The Wall Street Journal polled ad industry luminaries, and reports that digital media are breathing life into the supposedly declining TV commercial, print ad and print catalog formats. Google for example has unveiled an app to aggregate print catalogs, including those for LL Bean and Pottery Barn. iPads provide a new platform for print ads, and YouTube enables commercials to go viral. (As of this writing, that Volkswagen commercial with a boy in a Darth Vader mask has had 48 million views.) WSJ expects “couch potato gatherings” to gain steam, with viewers using virtual communities to meet and comment during broadcasts. “TV networks will pump it up because it encourages live watching and thus commercial watching,” CEO Daniel Khabie of Digitaria (a digital marketing firm) told WSJ.
Khabie and other interviewees predicted “Facebook fatigue,” spurred largely by advertising, alas. But large brands will tie their identities to social marketing, chiefly through a Facebook presence, if not through Facebook ads. Mobile devices will be a powerful advertising outlet, as “the link between mobile and commercial thickens” in 2012, speculates the CEO of Digitas North America. Finally, interviewers expect advertising to become more targeted, more sexual and foul mouthed, and light hearted.
Big Gains in Streaming, eReading, but Cable Loses Finds Deloitte
Deloitte has found that consumers demand accessibility now—good news for smart phone providers, bad for cable companies. Deloitte in its sixth annual State of the Media Democracy survey polled 2,000 consumers aged 14 to 75 on their digital movie, cable and reading habits. Deloitte found significant shifts from earlier findings.
It all comes down to accessibility: appetites for content are not shrinking, but are shifting platforms. “Consumers may be watching fewer television shows and movies on TV, or reading fewer physical copies of books and newspapers, but they have not stopped consuming the content. They are simply watching or reading on different media or platforms,” said Phil Asmundson, vice chairman and U.S. media & telecommunications sector leader, Deloitte LLP.
Among Deloitte’s findings on movies—
• 42% reported streaming a movie, versus 28% in 2009;
• 14% favor streaming a movie to a computer or television, versus 4% in 2009;
• 19% of consumers had not purchased or rented a movie in six months, versus 37% in 2007.
As for reading, 36% now prefer to download books, magazines and newspapers, up from 23% in 2007. Newspapers are finding new life from cell phones, with 11 percent of respondents between 23 and 28 prefer their newspapers online.
Deloitte also found that Americans value cable TV and satellite TV above most other services, but 9% have already “cut the cord” on cable, and another 11% are considering it. Poverty may be a cause, but 15 percent of respondents said that they will most likely download or stream their movies, television programs, and videos from online digital sources. Good news for Hulu and Netflix.
Device’s Screen Size May Determine Conversion Likelihood
While search advertisers experience higher click-through-rates for mobile phone and tablet search campaigns than for desktop search campaigns (at 166% and 137% respectively) according to a November 2011 report from Macquarie Group, those clicks are less likely to convert to sales in a direct relationship to screen size. The report employed Efficient Frontier advertiser data. Efficient Frontier found that mobile conversion rates were at just 31% of the average desktop campaign’s, while tablet conversion rates were much more on par (96%). Meanwhile, the average cost-per-click (CPC) on mobile phone search campaigns was slightly higher (108%) than for desktop search campaigns, although CPCs for tablet campaigns were on average 85% of desktop search campaign CPCs.
Chart: Online Video Consumers by Age
About this chart: Source: Frank N. Magin Associates, "Online Video Reaches New Heights In Digital Nation 2011," July 2011. The report is based on a nationally representative online survey of 2,482 people, ages 8 to 64. The study evaluates attitudes and behaviors of media and entertainment consumers. Data were collected from April 15 through April 20, 2011.
Report: CPG has Highest Category Spending for Online Video Ads
The CPG category remains the top online video ad spender in Q1 2011 at 28%, according to the "Q1 2011 Video Advertising Metrics Report," from YuMe. Share of spend by second-ranked telecom advertisers increased significantly from an average of 6% in 2010 to 11% in Q1 2011.
In terms of formats, the report found that pre-roll continues to be the most utilized format, representing 92.4% of YuMe's volume in Q1, and mobile video ad impressions made up nearly 2% of impressions served.
In measuring video completion rates, the report found that for Q1, the male audience has a higher video completion rate at 79% vs. 65% for females. Comparatively, for 2010, the female audience had a higher video completion rate at 74% versus 67% for males.
