Buick is about to launch a raft of TV ads and marketing activity aimed at getting eyes on its latest car and smallest vehicle to date, the Verano. The car launched in December, but is now heading into dealerships in volume. And spring is when people head to dealerships. The effort begins with a pair of humorous ads that talk about the audio qualities of the vehicle. Actually, one of the spots is about the audio-blocking qualities of the Buick, a brand with a rep for being among the quietest rides in the business. The other spot is about the on-board IntelliLink infotainment system. The latter ad suggests that having a Verano with IntelliLink is like having a caravan of buses behind you with different bands. Craig Bierley, director of advertising and promotions for Buick/GMC, says the media placement for the campaign will be big on sports, as Buick hones in on NCAA sports as a core affinity marketing tactic to align Buick with achievement. Buick had a big presence at the College Football Bowl Championship Series this year. "The Verano is good for us to expand reach of the brand to conquest buyers," says Bierley. "We are growing the brand and finding new owners." He says Verano's buyer profile will align with Buick's 40% conquest, half from import brands. "Verano will be at least that high because it competes in a segment in which there really is no entry vehicle." The 60-second Verano launch ad, which sets the tone for the vehicle as a car that is all about the unexpected, first aired during broadcast of the BCS. That ad was then cut down to two 30-second spots, says Bierley. One “Unexpected” vignette has a woman at a bar realizing that the guy who is sitting in with the band because the regular axe-man is sick is none other than Peter Frampton. "The idea is that unexpected pleasures are greatest part of life," says Bierley. The Verano does indeed have such surprises: on a cool morning, one will discover that it has a feature usually found at the higher realms of the luxury market: a heated steering wheel. The media buy for the five "Unexpected" ads as well as the two new ones, will pick up with "Celebrity Apprentice" and "NCAA Mens Basketball," says Bierley. He says the GM division needs a big stage for the smaller car. "We needed a place to be big where I could launch a vehicle to a wide audience. I need that big stage because we have lots of launches coming over several years. With football and basketball, fewer people TiVo the broadcast -- and frankly, the audience composition is great for us: they are college graduates, after all; an educated, affluent audience -- an alumnae audience." As part of the NCAA participation Buick will extend the Human Achievement cross-promotional campaign, a documentary series focused on former NCAA stars who go on to do good for their communities. "We will be continuing that with 20 new stories this year, and will have a 30-minute program on Human Achievement produced by Turner and running on CBS." And later this year there will be another roster of Verano ads as the company rolls out a turbo version of the car. "Right now, such technology as IntelliLink -- that's what we are leading with. Then we’ll talk about turbo," says Bierley.
If the Academy gave Oscars for ads, Samsung would have two on its shelf. Competing with a raft of tech and telecom brand spots, Samsung’s ads for its Galaxy Note and Smart TV with Smart Interaction pulled the evening’s highest Ace Scores, reports Ace Metrix. The Galaxy Note ad, spotlighting the device’s versatility (“It’s the best of a smartphone … and the best of a tablet”), drew a 686 score, while the Smart TV ad (showing a family “taking over” by using the TV’s voice and gesture control capabilities) drew a 665 score. With two exceptions, the rest of the top 10 were also ads for tech/mobile device brands. Google Plus’s “Instantly Saved” ranked #3 (633 score), and Sprint’s “No Limited for this Device” (618) ranked #5. Two Apple iPhone spots (“Road Trip” and “Command Your Phone to Do Anything”) came in sixth and eighth, with scores of 615 and 602, respectively. Both of those ads had debuted earlier in the month, and a new ad for the iPhone 4S (“iCloud Harmony”) failed to make the Oscars’ top 10. Only “Road Trip” outscored Apple’s Ace norm score of 607. AT&T’s ad for its Pantech Element “waterproof tablet” ranked ninth (599), and another Sprint ad for its data plan (showing a woman using data wherever she goes) grabbed 10th place (593). “It seems the Oscars are becoming a showcase for tech and telecom advertising,” observed Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll. “The battle between AT&T and Sprint was clearly being played out during Oscar commercial breaks, and Samsung’s bold and very effective moves in promoting its Galaxy Note and its new Smart TV paid off. “ Outside of tech/telecom, one of four new JCPenney ads starring Ellen DeGeneres aired during the show -- “Roman Returns” -- pulling the fourth-highest score (630). That spot –- which shows DeGeneres imagining trying to return a toga in ancient Rome and inspiring a citizens’ revolt in the process –- struck a chord with women 21 to 35 in particular, with outstanding Ace sub scores for “change,” “likeability,” and “attention,” reports Ace Metrix. But all of the spots were winners from Penney’s perspective, since the lowest-scoring one (552) still exceeded Penney’s own average Ace Score (516), as well as the average Ace for department-store ads (510). The ads clearly resonated with the Oscars’ heavily female audience, seeming to validate Penney’s refusal to knuckle under to One Million Moms’ threatened boycott of the retailer for choosing a gay celebrity as its