Google began releasing an update for YouTube on Google TV Sunday. The rollout should take several days to complete. The new features are strongly focused on making it easier for viewers to navigate channels to find video content. The tools also allow viewers to become more social by rating videos, as well as adding comments or content to playlists. Engineers at the Mountain View, Calif. company are also continuing to work on a dedicated Google+ app for Google TV, which is expected to debut soon. Social features and the ability to easily access content through connected devices -- also known as smart TVs -- drives demand on YouTube. While consumers are still awaiting high-quality content subscription services, a Google spokesperson said the company has "nothing to announce at this time." About 42 million consumers globally watch TV shows and movies from an Internet-connected television, according to research from Strategy Analytics. Indeed, adoption to Internet-connected TVs continues to grow, although slowly. Findings from a Deloitte survey of 2,215 U.S. consumers in late 2011 found that only 14% stream movie content to a computer or television as part of a paid subscription model, and only 12% can view content via an Internet-connected TV. Could Google TV apps support a subscription service? Xyologic, a search engine for app stores launched Monday, paints a picture of apps gaining in popularity and those experiencing failure. The research firm has been following apps on Google TV since August 2011. Since then, 64 exclusive apps have been added. According to the company's analysis, nearly 5 million apps have been installed, with six that come pre-installed on Google TVs. Only 352,000 Google TV exclusive Android apps have been downloaded so far. The top apps in terms of installations include Napster, Pandora, CNBC, TV & Movies, Photos, Twitter, Redux, CNNMoney, Maps, MotorTrend, and Thuuz Sports. For now, Google TV YouTube content relies on an ad-supported model. Some of the ad formats on YouTube are available on Google TV, such as pre-roll ads, but Google engineers are working to integrate the full suite of YouTube ad options, such as TrueView, an ad model that doesn't change the advertiser for the impressions unless the ad runs for more than 30 seconds. Internet-connected TVs are not the only means for accessing content. In another study released last year, Strategy Analytics found that 65% of U.S.-based weekly Xbox users under the age of 25 access online TV shows and movies from their game console, even more than from a desktop or notebook PC screen. Easy access to content could also drive advertising for Google. As consumers change the way they consume media, so will platform providers such as Google's YouTube, making a paid-subscription service seem inevitable. After all, YouTube boasts that it has logged more than 1 trillion views in 2011. Advertisers can only imagine what that might mean for a paid-subscription Internet-connected TV service. Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Louisa Shipnuck, director of marketing and strategy at Verizon Digital Media Services, said she would reconnect with Google to get more information on the content offered through its Google TV Internet-connected service. While the goal is to help viewers navigate through the channels more easily, software bugs such as the TV suddenly turning off or on continue to dampen sales of the Internet-connected device. The next version of Google TV should produce much better results than the first, according to sources, but it won't come from the hardware manufacturer Sony. The maker of PlayStation, Walkman and other electronic devices signed over bragging rights to Samsung.
Rocketing ratings for the "The "54th Annual Grammy Awards" -- driven in large part by news of the death of superstar singer Whitney Houston -- gave CBS its best results for the music show in nearly 30 years. Nielsen preliminary results put the "Grammy Awards" at 39.9 million viewers -- which is the second-largest audience ever for the show. (The largest was in 1984). These numbers were up 50% from last year's 26.7 million viewers. The Grammys -- long the second-highest entertainment award show -- actually beat the "The Academy Awards" 2011 results of 37.9 million viewers. Typically, the Oscars are the second-highest-rated TV program of the year, next to the Super Bowl. Looking at the key demographic group -- 18-49 viewers -- the Grammys grabbed an eye-popping 14.1 rating/32 share, up 41% versus a year ago, and 27% higher among younger 18-34 viewers to 12.1/31. Sunday's Grammy Awards got a huge spike in interest over the weekend on the news of the death of Houston on Saturday. Analysts also said the return over singer Adele from vocal cord surgery --- and her six Grammy awards on the night -- also drove increased viewership. Some of the show''s biggest numbers happen in the first hour of the three hour-plus show -- 41.2 million viewers and a 14.4 rating among 18-49 viewers. CBS even got a lift earlier in the evening for "60 Minutes" at 7 p.m., scoring a 2.9 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers, which was almost double the numbers of a recent original outing. For the night, CBS earned a 11.8/30; ABC, 1.9/4; Fox, 1.7/4; NBC, 1.5/4; and Univision, a 1.1/2.
