Americans are spending 33+ hours per week watching video, and across numerous screens, according to the just-issued Nielsen Cross Platform Report. That is a lot of media time, but where to buy ad time? It depends who you are attempting to reach. Older viewers watch the most television. Young viewers are watching less, but as The New York Times describes it, "Youths are watching, but less often on TV."
Nielsen reported data for Q3 2010 and Q3 2011, year-over-year (YOY), and as Nielsen describes it, “changes are afoot” as consumers seek the options that make the most sense for them (usually depending upon their comfort with the Internet, or household income).
Younger viewers are spending less time watching TV, at 120.56 minutes per month, while those over 55 watch the most at 195.10 minutes per month. But the total viewer time is more even, taking into account mobile media and online. The upshot, says TechCrunch, is that “the issue isn’t as simple as switching from one medium to another,” for example, from TV to TV-over-Internet. Rather, with a “plethora of new TV consumption choices,” the mix is inconsistent, even among viewers in the same household.
Three quarters (75.3%) surveyed pay for broadband Internet, up from 70.9% in 2011. Fully 90.4% pay for cable, telco-provided TV or satellite. Also, homes with both paid TV and broadband increased 5.5% since last year.
The number of homes subscribing to wired cable decreased 4.1% over the past 12 months, while telco-provided and satellite TV increased by 21.1% and 2.1%.
Although they comprise less than 5% of TV households, homes with both broadband Internet and broadcast TV are on the rise, having grown 22.8% over the last year. In those households, viewers stream twice as much video content as do the average households, and watch half as much broadcast TV.
Among other findings for Q3 2011, YOY:
- Households watching time-shifted TV increased by 65.9% YOY
- Mobile video viewing increased by 205.7% increase in users
- TV over Internet increased by 21.7%
- Asian wired cable subscribers declined from nearly 66% to 51%
- 12% of Asians opt for telco delivery, up 3% YOY
- Hispanic homes are more likely to be broadcast only at 15%, or satellite connected at 34%, than any other ethnic demographic.
Upfront Digital: Highly Social Super Bowl | DooGooders on YouTube | “The Daily” Fails to Reinvent
- Metrics are in for the “Social Super Bowl”: Bluefin Labs, which analyzes social media commentary during broadcasts, clocked 11.5 million comments during last night’s game, up more than six times over last year’s broadcast, reports AllThingsD. Bluefin rival Trendrr clocked 15.8 million comments, up from 3.01 million in 2011.
- Social Times reports that YouTube has joined with See3 Communications for the third year to present their DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards, which honors members of the YouTube Nonprofit Program. Contestants are invited to submit non-profit videos by February 29, to compete for small grants and of course, magnificent PR.
- “The Daily,” the Rupert Murdoch/Steve Jobs digital-only newspaper, is struggling, reports the New York Times. A year ago Murdoch introduced the $30 million tablet-only publication, which Murdoch predicted would save the news publishing industry. But with 100,000 subscribers paying 99 cents a week, The Daily is on par to break even in five years—which is typical of a print newspaper.
- Also from the New York Times, Spin Media (of Spin Magazine) is expected to enter the Pandora/Spotify rivalry today, by announcing an overhaul for Spin.com, to offer a streaming music player; nine new blogs; and Internet-only content, including news and music reviews. The music player will sit in a banner on the homepage, and a new toolbar will allow users to share content and video on, for example, Facebook and Twitter.
Upfront Digital: Apple Shops for TV Parts | Too Much Ad Space | MS Anti-Google Ad
Upfront Digital:
• Apple has been “shopping around for TV parts,” reports AllThingsD, meaning an Apple-platform smart TV is inching toward reality. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients that Apple has been talking to TV component vendors. This following some January meetings in Asia, supposedly to scope out manufacturing facilities, which led Piper Jaffray to believe Apple is looking to manufacture large-scale LCD displays.
• Citing “inventory oversupply” in the mobile ad space, Digiday reports that during Q3 of 2011, only 18 percent of impressions were filled by the top 20 U.S. mobile ad networks, and 10 percent worldwide. This says Digiday makes it “increasingly difficult for publishers to generate revenues from their mobile audiences.”
• About.com (a New York Times company) with its evergreen content may not seem a serious ad outlet, but, it is serious enough for Charles Schwab and Procter & Gamble. Now the online outlet has launched Real Recipes, a free app for iPhone and iPod Touch, to deliver About.com’s “deep catalogue of culinary content” (more than 25,000 recipes and numerous menu-planning tools) to the digital space.
• Former “NBC Dateline” anchor will bypass television and anchor straight from the web, reports TV Newser. In a video message on the StonePhillipsReports.com website, Phillips declared that after 20 years in broadcast news, he will now report on stories important to himself. First out of the lineup—head injuries in youth football, in a story called “Hard Hits, Hard Numbers.” As yet, Phillips is not accepting advertising, just donations. Dateline NBC did not review Phillips’ contract in 2007, and he has not been on broadcast television since.
