Expect some troubling periods for most traditional U.S. media owners in 2013 -- with new digital media platforms finding more upside.Magna Global expects overall growth will climb 2.7% to $154 billion in U.S. advertising revenues for 2013. This is slightly down from its earlier 2.8% projection. The media agency unit estimates core advertisers will only be up 0.6% this year.Expect television revenues to show a more severe decline in 2013 -- to 3%. An earlier forecast said TV would sink 1.4%.Last year, total television was up 7.2% to $62.7 billion. English-speaking national broadcast TV networks advertising revenues were up 2.2% to $13.7 billion (when including Olympic advertising). Local TV stations were 13.4% higher to $22.6 billion, and national cable networks 5.1% higher to $23 billion. Magna says national cable represents 59% of total national television revenues compared to 40% in 2001.Magna Global stated: "Since the beginning of the broadcast season in September, the scatter market prices have showed very little “premium” over the upfront CPM inflation, despite the fact that prime-time ratings have been weaker than expected -- [down] 5% for broadcast networks, 2% [lower] for cable networks, on adults 18-49, including sports... Broadcasters had to serve extra spots to meet their guaranteed impact. That unusual pattern reveals weak demand."In 2013, Magna says English-speaking national broadcast TV will continue to suffer but less so, down 1.8% this year. National cable will continue to see growth, up 4%, with local TV up 1.4% -- but will see a 9.1% decline when accounting for the lack of political advertising.On the flip side, digital media will climb 14.2% to $41.5 billion in 2013 and mobile advertising will soar 55% to $4.5 billion.In 2012, digital media grew by 14.4% to $36.3 billion with online video up 15%, reaching $2 billion in advertising revenue. Mobile advertising doubled its take $3 billion. Traditional banner ad revenues were slow moving -- with just 1.5% growth to $13.7 billion. Magna says this was due to price declines.There was a 6.8% decline for magazines in 2012 and a 6.5% drop for newspapers. Expect more of the same in 2013, with magazines slipping 7.3% and newspapers off 7.9%. Outdoor advertising, which will grow 3.6% in 2013, was up 4.6% in 2012. Broadcast and satellite radio (excluding digital) added on 0.6% to $15.3 billion. Magna says it will climb by about the same amount in 2013 -- 0.5%.
Further blurring the line between TV and Web experiences, app publisher Flingo is inviting advertisers to serve interactive video messages over multiple platforms. Courtesy of a new partnership with video technology platform Innovid, Flingo is offering advertisers interactive pre-roll video ads on smart TVs. Innovid’s so-called iRoll format allows marketers to insert interactive elements in video, including games, contest entries, social apps and coupons. Regardless of what gadget or console consumers prefer, Flingo is trying to heighten its engagement levels in a measurable way, according to Ashwin Navin, Flingo founder and CEO. “We are enabling advertisers to bring the rich interactions and measurability that brands love about online advertising within TVs,” said Navin. The deal builds on Flingo’s recently launched Samba platform, which allows users to connect their TVs and mobile devices through proprietary “automatic content recognition” technology. Samba enables advertisers to serve additional product and service information to viewers directly through their smart TVs, or devices synchronized with their TVs such as tablets and smartphones. Innovid also believes that iRoll’s direct-response capabilities can shorten sales cycles for marketers. Founded in 2008, Flingo claims to currently reach about 18 million screens in over 100 countries around the globe. Flingo competes against -- and in some cases partners with -- a cadre of over-the-top TV services. (Roku recently announced a partnership with Flingo, which promised the set-top-box maker 70 new channels, including TMZ, History Channel, and CollegeHumor.) Flingo, however, doesn’t require users to attach a separate device to their TVs. Rather, its software comes pre-loaded through partnerships with the TV manufacturers.
Looking for true love as Valentine's Day approaches? Zoosk found it on YouTube. The free dating site launched a Heart Friend puppet campaign video, their first YouTube-only social push with no traditional media support on television, radio or print. The video features a single woman, Liz, and her sassy red heart puppet friend. The heart tried to convince her to data certain men found on the site, fitting the description of a mountain man. Romain Galoisy, VP of marketing at Zoosk, said the company began using YouTube in late December, and only recently decided to launch a YouTube-only video campaign. The video went live Wednesday. "Being online has its advantages to television, print and radio because it's very measureable," he said. Considering stats from the previous video, created by San Francisco advertising agency Camp + King, some might consider the two a match made online. Galoisy said the site will measure reach and frequency to determine the video's success. Brand surveys will run post-campaign at the end of the month. The prior video has more than 100 million cumulative impressions, of which 14 million have been watched to completion, helping Zoosk reach new potential customers and drive awareness for their brand. The video has 769 likes on YouTube, and was shared nearly 500 times on Facebook. Zoosk allows members to create a profile, search others profiles, post photos and message each other. Since launching in December 2007, the company has grown to more than 50 million users in 70 countries, and is available in more than 25 languages. The company has received to date $40.5 million in funding, according to Wedbush Securities.
