Regional sports networks carrying NBA games would likely be forced to sacrifice some of the huge affiliate fees that drive their businesses if the NBA lockout causes lost games this season. The Madison Square Garden Co., which operates the MSG network carrying New York Knicks games, indicated last week that carriage deals with operators have clauses that kick in when a labor impasse wreaks havoc. "Every affiliate agreement is different, and they all have provisions that usually deal with this," said Mike Bair, who leads MSG Media. "So as the time comes along, we'll deal with each individual affiliate, based on what those provisions require us to do. But I think right now we are not going to speculate this early in the game." Bair's comments came via a transcript of an MSG company conference call Friday. The MSG network is scheduled to carry 72 regular-season Knicks games this coming season and is hoping for higher ratings, since it will be the first full season with NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony. The network also carries New York Rangers games. The NBA is in the middle of a player lockout and trying to negotiate a new labor deal to prevent lost games starting this fall. An NBA lockout would hurt programmers such as Comcast and Fox, which operate a run of local sports outlets. The networks would also lose ad revenue with lockouts, although MSG indicated that its hockey games and classic Knicks games should help offset some of that. In a sign of how lucrative regional sports networks can be, Time Warner Cable is establishing a network next year solely because it landed a 20-year deal to carry Los Angeles Lakers games.
Despite its struggles to gain traction in the U.S., Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the company would launch a version of its Google TV streaming product in the UK in early 2012. The company launched the U.S. version last year, but sales of the devices have remained sluggish. Key U.S. broadcasters, like CBS, ABC and NBC have blocked programming access by the Google boxes. Google's effort in the U.S. has not been helped by critics either -- like The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who panned the device last year as "a geek product, not a mainstream, easy solution ready for average users. It's too complicated, and some of its functions fall short." But Schmidt said the company is taking steps to ensure that Google TV gets off to a better start in the UK. Among other things, it has recently teamed up with Kantar to create a single-source research panel to measure Web and TV habits to better understand cross-platform video consumption. Schmidt made the Google TV announcement this past weekend at the Edinburgh TV Festival, where he was also the keynote speaker. He had plenty to say about what the UK media business was doing right and where it has fallen short. While complimenting channels like Sky Television and ITV as "formidable" players making necessary adjustments in the digital era, Schmidt added that many of the nation's approaches to entrepreneurship, regulation -- even education -- were holding its media industries back. "Your track record isn't so great!" he exclaimed. "The UK is the home of so many media-related inventions. You invented photography. You invented TV. You invented computers in both concept and practice. Yet today, none of the world's leading exponents in these fields are from the UK." Part of the problem, he submitted, was a lack of emphasis on the sciences in the UK educational system. "There's been a drift to the humanities -- engineering and science aren't championed," he said. "I was flabbergasted to learn that today, computer science isn't even taught as standard in UK schools. Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it's made. That is just throwing away your great computing heritage." Schmidt noted a recent plan in the U.S. to train an additional 10,000 engineers a year. "If the UK's creative businesses want to thrive in the digital future, you need people who understand all facets of it -- integrated from the very beginning," Schmidt said. "Bring engineers into your company at all levels, including the top." While acknowledging that Google was the subject of antitrust investigations in both the U.S. and Europe, Schmidt suggested UK media regulation was stifling innovation. "Overall, British Television is subject to far more stringent regulation than its counterpart in the U.S. This means less flexibility and scope for UK companies seeking to compete on the global stage." He contended that it is "no exaggeration to say decisions made in the next year will determine the long-term health of your broadcasting and content industries for decades to come. If economic growth is the priority of the Government, your regulators need to be cautious when making new laws in this space, or risk stifling the growth of your content businesses." The television business, he said, "is going global and transforming in form. This new era, where innovation and speed are paramount, has parallels to the Internet. To compete on the world stage, your content businesses need the freedom and legal framework to behave more like Internet companies." He said regulators should focus on "how do we protect the space needed for innovation. Again, listen to the entrepreneurs, not the lawyers, if you want innovation to thrive." Of course, Schmidt did not suggest a regulation-free environment for the industry, and he did not mention Google's $500-million settlement last week stemming from ads the company permitted on its site by Canadian pharmacies allegedly selling prescription drugs illegally.
