Category: Television - Multi-Platform Mastermind

Time-Shifted TV Watching Rises, Net Use Dips

12/4/2013

by Wayne Friedman, Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Viewers watching time-shifted traditional TV continue to rise, but users of video on a computer -- as well as general computer usage -- declined in the third quarter of this year.

Users of time-shifted traditional TV have increased -- now up 11% to 167.1 million in the third quarter. This group now represents 59% of all traditional TV users, which rose slightly to 283.6 million.

Nielsen says there was a 9% decline in the number of users watching video on the Internet -- to 147.7 million on a monthly basis in the third quarter of 2013 versus the third quarter of a year ago. This comes from the latest Nielsen cross-platform media report.

The company also said the number of general users of the Internet via computer also dipped a bit -- 5% -- to 200.0 million versus the third quarter of 2012.

Mobile phone users have been going in the other direction. Analysts have said mobile and tablet usage growth will come at the expense of time spent with traditional computers.

For example, Nielsen says in the third quarter, there was a 40% rise in watching video on a mobile phone between August and October to 53.1 million users. Overall, mobile phone users rose slightly -- 1%, to 239.8 million.

TV Exposure Drives More New Customers To Brands Vs. Digital

9/20/2013

Wayne Friedman, Thursday, September 19, 2013

Not all media is created equal when delivery new and old consumers to brands.

In looking at one significant piece of research from a cross platform campaign, TiVo Research and Analytics (TRA) says TV drives more new customers to make sales, while digital media gets more business from existing customers.

When it comes to media exposure via TV, nearly 70% of purchasing household gains came from new customers that were new to the brand and category. Digital media activity gets more sales activity from existing brand customers than new customers.

The cross-media study was done last fall with Comcast Spotlight’s Comcast Media 360, a cross-platform advertising unit that surveyed 735,000 homes for a Starcom MediaVest Group consumer products marketer with consumers exposed to a cross-media television and digital advertising campaign.

Household advertising impressions were matched to TRA purchase data, with purchasing habits tracked for up to 20 weeks after the campaign ended.

The study also says digital media complements TV media; a targeted cross-media campaign produced a 10% sales lift. Nearly two-thirds of those who were exposed by the digital ads had little or no exposure to the TV campaign.

The survey also says higher TV ad frequency drives sales lift -- seven to 10 exposures of a TV commercial were the most effective. TRA says brand advertising from the campaign continue to create a sales lift after the campaign ended. After 20 weeks, sales from the exposed homes surpassed sales from the unexposed homes.

Tracey Scheppach, executive vice president of innovations at Starcom MediaVest Group, stated: “The study shows that cross-platform campaigns and measurement can be implemented at scale, and allow us unprecedented understanding of how multiple screens are working together.”

TV Viewers Use Twitter During Ads

9/20/2013

Wayne Friedman, Thursday, September 19, 2013

Good news for TV programmers: TV viewers use Twitter during their TV programming -- showing lots of engagement, according to analysts. The bad news? Many are also tweeting during commercials.

In analyzing some 59 episodes, a new Nielsen SocialGuide study shows that 30% of all those who tweeted did so during a program’s commercial time; with 70% of that tweet activity coming during program content.

The study also says “the more commercial time in a program, the more tweets were sent in commercial time.”

Where there was a high of 43% share of commercial time in a TV show, there was a 43% share of all tweets. Looking at the other end, a low 9% share of commercial time yielded a 8% share of tweet activity.

The study said there is little difference between the type of shows when this activity occurs. Where there was 35% share of commercial time in total airtime when it comes to comedy TV shows, there was 35% of all tweet activity happening in that commercial time.

Share of tweeting was about the same in reality TV shows as well -- a 28% share of commercial time in an entire program drew a 29% share of overall tweets. Drama TV offered a 29% share of commercial time and 28% share of tweets; and sports was at 24% for commercial time, with a 25% share of tweets.

Media Buyers Favor TV, But Digital, Video On Rise

8/22/2013

Media Buyers Favor TV, But Digital, Video On Rise
by Wayne Friedman, Wednesday, August 21, 2013

TV is still the most popular advertising tool for media buyers -- but at its lowest level in three years, according to a new survey.

Chicago-based Strata, the media-buying and selling software company, says TV remains the top advertising medium with 44% of survey respondents saying “they are more interested in advertising" on it. But this is the lowest score in three years.

