| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | WPP CEO Offers Worldwide Agency Industry Forecast For 2014
| | | Martin Sorrell, writing in Ad Age, is generally optimistic about marketplace growth for the coming year. He believes the U.S. economy will be stronger as will that in Latin America, Central Europe will continue to be strong, Western Europe will be "patchy" and Africa and the Middle East will continue to grow. WPP, he said, will have four strategic priorities: "new markets, new media, data-investment management and horizontality."
Why This Matters: When the head of the world's largest media agency holding company offers his thoughts on the financial future of the ad marketplace, the industry should pay attention.
A Take: Ad Age
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| | #2 | Paid Search Clicks Grew On Mobile This Holiday Season
| | | Global paid search clicks were up 26.9% during the peak shopping season, and more than one in every three clicks originated from mobile devices, according to data from digital marketing tech company Kenshoo. MediaPost reports that paid search marketers allocated 66.7% more of their budgets to mobile devices than in the 2012 shopping season. In 2012, just 20.5% of total paid search ad spending went to mobile devices during the shopping season, but this year it reached 34.4%.
Why This Matters: Mobile continues to become more widely used by consumers for shopping purposes and retailers need to take advantage. Aaron Goldman, Kenshoo chief marketing officer says, "As consumers show preference for shopping via mobile devices and engaging with richer ad formats, [it's] crucial for marketers to optimize paid search campaigns."
A Take: MediaPost |
| | #3 | DDB Chief Creative Director Offers Ways To Fix A Flawed Agency Model
| | | Amir Kassaei says agencies today are doing "more and more for less and less money." He says in an Ad Age article that creativity is no longer about the best-executed idea. It is about finding effective solutions to meet clients' business objectives.
Why This Matters: Traditional agencies are now competing with consultants and tech giants to win and keep clients and must find more economical ways to compete.
A Take: Ad Age
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#4 In Video Campaign, Handler Says, 'Are You There, 7Up Ten? It's Me, Chelsea' (NYT)
#5 Coke Exec Discusses The Brand's Marketing Strategy (Ad Age)
#6 Brand Execs Rate Best And Worst Ads Of 2013 (WSJ)
#7 Long-Form Nearly As Popular As Short Clips Among Smartphone Viewers (eMarketer)
#8 MasterCard Launching Its Largest Digital And Social Media Campaign Ever (MediaPost)
#9 Two New Soccer Magazines Hope To Be Marketers' Path To Reach Fans (NYT)
#10 In-App Purchases Increased Dramatically Over Past Year (eMarketer)
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|  | • 27
Percentage of Internet users in North America who watched TV show reruns on their smartphones in the third quarter of 2013, according to research from DigitalSmiths.
– Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | 'Duck Dynasty' Advertisers May Have Dodged A Bullet—For Now
By John Consoli
A&E network's decision last Friday to reinstate Duck Dynasty reality series patriarch Phil Robertson following his suspension for making homophobic remarks in an interview does not relieve the angst that the show's advertiser sponsors may be feeling.
The network decided that sticking to its guns and potentially losing a cash cow series that generated some $80 million in ad revenue, according to Kantar Media, during the first nine months of 2013 was not the way it wanted to go. But marketers really won't begin to know how the public feels until the series returns for its new season on January 15.
Duck Dynasty, after premiering with 11.8 million viewers and a 5.0 18-49 demo rating for season four in August, averaged 9.1 million viewers and a 3.9 demo rating for the season, making it TV's second most watched cable series behind AMC drama The Walking Dead, and the most watched reality series. The Duck Dynasty Christmas Special, which aired a week before Robertson's controversial comments appeared in a GQ magazine article, drew 8.9 million viewers and a 3.5 demo rating.
Before Robertson's comments, it had to be assumed the season five premiere of Duck Dynasty would draw north of 12 million, but now the jury is out. Judging from a Duck Dynasty marathon A&E aired on Christmas Day, there is still a mass audience of fans out there who plan to continue watching the show. However, there's no guarantee. Repeats are usually watched by loyal fans, while more casual viewers tend to come aboard for first-run episodes.
During the controversial week, from the time Robertson's comments were made public until A&E decided to suspend and then reinstate him when the series resumes production, only the most vocal of comments and groups were publicized. Much like voters going to the polls during a political election, there is always a silent majority out there that could generate some unexpected results.
What made the timing of the controversy good for Duck Dynasty advertisers? And why else might the issue rear its head again?