• In an attempt to promote its Bing search engine over Google, Microsoft has launched its “Putting People First” campaign in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today. As Social Times describes, Microsoft argues in the ad that Google sells out users to advertisers by using personal information to influence the type of advertising each customer sees. Microsoft products including Hotmail, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer and Bing, are far safer and more private, the company claims.
ESPN Chief: We’ll Protect Broadcaster Value From Online Erosion
ESPN is pay TV’s most expensive basic offering, observes Deadline Hollywood, at an estimated $4.69 per customer per month. Still, ESPN President John Skipper defends ESPN as “bringing great value and getting paid for that value.” Skipper made the remark at yesterday’s D: Dive Into Media conference, hosted by AllThingsD.
“The rates we get from distributors are directly correlated to the value we provide,” Skipper said. Moreover, Skipper will be certain that it retains its value, by closely guarding its TV viewership. ESPN acquires rights for its content on all devices, but Skipper pledges the channel will not use digital platforms to draw viewers away from cable and satellite. “We don’t cannibalize ourself, we use those platforms to cross-promote,” with mobile alerts and fantasy game applications, among other offerings.
Digital rights could give ESPN a leg up over such rising competitors as NBC Sports Network. But as AllThingsD describes, the value of that guarded distributorship is strong local ad sales, and the draw of 3-D and HD content, which ESPN has pioneered. Skipper added that he believes the espnW web site, a women’s sports outlet, will become a cable channel.
“Singletons” Ignored by Advertisers, But Spend $1.9 Trillion a Year
Advertisers are just waking up to unmarried adult “singletons,” according to a Fortune story. Despite the perception of miserable loners sitting at home, they socialize up to five nights a week, and spend more than $10,000 per person per year more than married counterparts with children.
The Fortune story was adapted from the book Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, by New York University sociology professor Eric Klinenberg. Among Klinenberg’s findings:
- 28% of U.S. households now consist of one person, 40% of city households
- Average per capita annual expenditure was $34,471 in 2010, versus $23,179 per person in high-income households with children
- The majority of singletons is female, at 18 million versus 14 million men
- 18-34 year olds are the smallest but fastest growing demographic
Singletons spend their discretionary income largely on socializing several nights a week at bars and restaurants, in special-interest clubs and joining gyms. This, speculated CEO David Eastman of advertising giant JWT, is why alcohol advertisers like Smirnoff now favor images of friends at communal tables, versus couples. Elsewhere, Nestlé reported that 90% of its Lean Cuisine meals are eaten alone, and failed when it attempted to market double-serving meals.
Still, the singleton demographic is largely untapped. Only a handful of big-ticket advertisers, including Norwegian Cruise Lines, Coldwell Banker, Lowe’s, Chevrolet and DeBeers have targeted singles. DeBeers now offers a “right-hand ring,” a diamond designed for single women, and Norwegian Cruise Lines offers “studio staterooms” for single travelers.
Nielsen: Sports Cable Ad Spend Skyrockets, Digital Audience Growing Rapidly
The advertising expenditure on national TV sports delivery grew $.6 billion year-over-year (YOY) in 2011, to reach $10.9 billion. That according to the just-released report Nielsen’s State of the Media: Year in Sports.
Nielsen measured the ad spend during sporting events on network and cable from Q4 2010 through Q3 2011. Cable is taking an increasing share of that spend, growing 37.3% YOY compared to 5.9% for sports ad spending in general.
“TV sports advertising is dominated by a few big spenders,” reports Nielsen, led by AT&T, Annheuser Busch (with the Bud Light brand), Verizon Wireless, McDonald’s and DIRECTV. The top 10 advertisers accounted for 26% of the total spend.
The increasing TV ad spend parallels the growth in content on national broadcast and cable TV; the more than 42,500 hours of live events represented a 5% increase over 2010.
Digital findings
Nielsen went on to break down trends among all major sports, and also for online, mobile and social media delivery. Some key findings:
- Brand recall was 33% higher for Super Bowl ads that directed viewers to link on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or other social media
- The mobile web audience among sports sites increased by 22% YOY
- The five most-used mobile sports apps were ESPN at 62%; NFL Live at 18%; Yahoo! Sports at 17%; MLB.com, 16%; and Fox Sports Mobile, 13%
Advertising to Millennials? Do It Digitally and Keep It Short, Says Study
“The 79 million Millennials in the U.S. have an estimated purchasing power of $170 billion dollars per year," said comScore Vice President Bert Miklosi. "Their comfort-level with the Internet and technology in general makes the digital medium an ideal platform for reaching these individuals.”
The digital market research firm has released its report Next-Generation Strategies for Advertising to Millennials. The report highlights results from the company’s study that identifies unique characteristics of the “Millennial generation” (persons born between 1981 and 2000, thus, 12-31 years of age). comScore examined Millennials’ responses to different types of advertising, including TV and digital, compared to older generations, and how marketers can most effectively target this demographic segment.
