 or so for this mention and visual in "Chuck" -- probably more if it was part of a bigger Subway buy with the network. Ex-NBCer Ben Silverman notes that Subway's marketing efforts "saved" Chuck from cancellation earlier in the show's run. So I guess we should thank you -- up to a point. So what are we left with? One pissed-off woman, her husband looking to appease her anger, and, if you have been counting, five free marketing mentions in this article for "Chuck" and seven for Subway. Also free of charge -- the grousing message and subtle advice. <
Well, I don't know about you, but my brackets are about as successful as a serialized drama these days. I was interested at first, but once I started missing things, I never went back. But since I can't totally ignore March Madness, due to its ever-present availability -- with every game to be seen on CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV -- I decided that I needed to embrace the platform and see how it could be adapted to other regular broadcasting. Outside of perhaps Butler, truTV has had the most upside from the tournament than anyone. Its shared coverage of games has been the biggest ratings draw in the network's history. That got me thinking: What other networks could benefit from a similar content partnership? Granted, there's only one NCAA Tournament -- nothing else could come close to delivering those sort of audiences without the name "NFL" stamped on it -- but what if we extended the idea to successful regular shows that might have an extended interest beyond their regular broadcast? Maybe enterprising networks might like to extend their content brand, and allow for more viewers to find and sample some of their smaller cable network cousins. Heck, they don't even have to be related by content! Nat Geo - "Idol Threats": The castoffs from "American Idol" are seen "giving it their all," post-Idol. Are they singing in nightclubs? Playing videogames in their mom's basement? Stalking Randy Jackson? Let's find out about our never-favorites! A&E - "Drinking With the Stars": It's "Intervention" -- in reverse! Follow the exploits of "real people" who try to develop and keep up with the addictions and self-destructive behavior of some of their favorite celebrities. Just wait for the All-Star "Winning" edition, coming in season 2 ½. Speed - "Library": For those who find the exploits of those "Glee" kids to be just a little fast and loose, catch up on that other, tenser group of high school nerds: the librarian's assistants! Let's all keep it quiet, now. There are viewers trying to study! AMC - "Impressions": AMC bucks the trend and keeps this brand extension in-house. Ad agencies of the 1960s give way to media agencies of the 1990s, as young media planners try to make sense of their brave new online world, and almost 100 channels of television! Be sure not to miss the season finale "Upfront Party" episode. It's sure to be so messy, you'll never stop talking about it. Discovery - "Overpaid Employee": Now that the boss has gone to work, let's see how an "ordinary Joe" does trying to "blend in" with other C-Suite employers, suffering through those grueling rounds of golf under brutal country-club conditions, flying private jets to meet with investors, and eating red meat. Stay tuned through the "reveal" episode, when the CEO realizes his private collection of antique cars has been driven. And, of course, NBC - "Real Househusbands of...": Basically, it's gonna be "Cheers" without the laughs. These guys just need a strong bar stool and a strong drink to avoid facing their latest off-screen emasculation.
Consumers love to grouse about bad experiences when it comes to products and services. But if you were to include all big-name consumer brands when taking a poll for the worst company in America, wouldn't you include those brands consumers still spend the most time with for their evening entertainment? For the last six years Consumer Union's Consumerist.com, which takes on all consumers issues big and small, has run its Worst Company in America tournament, with consumers voting online. Last year Comcast was the big "winner." Comcast is on the list again this year, the same Comcast that became the official majority owner of NBC Universal a couple of months ago. But we know what's going on here. Consumerist is taking on the company for those legendary cable customer service issues that have been comedy fodder for late night comedians and others. Other programming retailers -- Time Warner, Charter Communications, DirecTV, Dish Network -- are listed as potential "worst" companies, as well as hybrid phone/video programming brands AT&T and Verizon. But not one TV network? Is that really fair? Are we all happy with the 'consumer' service and experience of Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC, as well as some cable networks. All are highly known consumer brands. Perhaps Consumerist feels other polls and surveys take care of consumers' appreciation or disappointment with those brands - namely, The Nielsen Company's TV ratings. Still, national advertisers would tell you that Nielsen ratings aren't the whole story -- there are intangibles, and "engagement" with TV brands is equally important, if not more so. Of course, it may not be "Fox" or "NBC" or "ABC" that consumers have trouble with. It may be "Running Wilde," "The Event" or "Detroit 1-8-7." Consumerist.com's competition has 32 companies competing in a series of rounds where consumers vote for the worst companies. To be fair, Consumerist has been somewhat fun and sarcastic in its missives about the "tournament." The prize for the worst company is the "Golden Poo" award. In the early rounds, similar companies get pitted against each other -- Bank of America vs. Citibank, United Airlines/Continental vs. Delta, Apple vs. Microsoft. Some rounds have already been completed: DirecTV "won" against Dish Network, 57% to 42%. Time Warner beat Facebook, 53% to 47%. Coming later will be Comcast against Charter Communications. Comcast has reportedly been aggressive in its efforts not to repeat as "champs", asking its employees to vote for Charter to win the contest. Some have taken Comcast to task for these efforts to stuff the ballot box, so to speak. I say phooey. If the broadcast networks were battling against each other, they would use much bigger --- and more entertaining marketing efforts -- to take out the competition. Don't believe me? As evidence, look at those high-volume, sometimes over-the-top TV promos! Think of trash-talking from the casts of NBC's "30 Rock" vs. CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," or ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" vs. Fox's "House." Poo on you!
Does one name and one brand always equal one "network"? Sounds like a lot for one person to handle. You might have put Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart and Keith Olbermann into this field -- considering recent TV business moves. Now there's the possibility of Glenn Beck headed into the same area with talk about him fronting his own "network." Really? What kind of network? A full-fledged cable network? Oh, you mean an Internet network! That's something different -- for now, anyway. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Some of these brands/personalities are on vastly different levels -- especially Oprah Winfrey. Even her recently launched effort might be a tough chore. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network started up three months ago and the jury is still well out -- so far out that is members are probably playing a round of golf right now. A year ago Martha Stewart moved into this area -- partially -- with Hallmark Channel. In a recent earnings call, Hallmark noted some instant uplift because of the addition of Stewart and a block of daytime shows. But Hallmark didn't give away the whole store -- er, network -- when Stewart came calling. That was a prudent approach. TV news pundit/observer Keith Olbermann looks to put his own stamp on stuff with his forthcoming move to the still-fledging channel Current. This will be at a different scale as well, as Current isn't destined to be a competitor with the likes of Fox News, CNN or Olbermann's former residence MSNBC. Now Fox News' Beck might be looking for similar pastures when his contract ends this December. To get a better sense of the field, you might look at the raw numbers for any proposed personality-driven network. At best Beck pulls in around 1 million average viewers a night on Fox News. Olbermann was at a lesser level on MSNBC. Stewart's last numbers in broadcast syndication may have been a bit better than either Beck's or Olbermann's -- perhaps in the 2 million viewer range. Of course, Winfrey has been on a whole another level. Currently her syndicated show gets around 7 million viewers -- and the ratings had been even higher years ago. She also pulls in other consumers through outlets like her magazine. We know the drill: micro-niche networks -- on broadband or traditional cable -- need advertisers paying hefty premium CPMs (cost per thousands) for success. If that model doesn't work, it only make senses that some would choose to have real fervent fans pay directly for their content. Beck could go more in this direction -- like Howard Stern has done with satellite radio. Future personality- driven branded-networks -- whether digitally distributed on traditional cable or broadband -- seem destined for smaller, but more valuable, platforms. There's nothing wrong with that. You might want to call it a "network" -- which brings up many grandiose associations. Right now, though, that word has many meanings.