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Rule changes challenge traditions
“evolving tradition”
Bowing to allegations of shameful, just shameful behavior among some jury members the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has tweaked Eurovision Song Contest rules in favor of increased transparency. Country by country voting is a significant part of the annual telecast, 50% of the vote result comes from viewer tele-voting and 50% from a jury selected by a country’s public broadcaster. The latest rule change will make public names of individual jury members prior to the event and rankings by jury member after the final tally.
“Participants, viewers and fans know that we will always do our utmost to secure a fair result,” said Contest Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand. “These changes are a reminder that the contest is an evolving tradition, which adapts to the spirit of time.” (See EBU presser here)
In recent weeks allegations have surfaced – publicly from anonymous individuals – that unnamed country delegations may have engaged in a bit of vote trading, compensation suggested. (See general details here) The EBU “has investigated reports questioning the integrity of the voting.” Results will certainly be forthcoming.
Another tweak to the rules limits the jury participation of “music industry professionals.” What can we say? The music industry has long been quite aggressive in promoting their artists, inventing in the middle of the last century the time honored practice known as payola. (JMH)
Facebook banned, unbanned in Russia
smoke and errors
Russia’s agency that oversees the internet Roskomnadzora briefly listed Facebook as a banned website, reported lenta.ru (September). The issue seems to have been complaints about ads for a retailer selling “smoking blends.” Two hours later it was removed from the banned list after the offending ads disappeared.
YouTube, Google and Russian social portal VKontatke were added to the black list shortly after the Russia’s internet watchdog agency was created in November 2012. The agency called the blacklisting an error and did not block the sites. (JMH)
Broadcaster takes second look at second screen
Focus on radio
A second screen app touted by Norwegian radio broadcaster P4 a year ago to chase advertising opportunities is being phased out, reports Kampanje (September 19). The Viamo smartphone application uses audio matching to identify radio and television sound in Norway to which it adds other customized content. P4 owner Modern Times Group (MTG) was an investor in Viamo, which it has adsorbed.
More and more big media houses are on the hunt for clever new digital solutions, sometimes to solve a problem and sometimes to be ahead of the game. A bit more than a year ago MTG formed digital subsidiary MTGx to be its “hub for digital planning and execution.” Rikard Steiber was recruited from Google to lead the project. The Viamo founders have been integrated within MTGx, P4 and TV3. The Viamo application will be focused on radio audience building.
“Radio has fared exceptionally well in the digital beginnings,” said P4 president Kalle Lisberg. “But, as in other media, we also see signs of a great change of pace. Digitization is forcing everyone to think again.” (JMH)
Hack the newspaper
technology, entrepreneurship, pizza
Not that many years ago – weeks, maybe – newspaper publishers would have called security if a suspected computer hacker lurked about too close. Editors would have chased them through the streets throwing their poisoned pens, journalists heaving their typewriters. Times are changing.
Publishers association WAN-IFRA, ahead of their World Publishing Expo in Berlin, has organized MediaHackDay October 5th and 6th to “promote innovation and digital transformation in newspaper companies,” said the presser. (See it here) There will be a contest “to rethink and reengineer content archives for the digital age.” The winner gets a trip to Silicon Valley, paid by big German publisher Axel Springer.
Axel Springer is one of several big publishers to explore the digital sphere with new eyes. Managing editors are finding themselves shipped off to that bleeding edge of digital entrepreneurship in hopes of absorbing the new media order. The possibilities are endless. (JMH)
At war with Facebook
Not exactly
Nearly every broadcast channel on this planet, if not individual programs and hosts, has now some sort of social media presence. Yep, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds abound. Never have fans – and critics – been able to have their say about programs. And let us not forget the branding advantage.
There is, then, considerable logic in public broadcasters using social media as an outreach tool. Some, however, disagree. Austrian public broadcaster ORF has – once again – been banned from using Facebook. The Federal Communications Board (BKS) determined that ORF “infringes” on a court settlement prohibiting the broadcaster from using social media forums but allowing material to be posted and interaction with the folks. (See more about social media here)
“I’m stunned,” said ORF Director General Alexander Wrabetz, quoted by Kleine Zeitung (September 17). In 2012 media regulator KommAustria told ORF people to give up social media, to the delight of Austria’s newspaper publishers. Austria’s Constitutional Court overturned that decision in July. Dr. Wrabetz said he’d be taking the BKS ruling back to the courts. (JMH)
Web measurement converging, diverging all at the same time
“years before on result”
Media buyers are, we know, hot to have all the numbers. As media converges audience estimates just aren’t the same as they were. This challenges both audience data suppliers and broadcasters. Media buyers don’t care; they just want it all.
German radio sales house RMS – more or less the seller of radio ads for private sector broadcasters – will be providing media buyers with survey data of online radio usage sooner rather than later. Joint industry audience ratings supplier AG.MA will start testing audience estimates for online radio listening in January but converging that data set with traditional audience estimates could take “years before the numbers are integrated into one result,” noted Horizont (September 12). (See more on media measurement here)
The two-stage RMS survey will incorporate a telephone sample followed up with a web-based survey. It will be a small sample – 3,500 by telephone and 5,200 on the web – compared with the traditional AG.MA survey of more then 60 thousand interviews. Interviews will be limited – 14 to 64 year olds – because the under 14 year olds are “not relevant” for advertisers and “the use of web radio is still so low among 65 year-olds that they can be neglected.” The RMS survey will measure online radio aggregators like radio.de and Spotify.
Web measurement supplier AudiMark, which has had an “alliance” with RMS, was clearly unimpressed. AudiMark CEO Matthias Mroczkowski called it “methodologically untidy.” Survey respondents, he said, might not be able to distinguish between traditional FM radio brands and their various online offshoots. RMS estimates 8.8 million online radio listeners in Germany while AudiMark sees about half that, 4.2 million.
AS&S, sales house for Germany’s public broadcasters (more or less), has been hampered in online radio marketing. The current Broadcasting Treaty rules prevent advertising on public broadcaster’s websites. That does not, however, eliminate certain sponsorship marketing so AS&S has contracted with newly formed K2 Media Sales to serve online radio aggregators laut.fm and detector.fm. (See more on media in Germany here) (JMH)
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