And the wise men, following their GPS systems, drove their Hondas, Chevrolets, Toyotas, Nissans, Hyundais, BMWs, and Lexae (sic) to Bethlehem. Okay, maybe not, but this is certainly the time of year when a veritable caravan of auto ads rolls across the video desert bearing gifts in the form of year-end deals, incentives, promotions, close-outs, mistletoe and a dab of frankincense for good measure. Ad tracking firm Ace Metrix says there are more than 150 new ads, but the reception from U.S. consumers this quarter to those car-as-gift pitches suggests automakers are way off base. Ace Metrix scores and consumer comments to the firm's surveys show people are almost as enthusiastic about those luxury-car-in-the-snow-with-trees tableaux as King Herod was when he heard that a certain child king had decamped to Egypt. Okay, maybe not that unhappy, but certainly consumers are blasé, if Ace results are believable. The company has released its list of the most effective luxury and non-luxury automotive ads to break so far this quarter. Non-luxury did better than luxury, and Chevrolet led the non-luxury automotive category in effectiveness, a departure from last year when luxury brands out-performed non-luxury brands in effectiveness. It's not (just) because of the economy, or that consumers no longer aspire to own a high-end vehicle. While people are probably over the whole idea that there are folks out there who can buy their spouse a new luxury car for Christmas, the real problem is that year-end creative tends to veer away from brand equity or -- to borrow an image favored by GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick -- takes brands out of their "swim lanes" and directs them into the reviled tier-three “Buy Now!” ad pool. “Consumers tend to dislike sales event promotional ads, yet this year, many brands opted for this type of messaging instead of better-performing, more creative brand/product messaging,” said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. He tells Marketing Daily he was surprised that even the leading luxury automotive ads were below normal, a sign that brands have are focusing on sales events. Daboll says response to the "Buy It Now" creative "is almost outrage, as well as disbelief that the sales as stated actually exist, that the financing rates apply to real people. It shows automakers have misjudged the negative impact of these ads." He says automakers like to run them probably because they see the seasonal uptick and correlate it – mistakenly, he says – to those ads. Consumer comments in the firm's survey are clear as a frosty winter night: “It’s the Christmas car bow ad…I think advertisers should know we’re tired of these and they should do something else…”; and “How many times are car companies going to show a car as a Christmas gift?....It makes me NOT want to buy [from them],” are examples from the syndicated study. Daboll says that the scores are not a reflection of an either/or creative strategy where automakers are doing either sales messages or brand building, but the relative mix of the two approaches. "But with brands like Lexus, it looks like they pulled back on the brand and are favoring these kinds of promotion ads at this time of year. It's a mix issue: they are going heavier into promotion," he says. Lexus, which has an affinity for the red bow motif and "December to Remember" mantra, was not present in the rankings. The firm says the company's 14% drop in its average Ace Score to 504 from above 550, put them below the luxury automotive category median score. The firm quotes one consumer's response: "People don't buy other people cars, and even if they did, do you think hearing one annoying jingle would really clue them into the fact they were getting a new car? No!" He says Lexus dropped probably because last year there was a much bigger focus for them on fuel efficiency and hybrid models, and more on-brand messaging. "Now they are blasting the sales promo ads, so it's about setting the right balance. The surprising part is that you would think the luxury brands would tone that down; it comes across as a little desperate." The firm says that Cadillac, Audi and Mercedes-Benz did get their holiday messages right with Ace Scores above the norm. In addition, ads longer than the standard 30 seconds dominated both lists. “One trend we are seeing a lot of is what we’re calling ‘the return of story-telling’—longer spots that allow a brand to tell a story,” Daboll commented. “Chevy’s top-ranking ads are a great example of this, as is the top-ranking Thomas Keller BMW ad.” Indeed, Chevrolet had the top two and fourth place ads in effectiveness, with Hyundai at number three. Mitsubishi came in at number five with "Welcome to the New Normal." Volkswagen was next, and then Ford and Toyota rounded out the top 11 ads. After BMW's leading spot, Cadillac, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti, Caddie again, Infiniti again, Lincoln, Jaguar and Infiniti yet again around out the luxury scores.
NFL football will continue to be big business for the major TV broadcast networks for at least another decade -- with each paying big license fee increases for new deals. Following on the heels of an ESPN deal made in September, the three broadcast networks signed nine-year new deals extending through the 2022 season. The new agreement begins in 2014. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, it has been speculated that the broadcast networks would pay increased license fees to the NFL by more than 60%. Current deals with Fox, CBS, and NBC range from around $700 million to $900 million a year. ESPN also inked a multi-year deal with the league through 2012 in September, agreeing to pay 73% more per year for its "Monday Night Football" package to around $1.9 billion, according to reports. Each of the networks -- Fox, CBS, and NBC -- will retain their special pieces of the NFL deal. Fox continues to air National Football Conference (NFC) games; CBS will again air American Football Conference (AFC) games; while NBC continues with "Sunday Night Football," which includes a mix of teams from both conferences. Fox, CBS and NBC will each get three Super Bowls -- as well as various playoff games. One new piece: each of the agreements also includes fully authenticated "TV everywhere" rights. This enables the networks to broadcast the games and other NFL content on their respective digital areas on digital platforms -- but not mobile phones. As part of the deals, the NFL will expand its "flexible scheduling" plan, whereby NFL can move games between Fox and CBS that would bring regional games to wider audiences. This already exists for other packages, including NBC's "Sunday Night Football." Further details are yet to come. For Fox, the deal represents the fourth media rights NFL deal. It started with the league back in a deal struck on December 1993. CBS Sports began airing NFL games back in 1956, and began airing the NFC package from 1970 through 1993. After a five-year break, it began airing AFC games in 1998. NBC's original "Sunday Night Football" agreement, which began in 2006, included 17 regular-season games, increasing to 18 in 2010 -- with the new deal giving NBC 19 games, including upgraded playoff games. Previously, NBC had aired AFC games from 1970 to 1998. Before this, NBC aired games from the American Football League, starting in 1964.
