In a move that could significantly impact the way advertisers, agencies and media companies traffic the data associated with advertising and media buys, Madison Avenue’s top trade associations this morning unveiled the first phase of a push to embed such information directly into the ads themselves. The initiative, dubbed the Embedded Metadata Manifesto, is based on the idea that such data -- including ways of identifying an ad or different versions of it, and when, where, and how it should run in the media -- can be permanently affixed to ads, which would do away with much of the manual labor and processing associated with trafficking ads. The push, which is being backed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers, represents a significant breakthrough in the workflow and processing associated with advertising and media buying, because it would remove much of the need to physically “key in” data as ads are produced and distributed, reducing the likelihood that mistakes will be made along the way. For years, Madison Avenue has sought to develop better ways of reducing such errors, especially in the media-buying process, where so-called “discrepancies” -- mistakes made in where and how an ad should run in the media -- cost the industry billions of dollars in time, labor and media waste. Such discrepancies impact all media, even inherently digital ones like online, because many of the ordering and traffic instructions are still processed manually via faxes, or retyped into computers by people who make mistakes. The initiative also promises to greatly improve the production process of ads by embedding instructions for editing and post-production processes directly into the advertising content while it is being created. The effort is an outgrowth of an earlier initiative by the 4As and the ANA to develop a universal, digital coding system for identifying ads and advertising assets throughout their process. That code, dubbed AdID, is now being used by 700 of the 1,800 national advertisers that the trade groups estimate effectively represent the national advertising marketplace, according to Harold Geller, the 4As executive who is leading the initiative. With that “unique identifier” in place, Geller says it is now easy for the ad industry to move to the next phase of tagging it with all the critical metadata associated with the ad and its media buys, and affixing it directly to the ad itself. While not all advertising is digital, Geller says virtually all advertising -- even analogue media such as magazines and newspapers -- are now created via a digital process, such as a PDF file, that is turned into print. Geller says the industry’s next phase will be to establish standard formats for each medium to carry the metadata, and that the first one -- for all forms of video advertising (both TV and online) -- has already been agreed upon in principle, and will be rolled out early next year. Once the standard video advertising format is established, he says the industry will begin to focus on print, radio and other media. Importantly, he says embedding metadata into ads doesn’t just have industrial benefits, but can also significantly impact the way consumers are exposed to and experience ads as well, because “end-user” instructions can also be attached to the advertising content that could trigger interactive experiences or applications related to the ads. Geller says at least “two more” big announcements related to this initiative will be unveiled during 2012, and that his “conservative” estimate is that it will take “18 to 24 months” before the new video advertising format reaches “critical mass” in the industry.
Digital media consumption is rising, yet more research shows that traditional TV usage continues to grow.According to eMarketer, in 2011, the average adult consumer is spending 10 more minutes each day watching television. Now at 4 hours and 34 minutes each day, this includes live TV, recorded TV or DVD.Digital media consumption has grown as well. Internet usage is now up 7.7% to two hours and 47 minutes -- the next-largest category.Mobile phone usage is sharply up -- 30% to 65 minutes, versus just 44 minutes a day for print magazines and newspapers. Adults are spending less time than last year with radio and print publications.But eMarketer says print and newspapers still command more of the advertising dollars than mobile or other Internet platforms. Next to TV and the Internet, newspapers have the next-biggest share of advertising dollars at 15.0% -- against a share of time usage at 4.0%. Magazines are at 9.7% of advertising dollars, but only 2.8% share of time spent.When it comes to looking at share of time versus share of advertising dollars, television is still the king in both categories, at 42.5% of share of time and 42.2% share of advertising dollars. The Internet is next, at 25.9% time share and 21.9% of advertising share.Radio lands at 64 minutes of daily usage. That comes to a 10.9% advertising share and 14.6% time share. Overall, adults' total time spent with media per day comes to to 11 hours and 33 minutes.Mobile has the biggest disparity in the other direction: 10.9% share of time and 0.9% share of advertising dollars.
CBS Corp. said it has reached a deal to give it a TV station duopoly in the country’s largest market, acquiring the independent WLNY to go with WCBS. WLNY’s call letters are an acronym for “We Love New York.” The station airs syndicated programming in prime time, currently airing repeats of the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Judge Judy” leading into a newscast. Terms were not disclosed for the deal with WLNY Holdings. “Our plans for the station include adding people and resources to fuel a significant expansion of local news programming well beyond the nightly half-hour that currently airs,” stated Peter Dunn, head of the CBS TV station group. From a sales perspective, the property will join not just WCBS-TV, but CBS radio stations and outdoor operations in the market. WLNY, which appears as channel 55 for over-the-air reception, has roots in Long Island. CBS will now have duopolies in 10 markets, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston and Dallas. The network's 28 stations include 16 with CBS programming, eight CW affiliates, two MNT affiliates and two independents.