The National Association of Broadcasters came out in favor of rules that allow blackouts of NFL and other leagues’ games. In an FCC filing, the NAB suggested that a policy change might affect their exclusive access to certain broadcasts and could lead to cable and satellite operators importing broadcasts of games from other markets that would hurt their business. “As Congress and the FCC have consistently recognized, market exclusivity agreements facilitate our system of local broadcasting and allow broadcasters to better serve their local viewers,” the NAB wrote in its filing. Meanwhile, a group of five Democratic senators called for blackout rules to go in a filing, saying they are “a relic of a different time” and “in today’s environment of multibillion dollar NFL TV contracts, the sports blackout rule appears to be merely punitive” to fans. The senators also cited disputes between programmers and distributors resulting in blackouts as examples of fans being “unwilling victims.” Furthermore, the NAB wrote that eliminating blackout rules “would likely accelerate the migration of sporting events from free to pay TV.” If importing out-of-market signals leads to sports leagues losing control of program distribution, the leagues may seek refuge on pay TV, where they could more easily maintain control over programming, the NAB suggests. The FCC has asked for public comment on a proposal that would eliminate a rule requiring cable and satellite operators to honor blackout rules impacting local stations. Consumer groups, including the Sports Fans Coalition, have asked the FCC to consider the rule change. An elimination would mostly impact the NFL, which mandates that a game be blacked out in a local market if general admission tickets are not sold out 72 hours before kickoff. Sixteen games were blacked out last season. In its filing, the NAB said if a change in blackout rules needs to be made it should be the “province of Congress,” not the FCC. The five senators, including New Jersey’s Frank Lautenberg and Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow, cited the current dispute that has kept MSG network off Time Warner Cable and a recent dispute that could have left DirecTV customers in Boston without the Super Bowl. In their filing, the wrote that it is “unfair and unconscionable” that they should lose access to games “because their service provider and a network cannot come to an agreement.”
Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed last week that the company is prepping an original series for Netflix. Jenji Kohan, creator of Showtime’s “Weeds,” is involved in “Orange is the New Black,” which is expected to make it to Netflix in early 2013. In addition, the Charlie Sheen-vehicle “Anger Management” is coming to FX. If certain ratings are met during “Anger Management’s” first 10 episodes, a trigger kicks in for Lionsgate to produce 90 additional episodes. Netflix launched “Lilyhammer” last week, its first original. “Orange is the New Black” is based on a popular memoir by the same name about Piper Kerman’s prison stint for heroin-trafficking involvement. Filming is set to begin this summer on the one-hour drama, laced with comedic elements. Feltheimer, speaking on an earnings call, declined to cite the ratings triggers for “Anger Management,” but said he’s confident it’s “one we think we can hit.” The deal with FX is similar to one Lionsgate has involving Tyler Perry comedies and could bring broadcast syndication within two-and-a-half years, en route to being an exceedingly profitable franchise. Lionsgate, which has scripted series for cable such as “Mad Men,” is looking to break into the network market and has two pilots in the works -- one each for ABC and NBC. Feltheimer also said there appears to be an “enormous” upside with the “Wendy Williams Show” as ratings in key demos rival some of TV’s top talk shows, but ad rates remain well below.
Continuing its research efforts around the Olympics, NBC will debut a new research initiative for the 2012 London Olympics with the help of Google and comScore. The new research will focus on finding out new ways to measure "single source consumption of video content on TV, mobile, the PC, and for the first time in this Olympics, the tablet." It aims to examine individual consumer across multiple channels, online services and apps. “Since we first began the Olympics Billion Dollar Lab, nonlinear video consumption has increased dramatically," stated Alan Wurtzel, president of research for NBCUniversal. "Cross-platform measurement is extraordinarily challenging," he notes, but believes the research will "bring us one step closer to cracking the code of single-source measurement.” Previously, NBC gathered multiplatform research from the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics. The Google effort will feature a research base of about 3,000 respondents who have agreed to participate. Google will use proprietary algorithms developed specifically for the Olympics. The comScore part of the plan will use 10,000 people that plan to follow the Olympic Games on multiple platforms, using data from set-top boxes, electronic meters and panelists.
