| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Viewers Vote Bud's 'Puppy Love' Top Commercial In 'USA Today' Ad Meter
| | | For the second consecutive year, and 12th time in the past 14 years, Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser has won USA Today's consumer-judged Ad Meter as the most liked Super Bowl commercial. An online audience of 6,272 preregistered panelists from across the country voted from a selection of about 50 in-game commercials. Doritos' "Cowboy Kid" finished second. Both A-B and Doritos had two of the top five. A Bud Light spot scored the lowest.
Why This Matters: The Ad Meter gets lots of publicity, which is value added for the winning commercial. Also, doesn't matter where a Super Bowl spot airs during the game, as long as they're good. The top two commercials both aired in a commercial pod in the fourth quarter with only a few minutes left in the blowout game.
Two Takes: USA Today | USA Today
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| | #2 | Hyundai, Coke Out Of Academy Awards Telecast; General Motors, Pepsi In
| | | Two of the Oscars' biggest sponsors have decided not to return this year, according to an Adweek report. Hyundai has been the official auto advertiser of the telecast since 2009 and spent more than $12 million in last year's broadcast. Coke has been the official non-alcoholic beverage for eight years and spent $8.5 million in last year's show. Pepsi returns to the awards for the first time since 2005. ABC declined comment.
Why This Matters: Getting a spot in the telecast is a tough ticket. The show has been sold out since before Halloween at an average $1.85 million per 30-second spot. So as soon as the two incumbents dropped out, GM and Pepsi were ready to jump in.
A Take: Adweek |
| | #3 | Coca-Cola 'America Is Beautiful' Commercial Sparks Kudos And Outrage
| | | It was meant to be a patriotic ad about America being a melting pot of nationalities, but some Super Bowl viewers took offense to the multi-ethnic cast singing "America The Beautiful" in several languages in addition to English. The commercial sparked an instant slew of both positive and negative tweets. Among the negatives: "Speak English or go home" and "Screwed up a beautiful song. No Coke for my family."
Why This Matters: Katie Bayne, president of Coca-Cola North America, said prior to its airing: "We hope the ad gets people talking and thinking about what it means to be proud to be American." However, with more than 100 million viewers watching, not everyone is going to agree with the premise.
A Take: USA Today | Adweek
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| #4 JCPenney's Deliberate Typos With Mittens Goads Kia, Doritos To Respond (Adweek)
#5 Super Bowl Generates Record Number Of Tweets – Barely (Mashable)
#6 Carat Named Media Agency Of The Year by Ad Age (Ad Age)
#7 Bruno Mars' Pepsi Halftime Show Performance Generates 2.2 Million Tweets (USA Today)
#8 Teen Vogue Launches Native Ad Team Made Up Of Its Instagram Followers (Adweek)
#9 Meredith Rated Top Media Company In Ad Perceptions' Annual Survey (MediaPost)
#10 Did Brands Miss Mobile Engagement Opportunities During Super Bowl? (MediaPost) |
|  | • 482.6
Billions of dollars that U.S. consumers will spend on ecommerce purchases in 2014, according to an eMarketer forecast. For the first time, consumers in Asia-Pacific will spend more on ecommerce ($525.2 billion) than any other region in the world.
– Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | Weaker Ad Market Expected To Cut Into 4Q Earnings—Disney is the only TV company with brighter forecast
By Jon Lafayette
A slow ad market at the end of the year will have an impact on the fourth-quarter earnings of the big media companies, analysts say.
Media companies starting with Comcast and Viacom reported earnings last week. Others will be reporting results through Feb. 21, when Crown Media and Starz take their turns.
Marci Ryvicker, senior analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, said the quarter seemed challenging for media companies because of a slowdown in the national ad market, soft broadcast ratings and tough comparisons with strong political ads in 2012.
Citing a softer scatter market and weak ratings, Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson cut his estimate for fourth quarter TV ad spending growth to 4.7% from 5.9%. As a result, he reduced his estimates on several of the companies he covers.
How big an impact will ratings reports have on media company shares and their willingness to bet money on programming? "We think investors have now turned their attention toward 2014, with the focus likely on picking media stocks with event-driven catalysts, and those with the best growth profile and long-term drivers," Ryvicker said, pointing to Time Warner's spinoff of its publishing assets as an example of the kind of event that could help a media stock.
At this point, Ryvicker said her favorite company in the sector was The Walt Disney Co., the only company for which she raised estimates for revenue, operating income and earnings per share.
How does Ryvicker justify her confidence in Disney? And what are the full predictions for CBS and Time Warner?
For more, click HERE (sub. required)
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • SARAH DAVIS will join NESN as a reporter, anchor and host in mid-February, including participation in the New England sports network's nightly sports news program NESN Sports Today. Davis was most recently with Rogers Sportnet in Toronto, the national sports network in Canada, where she served as host of Soccer Central and Fox Soccer News. She also served as host of UFC prefight shows and as game-day host for the Toronto Rock, a pro indoor lacrosse franchise.
• BILL KRISTOL has joined ABC News as a contributor to its Sunday morning news show This Week. First reported by Politico, the editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard will also appear on other ABC News political programs. Kristol spent more than 10 years as a political contributor to Fox News before departing the network last summer.