For more, click HERE
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
'SNF' Finale Leads NBC to Easy Victory
The finale of NBC's Sunday Night Football drove the network to a convincing victory on Sunday. The NFC East title game, which saw the Philadelphia Eagles narrowly beating the Dallas Cowboys 24-22, fell well short of last year's final SNF telecast (also an NFC East title game). CBS landed in second, with some NFL runover in the 7 p.m. hour. The annual Kennedy Center Honors fell 36% from last year's broadcast. ABC aired the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Fox, which also experienced NFL runover at 7 p.m., aired repeats.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'Big Bang Theory' Tops Thursday Night
TBS' 9:30 p.m. airing of The Big Bang Theory headed the cable pack on Thursday night with a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.1 million viewers. Adult Swim's 11:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. offerings of Family Guy rounded out the top three. Both episodes earned a 1.2 demo rating but the 11 p.m. show came in slightly under in total viewers with a 2.8 compared to the 11:30 p.m.'s 2.9. History's Pawn Stars came in fourth with a 1.1 but eclipsed the competition in total watchers with 3.8 million.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Sunday, December 29
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | NBC
| FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA (8:00)
NFL - PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT DALLAS COWBOYS (8:30)
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6.2
7.8
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18.7
23.5
| FOX
| THE SIMPSONS (R) (8:00)
THE SIMPSONS (R) (8:30)
| 2.2
1.7
| 5.9
4.2
| CBS
| 60 MINUTES
| 1.5
| 9.2
| ABC
| HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
| 1.0
| 3.9
| UNIVISION
| PREMIO LO NUESTRO 2013 - 25 ANIVERSARIO (R)
| 0.6
| 2.0
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| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | NBC
| NFL - PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT DALLAS COWBOYS
| 8.3
| 24.7
| FOX
| FAMILY GUY (R) (9:00)
ANIMATION DOMINATION (R) (9:30)
| 1.7
0.9
| 3.8
2.2
| ABC
| HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
| 1.1
| 3.8
| CBS
| THE 36TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS
| 0.9
| 7.1
| UNIVISION
| PREMIO LO NUESTRO 2O13 - 25 ANIVERSARIO (R)
| 0.8
| 2.2
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| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | NBC
| NFL - PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT DALLAS COWBOYS
| 8.0
| 23.1
| ABC
| HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
| 1.1
| 3.5
| CBS
| THE 36TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS
| 0.9
| 7.1
| UNIVISION
| SAL Y PIMIENTA
| 0.8
| 2.1
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| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • ABC Decides to Run Run Rudolph and Charlie Brown One Last Time
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown at 8 p.m. Monday, followed by Rudolph's Shiny New Year at 9, will conclude ABC's season of animated holiday specials for kids. Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, which first aired in 1986, has Peppermint Patty throwing a New Year's Eve bash, but Charlie Brown is busy doing his book report reading—Tolstoy's War and Peace—at the party. Also part of this animated hour is She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown, which is combined in the hour-long rating of the show. In Rudolph's Shiny New Year, which first aired in 1976, Father Time (voiced by Red Skelton) asks Rudolph to help find Happy, the New Year Baby before midnight. The upshot: Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, along with She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown drew 4.7 million viewers and a 1.2 18-49 demo rating last year, while Rudolph's Shiny New Year pulled in 3.3 million viewers and a 0.8 18-49 rating. Seems like by now kids are getting kind of Rudolph and Charlie Browned out.
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| • 'Major Crimes' Drawing Major Audiences
As its second season winds down, this 9 p.m. Monday TNT police drama, a spinoff of the now departed hit The Closer, continues to pull in sizable cable viewership. Major Crimes stars several major characters from The Closer, including Mary McDonnell as Captain Sharon Raydor, who replaced Kyra Sedgwick as head of the major crimes unit. Since returning for the second half of season two on Nov. 25, Major Crimes has averaged 4.1 million viewers and a 0.7 18-49 demo rating. The upshot: While the series is down from its first season when it pulled in 5.9 million viewers per episode and a 0.9 demo rating, and from the first half of season two this summer, when it averaged 4.8 million viewers and a 0.8 demo rating, the series is still drawing big audiences for a cable series. Last week it drew 4.5 million viewers with three more episodes to go in season two.
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| • 'WWE Raw' Will Ring In a New Deal In the New Year
Vince McMahon's WWE Monday Night Raw series on USA Network is pulling in between 3.4 million and 4.4 million viewers in each of its three hours of primetime every week between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. The series, a cross between professional wrestling and testosterone-fueled soap opera, also pulls in a solid 1.5 18-49 demo rating, largely consisting of younger men. And it continued to draw a steady audience in head-to-head competition on Monday nights with ESPN's Monday Night Football telecasts. The upshot: Raw is a huge ad revenue source for USA but its TV rights deal is expiring and WWE will spend the early part of 2014 looking for a sizable increase, hoping to package Raw and its other telecasts, Smackdown on Syfy, among others, together in a new deal. USA and Syfy are both owned by NBCUniversal, which has first right to accept or reject WWE's offer. If it doesn't, other media companies could scoop up the rights. Raw will continue to air somewhere, but it may or may not be on USA moving forward.
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Please note: MBPT will not go out on Tuesday, Dec. 31, and Wednesday, Jan. 1. The newsletter will resume on Thursday, Jan. 2.
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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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