spokeswoman. The other non-tech/device ad in the top 10: Subway’s “FebruANY is On!,” for its $5 Footlong promotion -- a rapid montage featuring a groundhog, a runway model, a kid on a skateboard and … toga-clad ancient Romans. (No doubt sheer coincidence that two Oscars spots used a Roman theme … although the notion occurs that our currently beleaguered national collective unconscious might be showing?) Low-Scoring Ads Interestingly, many of the 24 new ads among the total 37 aired during the Oscars failed to impress viewers. Stella Artois’ “Making of the Chalice” ad was the poorest-performing ad of the evening, with an Ace of 423. Two new ads from American Express -- one featuring renowned chef/restaurants founder Thomas Keller, the other with a “Power of Us” theme –- pulled scores of 427 and 502, respectively. Those scores are well below the norms for the brand and the financial category as a whole. Miracle Whip’s “Witch Hunt” and Hyundai Azera’s “Lots of Corn” ads rounded out the list of least-effective Oscar ads, scoring 500 and 466, respectively. Diet Coke’s new “Hollywood” ad, showing the beverage helping to fuel the efforts of behind-the-scenes movie pros, scored 533. The spot, which was labeled “boring” by many of the consumers polled, was particularly disappointing after Coke’s “stellar” showing for its Super Bowl ads, noted Ace Metrix. Hulu’s Oscars entry –- a new 60-second ad dubbed “Alien Forces” -- fared somewhat better (513) than its Super Bowl “Hulubratory” ad, which came in dead last among the game’s spots with a 438. Ace Scores, which range from 0 to 950, are based on surveying the reactions of a representative sample of the U.S. television-viewing audience. The overall scores reflect measurement of several attributes or sub scores, including relevance, persuasion, “watchability,” information and attention.
We are watching more TV -- but increasingly on our own schedules. And that means more overall TV viewing. Six years ago, DVR usage represented 1.6% of our overall TV time. Now that number is 8%, according to new Nielsen Company data. Female viewers 18-54 are the biggest viewing group when it comes to time allotted for DVR viewing, at 10%. Just this year, overall TV viewing -- live or time-shifted -- climbed 19 minutes over the first four weeks of the 2011-2012 season. In six years, the percentage of time for live TV viewing has dropped to 85% from 89%. About 40% of U.S. TV viewers have DVR units. Nielsen says 98% of homes own a TV and most have some kind of device hooked up to their television. Growth in DVR usage is high when looking at people who view shows that run opposite each other in the same time period on the same night. For example, in 2006, only 2.2% of viewers 18-49 tuned in to both "American Idol" and "NCIS," the top two programs that both aired at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. Now, in 2011, 7% of people 18-49 both watched "Castle" and "Hawaii Five-0" on Mondays at 10 p.m. Looking at devices connected to TVs, usage of DVD players has decreased across every demographic since 2007, while video game consoles have seen a rise. Video game console usage has climbed almost 40% to 3.9% of all TV time from 2.7%. Teens spend almost 11% of their total TV time with a video game console. Asians-Americans spend the least TV time of any ethnic group -- 49 hours and 14 minutes during the first four weeks of the broadcast season. But they have added the most TV time this season of any ethnic group (live or time-shifted), adding more than 50 minutes over 2010. Nielsen says African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans are actually spending less time watching TV in 2011 compared to 2010.
Game developers will soon have the ability to connect Total Immersion's augmented reality technology with Unity, creating D'Fusion for Unity, a gaming tool that will create immersive video games for consoles and smartphones and tablets. It joins brands like Volkswagen and Ray-Ban, which have created ad campaigns and platforms to allow consumers to try out their wares. Consumers who play video games on smartphones, Sony's PlayStation Vita, Microsoft's Xbox 360, 3D television and Web content can experience augmented reality by putting their image in the picture. Developers will have the ability to license the software development kit to create a variety of applications. Total Immersion has been experimenting with the technology, creating an AR Formula 1 game that runs on the Intel Ultrabook, which has both gesture detection and a Webcam that can track faces. The software inserts the player's face in a racing game complete with helmet behind the wheel of the car. The player holds up anything in the shape of a steering wheel that the camera would recognize. In the future, connected-TV manufacturers supporting 3D TV could increasingly turn to augmented reality to bring a more immersive experience to viewers. The technology will also change search through computer vision by providing a new way to interact with machines, according to Bruno Uzzan, Total Immersion CEO and co-founder. He says people will search "using your hands, face and eyes." In 2011, the company secured $5.5 million in venture-capital funding in a round led by Intel Capital, with existing backers Partech, iSource and Elaia Partners participating. The total raised came to more than $11 million. Total Immersion, which supports more than 6,000 developers and 100+ partners worldwide, is working with companies such as the eyewear company Ray-Ban, so people can try glasses by looking into a tablet. It gives consumers a way to try on virtual glasses. The display uses face tracking and augmented reality.