Digital is now at 35% -- up from 16% a year ago. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed say advertisers will have greater spend on digital media platforms than traditional media in one to three years. Conversely, about the same number -- 27% -- say they don’t ever anticipate spending more on digital than traditional media.

Overall interest in video also remains high. There is a 61% interest in video -- TV, cable, network and digital streaming -- with 66% saying they are more interested in online video than last year. YouTube is the top online video site for media agencies at 69%. Hulu is next at 35%, and Netflix and social media video site Vine are tied for third at 14%.

Other older media continues to fall -- traditional radio advertising, for example. Eighty-six percent of media buyers say clients were interested at the same level or less than last year -- the lowest rate of interest for radio in 19 quarters.

Forty-one percent of media executives say “client attraction” remains a main goal, with 21% pointing to client spending is the second biggest challenge. Media executives say the ad economy generally looks healthy -- over half of the agencies polled experienced an increase in business compared to this time last year.

Digital Video Takes TV Dollars

8/20/2013

Buying digital video and TV ads together sees considerable interest Video is the fastest-growing digital ad format; eMarketer expects US digital video ad spend to rise by 41.4% this year and by nearly 40% next year as well, when outlays will reach $5.7 billion.

Findings from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) show that much of that increased digital video spending will come out of former TV budgets. Seventy percent of buy-side US senior executives told the IAB they would likely move TV dollars to digital video in the coming year. An even greater 75% of all US senior executives surveyed said the same, suggesting there is significant excitement around digital video from all corners. However, those on the buy side may be slightly more realistic about how budgets will really move.

As to which digital video ad formats would likely see the biggest bumps in investment, an April 2013 study from Be On, a division of AOL, found that 73% of marketers polled worldwide expected to increase spending on pre-roll ads over the next 12 months. Social video ads came in second, at 53% of respondents.

Putting dollars to digital video, though, does not have to mean leaving TV behind, and there are increasing opportunities for cross-platform ad campaigns, something marketers seem particularly excited about.

According to the IAB, nearly two-thirds of respondents who had previously launched cross-platform ad buys seemed happy enough with their results that they said they would increase their budget for combined TV and digital video buys going forward.

Seeking New TV Advertisers?

8/19/2013

Seeking New TV Advertisers? Look High And Low -- Income-Wise, That Is
by Wayne Friedman Monday, Aug. 19, 2013

Looking for TV viewers with a net worth of $1 million or an annual individual income of $200,000? Rich people still watch TV, I hear. But on really, really big TV screens -- like the size of your floor-to-ceiling living room wall.

Companies that market financial hedge funds are now allowed to advertise on TV, targeting wealthy individuals -- especially men. Think financial news channels like CNBC and Fox Business, sports networks like ESPN, as well as news channels , and network evening news broadcasts.

This might not be the biggest boon for TV networks looking for new advertisers to force up TV program prices. But new categories are always welcomed – and not just financial advertisers. Some are predicting the Affordable Care Act will spur new and old health care insurance companies to start doing heavy TV advertising -- up to $1 billion worth. Some years ago, the more relaxed regulations concerning consumer pharmaceutical TV ads brought the promise of some $500 million in new advertising -- which wasn’t fully realized, according to some analysts.

New programmatic systems -- by way of Visible World -- for TV could be another way to get new advertisers to enter the TV world, especially those direct-response marketers more familiar with automated systems via the Internet.

This was the promise of Google TV Ads --an online marketplace to buy, sell and measure national cable TV advertising -- way back when. It had a roster of cable TV networks, including fringe NBCUniversal cable channels, Hallmark Channel, Bloomberg TV, and others. The thinking was that it could bring new Internet-savvy marketers to the TV table. Problem was, it couldn’t get cautious TV networks to commit inventory at a specific price level. Google shuttered the unit last year.

It’s hard to find new TV niches. But with the growth of digital video, some new marketers may come out of the woodwork, landing first on digital platforms and perhaps moving to traditional TV.

Better still, some of those targeted customers may not all be making $200,000 plus.

Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost.

Dying Newspapers Now; Dying TV Stations Next?

8/19/2013

Dying Newspapers Now; Dying TV Stations Next?  by P.J. Bednarski, Aug 16, 2013

Just about everybody concedes that one of the ways newspapers went bad was by offering up their content online for free and not making it much different from what was in the print product. Maybe that puts it a little incorrectly—newspapers didn’t find new ways to use their print products in new ways.

