| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Is Viewership for 'Modern Family' Justifying USA Network's Hefty Ad Rates?
| | | During its first week on USA, the hit ABC sitcom averaged 977,000 viewers per episode, according to Ad Age. That compares to the 1.6 million viewers The Big Bang Theory pulled in during its premiere week on TNT in Sept. 2011. During the first week of this season, repeats of Big Bang averaged 2.6 million viewers, according to Adweek. What has annoyed some media agency execs is that USA's viewer and 18-49 rating's estimates were much higher.
Why This Matters: USA in its upfront negotiations pushed for big Modern Family ad rates, and some of the agencies who bought in now have less patience, make-goods notwithstanding. "The bad part is expectations in the sales community were set by initial estimates which were aggressive," said Sam Armando of SMGx.
2 Takes: Ad Age | Adweek
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| | #2 | Mobile Leads Way For Twitter Advertising, But Company Losses Continue
| | | In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to start the process of its initial public offering, the social network said 65% of its ad revenue, which totaled $316.9 million last year, came from ads on mobile devices. Twitter said while its ad revenue increased by 198% last year, it had a net loss of $79.4 million. For the first half of 2013, Twitter revenue was $254 million, with losses totaling $69.2 million.
Why This Matters: In the relatively short period that it has been offering advertising, Twitter has grown ad revenues significantly. That will continue as it adds more users. Included in its plan as stated in the SEC filing is expanding its share of 2.4 billion worldwide Internet users and 1.2 billion smartphone users.
3 Takes: MediaPost | Ad Age | B&C
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| | #3 | Instagram Reveals More Details on Ad Plans
| | | It's been rumored for a while but the photo sharing app has now confirmed in a blog post that it will begin running occasional ads in "the next couple of months." Instagram said so as to not overwhelm users, it will start slow, adding both photos and videos from various brands. Users will have the option to hide ads and provide feedback.
Why This Matters: Like all social media companies, Instagram needs to run advertising to bring in revenue to sustain and grow its operation. But it also must be careful at the outset not to alienate its users who may reject ads from the previously brand-free platform.
3 Takes: Ad Age | MediaPost | WSJ
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#4 Ford Exec Discusses Automaker's Hispanic Marketing Strategy (eMarketer)
#5 Coke Creating Music Anthems For Winter Olympics, World Cup Campaigns (Ad Age)
#6 Horizon Media In Talks To Acquire Its Own Media Assets (B&C)
#7 WPP Partnering With Fourthwall On Cross-Platform Measurement Products (MediaPost)
#8 Cars.com To Skip Super Bowl After Six-Year Presence (Ad Age)
# 9 Marketers Favor Facebook Most For Social Media Branding Campaigns (eMarketer)
#10 Fruit Of The Loom Gives Job Changers On LinkedIn a New Briefing (NYT)
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Percentage of U.S. agency executives that say they are most likely to use Facebook for client campaigns, according to a survey by media software company Strata.
– Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | Nielsen Global Survey Finds Believability Is The Key To Advertising Effectiveness
By John Consoli
While consumer trust of advertising seen on television, in magazines, on the radio and online has grown since 2007, nothing can top word-of-mouth recommendations from friends. That's according to a global study by Nielsen on trust in advertising and brand messages.
The Nielsen survey of more than 29,000 consumers in 58 countries worldwide, including in the U.S., found 84% saying they trust recommendations from friends—up from 78% in a similar survey done in 2007.
A bigger surprise yielded by the study—and one to no doubt make marketers smile—was the yield on consumer trust in branded websites, which ranked second in the believability factor with 69% of consumers citing them. That was up from 60% in the 2007 survey.
Consumer opinions posted online were cited by 68% of those surveyed as being trustworthy, with TV ads getting a vote of confidence from 62%, up from 56% in 2007. Ads in newspapers were cited by 61% of consumers in the survey as being believable, but that was down slightly from the 63% who found them worth their salt in 2007.
Ads in magazines were listed as trustworthy by 60% of respondents, up 4% from 2007; radio commercials were tabbed by 57%, also up 4% from 2007; commercials before movies were up a sizable 18% from 2007, selected this time by 56% of consumers surveyed; and online banner ads were deemed trustworthy by 42% of those surveyed, up 16%. Text ads on mobile phones also grew in believability, rising to 37% in this survey, a 19% increase from 2007.