Oprah Winfrey encouraged people in homes with Nielsen meters to tune into her OWN network Sunday evening, a move that ran afoul of Nielsen, which will place an asterisk next to some OWN ratings. Winfrey’s encouragement was conveyed in a tweet and she apologized Monday, according to The New York Times. As an episode of “Oprah’s Next Chapter” was about to be aired on OWN, Winfrey tweeted: “Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Neilsen box.” The tweet was removed, and Winfrey issued a statement to the New York Times saying she did so at “the request of Nielsen” and that “I intended no harm and apologize for the reference.” A Nielsen representative told the New York Times an asterisk will be placed next to OWN’s ratings to account for ratings that could be impacted. Winfrey has about 9.2 million followers on Twitter. At one point Sunday, Winfrey did not mention Nielsen by name, but encouraged switchover to OWN during a commercial in the Grammy broadcast on CBS, the newspaper said. OWN, half-owned by Winfrey's Harpo and Discovery, has not enjoyed the hot ratings start some analysts had projected.
A robust investment in digital companion content and a social media program that began late last year helped CBS Interactive claim success with its Grammy Live multi-screen complement to Sunday’s on-air awards show. “For our three-day Grammy Live experience we got over 1 million viewers of content over 72 hours,” says Marc DeBevoise, SVP and GM, Entertainment Division, CBS Interactive. Starting late last week, CBS Interactive -- in partnership with the Recording Academy -- ran extensive video, news and image content from pre-show events to Grammy.com and CBS.com as well as into iOS apps. The majority of traffic to Grammy Live went to the Web, but DeBevoise adds that the iOS apps proved extremely popular -- remaining near the top of the free app charts in the iTunes App Store late last week. The peak viewership of the second-screen experience occurred on Sunday during the pre-show red carpet arrivals. According to DeBevoise, the success of Grammy Live demonstrates the special power networks have to create the kind of enhanced content to their own shows that drive users across displays. “There are a lot of guys touting second screens as their thing,” he says. “They aren’t necessarily second screen; they don’t have a lot to offer." Competition may be heating up between the networks crafting their own cross-screen experiences and third parties claiming to do the same. In the last year, many companies like IntoNow, Umami, ConnecTV and Shazam have poured into the mobile space with apps that detect and complement TV content. In fact, CBS and The Recording Academy partnered with Shazam this year for the Grammys. The audio ID app detected that the show was on and pushed out links to download the iTunes track for the on-air performance. DeBevoise says this Shazam partnership was a “promotional deal” to drive tune-ins, and distinguishes it from the exclusive material the original content provider can offer. “As a network we do it hand-in-hand with our broadcasters and you see what can happen. This is truly second-screen that can build on what is going on on-air. It is not just a light experience.” On the other hand, he admits that the cost and effort involved in a constant stream of parallel programming efforts can be prohibitive. “You can’t program a full second-screen experience for every episode of every show. But on events like these in big areas, there are ways to develop programming experiences that are viable.” One of the key learnings from this second-screen outing was the force of social TV. BlueFin Labs reports that the Grammy Awards set a record 13 million comments in social media during the event -- up 1,280% since last year and beating even the Super Bowl’s 12.2 million mentions. DeBevoise says Grammy Live started riding that wave back in November when it started a “Garage to the Grammys” contest on Facebook. Music fans were enlisted to elect a band to perform on the Grammy Live feed. Nearly 1,000 bands were involved, and the winner garnered over 750,000 votes, he says. “We got the social conversation going early and we fulfilled it on Grammy Live. We learned that the integration of social early on and during the event was key.”
