| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Omnicom, Publicis Agree on Terms of Merger
| | | Advertising and media buying giants Omnicom and Publicis Groupe announced a deal to merge to form Publicis Omnicom Group. The deal creates an agency holding company that will control what's estimated to be 40% of all national TV ad dollars spent in the U.S. Publicis media agencies in the U.S. include MediaVest, Starcom and ZenithOptimedia. Omnicom's media agencies are OMD and PHD.
Why This Matters: The merger would not be considered good news for media companies, especially the broadcast and cable networks, which would have to deal with more consolidated buying clout during ad negotiations. But first things first: The deal faces antitrust issues in the U.S. and possibly in France, which is where Publicis is headquartered.
3 Takes: B&C | Adweek | MediaPost
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| | #2 | Clients Comment on Potential Conflicts Huge Merger Could Create
| | | Paul Chibe of Anheuser-Busch InBev tells Ad Age he sees no conflict. "We work with Publicis and Omnicom agencies in many countries," he says. Marc Speichert of L'Oreal likes the media buying scale the merger would create and also the ability to gain a greater talent pool on the agency side. Pat Morrissey of GM says, "We don't anticipate any issues."
Why This Matters: Holding companies internally have been dealing successfully with potential conflicts for years as each of the major ones have two or three agencies under their umbrellas. More of a concern is the clout the new group would have when it comes to media buying pricing.
A Take: Ad Age
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| | #3 | Competing Agency Holding Companies Raise Some Issues on Mega-Merger
| | | WPP CEO Martin Sorrell says there are flaws in the deal's structure. He doesn't believe meshing two different operating and management cultures, along with co-CEOs, will work. David Jones, global CEO of Havas, says speed and agility today are more important than bureaucracy and buying clout. Miles Nadal, CEO of the smaller holding company MDC Partners, sees it as a chance to pick up new clients who leave the merged holding company because of conflicts.
Why This Matters: There is no clear-cut answer as to how effective or efficient a merged holding company operation will be and what impact it will have on media buying and planning. Competing holding companies have to publicly appear unconcerned, yet maybe they should be.
2 Takes: Ad Age | B&C
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| #4 Elephant in the Room: How a Merged Omnicom-Publicis Stacks Up (Ad Age)
#5 Anheuser-Busch Is the Biggest Sponsorship Spender (MediaPost)
#6 L'Oreal Paris Adds QR Codes to Print Ads (Mobile Marketer)
#7 Overall Hispanic Ad Spending Up, But Online Spending Lags (eMarketer)
#8 Will Russia's Anti-Gay Policies Impact Olympics Advertisers? (Ad Age)
#9 Brand Tweets Gone Bad (Digiday)
#10 How Auto Marketers Look to Prove ROI (eMarketer) |
|  | • 64.1
Percentage of unique U.S. Hispanic Internet users who visit Facebook each month, according to comScore.
—Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | Media Business' Top Planners Ride Waves of Change—Digital and data create new media options for advertisers, presenting opportunities and pitfalls for planning execs
By Jon Lafayette
Media planners say they are getting more information about consumer behavior, and that's changing the way advertising dollars earmarked for television will be spent in the future.
Broadcasting & Cable reached out to some of the top planners and strategists at the major media agencies in order to identify the industry's key issues and the people that will be sorting them out.
The planners—who decide the best ways for brands to connect with consumers—are increasingly willing to reach customers via video content on new platforms as broadcast TV ratings wane. But digital technology is providing new ways to both enhance the TV experience and measure its effectiveness. The surface has only barely been scratched on interactivity, addressability and t-commerce.
The changes are coming at a furious pace, and the planners say a key part of their job is to keep up. While the newly available data is needed to satisfy client demands for more precise measurements of the returns on their media investments, it also satisfies the curiosity of a group of professionals whose job is to be obsessed with new insights into human behavior.
Here, B&C business editor Jon Lafayette polls the industry's top planners on some of the media business' big questions. An edited transcript follows.
With broadcast ratings eroding again last year, how comfortable are you substituting cable for broadcast TV in your media plans?
Eric Blankfein, Horizon Media: Cable television has answered the bell with quality original programming that is delivering broadcast-size rating, making the migration of dollars easier. Without question, our strategies have found opportunities to use more and more cable programming, and it's not just because of ratings erosion. We find the synergies of both environment and brand fit to be an increasingly powerful reason for us to migrate client funds toward cable programming.
How did 10 other top industry planners address this question? And What would it take to make them comfortable shifting a large share of their clients' dollars from traditional television to digital video?
For more, click HERE
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • JUSTIN SMITH was named CEO at Bloomberg Media Group, effective Sept. 16. He was most recently president of Atlantic Media. At Bloomberg, he succeeds Andrew Lack, who will become chairman. Smith will oversee all of Bloomberg's global TV, radio, magazine and digital businesses, as well as its conferences. Smith was president of Atlantic Media since 2010 and before that was president of the company's consumer division from 2007. Prior to that he was president and publisher of This Week and head of corporate strategy at The Economist Group.
• AL MICHAELS will host the daytime Winter Olympics coverage on NBC Sports Network on weekdays and on NBC on weekends. APOLO ANTON OHNO will serve as an analyst for NBC's coverage of speed skating, and will also work on features and offer studio commentary during the Games coverage on NBC. It will be Michaels' third hosting gig for the Olympics on NBC. He also announces Sunday Night Football on NBC. Ohno is the most decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history; he's won eight medals, including two golds, over three Olympics.
