Zoom Media and Marketing, one of the largest operators of digital, place-based media networks, this morning named Judy Kenny president of sales and marketing. She assumes some of the duties of Dennis Roche, who resigned as president-COO of Zoom, and is no longer with the organization. The shakeup occurs just as the digital, place-based media industry is set to convene in New York today for an annual conference hosted by the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA). Kenny, who most recently was responsible for sales, marketing and research strategies as News Corp.’s 20th Television unit, will be based in Zoom’s New York offices, and will lead all of the organization’s U.S. and U.K. sales, marketing and research. Prior to News Corp., Kenny had been a key executive in Univision’s sales organization, and before that, in the ABC Television Network’s sales group. She began her career at Omnicom’s BBDO, where her last position was vice president-associate media director.
Although it declined in ratings from its crazy heights in its initial episodes, CBS' "Two and A Half Men" continues to lead all comers on Monday night by a wide margin. Versus the week before, the show fell over 10% to a Nielsen preliminary 5.2 rating/13 share among 18-49 viewers. This and CBS' other comedies gave the network another easy win on Monday, with an average 4.0/10 -- a full point over ABC's 3.0/8 and Fox's 2.9/7. NBC was well behind with a 1.3/3. These numbers were virtually the same versus a week ago: CBS was at a 3.9/9; ABC, a 2.9/7; Fox, a 2.7/7, and NBC a 1.2/3. CBS "How I Met Your Mother" was up a tenth of a rating point to a 4.1/12, while "2 Broke Girls" was virtually the same at a 4.3/11, as was "Mike & Molly" at 3.9/9. Fox had some improvement -- thanks to the absence of the baseball playoff disruptions. At 8 p.m., its new "Terra Nova" grew almost 10% to a 2.7/7, while "House" at 9 p.m. gained more, risiing to a 3.1/7. ABC also gained. "Dancing with the Stars" between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. was up almost 10% to a 3.2/8; with "Castle" at 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. gaining more than 20% -- recovering from its series low -- to a 2.6/7. NBC's "The Sing Off" was up a bit to a 1.6/4 at 8 p.m., with a repeat of "Prime Suspect" at a 0.8/2. CW's "Gossip Girl" and "Hart of Dixie" combined for a 11% gain in key women 18-34 viewers, and a 14% improvement among all adult 18-34 viewers. Univision grew one-tenth of a rating point on Monday among 18-49 viewers to a 1.5/4 from the week before.
State Farm’s heavy involvement with Hispanic-targeted programming at NBCUniversal is set to continue with a presenting sponsorship of the “2011 Billboard Mexican Music Awards” on Telemundo later this month. Last month, it had a top-line role backing the Alma Awards, which honor Latino entertainers and aired on NBC. State Farm was the first marketer to ink a deal with NBCUniversal’s cross-platform sales unit aimed at delivering multiple touchpoints with Hispanic audiences. In September, State Farm Advertising Director Ed Gold said more than 20% of the company’s marketing dollars are used to reach Hispanics, which he described as “over-indexing” since the audience is such a crucial one. For the coming “Mexican Music Awards” on Telemundo, State Farm sponsored a dance contest last week, where winners will attend the Oct. 27 event. It will also have a presence on digital and VOD content. The awards are a spinoff of Telemundo’s “Billboard Latin Music Awards” show, for which State Farm has been a presenting sponsor for three years running. Sprint, Volkswagen, Pepsi and T-Mobile are also sponsors of the coming awards. Competitors Sprint and T-Mobile also backed the “Latin Music Awards.”
