| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | WPP CEO Says Geopolitical Concerns Make Some Advertisers Cautious
| | | Martin Sorrell says clashes over pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and the Ebola crisis, as well as the political tensions between Russia and the Ukraine are impacting worldwide ad spending, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Why This Matters: Despite those situations, WPP's third-quarter revenue was up 3% and Sorrell is confident that WPP can reach its full-year revenue targets, even though third quarter numbers were slightly below expectations.
A Take: WSJ
|
| | #2 | Major Marketers To Sponsor Veterans Special
| | | ConAgra Foods, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Union Pacific are among the advertisers signed up for a special titled "A Hero's Welcome" that will air Nov. 11 on all six Scripps Networks Interactive channels—Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Food Network, Great American Country, HGTV and Travel Channel, The New York Times reports. The special is centered on the celebration of the Hawaiian homecoming of wounded servicemen.
Why This Matters: This is the first program Scripps Networks Interactive has scheduled to appear on all its channels. John Muszynski, chief investment officer at Spark says, "Scripps really impressed us with the organic nature of how they treated our idea. And Scripps was able to do a very nice job of integrating across networks and making it feel like it belonged on all of them."
A Take: NYT
|
| | #3 | Walmart Biggest Halloween Ad Spender: Kantar Media
| | | The ad-tracking firm says the retail giant spent $4.98 million on Halloween ad messaging as of Oct. 26. That compares to $4.15 million spent by Subway, $3 million by Hobby Lobby, $2.94 million by JC Penney, $2.8 million by Skittles, $2.7 million by IHOP, $2.58 million by Lunchables, $2.1 million by Cheetos and $1.9 million each by Jolly Rancher and 20th Century Fox Pictures.
Why This Matters: Skittles was the largest candy brand ad spender for Halloween but surprisingly there weren't more candy companies among the top spenders. Perhaps the thinking is that candy for Halloween sells itself with no need for heavy marketing.
A Take: WSJ
|
|
#4 AOL To Offer Brands Alternative To Facebook's People-Based Marketing (Adweek)
#5 Starbucks Is Latest To Offer Mobile Ordering And Payment App (Ad Age)
#6 Why More Brands Are Comfortable Making Political Statements (Digiday)
#7 Sponsored Updates Help LinkedIn Ad Revenue Climb 45% In Q3 (Ad Age)
#8 Perception Group's Advertiser Optimism Index Reaches Seven-Year High (MediaPost)
#9 Questions Raised About Restrictions On Verizon's Content Marketing Site (Ad Age)
#10 Ads On U.S. Series To Be Sold Programmatically In Australia (WSJ)
|
|  | • 1
Billions of dollars in media advertising bought by WPP's digital media programmatic trading desk Xaxis for its clients during the third quarter, according to the holding company's most recent financial report.
– Reported by MediaPost
|
| | MBPT Spotlight | Fox Off To Slow Start, But Still Offers Marketers Millennials At a Cost Lower Than Sports Telecasts
By John Consoli
Fox is not off to a good start this season. Through the first five weeks, the network is down about 15% in viewers compared to the same period last season—averaging 4.9 million per night for its regularly scheduled live-plus-same-day programming. Its adult 18-49 demo rating is down a similar 15% to a 1.8. And those are the largest percentage declines compared to last season among the Big Five English-language broadcast networks.
In fact, Fox is the only one of those five broadcast networks that is down in every male and female age demo, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
However, there is one area of viewership where Fox is holding its own—millennial males, where new drama series Gotham and most of its Sunday "Fun Day" block is performing well in drawing that hard-to-reach demo.
Overall among males 12-34 (many researchers identify millennials as adults 15-34), Fox is averaging a 1.47 rating, compared to a 1.54 last season. However, in its Sunday block, which airs head-to-head with NBC's Sunday Night Football, it is averaging a 2.8 in the demo, and a 3.4 if you eliminate freshman scripted comedy Mulaney from the mix.
How much of a bargain are Fox's Sunday "Fun Day" series when it comes to reaching millennials? And what are the most-watched and least-watched primetime series by males in the 12-34 demo?
