I have seen a massive increase in the number of fake advertising emails being sent. I suggested some time ago that to slow down scam email is to attack this at the domain and hosting level. Specifically to change the ICANN rules to allow the USA and any other country to charge a a small fee for each email address per year. ICANN does nothing in the way of email security either through the servers, IP Addresses or hosting. I would propose $1.00 fee paid back to each country in exchange to have the email address verified. Maybe someone else has a better idea but this starts with out of the thinking to solve these sets of problems with email. 

While admirable, assume there are many caveats built in to protect the media vendor.  There are too many non-media factors that go into an actual purchase and thinking media is 100% responsible for purchase is too simplistic.  It opens up media vendors to factors beyond their control (price, promotion, weather anomalys, regulatory environments.etc...).

Not unexpected as BTS gave it a boost along with political ads. I wonder what the increase would have been without the political ads. September and October should be strong with the addition of football and man more political ads.

One comment about the old days. Way back in the 1970s, for example, the average prime time entertainment show on ABC, CBS and/or NBC was watched by approximately 10% of the population, meaning that an average viewer saw something like 10-12 of these shows weekly to say nothing of their tune in activities in other dayparts---these probbaly added another 10 shows. Extend this out to four weeks and the figures for an average person doubled. In other words, a typical American in those pre-cable, pre-SVOD, times watched about 40 different TV proframs per month---that's a lot of shows. And heavy viewers---the top quintile---mostb likely doubled this figure---consuming 75-80 different programs per month ---day, fringe, prime, etc. So it's not accurate to think of the old days as a time when we watched a few very popular shows---"All In The Family", "Marcus Welby, MD", "Happy Days", etc.  There were plenty of hits in prime time and elsewhere---Carson"s "Tonight Show", "The CBS Evening News", "General Hospital", "The Mike Douglas Show", Sunday Afternoon Pro football, ---the list goes on and on. What's happened is an explosion of program sources of all types has fragmented audiences to the point where a super hit primetime series is lucky to reach 6-7% of the population per episode, while the broadcast network norm  is more like 2% and the average  minute rating for all shows--- many thousands of them---is approximately one tenth of a decimal point. Seen in this context, any show which gets 5-7 million people to watch it ---even if this is less than last year---is doing pretty  well.  

Not only is there lkely a reduced community viewing effect, there are also likely fewer people willing to invest time in watching the glitterati scold the un-woke for not thinking, speaking, and doing the Correct Things.

Thanks Paula. Yes. Your cricisms are certainly appropriate for many internship programs out there. And yes, we do offer them for folks doing mid-career changes. We had one this summer. I think that those will be bigger and bigger parts of internship program, particulalry with the rise in bootcamps.

I take and appreciate your reading my comment and criticism as I believe your company would be fair and diverse just as some others do. But so many are far from what a Dave Morgan does. Now that I opened my big mouth and received your response, we know. Also, would you encourage companies to extend internships to people who are changing careers at any age ? Although you are probably doing that too, people listen to what you have to say, not me.

The answer to your question, Wayne is that you must show your would be "partner" that you will be able to sell a ton of "addressable" time in their program content and give them much more money in return for alowing you access than they would get by selling the time themselves. So far, that's a proposition that nobody has been able to sell with any degree of credibility. Of course, you could guarantee the "partner" network the income---providing it's  a  meaningful amount---even if you aren't certain that you can make such sales in sufficient quantity---but that's a very high risk gambit that few sensible sales organizations will want to try---even if management OKs it. Last, but not least, very few networks want to muddy the waters as well as tarnishing their image by alowing somebody else to sell time in their "premium" content---except for last minute, distressed merchandise GRPs caused by sudden cancellations or time in almost zero rated late, late night fare that is a bother for their sales force to handle. So the solution my be to simply buy one or more networks and see if you can convert them into full or partial "addressable TV" channels---but, that will be very costly and certainly a  super high risk ploy.

HAHA... love that they are contributing lower numbers to everything EXCEPT the #boycott by fans. People are sick of politics in sports, and until sports figures this out, the numbers will be lower. Just look at what's happened to the Oscars viewership over the last few years.

Great analysas of why viewing is down.  However, NO mention of SJW on the playing field.  I guess that may have had absolutely ZERO effect on viewership, even though there are a sizeable number of FORMER fans who say, BS to all the Social Justice postering.   There are some who say..Please, Just play ball, just entertain.  Do you SJW work Off the Field.  But that had zero to do with the ratings.  SMH

Thanks Conor and totally agree. We need to create ways for entry level talent to come into our industry. We can't just wait until they aready have experience elsewhere. We will lose them.

I am seeing the 4.6 number optimistic. In past years the Christmas season starts in mid August and yet I am not seeing the Christmas advertising season in mid September.  Further I look at campaigns in real time in online promotions. Maybe there is a bigger silent shift to online shopping that is happening but for now, the advertisers are being very quiet. 

Thanks Tony and Ed.