The medium is ideal, but the Millenial is generally more difficult to persuade via advertising than their older counterparts. This said Miklosi underscores “the importance of creative and messaging optimization in driving worthwhile returns from an investment in advertising to this segment.” Also true, to quote the report, “It is harder for advertising to achieve breakthrough and catch the attention of Millennials, who are notorious for multitasking and short attention spans.” In fact, their immediate recall is the lowest of any age group—at 43%, 9% lower than that of seniors. Still, their delayed recall was strongest among age groups, at 24%.
Courtesy comScore, Inc.
Other key findings:
- The defining characteristics of Millennials include their comfort-level with new technologies and cultural diversity, as well as being accustomed to on-demand access to entertainment, continual stimulation and extreme multitasking.
- Millennials tend to be less interested and more difficult to connect with, capture attention, impress, convince and entertain. Millennials also appear to be more price-sensitive, perhaps due to lower disposable incomes.
- Digital advertising performs better in relative terms among Millennials than does television advertising.
- Across generations including Millennials, the presence of key creative elements in advertising, coined by comScore as the Validated Drivers, were shown to relate strongly to successful advertising.
- Millennials are highly engaged with the content that they choose to view, within both television and digital environments. Engagement has been shown to amplify the effectiveness of advertising, so when targeting Millennials, it is important to utilize engaging content to help boost returns from investments in advertising.
ABC News, Yahoo! Launching Political Web Shows
ABC News and media partner Yahoo! will launch several new web-based political shows this week, reports TVNewser.
“George’s Bottom Line” launched this morning, with a full complement of powerhouse advertisers and brands, including Expedia and Nestle. Expedia purchased both in-stream and column ads. Tomorrow, the network and Yahoo! will debut “Political Punch with Jake Tapper,” who is ABC’s senior White House correspondent.
Tapper told TVNewser that his goal is to bring his audience “behind the White House curtain,” for an insider’s look into both White House dealings and those of its press corps.
Two more properties are “Spinners and Winners with Jonathan Karl,” covering both Capital Hill and the 2012 presidential race; and “Politically Foul With John Berman,” wherein host Berman will “look at campaign news through the eyes of the ultimate referee, calling fouls and giving penalties.”
Nielsen Case Study: Local TV, Advertisers Gain Unduplicated Reach with Online Audience
Nielsen has released a case study revealing that in local markets, station websites contribute added reach to early and late news broadcasts—particularly among the 18-34 demographic.
Nielsen conducted the study along with TV operator Fisher Communications, focusing upon two Washington-based Fisher properties, being KOMO in Seattle and KATU in Oregon. Fisher reportedly wanted to better leverage its content and advertising inventory. Nielsen used its Single Home Among Nielsen’s findings:
- KOMO station earned an unduplicated audience of 2.9% from its website for persons 18 and older, comprising 10% of the combined reach of its 11pm news broadcast, Monday through Friday. The number is even higher for persons 18-34, with a 3.9% incremental reach and nearly 23% of the total combined reach.
- KATU added 2.8% incremental reach from online viewership, with the 25-54 demographic creating the highest boost. Katu.com contributed 14% of combined viewership.
The significance to advertisers is that, with precise measurements such as these and integrated TV and Internet, marketers are “gaining the ability to better package local ad inventory” and to amplify local TV audience value. Precision attracts advertisers to spend more locally.
However, those advertisers must pay attention to the demographics cross-media, which differ. KOMO news broadcast viewers are predominantly female, while online viewers are predominantly male. And, online viewers included a higher percentage of mid-range income ($50,000 - $99,000) than any of its three daily news broadcasts.
Nielsen expects that with findings like these, TV outlets will use on-air broadcasts to more heavily promote their websites; and to promote cross-media advertising.
Hit Music Central Slates Live-Performance TV Show for April
NBC Nonstop, the digital cable channel serving major markets, will debut Hit Music Central USA (HMC) in April. This one-hour music series will include live performances by musicians in all genres. As All Access Music Group describes it, HMC will be a broadcast and “social TV” experience, with the audience engaging online and through mobile devices. HMC will push its conent out to fans through hitmusiccentral.com, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Producer NFocus Entertainment has released a 10-minute “sizzle reel” of the show’s first recording, featuring rock band “Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.” The reel shows a bottom-screen ticker of enthusiastic viewer comments (“OMG! I SAW THEM PLAY AT WILTERN LAST NIGHT!”) and the show’s mechanism for submitting those comments via text message or the HMC site. The reel went on to a live interview with R&B artist C.J. Hilton, then a performance. Production values are flashy and clean, and the broadcast moves along at a rapid clip. Reflecting its interactive content, 20-something co-hosts actor Bryton James and fashion model Patricia Kara enthuse that “Hit Music Central USA is about to…plug you in!”
The show will initially air on NBC Nonstop in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, among 10 major markets, and NFocus is claiming 20 million potential households.
