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Radio advertising up 32%!!!
…where do you think?…
Radio advertising in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 32% in 2007 said Mark Neely of Nielsen Media Research to the RadioAsia conference this week. Other media – TV and print, lumped together – limped along with a 13% increase. The 4th RadioAsia conference was held in Singapore.
TV viewing time and radio listening time in the region fell, said Neely, but TV time is dropping faster. Nielsen, he said is looking at measuring radio in Australia by installing sound matching software in cellphones.
Radio is more global now, said EBU’s David Woods. "Radio has matched the sophistication of listeners by 'upping its service', by always being there, yet discreet and unobtrusive". (JMH)
Now That’s Class
Sitting some 3,000 miles away from the Kennedy Center across the Atlantic makes one ever so grateful for video streaming that allowed watching the Tim Russert Memorial service on MSNBC.com We won’t dwell on what was said except the reaction to his death during the pass five days supports what we originally wrote, that so many people around the world who watched Meet The Press considered Russert to be their friend, and they really did wish they knew him personally as a friend. Emphasising Russert’s work ethic one of the best lines came from NBC anchor Brian Williams who said, “Up until today I thought his full name was 'Washington bureau chief, moderator of Meet the Press, Tim Russert.”
And perhaps it was fitting that since this was live TV that the sound gave out several times during the various remembrances. We thought at first it was the streaming but the MSNBC anchor then came on to say otherwise. Live TV and all its various technical issues – Russert must have been smiling at that.
But perhaps the greatest compliment any of us could have have is to be honored and remembered by our competitors, so it was truly a class act for this full-page ad in Wednesday’s New York Times from “your friends and colleagues at CBS News”. It says it all.
Golf Without Tiger Woods To Really Hit Networks, Advertisers?
When Tiger Woods plays, people watch! It’s as simple as that. And now that the world’s greatest golfer has said he is out for the season because of his knee inujuries what is that going to mean to TV golf ratings, and how will advertisers react?
Experience shows that when Tiger doesn’t play the ratings are off. And as for the advertisers, they’re stuck unless the networks need to give them make-goods if the ratings fall below various barriers.
The Golf Channel in the US has a lot of early round golf coverage before the networks take over for the weekend, and the experience there is that when Tiger doesn’t play the ratings are down 18 – 33%. “Tiger is all about the upside of golf,” said Page Thompson, the Golf Channel president. “What he does transcends his sport and brings in casual viewers; when he’s absent, it’s much harder to get those casual viewers in,” he told the New York Times.
Swiss close medium wave station
…”obsolete”…
The Swiss Federal Council approved the shut-down of Swiss-Italian medium wave (AM) service of public broadcaster SSR-SRG, effective at the end of June. There are no commercial medium wave radio broadcasts in Switzerland. All SSR-SRG radio channels continue to broadcast on FM and DAB.
The statement from Swiss regulator OFCOM referred to medium wave as “obsolete,” the closure offering “substantial economies” to SSR-SRG.
Under the license terms granted in November 2007, any changes in SSR-SRG output must be approved by the Federal Council (JMH)
Nielsen dumps telephone sampling
…disconnected…
Audience survey sampling by random digit telephone selection will be dumped by AC Nielsen in the US in favor of address-based sampling, according to a client memo circulated by Nielsen (June 18). The transition will be in place by November this year.
Nielsen cites three reasons; telephone sampling doesn’t reach households like it used to, cell phone numbers don’t represent geographic areas like they used to and people don’t have land-lines like they used to. Things change.
Oh, one other reason: US Federal law “prohibits the use of a dialer to reach cell phones without prior permission,” said the memo.
The address-based sampling will use the US Postal Service delivery database. (JMH)
French public broadcasting workers strike
…to the barricades…
Public broadcasting employees staged a 7 hour strike yesterday (June 18) demonstrating their fears for job security. Most French State radio and TV was affected. This is the second strike action taken by public broadcasting workers since President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to change the way State broadcasting is financed.
Unions have withdrawn from the special commission set up to redraw a finance plan.