Online video ad buying platform TubeMogul this morning unveiled a deal with audience data management firm Lotame that will enable TubeMogul’s customers to utilize “pre-packaged audience segments” from Lotame to help them target online video audience buys.The deal will enable advertisers and agencies using TubeMogul to access up to 140 Lotame audience segments, along with the exact sites and geographic regions where an ad will run.Customers of Lotame’s Crowd Control DMP will also be able to share custom audience segments directly into their TubeMogul accounts so they can easily target these video audiences based on their own audience segments. “Brands are skeptical of audience data for legitimate reasons, but Lotame took the right approach building around lifting branding metrics,” TubeMogul CEO and Co-founder Brett Wilson states. “Marketers can test the results for themselves.”
I was in the middle of reading the ever-thoughtful Tessa Wegert's column on sponsore d tweets when I again suffered a momentary case of advertising fatigue. Given that most who read this column are somehow connected to advertising -- and everybody is in one way or another a target of someone's advertising -- I think it is perfectly normal to occasionally be crushed by the weight of its absurdity. Fear not, this is not another sophomoric rant on the evils of rampant commercialism ignited by advertising, or a claim that it has no impact on my buying decisions. I know it does. I think most American consumers don't really spend too much time thinking about advertising except when the seemingly endless pods interrupt their prime-time shows or something grabs their attention in the press (like the Atlantic/Scientology dust-up, or the perennial finding that ads for sugary foods are intentionally aimed at kids -- duh -- or the annual hyperbole around $4 million, 30-second Super Bowl spots). But I spend most of my day either reading about advertising or helping my clients get more -- or serve more -- of it. It often seems as if the ad industry has no restraint. If it could, it would put ads everywhere that allege to attract eyeballs, from the sides of trucks to the shoulders of prizefighters, from stencils on sidewalks to tiny little display ads impossible to read on your smartphone. Estimates vary from 245 to 3,000 ad exposures a day per person (although it is reasonable to assume we take no notice of most of it). The visual clutter becomes apparent when you visit European hamlets that allow no place-based public advertising and are refreshed by its absence. (Nor are you consuming much media on such a trip, since most of it is in a language you don't speak, providing yet another breather.) It’s interesting to ponder the efforts that go into trying to push advertising into every conceivable form of communications: TV, print, radio, online, mobile, tablets and every platform within those media, from social to search from display to video -- and within those, ways to try and grab the attention of the user, from behavioral targeting, semantic targeting, contextual targeting, image targeting, to pop-ups and interstitials from screen bugs to scented pages, from "native" adverting to sponsored content (if those are not simply one and the same). And as if in some Alice in Wonderland parable, there are the efforts within each of those to squeeze out the nth degree of efficiency, such as DSPs, SSPs, real-time collection and deployment of data, and optimization of everything from response to creative to conversion. Not to mention the imponderables such as "likes," attribution, viral, and "engagement." At times it seems as if the pursuit of the elusive right-ad, right-person, right-time is a programmatic goal itself oblivious to the fundamental mission of helping consumers make a more informed purchase decision. One supposes all this down-the-rabbit-hole activity will somehow make advertising more accountable and thus more efficient, so that in the utopian world of tomorrow, each of us would only see ads for what we are in market for at the moment, or ads would introduce us to a new brand or product that our geographical/physiological/navigational/media use data profile assures marketers we will like. But it’s unlikely that all the rest of advertising that is NOT perfectly targeted to us will disappear. And if not, what systems will be in place to assure we don't see it? Will Times Square start looking like the town centers of Alsfeld or Chioggia? Will ABC start looking like HBO? I am not overlooking the value exchange between "free content" (although with cable, broadband and mobile data costs ever creeping up, nothing is really free) and advertising. But I must say, from time to time it all seems exhaustingly overarching. And the Super Bowl hype is JUST starting.