With the U.S. Hispanic population growing, Spanish-language news media has fared better than its mainstream (English-language) counterparts, according to Pew Research Center. This continues to be the case despite the number of Hispanics born in the U.S., who are more likely to be bilingual or primarily English speakers. Some of the biggest success stories in Spanish-language news media come from TV, where Univision now rivals ABC, CBS and NBC in terms of audience size. It even recently launched a 24-hour Spanish-language news station. According to figures cited by Pew, total Spanish-language TV ad spending increased 10.7% in 2010 -- or double the growth rate for network TV in general -- due in part to the FIFA World Cup ad bonanza. Overall, the 2010-2011 Spanish-language TV season is expected to bring in $1.5 billion in ad revenue, with Univision and its TeleFutura property accounting for $1.1 billion of this. The revenue growth reflects audience growth, with Univision's 18-49 prime-time audience growing 8% to 1.9 million in 2010-2011 -- compared to percentage declines in the same demo at ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. No surprise -- the Internet is the next big growth area for Spanish-language news media -- but it still faces some important barriers. Hispanics are still less connected to the Internet than the general population. Roughly 65% of Hispanic adults went online in 2010, compared to 77% for white adults -- while just 45% of Hispanic households had broadband access last year, compared to 65% of white households. By the same token, these numbers are increasing steadily from year to year, and all the major Spanish-language news sites are seeing increased traffic as a result. Internet usage among Spanish-language-dominant Hispanics increased from 36% in 2009 to 47% in 2010. Univision Communications Web sites attracted 3.34 million unique visitors in May 2011, followed by Yahoo en Espanol with 1.92 million, Terra-Telefonica with 1.9 million, and MSN Latino, with 1.7 million. In radio, the number of Spanish-language radio stations increased 8% from 1,224 in fall 2008 to 1,323 in fall 2009 -- the most recent count available -- although most of these are not news-talk format. Once again, Univision continues to be the major player, with 70 stations around the country attracting roughly 21.7 million listeners in any given week. Although Spanish-language radio revenues have suffered from a tough advertising environment, their audience growth is a positive long-term trend. Pew also noted that Spanish-language broadcasters have mostly agreed to begin encoding their audio signals for measurement by Arbitron's Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device. While Univision is still holding out on actually subscribing to PPM outside of Houston, the simple fact that they now have comparable data could make them more competitive with mainstream radio in the long run. Spanish-language magazines apparently fared better than English titles in terms of advertising revenue, according to Kantar Media, which has total ad spending here increasing 5.5% -- compared to 2.9% for the consumer magazine industry overall. However, the picture here is less rosy, as Spanish-language print media suffers from the same trends affecting mainstream print. Another research outfit, Media Economics Group, estimated ad revenues grew 3.9% to $178.8 million -- but also noted that total ad pages dropped 4.7% in 2010, a sign that Spanish-language media is not immune to broader secular trends. Still, it's worth noting that the largest U.S. Spanish-language magazine, People en Espanol, saw total ad pages increase 3.2% from 702 in 2009 to 724 in 2010. The story was also less positive in Spanish-language newspapers. The total number of Spanish-language newspapers published in the U.S. dipped slightly, from 835 in 2009 to 832 in 2010. On the other hand, total audited daily circulation (among the minority of titles which pay for third-party auditing) grew 1.9% to 1.02 million -- compared to another decrease in overall circulation for the newspaper marketplace at large, according to separate figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, including a 5% decline in English-language dailies. But it wasn't all good news on the circulation front: total circulation at Spanish-language weeklies slipped 2.5% to 1.08 million. Meanwhile, ad revenue for Spanish-language newspapers overall crept up 2% in 2010, according to Kantar Media -- although another organization, Latino Print Network, calculated a 5.6% drop. Either figure is favorable next to a total print advertising decline of 8.2% for the industry at large, per the Newspaper Association of America.
In a sign of broadcasters continuing to experiment with multicast channels, the NBC station in Philadelphia, WCAU, will offer a package of football games this year that would have been unlikely without such real estate. The NBC-owned station, known as NBC 10, will carry ACC conference football games on Saturdays that involve schools with no regional connection. Offering a further twist, the games will air on the station's news and lifestyle multicast outlet, NBC Philadelphia Nonstop, the city's only local 24-hour news and lifestyle channel. The nearest ACC school to Philadelphia is the University of Maryland, and games will include teams from Virginia, Massachusetts and North Carolina. Some ACC basketball games could follow in the winter. The games come via a syndication deal with Raycom and the ACC, which sub-licenses them from ESPN. With the chance to expand its reach outside an ACC footprint under a new deal, Raycom and the ACC say they have added 25 new markets for the 13 Saturday games. Within the ACC territory, the gridiron games will be streamed online on the ACC's Web site, as well as via a mobile app. Outside, ESPN3.com will stream them. Also under its new deal with ESPN, Raycom and the ACC will syndicate ACC games on some Fox regional cable networks.