LIN TV, the ownership group with the CBS station in Indianapolis and a collection of outlets in mid-size markets, has launched a second-generation iPad app. The company debuted an offering on the tablet over a year ago. The new version features an emphasis on video and looks to build upon LIN’s citizen journalism “Report It” technology, allowing users to share news and photos. The app will also offer interactive weather maps and deliver breaking news alerts. The October 2010 incarnation on the iPad was rooted in LIN’s iPhone app and also included a version of “Report It.” Vincent Sandusky, LIN CEO, stated that the new offering is “more convenient for users to access” the company’s local content, and was designed to deliver "a best-in-class user experience and be the preferred local news app in each of our markets.” As it seeks to move further into the digital space, LIN took a majority stake last month in online marketing company Nami Media, with cost-per-click advertising operations. In the recent third quarter, LIN said digital revenues increased 38% to $22.1 million, but that figure includes the growing retrans consent revenue trough. LIN said it has over 43 million unique daily visitors to its Web sites.
Budweiser's Internet/social media marketing/video effort about everyday people pursuing their mostly big professional sports goals is coming to ABC in January. The seven-episode series, "Bud United presents: The Big Time," was part of a marketing campaign for the brewer centered around videos sent in by young adults worldwide looking to fulfill their dreams. They included everything from professional racing to playing on major soccer teams to pitching for a professional baseball team. Casting videos were submitted during the summer via Budweiser's social media sites, where young adults showcased their own stories and passions in areas such as basketball, baseball, soccer, racing, music, acting and cooking. Coaching and mentoring by celebrities and professionals in the series will include racing professionals Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress, soccer star Alex Morgan, baseball coach Tom House and celebrity chef Hubert Keller. In 2010, Budweiser introduced Bud United, the global platform connecting consumers' passion points with the brand. As official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Budweiser started up the effort for soccer through "Bud United: Bud House." All seven shows will air on Saturday, starting Jan. 21, for its international television debut in the United States. Budweiser is working with FreemantleMedia Enterprises to distribute the show globally. "These shows offer a compelling trifecta -- sports, entertainment plus viewer engagement via social media," stated Jason Bernstein, senior director of ESPN programming and acquisitions. "It's a unique blend of content, and we're pleased Budweiser came to us with the opportunity to present it on ABC."
The headlines in the Los Angeles Times and Ad Age are virtually identical this morning: “Lowe's Faces Backlash After Pulling Ads from TLC's 'All-American Muslim,'” reflecting the growing controversy surrounding the No. 2 home-improvement retailer’s widely reported decision that, in the words of a California state senator, many people see as “"bigoted, shameful, and un-American." As Karl Greenberg re-reported in yesterday’s “Around the Net in Brand Marketing,” the Florida Family Association had protested Lowe’s advertising on the show, claiming it is “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." Lowe’s withdrew its advertising while protesting that it did not do so “based solely on the complaints or emails of any one group.” Spokeswoman Karen Cobb said yesterday that Lowe's has a "long-standing commitment" to diversity and pulled the ads only after the show became "a lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives." Cobb tells the LA Times’ Shan Li in an email that other companies had also removed their ads from the show. A spokesperson for the Discovery Network and TLC Network declined to comment on that assertion, emailing, “we stand behind the show … and we're happy the show has strong advertising support." Although the reaction seems to run heavily against Lowe’s decision, it is it by no measure a unanimous sentiment. Sixty-three percent of readers who responded to a Boston Heraldonline poll by early this morning feel “[Lowe’s] should not have bowed to the conservative group’s pressure, with 37% saying, “The chain has a right to remove its brand from such a controversial show -- I’ll still buy my hardware there.” Those who disagree with the decision but still intend to shop at Lowe’s, or who have no opinion on the matter, seem to be disenfranchised, alas. Most communications experts quoted around the net this morning, however, believe Lowe’s bungled badly. “It seems that Lowe’s initial action to pull the ad was done in haste without fully investigating the group who made the request or the potential ramifications,” said Nancy Sterling, a crisis communications expert at Boston’s ML Strategies, tells the Boston Herald’s Donna Goodison. “Now the situation has mushroomed into a much bigger problem for Lowe’s.” The AP’s Mitch Stacy reports that the Florida Family Association, which is not affiliated with the larger American Family Association, “has been fighting for more than two decades against gay rights, strip clubs and most anything else that offends evangelical Christians.” David