Sports fans still love their big screens, but new research indicates the Web is changing how athletics are enjoyed worldwide. Across Europe, the Web has surpassed TV as the primary platform for 18-to-35 viewers to watch their favorite sport, according to new research conducted by Havas Sport & Entertainment for the Global Sports Forum Barcelona. A full 36.1% of this prized demographic sign in online to watch their favorite sport or team play on a weekly basis, compared with just 32.1% who do so on television. This marks a significant shift from a year ago, when similar research conducted by Havas found the Europeans of prime age still preferred their sports on a TV. Advertisers, content providers, broadcasters, rightsholders and athletes will all be affected, according to Lucien Boyer, President and CEO of Havas Sport & Entertainment and General Commissioner of the GSFB. “The implications of this are huge and suggest the broadcast sales model for sport needs to be carefully considered in the future,” Boyer warned. “Whilst TV will clearly continue to remain of enormous importance, the younger generation choose to consume sport in a number of ways. The key now is to be a content provider that can satisfy the demands of sports fans across all platforms.” Stateside, the evidence suggests that more sports nuts are choosing to forgo pay-TV services for Internet services. According to The NPD Group, iVOD users reduced the time they spent watching television shows, news and sports via pay-TV companies by 12% between August 2010 and August 2011. In particular, the National Basketball Association is benefiting from its embrace of the Web. Last year, NBA.com reported more than 1.94 billion videos views, which represented an annual increase of more than 140%. The site also saw nearly 5.9 billion page-views -- an increase of more than 35% year-over-year. Just as consumers are moving online, however, media providers are rethinking their digital business models. After years of offering college hoops for free -- with ads, of course -- Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA recently unveiled a new tiered pricing and access model for this year’s on-demand March Madness offering. Now dubbed NCAA March Madness Live, full access to all 2012 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship games from March 7 to the April 2 finals will run $3.99 across Web, mobile and tablet screens. (Free streaming will still be available on NCAA.com, CBSSports.com and SI.com for select games.) Paid or not, the market for digital media and sports marketing and endorsements is increasing. Exceeding TV ad spending, digital media is expected to reach $77 billion by 2016, according to Forrester. Pro-athlete sponsorship dollars are also rising -- projected to exceed $38 billion by 2016, according to eMarketer.
Shifting its usual Tuesday lineup -- switching "American Idol" for "Glee" in particular -- gave Fox an easy win on the night. Fox grabbed a 5.0/13 for the night, a vast improvement from a 2.8/7 a week ago. CBS dipped one-tenth of rating point to a 2.8/7 from a 2.9/8; ABC was about the same at a 1.7/5. NBC gave up more than ABC, now down to a 1.6/4 from a 2.1/5. Univision was up to a 1.5/4 up from a 1.4/4; and CW gave back one-tenth of a rating point, to a 0.4/1 from a 0.5/1. A two-hour "Idol" between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. scored a 5.1 rating/13 share, although still down significantly from its numbers of a year ago. Still, "Idol" was above other competitors. For example, at 8 p.m., CBS' big "NCIS" slipped to a season-low 3.5/9, and NBC's "Biggest Loser" is now down to a season-low 2.0/5. But later in the evening, other shows had better luck. CBS' "NCIS: Los Angeles" at 9 p.m. gained a bit from the week before to a 3.1/8 at 9 p.m. Later on, at 10 p.m., NBC had better news with the season finale of "Parenthood" -- up to a 1.9/5 from a 1.7 rating a week ago. ABC remained even with its best-performing Tuesday show "Last Man Standing," with a 2.2/6, at 8 p.m. But "Cougar Town," "The River" and "Body of Proof" kept falling -- down to a 1.6/4, 1.5/4, and a 1.4/4, respectively. CBS' "Unforgettable" dropped to 5% for a series low, at 1.9/5. CW's "Ringer" fell to another series low with a 0.4/1 among adult 18-49 viewers, down from a 0.5 rating a week ago. A repeat of "Hart Of Dixie" took in a 0.3/1.
