The Super Bowl is one of the five biggest days in the year for pizza chains, and they seem to compete more fiercely for a share of that pie each year. Last year, Papa John’s, the NFL’s official pizza sponsor, opted not to advertise during the game, instead running a double-whammy promotional strategy. The chain promised a free, large, three-topping pizza to all of its online rewards program members if the game went into overtime -- and further primed the pump by giving away a $45 Papa John’s gift card every 45 seconds to randomly selected consumers who ordered its pizzas online during game day. Results: Papa John’s sold more than a million pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday, besting its own previous record of 940,000 sold during game day in 2010. (Prior to the 2011 game, rivals Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza estimated that they would sell 2 million and 1.2 million pizzas, respectively, on Super Bowl day.) Papa John’s sales lift came, of course, without having to give out free pizzas –- since the Super Bowl maintained its own record of never having gone into overtime. Not to mention upping its loyalty program membership numbers “very significantly,” according to a spokesperson. Capturing the customer data that enables targeted promotions to drive more online/mobile orders is, of course, the name of the game for pizza chains, along with many other restaurant chains these days, and Papa John’s is still the only pizza chain with a system-wide rewards program. How to follow its own act? This year, Papa John’s is giving its fans much better odds by making its offer to give a free, large, one-topping pizza and a two-liter Pepsi MAX to its millions of Papa Rewards members contingent on the game’s coin toss. Specifically, rewards program enrollees can call heads or tails on the toss online at papajohns.com, as part of an interactive video, and if the preponderance of their votes turns out to correctly predict the toss, all members will get the freebies (instructions for redemption will come by email). Coin-toss voting ends Feb. 1, and the chain will pre-announce the voting results on Feb. 2. Papa John’s also changed its sweeps strategy this year to maximize pre-game-day orders. This time around, it’s been randomly selecting winners from among online pizza-orderers every 46 seconds each weekend leading up to the Super Bowl, starting on Friday, Dec. 30, and ending on Saturday, Feb. 4, the evening before game day. (Actually, per legal requirements, rewards members also can enter without ordering a pizza, by following online instructions.) Also, this time, it’s awarding large, one-topping pizzas instead of $45 gift cards -- likely a sound financial move, given that up to 15,963 pizzas could be given away over the 17 entry-period days leading up to the Super Bowl. Papa John’s investment skin in this promotional game isn’t, of course, limited to the cost of free pizzas -- however many that turns out to be. The elements of the ambitious marketing campaign supporting its “Coin Toss Experience” include:
TV advertising spend for national sports programming grew 6% for the better part of 2011. Nielsen says advertising hit $10.9 billion for money spent on TV from the fourth quarter of 2010 through the third quarter of 2011. Cable TV programmers as a group increased their media dollars substantially, improving to a 37.3% share of all sports national TV ad spending. Nielsen says the increase in spending closely mirrors a similar hike in the amount of live TV sports -- up 5% to more than 42,500 hours of live sporting events on national broadcast and cable TV in 2011. AT&T Wireless was the biggest spender -- at $423.5 million, more than twice the level of Bud Light, which was in second place at $210.2 million. Another telecommunications company -- Verizon Wireless -- came in at third place, at $207.7 million. The top 10 individual advertising spenders -- which also include McDonald’s, DirecTV, Geico, Sprint Wireless, Southwest Airlines, State Farm Insurance and Miller Lite -- accounted for over one-quarter (26%) of the total spend during that time period. The last two years have seen a major recovery from the low recessionary period --from fourth-quarter 2008 to third-quarter 2009, when the total market was $8.28 billion. This was down over $1.5 billion from a similar period the year before, when the market was at $9.88 million.