• SANJAY MACWAN was named senior VP and chief technology officer, Media Labs, at NBCUniversal. Media Labs is a newly formed organization within NBCU that will be dedicated to working with academic research groups, start-up companies and the global venture capital community to accelerate technology innovations and to help develop new business models for the company's content delivery businesses. It will operate out of a new technology center in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Macwan was most recently VP, chief technology office at AT&T and head of the CTO Technology Council. He was with A&T from 1992 in assorted executive roles.
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
Super Bowl Ratings Down Slightly in Metered Markets
Despite one of the biggest blowouts in Super Bowl history, Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday night still drew a strong rating in the metered markets, down just 1% from last year, according to Nielsen. Sunday's 43-8 win by the Seattle Seahawks over the Denver Broncos was the biggest margin of victory since 1993. Even so, the rating ranks fifth all-time. The Halftime Show featuring Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers came in slightly higher than last year's show with Beyoncé. After the game, New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine combined were up 14% vs. last year's lead-out program Elementary (which didn't air until 11:15 p.m. due to the blackout) but down slightly from Elementary's total viewers.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'Big Bang' Tops Thursday Night
TBS' 9:30 p.m. airing of The Big Bang Theory headed the cable pack Thursday with a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating and 3.2 million total viewers. Adult Swim's 11:30 p.m. episode of Family Guy came in second with a 1.2 in the demo and 2.5 million watchers. History's 9:30 p.m. Pawn Stars came in third in the demo with a 1.1 but first in total viewers, garnering 4.1 million. The 9 p.m. Pawn Stars also earned a 1.1 while bringing in a large audience, earning 3.8 million viewers.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Sunday, February 2
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | FOX
| SUPER BOWL XLVIII
| 35.5
| 100.1
| ABC
| AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS (R)
| 0.6
| 2.8
| UNIVISION
| VOCES INOCENTES
| 0.6
| 1.7
| NBC
| DATELINE NBC (R)
| 0.5
| 2.6
| CBS
| THE GOOD WIFE (R)
| 0.3
| 2.5
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| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | FOX
| SUPER BOWL XLVIII
| 31.2
| 85.3
| UNIVISION
| VOCES INOCENTES
| 0.7
| 2.0
| ABC
| SHARK TANK (R)
| 0.6
| 2.2
| CBS
| THE MENTALIST (R)
| 0.4
| 3.0
| NBC
| LITTLE FOCKERS
| 0.4
| 1.8
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| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | ABC
| SHARK TANK (R)
| 1.1
| 3.7
| CBS
| NCIS (R)
| 0.9
| 6.8
| NBC
| LITTLE FOCKERS
| 0.9
| 2.9
| UNIVISION
| SAL Y PIMIENTA
| 0.6
| 1.8
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| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • NBC's Golden Opportunity With 50 Years Of 'SI' Swimsuit Models
NBC and Time Inc. have partnered to present a two-hour TV special on Monday night at 9 celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit model franchise. The special is titled Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful and it will be hosted by former SI swimsuit issue cover model and Project Runway host Heidi Klum. It will feature SI swimsuit icons such as Tyra Banks, Christie Brinkley, Kathy Ireland, Marissa Miller and the more recent Kate Upton. Musical guests include Enrique Iglesias, Lady Antebellum, the Fray, John Legend and Tim McGraw. The upshot: NBC and Time Inc. will also be partnering on another telecast later this year, The People Magazine Awards, that will air on NBC. Expect the swimsuit special to draw lots of men. It is also preempting the network's highest-rated series, The Blacklist, so many of that series' female viewers might be tuning in, if not to see the models, then for the top-flight entertainment.
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| • Hunters In Above Their Heads Again On 'Swamp People'
History's popular reality series Swamp People returns for its fifth season, this time on Monday nights at 9. Airing on Thursday nights last season, it averaged about 4.5 million viewers and a 1.0 18-49 demo rating. According to the network, season five will follow the "Swampers" as they battle "the most vicious and aggressive gators ever." During a 30-day hunting season, they will not only face off against other hunters, but also against brazen interloper poachers. Returning cast members include Troy Landry and his sons RJ and Jay Paul Molinere, along with Liz and Jessica, Junior and Willie and Bruce Mitchell. The season will also feature the return of Terral Evans, described as "one of the toughest men in the swamp," and also introduce new swamper Roger Rivers. The upshot: Swamp People continues to be one of History's most-watched series, drawing close to 2 million in off-season repeats. The move from Thursday to Monday shouldn't impact that 4.5 million regular season average from last year that much.
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| • Riding With 'The Devils' Once Again
Discovery Channel's reality series The Devils Ride premieres its third season on Monday night at 10. The series is set in San Diego, where, one reviewer says, "motorcycle clubs run wild, and two sworn enemy clubs are at war for the right to bear their colors and become the more dominate club on the streets they call home." The series revolves around the Laffing Devils Motor Club and the Sinister Mob Syndicate, whose president is an ousted founding member of the Laffing Devils and has a deep hatred for his former club. Will infighting among The Laffing Devils and Sin Mob president Bubba lead to the club's demise? The upshot: Discovery is hoping the question of which club survives will keep viewers coming back each week during the season. The series is one of a number of auto and bike related reality series that include Street Outlaws, Fast N' Loud, American Chopper and the most recent addition Rods N' Wheels. Last season, The Devils Ride averaged a credible 1.6 million viewers and a 0.7 18-49 demo rating.
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