The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) has released its semiannual FAS-FAX report on U.S. consumer magazines, covering July to December 2011.
The champion among subscriptions: AARP [American Association of Retired People], The Magazine, with 22.4 million subscribers, closely followed by AARP: The Bulletin, with 22.2 million. But, these publications are benefits of AARP membership, with its 50+ demographic. Only two other titles in the list are membership-based, being AAA Living and American Legion Magazine.
Excluding those, Better Homes and Gardens tops the list, with 22.2 million subscribers—down just a hair from 2010. BHG (a Meredith title) claims a monthly readership of 38.33 million readers, 30.28 million of whom are women.
There is likely very little crossover in demographics between BHG and #4 on the list—Game Informer, covering the interactive gaming market. Publisher Sunrise Publications offers no insight into its demographics (which presumably reflects those of gamers, being largely male and under 30).
10% downtick at newsstands
Still, single-copy sales were down 9.96% during the period, which Media Life called the “steepest slide in the last four reporting periods.” Single-copy sales across 408 consumer titles dropped from 32,118,948 in the latter half of 2011 to 28,919,153. They were down 9.15% during the first half of 2011, and down down 7.27% latter 2010.
Ad pages were down in 2011 as well, and consumers likely cut back on impulse buys, particularly of celebrity titles like OK!. Newsstand sales of OK! plummeted 27.5%. Women’s titles suffered as well, with Oprah Winfrey’s O down 32%.
Still, publishers are pushing valiantly into the digital space—a good move: According researchers GfK MRI, almost three-quarters (71%) of tablet owners say they are interested in reading magazines on their devices. Publishers are not surrendering on the newsstands, either. Yesterday marked the launch of a revamped Ladies’ Home Journal, (12th among paid subscriberships in latter 2011, absent from the top 25 in newsstand sales). In addition to a new look and logo, the new content creation model invites readers for a stipend to submit personal growth stories—ostensibly for a more engaged readership.
Live Sports: 23 Million Tuned Into Super Bowl on Radio
Television is the preferred medium to watch sports, and streaming media has growth and buzz, but radio holds its own among sports listeners.
A total of 23.1 million listeners tuned in to hear Super Bowl XLVI on radio, reports Edison Research and network company Dial Global. That 23.1 figure stacks up nicely to the 111.3 million who watched the Super Bowl on television, and the 2.1 million who streamed it. Edison Research conducted the survey live via telephone interviews on Sunday, following the Giants 21-17 victory over the Patriots. That gives radio a 16.9% share among the three media. Listeners accessed the live broadcast in multiple environments, including the home, while driving, at work and other locations, and on over 680 stations nationwide.
While Honda, Coca-Cola and Budweiser reached the TV viewership, some big brands that reached the 23.1 million radio listeners included:
- Allstate
- Advance Auto Parts
- Go Daddy
- Subway
- Home Depot
“We are…excited, but not surprised, to see that our research findings highlight…the ongoing demand for radio broadcast coverage of live sporting events,” said David Landau, Co-President CEO of Dial Global. Edison conducted a similar survey in January, to find that 22.9 million people tuned in to radio broadcasts of AFC and NFC championship games on Sunday, January 22. An overwhelming majority of tuned in on AM or FM radio, versus Sirius XM or the Verizon Mobile App.
Dial Global has 100% coverage of the U.S., with a core demographic of adults 25-54.Dial broadcasts nearly 100 NFL games, exclusive NFL primetime games, the Playoffs and the Super Bowl. “Given the popularity of The Super Bowl as ‘television’s ultimate event’ where people actually look forward to the commercials and the halftime show, the number of radio listeners may come as a surprise to those who are not familiar with the significant reach of broadcast radio,” said Larry Rosin, Edison President.
Upfront TV: “Face Off” Again | BET’s Ambitious Plans | Oscar Spots Sold Out | News Nets Give Fs
- Syfy has renewed Face Off for a 10-episode third season, reports Multichannel News. The competition/elimination show pits special makeup artists against one another, with top Hollywood talent (e.g., Tom Savini of numerous Living Dead movies) as judges. Face Off airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m., and scored 2.5 million viewers for its January 11 Season 2 premiere.