• ALFREDO GANGOTENA will step down from his post as global chief marketing officer of MasterCard, effective Sept. 1. He has held the post since April 2010 and has been with the company for nine years. Tim Murphy, chief product officer, will assume Gangotena's duties until a replacement is hired.
• LARA MIGLIASSI was promoted to senior VP, corporate marketing, at Univision Communications. She has been VP, corporate marketing for the past two years and has been part of the company's marketing team for 10 years. She joined Univision as a senior marketing manager in 2003 and was named director of marketing in 2005. Prior to Univision, Migliassi worked in marketing roles at Deutsche Bank.
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
CBS Wins Sunday as 'Unforgettable' Returns to 7M Viewers
CBS returned Unforgettable on Sunday to win the night, although the show's sophomore debut was down considerably from its first season, which aired during the 2012-13 TV season. Earlier, Big Brother fell from last week's season high. ABC was in third as Celebrity Wife Swap and Whodunnit? each improved slightly. NBC's Crossing Lines was even. Fox aired repeats.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
USA Network Dominates Thursday Cable
USA's Burn Notice was Thursday's top cable original with a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating, up from last week's 0.7. The network's Graceland came in second with a 0.8, up a tenth from last week.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Sunday, July 28
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLION) | CBS
| BIG BROTHER
| 2.2
| 6.8
| UNIVISION
| AMORES VERDADEROS
| 1.5
| 4.0
| FOX
| THE SIMPSONS (R) (8)
BOB'S BURGERS (R) (8:30)
| 1.5
1.3
| 3.0
2.6
| ABC
| CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP
| 1.1
| 3.0
| NBC
| AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (R)
| 0.8
| 3.4
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| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | UNIVISION
| AMORES VERDADEROS
| 1.8
| 4.6
| FOX
| FAMILY GUY (R) (9)
FAMILY GUY (R) (9:30)
| 1.5
1.6
| 3.1
3.3
| CBS
| UNFORGETTABLE
| 1.3
| 7.0
| ABC
| WHODUNNIT?
| 1.1
| 3.0
| NBC
| LAW & ORDER: SVU (R)
| 0.7
| 2.7
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| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | UNIVISION
| SAL Y PIMIENTA
| 0.9
| 2.5
| CBS
| THE MENTALIST (R)
| 0.7
| 4.6
| ABC
| CASTLE (R)
| 0.6
| 2.8
| NBC
| CROSSING LINES
| 0.5
| 2.9
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| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • 'Under the Dome' Is Summer's Breakout King for CBS...
Through five episodes, this new CBS 10 p.m. Monday sci-fi series continues to be the most-watched show on broadcast television in the summer, averaging 11.6 million viewers and a 2.9 18-49 demo rating. Based on a novel by Stephen King, Under the Dome tells the story of residents in a town who suddenly find themselves cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious, impenetrable clear barrier. It premiered with 13.5 million viewers and a 3.3 18-49 demo, and it hasn't slowed down much. The upshot: CBS has caught lightning in a bottle and this serialized drama is drawing an amazingly steady and sizable weekly audience during the summer when most people are not watching TV. The audience is twice as large as any other first-run summer drama series on the other broadcast networks. So it's no surprise that CBS has renewed it for a 13-episode second season for next summer; King himself will write the premiere episode.
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| • ...And 'Major Crimes' Continues a Major Run on TNT...
This 9 p.m. Monday police drama, a spinoff of the now departed, long-running TNT hit The Closer, continues to pull in sizable cable viewership in its second season. Since premiering this season to 5 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 demo rating on June 10, Major Crimes is averaging 4.8 million and a 0.8 demo rating, although last week it drew 5.4 million viewers and a 0.9 demo rating. The Closer creator James Duff also created this show, which stars several of the same major characters from The Closer. The upshot: This series is not matching The Closer's seventh and final season average of 6.5 million viewers and a 1.1 demo rating; however, while only in its second year, Major Crimes is holding up quite well, particularly during the summer when very little first-run broadcast network drama is drawing viewer attention.
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| • ...While 'The Bachelorette' Is Picking Up Viewers for ABC
The ninth season of this ABC 8 p.m. Monday reality series started off a bit slow this summer, averaging only 5.8 million viewers after the first few episodes, but has gained interest in the past three weeks, averaged 6.7 million viewers and a 1.9 18-49 demo rating. For the season, it is averaging 6.2 million viewers and a 1.8 demo rating. This summer's Bachelorette, 27-year old bridal stylist Desiree Hartsock, one of three final contestants on The Bachelor earlier this year, has been getting lots of coverage outside the series in the Hollywood gossip mags and that may be drawing additional viewers to the series. The upshot: The series is watched by about 70% women and a good chunk of its audience is older than most might realize. About 45% of The Bachelorette's viewers are 55-plus, according to Nielsen data. Still, any first-run series that draws more than 6 million viewers during the summer is a solid place for advertisers to be.
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| Media Buyer & Planner Today
Editorial Team
John Consoli, Contributing Editor
Phone: 201-314-0424 | Send Email
Jon Lafayette, Business Editor, Broadcasting & Cable
Phone: 917-281-4735 | Send Email
Brian Moran, Managing Editor, Broadcasting & Cable
Phone: 917-281-4708 | Send Email
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