Telemundo chief Emilio Romano spent part of a NATPE appearance touting Comcast’s commitment to the Spanish-language broadcaster, partly by recounting a meeting with NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke. Romano said Burke told him: “I’m convinced we have a diamond in the rough, and together we’ll make it shine.” One sign of how optimistic Burke is could come on Feb. 5 when NBC airs the Super Bowl. Will NBCU use one of its promo spots to plug Telemundo? Romano is hopeful. Comcast has invested heavily to grab rights to the World Cup away from Univision after 2014. “They’re risk takers,” Romano said at the industry event. “They know how to invest, and they know how to build a world class media company.” As far as closing the gap with Univision, Romano took a tongue-in-cheek jab at the frisson about the competitor’s announcement that it will offer English closed captioning with its novelas, which Telemundo has been doing for more than a decade. Also this week, Fox and Colombian media company RCN said they would partner on a Spanish-language channel in the U.S. starting this fall. Romano said he welcomes competition, which "just validates our industry … the fact that such powerful companies are coming into the market shows the market has huge growth potential.”
As significant changes are coming to “The X Factor” this fall, a top executive involved in production suggested the show needs to be more distinctive from the other talent competition series. “Our job for the next season is to really figure out what’s different about ‘X Factor,’” said Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of FremantleMedia North America. Frot-Coutaz, who also serves as an executive producer, noted that the show gave Fox a much-needed surge in viewership in the fall, but fell short of star Simon Cowell’s expectations; it didn’t have enough uniqueness. It may have also been hurt by the emergence of NBC’s “The Voice” in the late spring and summer. “There are too many of these shows … there’s definitely clutter,” she said at the NATPE event. She said she tells her team not to pitch her on another show with three judges evaluating talent. Fremantle is also behind NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and Fox’s “American Idol.” (“X Factor” has four judges.) Frot-Coutaz said coming meetings will examine “X Factor” from top to bottom in consultation with Cowell and others -- from marketing to judges to scheduling around Fox’s World Series coverage. FremantleMedia also owns game shows “Family Feud,” “The Price is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal.” Frot-Coutaz said the addition of Steve Harvey as the host of the syndicated version of “Family Feud” has been a boon, but these types of shows with older formats offer a challenge. “It’s about keeping them fresh, keeping them relevant,” she said, adding that related Facebook games have helped. But Frot-Coutaz remains wary of launching new syndicated game shows from scratch, without either prime-time exposure or a legacy and new talent hosting.
Netflix plans to have five original series available for streaming by mid-2013, part of its efforts to compete with HBO and insulate itself from trouble in acquiring content. "Lilyhammer," starring “Sopranos” and E Street Band great Steven Van Zandt, debuts Feb. 6. The Kevin Spacey-starring “House of Cards” and new episodes of Fox’s “Arrested Development” will be available by early next year. On Tuesday, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said two other ambitious shows are in the works and ticketed for 2013. Increasingly, exclusive content may be an important differentiator,” he said at the NATPE event. In a sense, Netflix is following the arc of basic cable entertainment networks, which over the last decade have realized they need original content to complement syndicated series. Netflix has acquired rights to a slew of TV series recently, but was also unable to renew a streaming deal with Starz. Though it is deemphasizing its DVD mail order business, it acceded to Warner Bros.’ move to double the time before Netflix could make discs available. Netflix, which CEO Reed Hastings has likened to HBO, focused on film distribution for many years, but is now emphasizing TV content. In the October-December period, it streamed 2 billion hours, approximately 60% of which were TV shows. Netflix will not stagger the release of episodes of its originals, choosing to make it all available at once on premiere day, including all eight of “Lilyhammer.” “Core to the Netflix proposition with our customers is choice,” Sarandos said. Sarandos said Netflix isn’t sure what to expect as far as viewership for “Lilyhammer," noting it will take time for the company to find its footing in the production game. He described “Lilyhammer” as “bigger than experimentation, but it’s definitely learning.” Netflix is finding that its users enjoy watching bunches of episodes of serialized dramas in a single sitting, which might help build its library. Studios may find they can get the most money by selling rights to Netflix, since those type of shows generally aren’t standouts in syndication, while DVD sales are challenged. Netflix has exclusive streaming rights to past seasons of “Mad Men” and is likely to make similar agreements. As far as Netflix’s relationship with Hollywood studios, Sarandos said: “It’s just normalized. We’re a buyer. We’re a big buyer.” The company opted not to renew with Starz, since the financial commitment could have precluded it from acquiring more popular content, he said. “When it comes down to it,” he said, “I think it’s a very typical programming decision.”