- Black Entertainment Television (BET) has revealed what the LA Times calls an “ambitious development slate.” Among the offerings, a new sitcom from the Wayans family; “Gun Hill,” the channel’s first scripted drama; and projects involving minister T.D. Jakes, comedian-author Steve Harvey,actor Jamie Foxx and TV judge Greg Mathis.are behind various reality projects, including one series that will revamp "Showtime at the Apollo". BET also operates the BET Vertical AdNetwork, targeting the $821 billion buying power of African-Americans.
- Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger announced that ABC has sold out commercial time for this year’s 84th Annual Academy Awards broadcast on February 26. As the LA Times reports, Iger told analysts in an earnings conference call that this is unusually early to have offloaded all inventory, even with a few more spots for the 2012 broadcast than in 2011. ABC took an average $1.7 million per 30-second spot.
- News directors don’t think much of one another’s product revealed a survey by TVNewsCheck. news directors at stations across the U.S. were asked to grade networks on their overall journalistic quality. None received As, though NBC news scored highest, and Fox News Channel (FNC), lowest. Fox News scored highest in conservative bias, and MSNBC on liberal bias. The GPAs listed refer to the “grade point average” scale of 1-4. These figures are way out of whack with public sentiment: FNC just celebrated a decade run as the most watched cable news network, with MSNBC in the #2 slot.
Upfront Digital: NBC’s Straight-to-App Launch | Apple Targets App Bots | Subway Moves Digital Ad Buy
- NBC News launch its new documentary series “Hidden Planet” not on TV, but on the “Rock Center with Brian Williams” iPad app, reports Broadcasting & Cable in an exclusive. This will be the first time NBC has premiered a series that way. Episodes of the monthly series will be exclusive to the iPad app for one week, before it becomes available on RockCenterNBC.com. The series takes the veteran foreign correspondent to such exotic destinations as Timbuktu and the Sahara Desert—places generally off the news radar.
- Mobile app rankings (including those for digital magazines and newspapers) will not be manipulated, pledges Apple. As paidContent describes, the company has acknowledged that third parties are offering download-bot services to inflate app rankings; and to place favorable reviews on apps. Apple declined comment to paidContent, but quickly issued a statement on its developer site that “Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership.”
- Subway has moved its domestic digital ad business (including search, mobile and display ads) to MediaCom, and away from Publicis, reports ClickZ. The sandwich chain is reportedly consolidating its U.S. business, and MediaCom has managed Subway’s offline ad business since 2000. Kantar Media clocks Subway’s 2011 digital spend at about $12.7 million, excluding mobile, but the chain announced it will up that spending considerably in 2012.
- Elsewhere in digital/agency news, Ad Age discovered that AOL is searching for an agency to refresh its image and spread the word “why people should care about AOL again.” Supposedly, the company finds consumers vague on its value proposition. AOL struggles against competitors Google and Yahoo, has also struggled to support its Patch.com community news outlet, but has recently acquired online properties Techcrunch and the Huffington Post. AOL posted Q4 2011 display ad revenues at $363.8 million, up 10% year-over-year.
Upfront TV: “NCIS” at 200 | Super Bowl Tops Itself | “Voice” Soars | Hispanic News, English Language
- Kudos to CBS and “NCIS,” which tonight will air its 200th episode. The Navy/legal drama debuted in 2003, with actor Mark Harmon at the helm, who was best known for his work on NBC’s “St. Elsewhere,” and as a hunk-for-hire on such shows as “The West Wing.” “NCIS” has defied the approaching-a-decade malaise, delivering an average 22.7 million viewers for new episodes this season. 100 episodes is industry standard to reach syndication level. The record number of episodes in history television belongs to “Gunsmoke,” which ran for 20 seasons and 635 episodes.