For more, click HERE
|
| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
'McCarthys' Premieres Soft for CBS
With CBS' midweek NFL package having wrapped last week, the network premiered its regular Thursday night entertainment lineup, getting solid ratings from its returning comedies but softer results from newcomer The McCarthys. The freshman lost 30% of its lead-in from Two and a Half Men, which itself was down 7% from last fall's debut. Its lead-in, Mom, was up 8% from its series premiere last year. Drama Elementary began its third season down 33% from its season 2 premiere. The Big Bang Theory, returning to Thursdays after five weeks on Monday night, led off CBS as the top program of the night. CBS numbers were inflated by preemptions in Charlotte and New Orleans, where the NFL Network's Thursday Night Football broadcast of the Panthers-Saints game was picked up by local CBS affiliates. ABC was the night's top network, edging out CBS by one-tenth of a point. Scandal was even with last week and How to Get Away With Murder was down 10%. ABC started the night with holiday special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. NBC and Fox tied for third. Fox's Bones was down 24% from its last new episode on Oct. 16 at and Gracepoint was even with last week. On NBC, The Biggest Loser hit a series low, down one-tenth of a point from last week. Bad Judge and Parenthood were both down one-tenth while A to Z was down 22%. The CW's The Vampire Diaries was down a tenth from last week and Reign stayed even.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'American Horror Story' Wraps Up Halloween Special
American Horror Story finished its annual two-part Halloween special as Wednesday night's top cable program. The episode drew a 2.3 rating with adults 18-49, up from the first part's 2.2 rating, and 4.5 million viewers. Comedy Central's South Park followed among original cable programs, with a 0.9 in the demo and 1.7 million viewers. ESPN's NBA doubleheader, with games at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., both had 0.8 ratings and 1.7 million viewers. FX's American Horror Story repeat after the special's run had a 0.8 to go with an audience of 1.5 million.
For more, click HERE
|
| Overnight Ratings: Thursday, October 30
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | THE BIG BANG
THEORY (8)
MOM (8:30) | 4.1
2.7
| 16.2
11.7 | | ABC | IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN | 1.77 | 6.2 | | FOX | BONES | 1.3 | 5.5 | | UNIVISION | MI CORAZÓN ES TUYO
| 1.3 | 3.0 | | NBC | BIGGEST LOSER | 1.1 | 4.4 | | CW | THE VAMPIRE DIARIES | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | ABC | SCANDAL | 3.0 | 9.1 | | CBS | TWO AND A HALF MEN (9)
THE MCCARTHYS (9:30) | 2.7
1.9 | 11.0
8.9 | | UNIVISION | HASTA EL FIN DEL MUNDO
| 1.3 | 3.0 | | FOX | GRACEPOINT | 0.8 | 3.3 | | NBC | BAD JUDGE (9)
A TO Z) | 0.9
0.7 | 4.0
2.6 | | CW | REIGN | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | ABC | HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER | 2.7 | 8.5 | | CBS | ELEMENTARY | 1.4 | 8.2 | | NBC | PARENTHOOD | 1.1 | 3.8 | | UNIVISION | LA MALQUERIDA
| 0.7 | 1.9 |
| | THIS WEEKEND'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • Breeders' Cup Classic Hopes To Make It a Horse Race
For the third year in a row, this premier horse race will be televised by NBC live from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., during a one-hour primetime Saturday night window beginning at 8. NBC Sports Network will televise 11 Breeders' Cup races on Friday (5-8 p.m.) and on Saturday (3:30-8 p.m.) leading up to the Classic on NBC, which features the top horses aged 3 and up. The upshot: In the two years that NBC has televised the Classic on Saturday night, it has not drawn well, averaging 2.8 million viewers and a 0.7 18-49 demo rating in 2012, then falling last year to 2.2 million and a 0.4. Once again, it goes up against college football on ABC and Fox.
|
| • 'Flex & Shanice' Join 'Deion' On OWN
The husband-and-wife duo of Flex Alexander and '90s pop singer Shanice along with their extended family are featured in a new reality series (OWN, Sat., 10 p.m.). In the series Flex tries to rebuild his stand-up career and Shanice tries to restart her R&B career. Flex & Shanice leads out of returning reality series Deion's Family Playbook (9 p.m.). The upshot: Flex & Shanice drew a strong women 25-54 audience during a sneak peek episode in May. Deion's Family Playbook averaged about 720,000 viewers in its six-episode first season earlier this year with the finale drawing close to 1 million.
|
| • AMC's 'Dead' Is Alive With Viewers
The fifth season of the cable network's sci-fi mega-hit The Walking Dead is averaging 15.4 million viewers and a 7.8 18-49 demo rating on Sunday at 9. The Talking Dead discussion show leading out of it at 10 is averaging 5.8 million viewers and a 2.9 demo rating. The Walking Dead is the most-watched series on cable and The Talking Dead ranks second. The Walking Dead is also the most-watched non-sports series on all TV among viewers 18-49. The upshot: The Walking Dead has lost about 20% of its premiere night live audience but remains one of the most talked-about series on TV, drawing a heavy millennial audience.
|
|
|
| |  |  |
| 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
|
|  | | |
|
|
|
| | | | | | |