New cross-channel media initiatives are getting complicated. Take the latest social media push from the New York Giants, in partnership with Mass Relevance, covering social media, digital out-of-home video, broadcast TV and experiential marketing. Among other things, the football franchise will now begin integrating fan tweets on its "jumbotron"-style video boards, as well as other digital displays throughout the stadium, including LED video pylons by the entrances, "ribbon" LED displays between stadium levels and 2,200 flat screen TVs located around the venue. For fans watching at homes, the Giants will incorporate Twitter into TV broadcasts for the last two preseason games of the year. The team claims it will be the first to introduce live, real-time Twitter updates into its regular broadcast TV coverage. Mass Relevance is responsible for aggregating, curating and delivering Tweets to stadium displays, TV broadcasts and Giants.com. New Twitter-enabled features and events include online voting for the most important player of each game. Fans can then get discounts on the winning player's associated merchandise at the Giants' online store. "With over 6.4 million fans in the tri-state area and one of the largest national fan bases in the NFL," Giants chief marketing officer Mike Stevens explained "we have the advantage of playing in an incredible state-of-the-art stadium that lets us do some amazing things to share content to fans in the seats, as well as our viewers at home." Football isn't the only sport trying to leverage social media to build fan engagement. Back in March, the Cleveland Indians unveiled a new "social media suite" at Progressive Field, where the biggest social-media users can congregate to watch games together from a privileged position. The Indians are also using MLB.com's At Bat 11 app to enable fans to check in at the stadium, making them eligible for discounts, promotions, and other special offers. The Indians are also introducing a new group-buying social media ticket offer: Fans can share the special ticket offer with other fans through Facebook and Twitter, getting a better discount as more people sign up. ESPN recently ranked the Cleveland Indians among "MLB's most Twitter-friendly teams."
To all you advertisers, marketers and media buyers out there -- Have you ever considered the fact that at least a portion of your audience hates you?OK, maybe they don't hate you. But you sure do annoy the heck out of them? At least the 75% that aren't the right audience to begin with. After all, you interrupt their favorite programs with ads they don't want to watch, for products they don't intend to buy. They're not customers; they're freeloaders. They get their favorite shows for free ,while you fund those shows for them with your ad dollars. And they're ruining your advertising ROI. So why not get rid of the freeloaders and replace them with customers? After all, whether your audience wants to admit it, you are paying good money to entertain them. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Just like Google users put up with display ads, NPR listeners tolerate fundraising drives, and magazine readers deal with those annoying little postcards, television audiences have always had to suffer through commercial breaks or make quick pit stops at the fridge. Since the beginning of television, this has been an unwritten understanding between programmers, advertisers, and viewers: One plays, one pays, one stays. But these days, audiences no longer have to stay. They can skip commercials without even leaving the couch. They can watch online with lighter commercial loads, if any. They can even pay directly for content, cutting you out of the mix altogether. (Another Steve Jobs legacy: There are few if any freeloaders in Apple's world; every customer gets what he/she pays for.)Even so, television remains the most powerful marketing medium around. Data from eMarketer shows TV ad spending keeping pace with online. And even though TV is projected to stay flat over the next four years while Internet grows by 40% (as a percentage of overall marketing spend, that is), TV ad revenues will still be 50% greater than Internet ad revenues in 2015. As Sam Gustin wrote in Wired a few months ago, "Advertisers know they can still reach millions of people...who flock to such programming as "Jersey Shore," "Glee" and "Gossip Girl."A Microsoft/BBDO joint report cited by Bloomberg News chalked television's unmatched marketing resonance up to the fact that "its audience is receptive and waiting to be entertained." But TV advertising -- any advertising, in fact -- only works when it reaches the right audiences. And remember that demographics don't buy products, consumers do. So you need to make sure that the programming you pay for is going to entertain viewers who are interested in purchasing your product. And that means minimizing freeloaders. So don't cut your ad budgets, cut the waste out of them.Let's face it: Freeloaders aren't going away. Not unless you change where you advertise by honing your media strategy. The data's there -- set-top-box data, household-purchase info, demographic data -- but it's up to you to use it. And you don't have to necessarily buy the long tail in order to get the last 20 points of reach. Use the solution that gives you the reach you want -- at the price you want -- against your own current ROI-driving purchaser segments.Replace the freeloaders in your audience with customers who are interested in your product, and who buy your product (or your competitor's product, if you're feeling feisty). It's only sensible, and it's only efficient. Your ROI will thank you.