- Super Bowl XLVI attracted a record 111.3 million total viewers, reports Media Life, to become the most-watched broadcast in television history. This is the third year running that the Super Bowl has set the record, held until 2010 by the series finale of "M*A*S*H" in 1983. It was also the highest-rated Super Bowl in 26 years, with an average 47.0 household rating and 71 share. The game took a 40.5 share among adults 18-49.
- The post-Super Bowl Season 2 premiere of “The Voice” on NBC took a 16.3 rating adult 18-49 rating, and 37.61 million viewers, reports TVByTheNumbers. This was NBC’s best rating for an entertainment telecast since the “Friends” finale in 2004, with a 24.9 share.
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that NBC’s WMAQ-TV Chicago had a right to deny long-shot GOP presidential candidate Randall Terry a Super Bowl ad spot, reports Broadcasting & Cable. FCC ruled that while broadcasters must make ad time available to qualified candidates, WMAQ judged fairly that Terry was unqualified, given his showing at the polls. The ad reportedly contained graphic images of aborted fetuses, which Terry believed was behind the denial.
- Univision and Disney are in talks for a Latino-oriented 24-hour cable news channel, in English. As TVNewsCheck reports, neither company will confirm or discuss the project, but are likely to launch the channel in time for the November presidential election. The 2010 census revealed that U.S. born Latinos comprise nearly 60% of the growth among U.S. Hispanics over the last decade, and that an increasing number speak English as a first language.
Super Bowl Mobile Traffic: Mobile Gaining First-Screen Status in Sports
Super Bowl viewers Tweeted, checked in on mobile sports sites and furiously commiserated on Facebook; but they took a break to watch Madonna’s half-time show.
Jumptap monitored traffic on its mobile ad network between 4 p.m. and midnight. Traffic on its mobile sports channel spiked after kickoff. This is evidence of a “clear trend of multi-screen usage” among sports viewers, one reason why “ESPN is now calling mobile the ‘first screen.’”
Jumptap recorded a dip of 47% in traffic during Madonna’s half-time show, which puzzled Jumptap blogger mduffy: “For me, this was the time to catch up on email,” or perhaps to share outrage over singer M.I.A.’s middle digit offense. Jumptap saw mobile traffic dip across its entire network, by 20%, not just on sports sites. The dip was closer to 40% in Boston and New York.
But traffic spiked at 9:45 p.m. on Jumptap’s sports channel by 275%, when the Giants won.
Mobile devices, long thought the “third screen” after television and computers, are climbing to first-screen status. ESPN’s mobile audience passed 20 million in 2011, with viewing time on mobile devices up 45% over 2010. “[Mobile] is the primary way we reach an audience,” said ESPN Mobile’s VP and General Manager Michael Bayle at the January MediaPost conference.
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.
Grammy Awards Partner with CBS for Three Days of Streaming Programming
Beginning Friday, the Grammy Awards will launch “Grammy Live,” three days of live-streaming and social media, reports GigaOM. The lineup includes anchored behind-the-scenes coverage from correspondents like Alison Haislip (former correspondent for The Voice) and one-time MTV Newser John Norris.
Last year, the Grammy Awards partnered with YouTube, using its then-in-beta live-streaming service for digital delivery. All told, the partnership was a success, but “Partnering with our network partner affords us enhanced opportunities,” “Grammy Live” executive producer Peter Anton told GigaOm; among them, more on-air mentions in prime time for the “Grammy Live” programming.
“Grammy Live” is promising an “exclusive VIP pass to all the excitement and glamour of GRAMMY Weekend, with an “insider’s view into the hottest…events,” such as the MusicCares Person of the Year event honoring Paul McCartney. But as GigaOM describes, there’s only so live the broadcast can get: each live performance during the ceremony must be OK’d by the artist and rights holders, meaning those performances are on a delay without any guarantee. Likely, viewers will tune into the awards on CBS but enjoy the remaining nearly 72 hours of programming online.