I'll chip in a thought or two.

First, I am pleased to read that it is "intentionally designed to be advertiser-centric".   By that, I read that it will be advertiser funded.  (OK, OK ... I know ... it is snowing in hell).

Second, have a peek at what our TV currency provider here downunder, OzTAM, is working on and planning to release next year.   It is called VOZ - Virtual Australia.   It is a meld of panel data (good for cross-device and duplication, as well as the base for broadcast), server-side data (digital 'impressions'), and Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data (our most accurate count of people, age, gender, location).   Flipping it all on its head, what if we had a data base of our 25 million population that were 'pseudo-respondents' (i.e. it will always add up to the official population) onto which we overlaid TV viewing data via any device that is 'average minute', time-based, and preserves the duplication to allow robust R&F calculation?   Yep, it is looking very promising.   Caveat, it is broadcast TV centric at this stage - because they are paying for it.

Third, I agree with 'what constitutes an ad impression'?   There are two major factors here.  First, how many people potentially exposed to the ad-break.   But in IMHO, the singularly most important factor is the ad itself.   Run a crap ad and you will lose your audience.   Whose fault is that?   Hardly the broadcaster!   So should ads that under-perform to the adbbreak norm, and lose 'ad-break audience' be surcharged for losing audience to other ads and the programme itself.   Advertisers ... just be careful what you wish for.

I'm thinking of launching a new service.   Plus+.

I agree Ed.   I doubt that NBCU will have the necessary granularity of the data.

For example, and focussing just on video ads (which is what I think NBCU is meaning when they use the word "Total") will they have accurate media investment on other TV channels, casble, streaming, online video etc. in order to establish NBCU's impact amongst all the activity.

Then throw in the other support media, say, radio and OOH.

Oh, and then there is price activity.   Not only for the brand being advertised, but for competitive brands in that category.   Maybe distribution or supply have altered during that period for the brand and its competitors.   I hope the weather didn't have an impact too.

And the beat goes on. I agree, Tony, but no matter how often a few of us point out the inherent fallacies, we are hopelessly outnumbered and our voices will be drowned out by the pressure to develop one-size-fits- all "metrics" that are based almost exclusively on devices being on and content being on-screen, without concern---aside from lip service---about anyone being there or actually watching an ad message. Also, the only path that can ever bear fruit is one that is fair and reasonable for both buyer and seller. Trying to force sellers to guarantee results---website visits, clickthroughs, ad awareness, sales?---- isn't fair or even logical as that is not the business the sellers are in.It's like demanding that the U.S. Postal Service guarantee responses---or sales?--when it delivers  direct mail pieces to lists of prospective customers. 

Good oints Dave Morgan, Nowadays companies are looking for candidates with years of experience - however no one is willing to give the step up. 
The value of an internship is only as good at how well it is managed.

Paula, ypur criticism is unfair and without any justification. The majority of our internships were paid, and well paid. We sought candidates far beyond the network of people that work at the company, working directly with a number of schools and organizations to find them. In fact, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter and racial inequaity movement, our company employees voted to establish two paid internships in product management dedicated to Black students at public universiies and schools where tech companies do not typically recruit. We found two outstanding students, whch just goes to show you that the best way to build a more diverse workforce is to grow the pool of candidates.

Internships that do not pay a living wage only perpetuate economic, racial and sterotype divides. They favor friends of friends kids, too for legacy appointments and totally keep class prejudice alive and well giving companies workers they do not have to pay. Very disappointed with this internship evaluation.

Agreed!  A very bumpy ride indeed!
Beyond all the highly complex technical issues, this document is referred to under the guise of cross-media measurement.  However, the WFA unabashedly and understandably noted that this an "advertiser-centric framework".  This raises a fundmantal question: "Does this proposed approach, which actually addresses Ad Effectiveness Measurement (the advertiser’s fully understood Holy Grail of which Media is merely an important driving component of many), burden the media with far more than they are responsible for or should be accountable for? 
That accountability is no more than, nor no less than delivering actual exposure to the content and/or the ads to the specified target group in a "suitable" and non-toxic  environment. i.e. delivering "contacts" and not, underlined not, "gross impressions" however "impressions" might be misguidedly defined. And, beyond that, the most important media metric deliverable to advertisers, unduplicated reach of those exposed in the target group within defined time periods.
Media's deliverable is reflected by Level 3, Advertising Exposure in The ARF Media Model. Ultimate brand effects and/or sales are reflected by Level 8, Sales Response!  Achieving Levels 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are driven by numerous powerful elements in addition to the media vehicles used in the brand's marketing campaign.  Are you ready for the ride?  Stay tuned. 

This is a great idea and one that Meredith has been providing to advertisers in our digital, video and magazine properties for over 10 years with our Meredith Sales Guarantee. 

Great article!

When is reporting bias actually propoganda?  Here's what my students had to say...
http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2020/09/statistics-without-context-fake-news.html