Caton, a 55-year-old former accountant who founded the group in 1987, denies that it is a “hate group,” as some charge, saying it “defend[s] traditional American biblical values." Lowe’s needs to “stop the bleeding as soon as possible” by saying it made a mistake, Matt Ellis of Ellis Strategies tells Goodison. “Instead of keeping the focus on having a successful holiday sales season, Lowe’s now faces the threat of disappointing shareholders in the short term and ... damage to their brand in the long term.” Russell Simmons, who wears the label “hip-hop mogul” with finesse, went beyond his weekend protest of the move yesterday and tried to put his money where his tweets are: “Just purchased remaining spots for #allamericanmuslim for next week,” he told his million-plus followers @UncleRUSH early in the day. Later, however, the Hollywood Reporter’s Jethro Nededog reports he later tweeted: “Oh now the long term advertisers want their spots. “my office @unirush is fighting to hold spots #allamericanmuslim sold out.” Blogging on Huffington Post, Kari Ansari, a writer and co-founder of America's Muslim Family Magazine, calls the show “quirky” with some “cringe-worthy moments.” Neither she nor her husband “love” the show, but they’re “happy that TLC took the risk to feature these families in prime time on Sunday nights,” she writes. “Sadly, a small group of anti-Islam bigots were able to hoodwink a major American retailer into thinking this innocuous show is some sort of stealth jihad on America,” Ansari writes, and she is heartened by the calls for boycotts by non-Muslims on Lowe’s Facebook page (click the "everyone" view at the top of the page) and Twitter account. “Hooray! My fellow Americans are coming through against bigotry in all its manifestations, even in support of whacky reality shows,” Ansari writes. Most of the posts on the lede Facebook page this morning support Lowe’s decision, but it’s hard to imagine that it will emerge from the decision with more “likes.” Calling its original decision to remove the ads “un-Christian to the max,” Detroit News columnist Laura Berman then takes the company to task for “releasing paragraphs of corporate mumbo-jumbo, pseudo-apologies that fueled the growing uproar.”Once upon a time, before people could talk back instantly, corporate mumbo jumbo was a lot more effective.
Religious pressure groups typically have issues with TV images or words of titillation: too much sex, too much violence, too many anti-conservative values. Now the Florida Family Association claims TLC’s "All-American Muslim" is -- for lack of a better word -- too ordinary. This reality series focuses on five Muslim-American families going about their lives in Dearborn, Mich. The pressure group claims those who practice Islam are promoting a specific "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." The pressure pushed the national Lowe's home improvement chain to pull its advertising because the show was "controversial." We might more easily understand if Lowe's was pressured to pull out because of skimpily dressed, foul-mouthed women or men who didn't live up to specific "values." Instead, a reactionary move occurred. I'm guessing that those who control the company’s media decisions got a bit turned around. There was no controversy about the series content, but about what wasn't there. A key word in the pressure group’s complaint was “hides.” Did the group refer to something I didn't see on TV? I'm guessing a reality series about Al-Qaeda members only doing domestic chores -- washing their clothes, eating breakfast, watching a movie, and nothing else -- would raise some questions. Pressure groups probably also don't like "Jersey Shore." I'm guessing rough content is not hidden there. The Florida Family Association claims more than 60 advertisers -- from Amazon to McDonald’s -- have stopped advertising on “All-American Muslim.” But the group does not have any insider knowledge here. And it obviously doesn't know anything about Media 101: Not all advertisers necessarily buy all episodes of a TV series. Here is part of Lowe's statement: "It appears that we managed to step into a hotly contested debate with strong views from virtually every angle and perspective — social, political and otherwise — and we've managed to make some people very unhappy. We are sincerely sorry. We have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, across our workforce and our customers, and we're proud of that longstanding commitment." Of course, the key words there are “some people.” A national chain such as Lowe's needs to worry about most people, or lots of people. Perhaps some people are pissed that Lowe's also buy into some weekend sports programming. I would be more convinced of the company’s motives if it was leaving the show because it was boring -- namely, that a reality show about American families with a strong religious commitment was dullsville, not worthy of its marketing dollars