Fox Modifies Next-Day Access to Online TV | CBS, Discovery to Air Professional Poker Series
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Fox has become the first network to effectively put its online television shows behind a paywall, writes Media Life Magazine. Previously, the network had posted fresh episodes of shows such as "Glee" and "Family Guy" on its web site 24 hours after they aired on television, free to anyone who wanted to watch. Starting Aug. 15, Fox will make those shows available to stream the next day only to paying subscribers of a cable or satellite provider that carries Fox or to subscribers to Hulu Plus, the video streaming site's premium service.
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TV watchdog Parents Television Council has its sights set on disrupting NBC's new drama "The Playboy Club," after finding controversial nudity clauses in the actors' contracts during the pilot season. Now, following a Mormon Church-owned Utah NBC affiliate's decision not to carry the show, the PTC is urging more stations to follow suit and preempt the drama set in the 1960s at the first Playboy Club in Chicago, according to Deadline Hollywood.
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Fox led Tuesday night ratings with an overall 2.5 rating/8 share in the 18-49 demo, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The network’s "Hell's Kitchen" was up a tenth to a 2.6 and "Master Chef" rose two tenths to a 2.4. NBC followed with a 2.5/7. "It's Worth What?" fell 22% from last week's premiere. The two-hour airing of "America's Got Talent" was down 6% to a 3.1. ABC scored an overall 1.2/4.
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CBS and Discovery's new Velocity Network will broadcast 20 hours of the Epic Poker League, a new pro league launching next month in Las Vegas. CBS will air seven hours of original programming, while Velocity will air 13 hours as well as re-air CBS' episodes. Pat O'Brien will host; dates and airtimes will be announced later, writes Deadline Hollywood.
Nielsen, Kantar Target Local TV Metrics | Taking Sides on FCC Broadband Plan
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Nielsen has made a multi-year deal with Kantar Media for its consumer viewing data from DirecTV set top boxes, a move that is expected to improve insights into local TV products and make a break away from diary-based measurement, writes Media Daily News. Nielsen will use Kantar Media's DIRECTView service in local TV audience measurement. Nielsen has developed a proprietary, hybrid methodology for the U.S. market that combines Nielsen's National People Meter panel data with set-top-box and other sources of data.
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is proposing a $2.7 million Democratic package of cuts and revenue-raisers that included spectrum auctions, according to a summary of the proposal. The plan anticipates $15 billion in "spectrum sales." Part of the proceeds from an incentive auction to reclaim broadcast spectrum for wireless broadband will go toward deficit reduction according to various bills now in Congress, reports Broadcasting & Cable
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Forty percent of full power local television stations in the U.S. could have to vacate their current TV channel assignment under the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, and a minimum of 210 of those stations could go off the air permanently, leaving entire cities dark, according to an NAB analysis. As well, the NAB found that top-ten TV markets would be dramatically impacted by the FCC proposal, with 73 stations in the largest ten markets going off the air.
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The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) issued a statement regarding the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) study on spectrum incentive auctions, including: “The NAB study sets up and knocks down a purely fictional straw man. The study presumes an unrealistic scenario in which every single existing TV station continues to operate over-the-air. However … it is highly likely numerous stations will capitalize on their spectrum assets by exiting the business or sharing resources.”
Chart: Online Video Completion Rate by Pre-Roll Length, Q1 2011
About this chart: Source: YuMe "Q1 2011 Video Advertising Metrics Report," June 2011. YuMe statistics presented in this report are generated from data recorded with each ad request and ad served across the YuMe network. The statistics are solely representative of YuMe's network and may not be a reflection of the overall online video marketplace.
Chart: Online Video Ad Unit Mix
About this chart: Source: YuMe "Q1 2011 Video Advertising Metrics Report," June 2011. YuMe statistics presented in this report are generated from data recorded with each ad request and ad served across the YuMe network. The statistics are solely representative of YuMe's network and may not be a reflection of the overall online video marketplace.
Chart: Online Video Demographics Requests, Q1 2011
About this chart: Source: YuMe "Q1 2011 Video Advertising Metrics Report," June 2011. YuMe statistics presented in this report are generated from data recorded with each ad request and ad served across the YuMe network. The statistics are solely representative of YuMe's network and may not be a reflection of the overall online video marketplace.