Upfront Digital: Sports Piracy | Google Underwhelms Subcommittee | Honda Wins with Bueller
- Sports piracy brings harsh justice, and from on high. The LA Times reports that federal authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have “blitzed” 16 websites illegally streaming sports events, and have brought criminal charges against the owner of nine of them. Police arrested Yonjo Quiroa, 28, of Comstock Park, Mich., and charged him with criminal copyright infringement. Quiroa live-streamed NFL, NBL, NHL and World Wrestling Federation events.
- Google’s talks with House lawmakers over privacy concerns “don’t seem to be going well at all,” reports AllThingsD. Two high-ranking Google officials met with members of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday, to discuss a new policy that unifies 60 Google services under a single user name. “[Google] danced around actual details, and instead spoke in generalities, highlighting their efforts to ‘enhance the user experience’,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. The proposed privacy changes would grant Google greater license to share user account information between services, outside of the users’ control.
- More grist for the Apple iOS versus Android mill: comScore reported that the Google Android platform took 47.3% share of the smart-phone platform market in December, versus Apple iOS at 29.6%. comScore believes Android’s popularity is the driving force behind Samsung’s 25.3% smart phone market share. That compared to That compared to Apple’s 12.4% share. Apple gained slightly Q3 to Q4, with a 2.2% bump while Samsung held steady.
- Honda proved cross-media value this week. As AdAge Digital reports, Honda’s Ferris Bueller-themed Super Bowl spot (one of the many leaked beforehand) collected 4.4 million views last week, on outlets led by YouTube. The company Visible Measures charted the top 10 ad views, most of them Super Bowl leaks. Second at 3.09 million views was Volkswagen’s “The Bark Side” ad, in which a bunch of dogs bark the Darth Vader theme from “Star Wars.”
- The Twitter Peek has died, reports Engadget. This toy-like Twitter-and-email-only handset, released by Peek in 2009, never caught fire. Its value proposition was $299 for a bare-bones device with lifelong mobile service. But the devices ceased to work on Monday, complained users. Peek CEO Amol Sarva, confirmed the death, and has no plans to replace the devices: Peek will stick to aftermarket software.
Upfront TV: Viacom Blames Nielsen & Nickelodeon | GM Cancels Half its Ads | “Beverly Hills Nannies”
- Viacom’s fourth-quarter cable unit ad revenue dropped 3%, reports Multichannel News, and Viacom is blaming Nielsen. Its kid-oriented Nickelodeon Channel has been on a double-digit decline since September. Viacom claims Nielsen’s measurements are inaccurate, and presented its own set-top-box data that shows steady ratings. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman claims that without the drop-off at Nickelodeon—toymakers weren’t about to advertise for Christmas on a sinking network—Viacom’s ad revenues would have been up for Q4.
- General Motors (GM) has cancelled almost half of its Q2 upfront buys in broadcast and cable, reports Adweek, the maximum allowable under standard network contracts. GM did the same in 2009, when cancelations ran around 15%. Procter & Gamble similarly pulled out of half its commitments that year. This may not be a sign of ill health for the #1 U.S., than a sign of streamlining. GM recently consolidated its global media buying and planning account with Carat, cutting loose several regional agencies.
- NBC will use ultra-slow-motion cameras in Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The Hi-Motion II cameras from NAC Image Technology allows for ultra-high-quality images (usually sacrificed in slo-mo), but at a 10X reduction in speed. 2X is more typical.
- ABC Family has ordered a new reality series, “Bevery Hills Nannies,” reports Entertainment Weekly. This docu-series will follow nannies who work in the 90210 area code. “Nannies” is produced by Evolution Media who are behind the “Real Housewives” Beverly Hills and Orange County franchises. ABC Family is home of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” and racier shows like “Pretty Little Liars.” Time will tell if “Nannies” will approach the violence and hijinx typical of the “Housewives” properties.
- While the wound does not appear fatal, “American Idol” continues to bleed. “Idol” on Wednesday drew a 5.9 rating among adults 18-49, reports TVByTheNumbers. That is down 9% from a 6.5 rating the prior Wednesday, and 34% from its third Wednesday telecast in 2011.