"Increases in the trust of online and mobile advertising demonstrate the growing importance of these formats, said Randall Beard, global head, advertiser solutions at Nielsen. "With Internet ad spending reporting double-digit growth, advertisers are exhibiting growing confidence in these formats, or at least a willingness to make the investment."
What are the percentages for whether trust leads to consumers actually buying items? And what types of ads resonate the most with consumers globally?
For more, click HERE
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • TODD SIEGEL was named executive VP, international sales and partnerships U.S. for Fox International Channels. In that role he will spearhead efforts to build global ad sales partnerships with U.S.-based clients for Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels International. He will be based in New York and work closely with FIC's existing ad sales leaders Deborah Armstrong in Europe, Hector Costa in Latin America and Simeon Dawes in Asia-Pacific. Siegel was most recently head of integrated sales and marketing for Fox Sports Media Group. Prior to his nine years at Fox, Siegel held ad and marketing positions at Screenvision, Discovery Communications and MTV Networks.
• ATIF RAFIQ was named to the newly created position of chief digital officer at McDonald's. He was most recently general manager of Kindle Direct Publishing at Amazon.com. Prior to that he worked at Yahoo, where he was involved in global product strategy for the Y! News division. He has also held positions at AOL and Goldman Sachs.
• EMILIO ROMANO is leaving his post as president of Telemundo Media. Romano has been Telemundo president since 2011. Prior to that, he held positions at airline Grupo Mexicana de Aviacion and at media company Grupo Televisa. In his role as Telemundo president, he oversaw the broadcast network, stations, news, sports and the entertainment division, as well as Telemundo Studios. While a search for a replacement is being conducted, Joe Uva, chairman of Hispanic Enterprises and Content for NBCU, and former Univision CEO, will be overseeing Romano's former responsibilities.
• ERIC KESSLER will leave his position as president and chief operating officer of HBO, according to an internal memo obtained by B&C. Kessler had been with HBO for 27 years in assorted roles.
• KEVIN DOERR was named senior VP, digital products at The Weather Channel. He was most recently VP of mobile products at Yahoo. Doerr will assume responsibility for product development and strategy for all Weather Channel branded products, including the weather.com website and Weather Channel apps. Prior to Yahoo, Doerr held assorted positions at Microsoft, including general manager of Windows Live.
• DAVID LETTERMAN has extended his contract with CBS through 2015 to host the Late Show with David Letterman show. The extension adds one year to his current contract which was scheduled to expire at the end of 2014. Letterman is the longest-running late night talk show host in TV, currently doing it for 31 years.
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
Solid Start for 'Millers'; 'Sean Saves the World' Has Weak Debut
CBS' The Millers got off to a solid start on Thursday, premiering slightly below what Two and a Half Men debuted to in the same time slot last year. The Will Arnett starrer was buoyed by its lead in The Big Bang Theory, which dipped some. In its second week The Crazy Ones sank by double-digits while Two and a Half Men was down as well. Elementary slipped slightly. CBS won the night. NBC debuted the rest of its newfangled Thursday lineup, with Sean Saves the World premiering below what The Michael J. Fox Show debuted to last week and down from The Office's premiere last year. Leading out of Sean Saves the World, MJF dipped from last week while Parenthood was up slightly at 10 p.m. NBC's other new comedy Welcome to the Family got off to a slow start, debuting below what the canceled Up All Night premiered to in that time slot. Parks & Recreation was even with last week as NBC took fourth. The CW premiered its first new series with The Originals. The Vampire Diaries spinoff debuted below what Beauty and the Beast premiered to in that time slot with both 18-49s and the net's targeted 18-34 demo. Vampire Diaries, meanwhile, was off from last year's premiere in both demos. The network finished in fifth. ABC's Scandal returned to a series high at 10 p.m., well above last year's premiere and up double-digits from its previous high for last year's finale. Scandal's lead-in Grey's Anatomy dipped from last week's premiere. ABC finished in second. Fox placed third as The X Factor and Glee were both down.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'Duck Dynasty' Wins Night