Kate Upton, the cover model for 2012's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, is also the star of new TV spots for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. The ads, to promote a new Southwest Patty Melt, won't begin airing until late this month. But the CKE Restaurants chains -- famous for somewhat risque spots featuring the latest stars/supermodels to draw the attention of its "young, hungry guy" target audience -- are clearly hoping to ride the wave of publicity from the SI issue, on newsstands today (Feb. 14). The restaurants today released sneak-preview video clips of interviews with Upton and footage from the commercials' shoot. The ads are from the 72andSunny agency. -- Karlene Lukovitz
At a time when there are more televisions than people in the United States, one of the loneliest things you can do is watch TV. There was a time, long ago and far away, when the entire family would gather around the communal television to tune in “The Beverly Hillbillies.” But now, with TV sets in almost every room, people today generally watch TV alone. There is, however, an antidote to the feelings of anomie that sometimes arise from the solitary TV experience: live-tweeting. This is the practice of using Twitter to comment on events in real time while simultaneously checking to see what other people around the country are saying about the same thing, usually under a commonly agreed upon hash tag (e.g., “#idol” or “iowadebate.”) It’s like the old-fashioned chat room on steroids, and it helps you feel part of a wider, wittier community. There’s a reason they call Twitter and Facebook “social media.” These platforms help us use the computer to achieve the personal connections that are increasingly elusive in today’s fragmented world. Maybe it’s sad that we’re using Twitter to forge relationships that we can’t make in real life, but sometimes artificial connections are better than no connections at all. (And if you want to follow me, I’m at @garyholmes.) I don’t want to overstate the quality of live-tweeting. The Twitter feed is usually just a gush of comments that are nearly impossible to keep up with. You can quickly scan 50 or so at a time to get a gist of what people are saying -- and, frankly, most are mundane and some are stupid. But the few that are witty and insightful can add to your understanding and enjoyment of what you are following. When live-tweeting TV shows yourself, it’s much better to do so while watching the show “live” (i.e., not time-shifted). If you’re even a minute behind the live action, your tweets are out of date, making you seem like the social goofball who comes up with the snappy retort several minutes after the rest of the group has moved on to another topic. (This is part of the reason West Coast viewers protested decision to tape-delay the Grammys Sunday night; any West Coaster who glimpsed Twitter or Facebook while the show was being broadcast in the East would have been tipped off to the winners.) Although you can live-tweet almost any TV show, the best genres are live events you wouldn’t want to timeshift anyway, including sporting events, award shows, political debates, election returns, royal weddings, hurricanes, celebrity trials, beauty pageants, and Presidential funerals. It is my own personal opinion, based on no scientific evidence, that the cleverest live-tweeting occurs during political reporting (as in this tweet when the results of the Florida primary were rolling in: “BREAKING: sources in florida tell me Morty Seinfeld will win the Del Boca Vista condo board elections #flprimary.”) Conversely, the lamest live-tweeting seems to be during sporting events (although baseball tweeters are better than football tweeters.) Falling someplace in between is live-tweeting on award shows. Perhaps this is counterintuitive, but I find that the less engaged I am with a program, the more likely I am to tweet about it. That’s because sports, news, award shows and other live events have blathering commentary, so I don’t feel like I’m missing anything if I turn to Twitter. But during a great drama or comedy, I am usually too absorbed in the show to do anything other than watch the TV set. I can’t imagine myself tweeting during “Mad Men,” for example, except possibly during a commercial. In this regard, the norms of live-tweeting are a lot like watching TV with your friends. It’s OK to shout out witticisms and wisecracks during sporting events and political debates, but during an intense scripted show you don’t want the distractions. This engagement conundrum illustrates the problem with using Twitter for any kind of audience measurement: Twitter might work fine as giant focus group, but the total number of tweets doesn’t necessarily correspond to viewing levels or even levels of engagement. Twitter skews in favor of live programming and against shows that are heavily DVR’d. Shows with the same number of viewers can have vastly different tweets. Then there’s the fact that a great deal of live-tweeting occurs during commercials -- how do advertisers feel about that? Do a lot of tweets reflect greater or weaker involvement with advertising? Twitter may or may not have utility as an analytical tool, but it has clearly shown its usefulness as a social tool. Looking ahead to the Academy Awards on Feb. 26, I have not been invited to any Oscar parties. In years past, I might have felt sorry for myself, but now I am almost relieved – I’ve got my tweeps to keep me company.
Flipping through DirecTV's electronic program guide (EPG) for some mid-evening entertainment from Universal Sports, what did I see? Figure skating, skiing, snowboarding, and... Brazil Butt Lift. A new Olympic sport? EPGs have always been a TV marketing tool of sort, giving us shorthand for a channel's real identity. (Hey, in the old days -- and even today -- TV Guide was a huge marketing tool for the networks, specifically because of its program guide). Now, quicker program changes -- as well as infomercials (or paid programming with titles) -- are all part of EPG fodder. Executives of Rovi Corp. might tell you that EPGs can be the center of everything, the home page of the modern entertainment consumer. No excuse here. An educated consumer is the best customer. We've been told for years that we watch programs, not networks. For many, picking programs from different networks throughout an evening was the earliest form of "a la carte" programming -- "Big Bang Theory," followed by "American Idol," then "The Office," and finally "Private Practice." No penalty. Still, the habit of hanging around a particular network is why a big rating lead-out from "American Idol" can do wonders for a new Fox show. But looking around the world of Internet buzz, plenty of people get pissed at one network. Cancel someone's favorite show? That can get you in trouble sometimes. So I asked my wife, “What is your favorite network?” This wasn't an easy question. She had to think about the shows on the networks, which took some doing. Then she said it was either ABC or CBS. She started to walk away, then quickly turned around. "No, wait. It's USA. It's about the characters. The shows are fun and light." Right now, a USA Network marketing executive is saying. "Give her an A-plus." USA’s tagline is "Characters Welcome," and its programming executives would say the philosophy of shows like "Burn Notice," "Royal Pains," "Fairly Legal," "White Collar" and "Psych" is about "fun" and "light" story content. Universal Sports also has a strong identity. In a big world of sports programming, Universal’s niche is Olympic sports. So we quickly think of those big rating events: skating, skiing, and swimming. Broadcast networks still don't need identities so much (but that's changing, for sure). CBS has a lot of crime procedural dramas, but a number of good sitcoms and reality shows as well. Fox has some shows with a lot of singing, but also some quirky comedies and dramas. "Brazil Butt Lift"? My network preferences always welcome character.