Barely a day goes by when there isn’t some news about electronic tablets. In the last couple of weeks we’ve seen: the launch of Amazon’s Kindle Fire; speculation about a next-generation iPad; rumors about the demise of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook; a patent dispute between Apple and Samsung over Samsung’s Galaxy Tab; a fire sale for the HP TouchPad; and scores of announcements regarding app deals. And of course the death of Steve Jobs was a reminder that the creation of the whole tablet category was Jobs’ last great triumph. Tablets threaten to supplant a number of technologies, such as notebooks, music players and DVDs, while providing new platforms for newspapers, magazines and books. But what about over-the-air video? Tablets offer a new outlet for movies and the product previously known as “television.” Is this a good thing for the TV industry? A year ago, I’d have scoffed at the idea that tablets would have any impact at all on television but now I’m not so sure. Back then the iPad was an expensive toy for early adapters and technology geeks, and video was hardly its most important attraction. But with prices dropping and new devices coming on the market, tablets have penetrated into the consumer mainstream and video has become a central functionality. Of course we are still at the very nascent stages of tablet development. Only 5% to 8% of households even have a tablet today, and total video use is tiny. To understand the relative impact, look at Nielsen’s Cross Platform Report. According to Nielsen, every week the average American watches 35 ½ hours of traditional television, 33 minutes of Internet video, and just 7 minutes of mobile video. And even within that tiny bit of mobile viewing, most of it is on smartphones, not on tablets. Still, because of the way that people watch television, I think the tablet is more likely than the computer to challenge traditional television over the long term. TV is the ultimate lean-back experience. You watch while sitting in a comfortable chair or lying on a couch. By contrast, the computer is a lean-forward activity, where you watch at a desk or table. It’s not relaxing. A tablet is someplace in between. Because it’s so mobile ,you can watch it anywhere -- in a comfortable chair, on the couch or in bed. In other words, the tablet could theoretically become another television screen. Instead of getting a second or third TV and set-top box, a family could buy a tablet and move it between the kids room and kitchen, bring it on a trip, or watch it while killing time outside the home. We could be approaching the coach potato’s Nirvana: all TV, all the time. The question is how long it might take for tablets to have a real impact on total TV viewing. A lot might depend on tablet sales during this year’s Christmas season and how quickly consumers can adopt the tablet habit once they are owners. The real hang-up is content. Until recently, there just hasn’t been that much real television programming to watch on a tablet, but that may soon no longer be the case. To that end, the WatchESPN app has the potential to be a game-changer. Through this app, eligible cable subscribers can log in to watch live ESPN programming from all its brand channels, including the flagship ESPN channel. There is an important segment of the population for whom sports is the prime reason for watching television, and if this group can be trained to watch sports on a tablet, the industry could begin to see serious mobile viewing. ESPN is not the only network to have programming for tablets. Most of the major networks offer apps for episodes of some shows, especially Turner, which has been a leader in entertainment and news. TBS has a very aggressive, very funny ad campaign for its own TV Everywhere app, while CNN is offering live streaming for authenticated users. Then, too, the MSOs are beginning to roll out apps that allow subscribers to stream programming at home. ESPN and Turner probably don’t expect to make a profit on their apps for some time, but as two of the most forward-looking networks, they seems to be trying to get ahead of the curve on all screens, even if there is no immediate return. They also set up a test case on competing business models, since ESPN sells separate ads for its streaming service and Turner’s app has the same ads that are shown on regular television. Whether a critical mass of networks will follow suit might depend on Nielsen. The lack of regular TV ratings for Internet viewing was the reason many networks gave for not offering television programming online -- at least until Nielsen launched its Extended Screen program. We hear similar murmurings now. Content providers don’t want to make too much programming available on tablets until they know it can be measured in the ratings. Nielsen says it can move relatively quickly to introduce tablet-based ratings. It needs to finalize its technological solution for measuring the closed-system Apple iOS devices, achieve an industry consensus on how to count the viewing, and figure out internally how to report the data. Still, if Nielsen were to provide a measurement solution for tablet viewing, it could open the floodgates for more mobile apps, which could, in turn, give more viewers a reason to finally break down and buy that device. Maybe the day is really coming when there will be a tablet in every briefcase, pocketbook and backpack.
Now you might define profitability for a TV network by what kind of deal you make with the likes of Netflix. For CW -- and its co-owners, CBS and Warner Bros -- a long-term deal, possibly a billion dollars, with Netflix for the streaming rights to its primetime shows will put the network in the black, according to Les Moonves, president/CEO of CBS Corp. Looking closely, CW wasn't profitable from its traditional TV advertising revenue of its shows on its airwaves -- and/or from the incremental dollars it gets from Internet advertising for its programs. The CW deals show what a lot of analysts already knew: That CW is a different kind of network, mostly defined by the ownership of its shows -- virtually all coming from its owners, CBS or Warner Bros. Now, take this idea further, at least according to the Los Angeles Times. The deal is predicated on how well CW shows perform on the CW network, in terms of ratings. For example, instead of the $600,000 or so an episode Netflix will be paying for "Gossip Girl," it will initially "pay much less for newer or lower-rated CW programs." Nothing wrong with this -- everyone needs to be accountable in this TV environment. All this seems to push broadcast networks into a greater emphasis as a TV marketing vehicle to tout its programming for the next distribution cycle. "It essentially makes the CW a profitable enterprise," Moonves has said. Hmm... no "network" word in that sentence. CBS has always made it a point of holding out for the biggest bang for its programming buck and, right now anyway, still doesn't believe free-to-consumer, advertising-supported sites like Hulu work to maximize programming profits. Deals with Netflix look to carve out another valuable TV after-market, which typically run shows well after an original TV network debut: the U.S. syndication market on TV stations and/or cable networks, as well as growing international TV deals. Who might be next for a similar ratings-focused deal in the future? Taking its connection with Hulu away for the moment, the NBC network might be an obvious candidate -- should it not right its ship. All this depends on where NBC Universal's majority owner, Comcast, determines what should be factored in when it comes to NBC's future profitability.