It's pre-upfront time and network executives are touting double-digit price increases. So what else is new? Speaking at a recent investor event, CBS Corp. President/CEO Les Moonves not only touted another round of big price hikes but said CBS would sell a bit more of its commercial inventory supply -- a little over 80% or so. The marketplace may in fact warrant this, but possibly not from the usual place -- TV advertiser demand. In fact, Nielsen numbers this past fall revealed that the number homes in the U.S. TV universe dropped for the first time since it started recording TV data -- to 114.7 million from 115.9 million homes. Why the slide? Some TV homes slipped into the cracks due to economic concerns, others due to alternative entertainment options, and others due to the digital TV changeover a couple of years back. It’s only a 1% decline, but points up seismic changes in the media/entertainment landscape. This means fewer possible homes for big TV advertising messages -- and not just for broadcast, but now cable networks as well. As you know, it's not all bad news. Last year's 10-17% price increases for cost per thousand viewers (CPMs) more than made up ground for many networks -- cable and broadcast -- especially for those that had year-to-year viewership declines in the mid-single-digit area. Some stock market analysts predict a somewhat less ebullient TV advertising market come this June/July, but still a strong-ish 8% price increase in the market. We can, of course, expect nothing less from network executives touting a strong TV advertising market. A slow, but continuing, improvement in the economy would seem to also contribute to these predictions. But increasingly all the reasons for where the upfront market will be -- even in future years – aren’t always apparent.
CIMM is taking a pro-active role in advancing new media nomenclature and processes with both its Lexicon(terms and definitions associated with Set-Top-Box data measurement) and Asset Identification Primer (glossary of asset terms). These documents form the basis of this column, which offers a common language for Set-Top-Box nomenclature that can expedite the roll-out of the data for its many industry applications. There are often several ways to describe the same measurement metric in media-speak. A good example is Reach (or Cume), which can be reported as a percentage (or in thousands). Reach is the unduplicated expanse of your content or your message whether it is measured in homes, viewers or set-top boxes, and whether it is based on time or quantity. With STB data, reach can be calculated to the second-by-second level which may or may not be meaningful to programmers or advertisers. Time will tell. Reach %See also: Cume % CIMM DEFINITION: The percentage of unduplicated homes, Set-Top Boxes or viewers who have viewed or tuned at least once during a time period or program or any piece of content. Reach (in thousands)See also: Cume (in thousands) CIMM DEFINITION: The total number of unduplicated homes, Set-Top Boxes or viewers who have viewed or tuned at least once during a time period or program or any piece of content. 3: The total number of people who have contacted at least once during a plan. An item is a daypart, program, spot. (Source: Kantar Media Audiences) Cume %See also: Reach CIMM DEFINITION : The unduplicated number (in thousands) of Set-Top Boxes or households or individuals exposed at least once to a channel, program or commercial in the specified time frame expressed as a percentage. (Source: Kantar Media Audiences and TRA) 2 : See Total Item Reach % below. Reach can be calculated for a spot, program, episode, network, genre, or brand. (Source: TiVo) Cume (in thousands)See also: Reach CIMM DEFINITION : The total accumulated number of Set-Top Boxes, households or individuals exposed at least once to a channel program or spot in the specified time frame expressed as a percentage of the designated universe. (Source: Kantar Media Audiences) 2: The number of unique projected In-Tab households who saw a given program, ad, half hour, etc., A household is counted as "having seen" if it was tuned to any second of the commercial (commercial cume / reach), or if it was tuned to at least six minutes of the program (program cume / reach). etc., (Source: TRA) Please refer to the CIMM Lexicon online at http://www.cimm-us.org/lexicon.htm for additional information on these and other terms.
More new TV video platforms will start this year. But there'll be a price to pay -- for all concerned. For CBS' Les Moonves, this will come in the form of new subscription video-on-demand services -- like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Moonves hopes that new companies will pay TV networks decent fees for airing older episodes of shows -- like Netflix does. In turn, consumers will also need to open their wallets. Viewers are getting primed for all this -- in different ways. For example, about half the country more or less delves into 'video-on-demand' of TV shows. That's right. But it isn't through traditional cable VOD-type services. It’s from home DVR units. If consumers are already paying a $5 or $6 DVR monthly fee to a TV/video multichannel distributor, there already is a connection. What’s needed now is a more savvy subscription VOD company, like Netflix, to market the transition. Right now, no single SVOD company has enough programming heft to make this a reality. Neither Netflix nor Amazon has a wide range of network and cable programming to convince consumers to make the switch. Even Hulu -- with the likes of NBC, Fox and ABC programs in its stables -- can't truly be pitched as a pseudo-DVR alternative. And TV viewers might always want a form of DVR under their control -- at least in the near term. For CBS and other companies, a new wave of SVOD services -- paying handsomely for older programs or year-old episodes of current series -- is a good deal. So are upcoming higher retransmission revenues. But not buying the likes of TV Guide Network or Hallmark Channel. That's because the goal is all about big-time costly programming, not something mid-size channels or others can support. That said, even CBS wants to start producing more for the bigger general interest cable networks. But that would just be a starting platform to sell shows internationally and digitally. For many networks -- cable and broadcast -- big time-shows will continue to demand big dollars. Somehow and somewhere, new VOD services will have to adjust to those business metrics.