4000 union members and supporters gathered yesterday at the Bastille. (JMH)
Big Shake-Up At Hearst
There have only been six CEOs at Hearst, but now the company is looking for number seven after Victor Ganzi resigned Wednesday citing “irreconcilable differences” with the Hearst Board – many of them direct descendants of William Randolph. Franck Bennack, 75, board vice chairman and who retired as CEO in 2002, will step back in as the company looks for Ganzi’s replacement.
Business Week speculates said that under Ganzi the company has made minority investments of around 25% in various technology companies and the board may have thought that was too conservative – the investments should have been bigger. The New York Times, on the other hand, says the company’s biggest issue is adapting to readers going on the Internet for news and information instead of relying on print.
Hearst’s most famous minority investment was in 1990 when it took a 20% stake in ESPN for $175 million. That investment is thought to be worth $4 billion today.
One point to watch for –will the change in CEO change the cozy financial relationship between Hearst and Dean Singleton’s MediaNews?
Who judges Wonderbra Photo Shoot?
We are grateful to Brand Republic for the news that Wonderbra is having a new promotion in which it is inviting thousands of British women to a photo shoot to test whether their cleavage is suitable for a new outdoors campaign. There will also be a website in which women can submit their photos without attending the photo shoot, and the winning images will be used for a special breast cancer 2009 calendar. No word on how one applies to judge all of this.
But we also found intriguing the picture that Brand Republic chose to illustrate this story. It’s below without further comment.
Google To Push UK Internet Advertising Revenues Ahead of TV This Year
Internet advertising, led by Google Search, is forecast to overtake UK TV advertising revenues this year, according to a new report from Enders Analysis. It projects, “Online advertising revenue will grow 26.4% in nominal terms to £3.56 billion ($7 billion) overtaking TV ad spend which we expect to fall by 2.5% to £3.39 billion ($6.7 billion). Paid search is forecast to exceed £2 billion ($4 billion) or 60% of the online ad spend, with Google growing its share of that spend to 80%. If the forecast is right then the Internet will gobble in total 19% of the advertising spend.
That coincides with the news that in 2008, more than 60% of UK homes will have broadband connections. As a result, online video viewing is also rising and an increasing amount of broadcast and cable television content is appearing online with the UK Internet population reaching 38 million.
"Already in the first half of 2008, over one-half of UK adults with Internet access had watched TV online, and many had used it to catch programs they had missed," says Karin von Abrams, senior analyst and author of the report, "Web Television in Europe: An Expanding Scene.
More and more it is going to be when we want to watch programming, not when the program is scheduled.
ProSeibenSat sells pay-TV business
...get out of debt now...
ProSeibenSat.1 parted with Scandinavian pay TV division C More Group, shedding part of the SBS acquisition, announced yesterday (June 16). CEO Guillaune de Posch said the cash – from Bonnier, Sweden’s biggest media company – would go to pay down debt. Bloomberg estimates the ProSeibenSat debt at €4.3 billion.
Bonnier – through its TV4 franchise – already has the analogue commercial TV monopoly in Sweden. The C More Group is valued in this transaction at €320 million.
For ProSeibenSat, the financial clock is ticking. (JMH)
Farewell Tim Russert
Millions of Americans, in and out of the US, have lost a friend. He would be there each Sunday morning in the US for an hour moderating NBC’s Meet The Press television interview program which CNBC showed later around the world on its international networks, and such was his charisma, his personality, that to many he felt more like a friend than a TV journalist.
And that was his real strength, he really seemed to know what he was talking about, he could take the most complicated subject and without talking down to anyone he made it understandable to everyone. He was polite, he never seemed to lose his temper on-air, he was someone you would willingly invite into your home and a person that you wished, for real, was a friend.
But at the young age of just 58 Tim Russert, NBC Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of Meet the Press, the highest-rated Sunday morning political interview show, died Friday from a heart attack while doing voiceovers for last Sunday’s program.
The tributes ranging from the likes of Jay Leno and Conon O’Brien, to all of his NBC News co-workers and from his Washington competition all attest to the great admiration and respect held for this man. He was, from what his NBC colleagues said, exactly the kind of boss we would all have wished to have had and one who led by example.
