Media buyers and planners hoping to take advantage of Campaign 2012, take note: cable news leads the pack among sources, with local TV in second place, but on the decline. A surprising second-to-last, the Internet. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press’ 2012 campaign news survey discovered the trends in a January survey of 1,507 adults nationwide.
Pew reports that fewer Americans are closely following the campaign than four years ago, which has caused long-term and sharpening declines in the number of people tuning into local TV and network news.
Cable tops the sources in 2012, at 36%, but is only treading water. That despite the fact that cable nets have hosted most of the Republican debates, which are among a campaign year’s strongest draws. Almost half of Republicans (47%) watched a Republican debate during this campaign, up from 32% during the 2008 campaign.Still, cable news “reaches a substantial number across age and partisan lines,” reports Pew. Republicans tune into Fox News, Democrats into CNN and MSNBC.
Only 20% of Americans “regularly learn something” about the campaign or its candidates from local daily papers, a plummet from 31% in 2008. Local TV is down as well.
It is easy to blame it all on the Internet, but not so fast: the Internet as a source has gained only 1% since the 2008 campaign. The Internet had jumped from 13 to 24%, from campaign 2004 (Bush/Kerry) to campaign 2008 (McCain/Obama). Pew speculates that the Internet is the key source for a younger demographic, who are less likely to be Republican. Just 20% of those younger than 30 followed the campaign closely, down from 31% in 2008.
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.
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.
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.
Prepare for HuffPost Streaming Network
The online journal Huffington Post and owner AOL will launch a video-streaming network between Q2 and Q3, with 12 hours of programming running five days a week.
Journalist and founder Arianna Huffington announced the network yesterday in an enthusiastic post on her website, nicknamed “HuffPo.” As she described, AOL had acquired HuffPo a year ago this week. HuffPost Streaming Network will be overseen by founding editor Roy Sekoff and will sit on every available platform, including desktops, smartphones, tablets and “over-the-top TV,” that is, off network. “We won't be limited by the usual time constraints of TV,” claims Huffington.
While the network will launch with 12 hours of programming, HuffPo plans to increase that to 16 hours by end-of-year 2013. Sekoff described plans for a “never-ending talk show,” and plans to post 30,000 clips during the first year, writes WWD. Content will “emulate the online experience,” writes Huffington, with its impressive—albeit largely unqualified—statistics. Huffington claimed in her announcement the site has 36.2 million unique visitors a month, where its advertising section claims 28. Huffington further claims 253,331 new comments on a single day (January 25 2012) and 1.4 million Facebook referrals.
The Huffington Post advertiser section appears both on its site and on AOL, and enthuses to advertisers that it is “Breaking the news—and the mold.” HuffPo offers only vague statements about its demographic. Their breakdown of their reach:
- 12.8M women every month, who HuffPo reminds advertisers “control 85% of household spending”
- HuffPo visitors are “more likely to have a [household income] of over 150K than average internet users”
- “More likely to have a post-graduate degree than average internet users”
- “More likely to be business decision-makers than average internet users”
Nielsen’s Top Online Video Destinations for December: Rich Ad Opportunities
Nielsen has released its tally of unique U.S. video viewers for December 2012. All told, 164.3 million viewers streamed more than 22 billion videos, and spend more than 5 hours each watching online video.
YouTube as ahead at more than 131 million unique viewers; but, Nielsen offered no insights as to how many viewers watched ad-sponsored content. Second-place VEVO, with 39.7 million unique viewers, is entirely ad supported.
A fairly untapped ad outlet is the CollegeHumor Network clocked 19,261 unique users. CollegeHumor is one of four CH Media properties, and touts itself as “The best way to reach the male 18-49 demographic.” Its strongest advertiser in January is Comedy Central, with tower ads for its Tosh 2.0 series.
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.”
Reuters launches YouTube Channel
Reuters TV, a new YouTube channel, launched yesterday, and features commentary and analysis from news outlet Thomson Reuters. As TechCrunch observes, Reuters joins nearly 100 media partners on YouTube, including eHow, The Onion and The Wall Street Journal. But Jeuters TV “is arguably the biggest news provider…and plans for its newly arrived TV news channel are no small effort.”
Reuters plans 10 new shows on the channel, among them Reuters Investigates, featuring investigative journal and special reports; The Trail, with political reporters covering the campaign trail; and Freeland File, hosted by Reuters Digital editor who interviews top newsmakers. On launch day, Freeland interviewed Russian playboy billionaire and presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, who described his plan of reform for Russia.
Reuters has yet to arrange advertising for Reuters TV; its media guide lists numerous online ad opps with no sign of Reuters TV, even in its “Upcoming Opportunities” section. In in-line advertisements precede Reuters TV videos, as they routinely do on Car and Driver’s YouTube channel.
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.
Hulu Claims Largest Online Video Ad Share, Launches Original Programming
Online video provider Hulu grew 60% to $420 million in 2011, claims CEO Jason Kilar on the company’s blog. Kilar did not reveal figures, but claimed that the “innovative Hulu advertising service continues to lead the online video advertising market, with the largest market share of a rapidly expanding market.” The company claims to have served more than 1,000 brand advertisers since its 2008 launch. Among those 1,000 brands are Geico, Toyota Prius, Energizer, Home Improvement, Best Buy and 5-Hour Energy Drink.
“We are relentless in our mission to be the most effective video advertising service on the planet, which we believe is a function of respecting users and empowering them with tools like Hulu Ad Swap and Hulu Ad Selector.” Ad Swap enables viewers to instantly swap out ads they are watching for ones more relevant to them. Ad Selector similarly enables viewers to select from “which ad experience they prefer,” and the company claims 2 out of 3 viewers use the option. The advantage to advertisers, claims Hulu, is that they reach “a more engaged audience through consumer opt-in,” creating higher engagement, brand and message recall and purchase intent.
Yesterday, Hulu announced its slate of original programming for 2012, kicking off on February 14th with the series “Battleground.” This is an “The Office”-style dramedy surrounding a political campaign in Wisconsin, and features a largely 20-something cast. Hulu has renewed wiseguy documentarian Morgan Spurlock’s “A Day in the Life” for a second 10-episode season. Spurlock documents the daily routines of celebrities, and this season features comedian Marc Muron and UFC fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Finally, “Up To Speed” follows actor, tour guide and commentator Timothy "Speed" Levitch into on a tour of oddball corners of the US, such as the shoe gardens of San Francisco and “the luckiest subway grate in New York City.”