For those who believe social media activity and traditional TV ratings can work hand in hand, it was a good week: "American Idol" scored well in both metrics for its 11th season debut. According to Social Guide, Fox's big TV singing competition show, which aired two original episodes last week, pulled in 325,000 unique visitors on social media sites for the week ending Jan. 22 -- tops among all TV shows. "Idol" accounted for 9% of all people who make social media comments for TV shows -- and 623,000 comments overall. "Idol" -- apart from big NFL games -- was the highest-rated TV show, according to traditional TV measures provided by Nielsen, for the first week of its new season. MTV's "Jersey Shore" has been the virtual king of all cable TV shows in viewership for some time and -- before the "Idol" arrival for its 11th season -- the most consistent top performer among social media metrics. It came in at second place for the week ending January 22, with 215,000 social media unique visitors, a 6% share, and some 292,000 comments. Still, many TV shows' social media activity have little comparison to their rank among traditional TV viewership. VH1, a sister network to MTV, has seen good social media results for its "Love & Hip Hop" show. Still, it is not a traditional cable ratings juggernaut. This week, it landed in third place, according to Social Guide -- with 163,000 people, a 4.6% share, and 437,000 overall comments. While "Idol," "Shore" and "Hip Hop" might be generally assumed to pull in young TV viewers -- big social media fans -- coming in at fourth place was a typically older-skewing TV event, the "South Carolina Republican Presidential Debate" special on CNN on Saturday. It took in 106,000 people, a 3% share, and 390,000 comments. Fox News' "America's Election HQ" was next at 77,000, with a 2% share and 350,000 comments overall. Other notables in the top 10, ranked fifth through 10th: Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants"; ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars"; Fox's "Glee"; Fox's "Family Guy" (including syndication and cable airings); and VH1 "Mob Wives."
Digital ads will become more creative in 2012 to motivate a generation often characterized as "stimulation junkies," as marketers focus on capturing 79 million U.S. consumers born between 1981 and 2000. It turns out that 93% of those ages 18 to 34 -- the Millennial generation -- are Internet users, compared with 88% of adults ages 35 to 54, and 42% of adults age 55 and older, according to a new report. "Next Generation Strategies for Advertising to Millennials" suggests a high comfort level with technology, along with an estimated annual $170 billion in purchasing power, which defines this group as one of the most desirable to marketers. It's the first generation to grow up with computers in the home and the classroom, not knowing a life without the Internet or cell phones. Millennials can multitask better than other generations, combining social media with online entertainment, video chatting, homework, and television. But they don't pay much attention to the content on the TV. Millennials are more difficult to persuade through television advertising when compared with older viewers. The average 4.6 share of choice (SOC) lift, comScore's measurement identifying the ad's ability to influence brand preferences and purchases, remains significantly lower when compared with Generation X at 5.3 SOC, baby boomers at 6.4, or seniors at 6.6. SOC identifies the ad's ability to influence brand preferences and purchases. When it comes to digital advertising, SOC measurement reflects a slightly different story. Millennials sit at 6.0, Generation X at 6.4, baby boomers at 6.8, and seniors at 6.4. Marketers must find a reason -- brand differentiation -- for millennials to favor their brand over another. This generation responds when given a compelling reason to choose the brand. Overall, influencing millennial-generation consumers through an ad remains far more difficult compared with other generations because of the low immediate and delayed recall rate. The study indicates that millennials have 43% immediate recall and 24% delayed recall of an ad, compared with 50% and 23% for Generation X, 54% and 21% for baby boomers, and 54% and 18% for seniors, respectively. The study suggests that it is important to show the product longer, make the brand name more visible, and have more mentions throughout the campaign. The report, conducted in 2011 and released in January 2012, addresses whether there are broad commonalities between millennials and other generations. It also attempts to identify whether traditional television advertising can become as effective for this group as digital, or whether the bits and bytes remain a better alternative. This research also identifies more than 200 creative elements that can have an impact on an ad’s SOC lift, while a subset of these elements, what comScore calls Validated Drivers, has a significant impact.