It’s official -- we have survived another CES and have new trends to dissect and discuss. However, contrary to previous years, CES focused on a new tone for its 2013 conference -- and it can be summed up as “Born Mobile.” While mobile has been a key pillar to CES in the past, it always took the back seat to interactive TVs or new desktop technology. However, with Qualcomm opening the conference -- criticism of the keynote aside -- it was clear that we have entered the mobile generation. The mobile generation is a world where technology is linked to a seamless way of life and screens are not identified as first, second or third, but rather a mobile way of living. Mobile gets marketers closer to consumers than any other medium, and that notion rang true with the technology and innovations unveiled at CES. As I walked the show floor, the majority of booths were employing mobile either as a primary technology releasing new smartphones or tablets, or they were using mobile as an enabler across other devices. From lifestyle to entertainment and productivity technology, mobile was present across booths and brands as the “remote control” to daily life. Mobile Devices' "DNA": Awareness is Key The impressive presence of Qualcomm and Intel hinted that consumer habits may shift with the rollout of new mobile devices. Consumers may move beyond shopping for a phone or tablet that offers a certain design aesthetic to purchasing based on the “DNA” or internal organs of the device such as the processor. With the inspiring Qualcomm Snapdragon technology, complete with HD video and a sharp sound system, it is difficult to imagine consumers opting for mobile devices that do not support the microprocessor. While it is hard to become emotional about technology as small as a chip, Qualcomm made you realize the importance of what is working internally in a mobile device rather than the sleek external. Affordability, Durability and the Phablet Walking to Sony, Samsung, and new arrival Huawei, I instantly had a case of phone envy. All of the smartphone models boasted an uber-slim look with screen sizes that bridge the gap between phone and tablet, thus creating a new category -- the phablet. And many of the models, such as the Huawei Ascend, added a new level of durability such as offering water-resistant and dustproof devices. Speaking of Huawei, the Chinese manufacturer unveiled interesting smartphone models. All had the CES 2013 mobile trademarks: light, big screen, durable -- and most surprising, far more affordable than other devices. The Huawei Ascend D2 is not only an affordable device -- it reportedly offers a battery life double that of the iPhone 5, higher resolution for superior graphics and better touch technology, on top of its ability to face the perils of water and dust. As for the phablets at CES, Huawei also showcased the largest smartphone measuring 6.1 inches. While I did feel slightly odd holding the Huawei Ascend phablet, its bigger screen and sharp graphics will provide an interesting canvas for marketers to play with. The Connected World Powered by Mobile The connected home should feel repetitive after being unveiled at previous CES events. However, because of the evolving mobile space, the connected home might be a reality versus a scene coming out of "The Jetsons." LG offered the most impressive connected home display with its “Tag On” technology that can start everything from the vacuum bot to the washer. I can even receive recipes for dinner via mobile based on the ingredients tagged in the refrigerator. Many auto manufacturers showcased the connected car that seamlessly links with mobile devices, thus transforming the dashboard into a smartphone. Ford seemed to be the frontrunner in terms of the developers they are collaborating with. Everything from Pandora to WSJ, the Ford apps are set to transform the auto into another connected device via mobile. Connected entertainment or on-demand content powered by the cloud is officially a reality and a way to engage consumers when they are on the go. HBO Go and Xfinity just scratch the surface in terms of content accessibility as we are beginning to see personal owned content. For example, Ultraviolet showcased a service in which consumers can buy movies and not only receive the DVD, but have it saved via the cloud for across device viewing. This way the moving viewer can still consume content anytime and anywhere. A Walking Advertisement for Mobile Connectivity I was gifted a Jawbone UP over the holidays, which is an elegant wristband that tracks both sleep, food intake and activity while syncing up to my mobile device. Over the two days that I was at the show, I walked over 30,000 steps (or 15.2 miles). While my feet are still recovering, I realized that I was a walking example of mobile connectivity at CES via my Jawbone UP. The reason that marketers flock to CES en masse is that the trends and products unveiled at the conference will fundamentally influence how brands can connect with consumers. And if attendees learned anything from CES 2013, it is that we are part of the mobile generation and we are linked to the rest of the world because of our devices. In a short period of time, mobile devices have transformed into the remote control of our life and marketers need to embrace it. We are not just “Born Mobile” -- we are mobile, and this year’s CES has confirmed just that.