As White House correspondent David Gregory said, his death is so shocking because he was absolutely in his element – in the middle of a Presidential election unlike any seen for many years and it just wasn’t like Tim to leave early in the game. That he will not be around on election night with his slate pad telling us simply the ins and out of the election will be a true loss. NBC President Jeff Zucker put it simply, “Tim Russert cannot be replaced.”
Russert hailed from Buffalo, New York, and seldom lost an opportunity to show his pride in his native town. New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and Congressman Brian have introduced a resolution renaming a portion of U.S. Route 20 – the part that runs in front of the stadium home of his beloved Buffalo Bills football team – as the Russert Memorial Highway. He would have just loved that!
A memorial service is being held Wednesday at the Kennedy Center in Washington at 2000 GMT and one can expect it to be standing room only. For those of us out of the country we can can follow it via live streaming on msnbc.com.
Journalist memorial dedicated in London
...projecting light...
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will dedicate a memorial to journalists and news staff killed in the line of work (Monday June 16). The light sculpture is situated on the roof of Broadcasting House in Central London. (See BBC release here)
Within the last two weeks two BBC correspondents have lost their lives. (JMH)
Swiss broadcasting chief blasts UEFA over censorship
…prelude to Beijing?…
Swiss public broadcasting (SSR-SRG) Director General Armin Walpen took a major shot at footballs’ governing body UEFA, demanding answers about television coverage. In an interview with Sonntags Zeitung, Walpen cited journalistic concerns over UEFA’s decision not to show trouble during a June 8th Euro 2008 football match between Austria and Croatia. UEFA controls television coverage of all Euro 2008 matches. Walpen said he would express his displeasure in a formal letter to UEFA.
A UEFA spokesperson, taking a page from Beijing Olympic organizers, said coverage must “concentrate on what’s relevant to the game.”
Austrian public broadcaster ORF is equally unhappy. “The whole thing has a deeper problem,” said spokesperson Elmar Oberhausen.
Switzerland and Austria are jointly hosting the Euro 2008 football championships.
Broadcasters, public and private, are increasing on edge about the control over broadcast coverage demanded by sports event organizers. (JMH)
Pay-as-you-go goes digital in Italy
…short term commitments an Italian way of life?…
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) is by no means catching fire everywhere. It is in Italy, says ABI Research.
“The pay-as-you-go model has a strong history in Italy in broadband and mobile telephone services, so the transition to pay-DTT is an easy one,“ says the report. (Read ABI presser here)
The report also says DTT faces certain obstacles in heavily cable-wired markets, such as Belgium. (JMH)
Arbitron moving forward with PPM
...despite complaints...
US radio measurement company Arbitron announced (June 13) it would no longer delay the roll-out of its PPM measurement product despite strong criticism from several broadcasters. Radio audience in eight additional US markets will be measured with the passive PPM device from September. (Read Arbitron presser here)
Arbitron is between the proverbial rock and hard place. It's investment in electronic measurement has been substantial. Problems have been substantial, too. (Read about one here) (Read about another here)
Several - but not all - US broadcasters - including Cox Radio and Spanish Broadcasting Systems - have been demanding further delay in the PPM roll-out primarily, but not exclusively, to force Arbitron into standardized and accredited sampling methods. This resistance has placed Arbitron's investment at risk. Arbitron's announcement will test the resolve of critics and, perhaps, further the war over who controls measurement - broadcasters or the ratings service.
Recently UK radio measurement service RAJAR closed the book on electronic measurement. (JMH)
There is a digital dividend
…in Asia, of course…
Informa Telecoms issued its updated Asia Pacific TV report (June 13). The researcher projects one-third of all Asia Pacific households will be digital TV equipped by 2013. That would be 250 million digital households out of 676 million TV households. (Read Informa release here)
“This is more than ten-times the 2001 figure,” gasped report author Adam Thomas. His report also shows that China now contributes more than half of the regions total TV households.
“China’s sheer size makes it the region’s most eye-catching market,” he writes.
Adam, we knew that. (JMH)
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