Go to any media conference these days (including this week’s NATPE event in Miami) and talk of “the Second Screen” space will feature prominently on some part of the agenda. People talk excitedly in corridors and meeting rooms about how the second screen will bring home the promise of interactive TV, create more viewer engagement for programs and even drive new revenues.Two things are certain in what has become an increasingly energized space over the last few years:
What do you get when you combine a $500,000 online video buy with a $2.6 million TV campaign? A 14% percent boost in reach, an 18% jump in frequency and an 11% reduction in the cost of the impressions. Or so says YuMe, the online video network that partnered with Nielsen to study effectiveness of a cross-platform campaign. YuMe and Nielsen worked with one of media agency PHD’s clients, known only as “major consumer health care brand,” on the study that analyzed a Sept. 2011 marketing effort. The result was that the combo campaign increased reach in the desired 35 to 54 demo by 7 percentage points, with the marketer reaching more than 6 million additional consumers in its target audience that it wasn’t reaching with TV alone. In total, the marketer reached nearly 9 million people across screens. What’s more, YuMe said the efficiency of the online video ad spend was nearly double that of the TV spend in terms of the cost needed to reach the potential customers. Other metrics improved too when online video was added. Brand recall jumped 22% and message recall 31%. Let’s bear in mind though that such metrics should rise when more media is added to a campaign. That’s the point of multi-venue marketing — the advertiser can reach consumers in different places and in different ways and can maximize the message then. By adding online video, more consumers were exposed to the campaign. In fact, YuMe said the number of people exposed to the marketing three or more times rose by 31%, and those exposed to the campaign six or more times jumped 52%. (As an aside, if I’m exposed to a campaign six times I’ve pretty much reached my limit with the brand, FYI!). Nevertheless, the data is noteworthy because online video, as a medium, is on the cusp of massive growth. Ad dollars are on track to rise 40% this year to hit $3.1 billion, and some marketers have said they’ll move money from TV to online video. Research like this is useful as it helps agencies and advertisers to see how online video might fit into and enhance a TV buy.
How do you measure true TV engagement? I'm not talking about wistfully sending off an email, a tweet, or a Facebook update about what the girls should be doing on "Gossip Girl," "New Girl" or "2 Broke Girls." I'm talking about old-school pulling-out-the-wallet engagement. One consistently hears about "TV blackouts" resulting from those nasty disputes between cable operators and program distributors. Seems like one long testy battle between Time Warner Cable and Madison Square Garden Inc., owner of the New York Knicks, has forced hard-core NBA basketball fans to actually buy tickets to go see games. For its own part, MSG -- with the help of DirecTV -- has been offering viewing parties in New York City bars for fervent fans who can't perhaps find a friend who has Cablevision Systems, DirecTV or Dish TV as a provider. To be sure, measurement of significant numbers of these disgruntled but motivated fans is hard to come by. There are, of course, other types of sports blackouts, such as the NFL’s -- if a home team's game isn't a sellout, its local TV outlet is blacked out, forcing consumers to buy tickets to the game to watch their team live on site. That's a different kind of story, with mostly one-off efforts. But both examples show how strong, brand-conscious fans can put aside any differences and grumblings they might have with the powers that be -- TV or sports content owners, and TV program distributors --- to take strong action, to spend additional entertainment money that might not be in their budgets. Plenty of viewers gripe or have strong opinions about weak storylines on shows, cancelled older series or new programs that should get a chance. But talk is cheap. Watch consumers' entertainment dollar options at work when stuff doesn't go their way. That's a stronger entertainment engagement metric.