TV Networks are loathe to talk up one new show over another. But TV marketers do need to focus on particular concerns to shore up problem areas. Through an informal, very nonscientific survey, I'm guessing NBC is working pretty hard to let people know about "Whitney," the half-hour comedy from comedian Whitney Cummings. Evidence here comes from plenty of outdoor advertising -- always a costly media effort. If that isn't enough, consider NBC is offering the first episode of "Whitney" via video-on-demand, a week before it debuts on NBC on Sept. 22. The marketing push comes from a central theme: That couples living together, with no intention of getting married, can be a good thing. One theme pushed by NBC says: "Happily Unmarried." And then there is all the ordinary relationship stuff to consider. Bus shelter advertising includes simple white background with Cummings in the foreground and her on-air boyfriend in the background. All slugged with specific relationship thoughts and theories, such as: "Half of all marriages end... in sweatpants." Another display ad says: "Always a Trophy. Never a Wife." Still another reads: "Women are emotional ninjas. 'I'm fine' means I'm going to stab you in the neck." Then there's the TV promo: "I don't understand women who used the silent treatment," says Cummings, in a specially produced TV spot. "You want to make him miserable. Keep talking. Talk about your emotions. Tell him you think you look fat. [Talk about] your period." It ends with this message: "Punishment delivered." My response is: Ah, now that'll grab the men! And to make matters worse: This promo ran during a very male-target sporting event: The USA Cycling Challenge on Versus. My wife says this is perfect media placement: "It makes sense to me. Cyclists are use to punishing themselves!" No doubt the ad is also running on a number of other NBC Universal networks: Female-heavy USA Network original dramas, as well as women-targeted networks Bravo and Oxygen. Women viewers hearing messages about punishing men? Perfect. Then again, all this reverse psychology might work. Using the attractive and funny Cummings could be setting smart traps set for men. They might think: "Poor schlub. He looks miserable. Maybe my life isn't that bad!" It's set up for a few good laughs. But maybe not as much yucks as with mixed martial arts fighting or Nascar crashes.
When a former executive with New York City's Office of Emergency Management was interviewed about Hurricane Irene, his big concern was the famed stubbornness of New Yorkers. They just don't take direction, he bemoaned. He's right. I live a block from the Hudson River, categorized as Zone A, an evacuation area. But like the rest of my co-op, I'm going down with the iPad. Evacuate? I'll take Manhattan, forget the Bronx and Staten. I made the requisite water, batteries and Twizzlers run. Of course, Saturday afternoon, I wondered what to do about the windows. D-Day is not the best time to discover one should have visited Mr. Hardware. Instead, I relied on the TV experts -- glued to New York 1, the local cable channel, and The Weather Channel. And in between useful and strangely addictive information -- what to pack in your Go Bag, key emergency centers, there was some off-kilter remarks. But first, the practical realities. Ever since Katrina's "Heck of a job, Brownie," no politician wants to be caught unprepared. For my money, NYC Mayor Bloomberg inspires muy confidence, ditto New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He positioned himself before the National Guard, stressing state efficiency, while extolling the partnership between government and the public in safeguarding lives. New Jersey Gov. Christie sounded like a disgruntled bouncer -- risk-prone Jersey residents could get out or shut up. For those who may entertain presidential ambitions, cool and competent beats huffing and puffing every time. But in between the technical updates of Hurricane Irene -- which are impressive -- and the ongoing local impact as it traveled up the East Coast, there were some wacky exchanges. On Saturday, in Nags Head, North Carolina, The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel and New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter stood side-by-side, tiny drenched blue specks against a super-windy white background. "He's down here covering how we cover the storm," Seidel shared. Really? Since when did the NYT become "The Daily Show." "What's it like out there?" the comfortably dry in-studio anchor asked. Stelter likened the experience to a "tilt-a-whirl," admitting: "It's a littler harder to stay on the air than I thought." Not to be outdone, Seidel added: "We don't get sand pay, buddy." In review lingo, we call that "plucky." A day earlier, another Weather Channel correspondent stood in the high reeds alongside the N.C. coast, sounding slightly disappointed that the promised devastation had yet to hit. He'll feel differently when the wind blows his lips off. In New York, TWC's Jim Cantore, who easily wins The Most Buffed Reporter Ever award, flexed in front of the Atlantic Ocean, as he relayed the possible dire consequences on Lower Manhattan. Highly animated, Big J noted: "We may be shut down for weather! Wow!" By Sunday, flooding hit the Northeast and an estimated 4 million nationwide were without power. People from North Carolina to Vermont were slammed by Irene's destructive power. I respect the correspondents who brave the elements to report the news. It's clearly dangerous work, and reporters can be forgiven the repetition and sheer fatigue. The networks do a terrific job of bringing viewers critical information. In a crisis, TV is still the best medium.