Mid-size news channel Current TV has made two senior-level marketing appointments. Former NBC News executive Bill Hartnett is now executive vice president of marketing. He will oversee Current's marketing and brand strategy for all traditional and digital platforms, both on air and off air. He will also oversee marketing efforts to support Current's advertising and affiliate sales teams. Hartnett had been senior vice president of NBC News Marketing, which oversaw efforts on NBC News and MSNBC. Before that he was vice president at The NBC Agency, East Coast, where he managed all marketing and on-air promotion for "Today," "NBC Nightly News," "Dateline," "Meet the Press" and "The Chris Matthews Show." Current TV is now in 70 million U.S. TV homes, with its most recent high-profile hire -- former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann -- appointed earlier this year, representing a key piece of the channel's growing prime-time lineup. Current TV also named John Sollecito senior vice president of cross-platform research. Sollecito has had a number of senior media research positions, most recently at the AP. He also was vice president of digital media research at MTV Networks. Joel Hyatt, chief executive officer and co-founder of Current, stated that the executives' expertise in TV and digital complement a team that is "reinventing the cable news genre."
In a sign of how online video viewing is gaining a certain parity with linear TV, listings service TitanTV.com is linking with a service that points people to instant Web viewing options. The deal is between Titan’s owner Broadcast Interactive Media and Yidio, which offers point-and-click direction for online viewing. The Titan and Yidio.com platforms have synced with an API that should allow a person at once to scan what’s on traditional TV (and move to a DVR) or fire up VOD right away. Yidio (short for Your Internet Video) says its directory site gets more than 10 million visitors a month. Its aggregation engine can lead a visitor to multiple options to access an episode from free ad-supported streams on a network Web site to an iTunes purchase. Timur Yarnall, CEO of Madison, Wisc.-based BIM, stated the joint initiative has two companies “shar(ing) a mutual goal of delivering only best-in-class technology that enhances the way individuals consume media.” TitanTV listings are used on Web sites for hundreds of TV stations, offering visitors extensive listings of the programming for that particular outlet. “As television technology evolves, we are challenged to develop better methods for delivering program information that helps viewers not only decide what they will watch, but also guide how they will watch it,” stated BIM’s senior vice president Mick Rinehart. “BIM is able to leverage our global program library and TitanTV database of local TV listings." Three-year-old Yidio is private, and says its site “is the largest provider of new users” to Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix.
CBS has a deal with Examiner.com to meld its highly targeted content into its 25 Web sites attached to its local media properties. Examiner.com has a network of contributors that offer granular stories about various markets from Duluth to Denver. CBS has been trying to compete with local newspapers with sites (and mobile offerings) affiliated with its TV and radio stations, such as CBSChicago.com, the local CBS outlet and news and sports radio stations. Examiner.com will help develop original lifestyle content in markets such as Miami and Minneapolis; it says it has more than 85,000 contributors across the country. The content on the CBS sites will begin in some markets this month and roll out to all 25 CBS local sites by the end of the first quarter of 2012. The Examiner content will include “Best Of” guides and “Top Spots” listings, including culture, shopping, nightlife and music. Ezra Kucharz, who heads CBS Local Digital Media, stated that the move is an effort to advance CBS’ 18-month-long effort to launch integrated local sites “with a stable of contributors with expertise in their field.” Examiner.com, owned by the Anschutz Co., says it offers 2,300 original pieces daily.
Brace yourselves, TV networks. About two-thirds of marketers say they’ll increase their budgets for online video advertising in 2012, and some of them will be snagging that money from the TV ad budget. That’s the finding of a study conducted by Break Media, released today. Of course, the big caveat is Break has a huge stake in the online video ad economy since Break Media Network is a large video ad network reaching more than 120 million visitors each month, and also owns Break.com, the popular humor video site. Even so, the study’s findings dovetail with those from marketers and research firms also expecting another robust year for online video ads in 2012. Specifically, about 32% of advertisers who plan to up their online video ad spend in 2012 will take money from TV budgets, 54% from non-video display budgets, and 38% from organic budget growth, Break found in its survey of more than 300 decision makers at ad agencies and marketers. More than 90% of advertisers plan to use video ad networks in the year ahead and expect to allocate 20% to 41% of total video dollars through ad networks. Interestingly, marketers may shift away from the cost-per-thousand model that has been the bedrock of TV and video advertising in favor of a cost-per-view model. Break said that model has doubled in use in the past year. The growth in the cost-per-view model likely comes from the increasing use of video ad networks, since that pricing model is most commonly offered by ad networks. Pre-roll is still the most preferred ad format, while mobile will be second, overtaking in-banner in 2012. The expectations for 2012 stem in part from how video performed this year. Many advertisers plowed more money than originally planned into video this year. About 57% said they spent what they planned, 14% spent less and 29% spent more than they expected to in online video. But online video will face obstacles in 2012, including difficulty measuring ROI and a lack of standard metrics. The ROI issue has been cited in many studies this year as a major hurdle, including most recently by Casale Media.