Duck Dynasty was Wednesday's top cable program, with a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating, down from a 4.6 for its most recent episode. Bad Ink was second, with a 1.7 in the demo.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Thursday, October 3
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLION) | CBS
| THE BIG BANG THEORY (8)
THE MILLERS (8:30)
| 5.0
3.3
| 17.8
13.2
| FOX
| THE X FACTOR
| 2.0
| 7.0
| ABC
| SCANDAL: THE SECRET IS OUT
| 1.6
| 5.7
| UNIVISION
| PORQUE EL AMOR MANDA | 1.5
| 3.9
| | NBC | PARKS & RECREATION (8)
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY (8:30)
| 1.3
1.2
| 3.5
3.3
| THE CW
| THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
| 1.2
| 2.6
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| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | ABC
| GREY'S ANATOMY
| 3.0
| 9.4
| CBS
| THE CRAZY ONES (9)
TWO AND A HALF MEN (9:30)
| 2.9
2.4
| 11.8
9.3
| NBC
| SEAN SAVES THE WORLD (9)
MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW (9:30)
| 1.6
1.9
| 4.9
5.9
| FOX
| GLEE
| 1.6
| 4.5
| UNIVISION
| LA TEMPESTAD
| 1.4
| 3.4
| THE CW
| THE ORIGINALS
| 0.9
| 2.2
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| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | ABC
| SCANDAL
| 3.6
| 10.5
| CBS
| ELEMENTARY
| 2.0
| 9.2
| NBC
| PARENTHOOD
| 1.7
| 4.8
| UNIVISION
| QUE BONITO AMOR
| 1.2
| 3.2
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| | THIS WEEKEND'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • 'Low Winter Sun' May No Longer Rise
This AMC police drama that spent its short-arc season leading out of hit series Breaking Bad will conclude its freshman year with a two-hour season finale on Sunday night at 9 p.m.—which could well be the series finale. Low Winter Sun really failed to draw any type of significant audience. On Sept. 22, for example, leading out of Breaking Bad which drew 6.3 million viewers and a 3.4 18-49 demo rating, Low Winter Sun drew only 1.3 million viewers and a 0.5 demo rating. The series premiered to a decent 2.5 million viewers and a 1.1 18-49 rating in mid-August but since then has averaged 1.2 million and a 0.5. The upshot: AMC was clearly hoping that giving this series the plum lead-out of Breaking Bad would give it a platform that could propel it to become a Sunday night successor as the hit aired its finale last week. But this best-laid plan didn't work—or it won't, unless fans tune into the finale in droves.
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| • Older Viewers Keep CBS the Boss on Fridays …
Last Friday night, the CBS primetime lineup of Undercover Boss, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods drew a combined audience of nearly 30 million viewers which is top rate for the second-lowest TV viewing night of the week. But the three series also averaged only a 1.7 18-49 demo rating, so the results were mixed. Last Friday, Hawaii Five-0 aired on the night for the first time after moving from Monday nights last season. Its median age audience last week was 61, compared to 57 on Monday nights. Yet, Five-0 drew 9.5 million viewers on less competitive Friday compared to the 8.1 million it averaged last season on Mondays. CBS' two returning Friday night shows drew big audiences also. Reality series Undercover Boss (median age 60) averaged 8.2 million at 8 for its season premiere, while veteran police drama Blue Bloods at 10 pulled in 11.7 million viewers. The upshot: While skewing a bit older than the other networks, CBS is again the most-watched network on television. And drawing those kinds of numbers means the shows work as well.
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| • . . . While ABC's Friday Staggers To a Slow Start
The ABC Friday night lineup skews just a few years younger than CBS but it also drew significantly less viewers than CBS, and its two sitcoms got off to especially slow starts. Last Man Standing, starring Tim Allen, opened the night at 8 with 5.7 million viewers and a 1.2 18-49 rating, while The Neighbors at 8:30 drew only 4.1 million viewers and a 1.0 demo rating. Neighbors moved to Fridays this season from Tuesday nights last season but all that did was lower its ratings more—and raise its median age audience by five years. Shark Tank at 9 p.m. drew 6.9 million in its season premiere last week, along with a 1.4 demo rating, and its median-age audience hit 53. The upshot: ABC has done these two sitcoms no favors, moving Last Man Standing to Friday from Tuesday last season and doing the same to The Neighbors this season. Last Man Standing averaged 7.8 million viewers on Tuesday nights two seasons ago, but it is now staggering.
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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
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Phone: 917-281-4708 | Send Email
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