Hence, in big cities particularly, newspapers are weak and irrelevant enough that it’s assumed most of them will just limp along until one day the owners don’t print them at all. Newspapers squandered an opportunity—all those years of fat profits—without coming up with a viable second act.

How is that different from what is happening with television? Network television shows are easily found online, on Hulu or Hulu Plus or Netflix or from, say, Comcast’s video on demand service. You can watch them either with no commercials, or limited commercials. You can find clips all over the place—there’s really not that much of a need to watch the “Today” show. Missing scheduled programs means you are a little late—emphasis on the little.

But except for the thin advantage of being able to knowingly discuss what happened on “The Good Wife” or “Mad Men” at work on Monday morning, avoiding “live” TV has never been easier or more painless.

“There will still be some linear real time viewing of TV for the Super Bowl or breaking news events ... but entertainment-based video will move to more on-demand,” Forrester Research analyst Jim Nail predicted to the news agency AFP recently. “If you own a TV station, you are in the same position as a newspaper. There will be other ways to watch content and you're going to be very challenged.” But he pointed out, “If you are the content owner, you should not worry at all.”

The thing is, while the big networks own stations in the largest market—and make hundreds of millions of dollars from them—out there in less glam towns, stations are owned by other giant companies like Gannett or Sinclair or Hearst, that have affiliate deals with networks. But when repeat episodes of network shows go to Internet packagers—like Hulu, which is owned by three of the four English language broadcast networks—those stations don’t share in the revenue those replays command. But the networks and the studios that they own, cash in there.

“Streaming continues to be a terrific growth driver for us,” CBS chief Leslie Moonves says in the AFP article that appears at the same time as do a spate of stories confirming that this way or that, the once fringe practice of cord-cutting is now a full-fledged reality not just with young adults but across a wider spectrum. Online video’s attractions are full enough that scheduled, commercial-laden prime time shows just aren’t competitive.

The fall season premieres, once a big deal, will now arrive with a relative whisper, and it’s not just because “network TV” is outmoded in its story-telling style (though that’s kind of true), but because it is not in any way unique. There is no urgency. It is not a hard to find commodity. We are not far removed from the days NBC heralded its “must-see Thursday” line-up, but today, Thursday via DVR can be next week, or via Hulu, next month or next year.

Why should I care to lament broadcasting’s problems? Well, I don’t, but it seems that at the rate programming, new and slightly used, is going to online, there’s going to be a gaping hole where local ad sales once used to be. In the new, fast world of the Internet, that hole might get very big in a very short period of time.

pj@mediapost.com

Nielsen: Twitter Activity Influences TV Viewing

8/16/2013

The Volume of Tweets Boosted Live TV Rating in 29% of the Episodes Studied
By: George Winslow (Broadcasting & Cable) Aug 6 2013 - 10:44am
The Volume of Tweets Boosted Live TV Rating in 29% of the Episodes Studied

Nielsen has released a new research report that it says provides the first statistical evidence that Tweets can boost broadcast TV tune-in for a program and that TV ratings impacts the volume of Twitter activity.

An analysis of Nielsen’s Live TV Ratings and Tweets for 221 broadcast primetime program episodes using Nielsen’s SocialGuide found that live TV ratings had a statistically significant impact in related Tweets among 48% of the episodes sampled, and that the volume of Tweets caused statistically significant changes in Live TV Ratings among 29 percent of the episodes.

The study is a notable validation of the importance of social media efforts to promote programs and increase viewer engagement. Nielsen is calling it “the first study to quantify the extent to which higher levels of tweeting may cause additional viewers to tune in to programming.”

The study also found that impact of Tweets varied by genre.

The biggest impact was in competitive reality, where ratings for 44% of the episodes were impacted by tweets, followed by comedy (37%), sports (28%) and drama (18%).

“Using time series analysis, we saw a statistically significant causal influence indicating that a spike in TV ratings can increase the volume of Tweets, and, conversely, a spike in Tweets can increase tune-in,” said Paul Donato, chief research officer at Nielsen in a statement. “This rigorous, research-based approach provides our clients and the media industry as a whole with a better understanding of the interplay between Twitter and broadcast TV viewing.”

"These results substantiate what many of our TV partners have been telling us anecdotally for years: namely, that Twitter drives tune-in, especially for live, linear television programming,” added Ali Rowghani, Twitter’s COO in a statement. “As the world's preeminent real-time social communication medium, Twitter is a complementary tool for broadcasters to engage their audience, drive conversation about their programming, and increase tune-in."