As I discussed in last week’s column, despite numerous technological and methodological drawbacks, the idea of using set-top boxes to derive “currency” ratings continues to be popular in the television industry. Specifically I opined that set-top-box measurement would be less accurate on a national level than Nielsen’s National People Meter sample and predicted that set-top boxes would not be used to develop national ratings for a long time, if ever. This week I’m looking at the prospect of using set-top boxes to measure local markets, where the need for a new kind of measurement is more obvious and urgent. Among the 210 local markets that Nielsen measures, only 25 are served by Local People Meters (the same technology that’s used for national ratings). Of the remaining markets, 31are measured by a combination of set meters and diaries, while the remaining 159 are measured by paper diaries alone. For all the problems with set-top-box measurement, even a flawed electronic service would be better than one based on diaries, and local markets are where the measurement services are concentrating their set-top-box efforts. Rentrak has signed a number of local TV stations to its TV Essentials service, while Nielsen successfully completed “proof of concept” tests that showed it could functionally blend set-top-box data with samples in local markets. In other words, it is technologically possible that Nielsen or another service could offer true set-top-box measurement in local markets soon. But there are two major obstacles: industry acceptance and access to data. In terms of industry acceptance, the loudest voices now seem to support set-top-box measurement, lulling outside observers into thinking there is a consensus on the issue. But there are winners and losers whenever there’s a measurement change, and those who feel disadvantaged scream loud and long. Witness the problems Nielsen experienced installing Local People Meters in the largest local markets: it ended up being accused of racism and hauled before Congress twice. More recently, it found itself in a firestorm when it tried to make “live-plus-same-day” ratings the primary local currency. The fractured nature of the local market makes it particularly difficult to effect changes there. In a challenging economic environment, a myriad of station groups, local agencies, and trade associations all jockey for the slightest advantage. And frankly, there’s a lot more short-term thinking at the local level, where the focus is on the next sweeps period and little effort is put into long-term structural changes. The second obstacle to set-top box measurement is access to data. No measurement company -- Nielsen, Rentrak or anyone else -- can roll out a ratings service to all the markets now served by diaries unless they have a national footprint of set-top boxes, enough to cover every single market. And to build a national footprint, they would need to sign almost every major cable and satellite company to get enough usable boxes to cover those markets. Measurement companies have been negotiating for years with the MSOs, satellite companies and telecos to get access to set-top boxes, and after all this time have only reached a few deals. The difficulties that Project Canoe faces shows how hard it is to get the cable companies to work together on anything. But even if all the cable companies did commit to working on a set-top-box service, does Nielsen really want its local measurement business to be completely vulnerable to the evolving business strategies of the MSO? For Nielsen, having access to set-top boxes in all markets would be a matter of life and death, but for the MSOs, licensing set-top boxes to Nielsen would be small potatoes. Once it had Nielsen under its thumb, what would prevent one or more set-top box owners from deciding not to renew a licensing agreement, or ask for considerably more money? Every year it seems there is another retransmission battle between an MSO and a network over content fees. A Nielsen that built its whole local business strategy around using set-top boxes and had to renegotiate deals with no leverage of its own would be constantly at the tender mercies of the set-top box owners. For its part, Nielsen believes that technological advances have given the MSOs an increased ability and incentive to share set-top-box data. Nielsen also believes cable companies won’t pull the plug on access deals since cable networks receive better ratings with electronic measurement. (As someone whose cable company once held the Academy Awards hostage during a retransmission dispute, however, I am skeptical that the MSOs won’t play hardball to get a short-term gain.) Nielsen also says it is developing a lightweight meter that could deployed in a small local sample and used to supplement set-top-box data. This meter will be tested in late 2012. Of course the beauty of this meter is that it could be used as a backup in a market if a MSO did withdraw set-top-box data. Nielsen’s also investigating new kids of diaries to get at demographic data. These include computer and smartphone-based diaries, which would be more user-friendly than paper diaries. Clearly someone needs to develop an electric ratings system for local markets, and it’s encouraging that Nielsen is investigating new technologies. But instead of pursuing set-top-boxes measurement, which relies on the cooperation of the MSOs and satellite companies, I think it would be better to leapfrog ahead to new technologies (including apps) that allow Nielsen to do so independently. Given how long it takes for new measurement ideas to obtain industry acceptance, set-top-box measurement is not around the corner. (It took almost five years for Nielsen to launch its Extended Screen service, which added online program viewing into the national ratings.) The industry and the measurement companies should think creatively about different solutions. Otherwise, they’ll still be using diaries a decade from now.