• FX's 'American Horror Story' And AMC's 'The Walking Dead' Challenge Content Concerns
    Is it possible for a series that fits squarely into the horror genre to survive on television? The debut of FX's "American Horror Story" and the second season of AMC's "The Walking Dead" will provide answers in the weeks to come.
  • Set-Top-Box Lexicon: Common Measurement Language - Ratings
    For the past three weeks we have explored common usage terms for advertising and audience measurements. This week we continue with this line of discussion with a review of all common ratings terms and their definitions.
  • Media Insights Q&A With Glen Friedman Of Ideas & Solutions!!
    Glen Friedman, owner of the consultancy Ideas and Solutions!! has been involved in the cable operator world for 30 years. In that time he has seen many changes and challenges to the business. In my interview with him, Glen gives us his insights into the changing television landscape and the impact that new technology has on the current operator model.
  • Did Digital Media Save Comedy?
    For years, we've debated whether digital media would undermine or strengthen the television business. The fear has been that if viewers could see television highlights online, they wouldn't bother to watch the actual show. Or that if they recorded an episode, they would fast-forward through the commercials. But if "SNL" is any kind of test case, I would say that, for now, digital media is a net plus for television.
  • The Pie Shrinks, But TV Hangs On Strong
    Another week, another market downturn. Economic news continues to bring the doom and gloom, and so does the outlook for the ad industry overall. But even as consumers and marketers keep tightening their belts, TV ad spending remains surprisingly buoyant.
  • Fox On, Fox Off: 'New Girl' And 'The X Factor' Open To Surprising Results
    The most interesting television news of Premiere Week 2011 is the comparative underperformance of "The X Factor," which Fox and series creator Simon Cowell figured was going to be the ratings behemoth of the fall season. While 12-plus million viewers for its Wednesday opener are nothing to sneeze at, being beaten by a double dose of a three-year-old sitcom and a seven-year-old procedural crime drama during the second half of a two-hour series premiere of what was supposed to be the mother of all big-budget competition series has got to hurt. (ABC's "Modern Family" and CBS' "Criminal Minds" each attracted …
  • Set-Top Box Lexicon: Common Measurement Language -- Averages and Proportions
    t's not just the buying and selling of time and eyeballs that makes a marketplace. Metrics must be used to measure the quality and quantity of the audiences. For the last two weeks, we provided some of the terms that were common to both the current ad sales marketplace and to the STB and Addressable Advertising arena. (Set-Top-Box Lexicon: Common Commercial Terms) This column explores some of the common audience measurement terms that can be used by all these platforms focusing on "Averages" and "Proportions":
  • Media Insights Q&A With Kantar's Jeff Boehme
    Jeff Boehme, CRO of Kantar, started his career in broadcast at NBC. From there he immersed himself in local cable at the NCC, which provided an excellent grounding in the potential of return-path data and its applications. From there to Nielsen and now at Kantar, Jeff is setting policy on data metrics and analytics. In my interview, Jeff talks about data as currency, the difference between MSO, Telco and Satco data, and offers some insights into what the future of research looks like.
  • Soap Opera's Swan Song Is Good For Women Who Refuse To Settle
    With the end of the television version of long-time serials "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" on the heels of the demise of "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light" (the longest-running program in the history of television), it is time to look at what these changes signify. While the latest casualties of the soap opera bloodbath are getting a respite thanks to a groundbreaking licensing deal that allows new episodes to be broadcast on the Internet, it is clear the genre is on its last legs.
  • Football, TV & The Ad-Edit Ratio
    Football is a funny thing in the TV world. It drives ratings through the roof and audiences to sofas across the country for hours at a stretch. It's a powerful mix, and one that brings out the best advertisers have to offer. And yet, here's the kicker, so to speak: There's actually not much football action to watch during a football game. In the three-plus hours it takes to broadcast a supposedly 60-minute football game, do you know how much time the teams actually spend playing the sport? Not quite 11 minutes!
« Previous Entries