I know, I know. By now Super Bowl XLVI -- the game and the commercials -- has long since lost its novelty as water-cooler fodder. However, being a huge aficionado not only of televised sports, but also of the advertising that drives the business, I feel compelled to weigh in on what I consider to be the best Super Bowl ads of 2012, and how they compared on my personal scale of advertising success: The ROI Meter. ROI is one key metric that all the other rankings of TV commercials are now only just managing to capture. Here they are, in order of ROI success: 1. “It’s Halftime in America” (Chrysler)– Thanks to Clint Eastwood, Chrysler’s Super Bowl entry was as iconic as the man himself and as compelling. I’ve been a devoted fan of Eastwood since his Spaghetti Western days -- I even have a poster for “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” in my office (in Italian, no less). Fan or not, I would’ve been hooked by this ad. Its message -- like the brand it advertised -- was rough, tough, and all American. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have only bought American cars since working in the Bush Administration from 1989 to 1991.) Car ads are making a comeback, not unlike the auto industry itself. Thanks to Big Data’s transformation of the television advertising landscape, automakers can now buy airtime -- for great ads like this one -- more easily and more strategically than ever before. And, most importantly, the results will drive ROI for the industry -- though perhaps not as quickly as in the high-velocity CPG and pharma categories. 2. “Fatherhood” (ETrade) – This spot didn’t rank too high on USA Today’s Ad Meter (#17), but it resonated for me. Chalk it up to the enduring success and humor of its central character -- the ETrade Baby. Great messaging, highly engaging, and continuous with previously successful campaigns -- just like all good commercials should be. Will this commercial drive ROI? Perhaps. But my guess is that the ETrade Baby probably does. Just ask him. 3. “Matthew’s Day Off” (Honda) – Honda’s Ferris Bueller mini-remake garnered something like 10 million views before the big game, and more since. It was cute, funny -- who’s more likeable than Ferris? -- and it engaged viewers across generations. Most important, it was a conversation-starter. If you consider that one person in each living room across America had seen it already, think about how many people it got talking about Ferris, and Hondas. Not bad. On the ROI meter? TBD. 4. “The Tease” (Dannon Oikos) -- This one was funny, sure -- it might’ve been the only LOL ad of the whole game. But that’s not why it makes my list. The reason, in fact, is that the punch line was inextricable from the product. Lots of ads are funny, but leave viewers with absolutely no impression of the brand they promote. Here the product was the subject. And the surprise head-butt was just icing on the… yogurt. Now go out and buy some Oikos to drive ROI. 5. “Cheetah” (Hyundai) -- What I want to know is, what happened after the cameras stopped rolling for this spot? Hyundai took a classic advertising cliché -- man races beast -- and turned it on its head. The message to viewers? It’s important to be fast, but it’s even more important to be efficient. The big cat just wants his meat, right? The question is whether people will remember that the ad was for Hyundai. ROI meter: jury’s out. So those were the winners this year, in my book. There were losers, too: The body painters from Go Daddy were stale and forgettable, and Fiat’s so-called seduction totally flamed out. But overall, this year’s ads were as fun to watch as the game itself, which delivered on its promise of stellar entertainment you can’t get anywhere else. From the pre-game show to Tom Brady’s Hail Mary at the finish, a record-breaking 111 million viewers were glued to the television for four-plus hours. While ROI will tell whether or not it was a great day for the advertisers, it was a great day for football fans, and an even better one for New Yorkers -- even for this Jets fan.