| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Ad Tech Division Now Calls The Shots At AOL
| | | Since the September departure of group CEO Susan Lyne, who oversaw the brand (premium content) group, several of her top staffers were quietly moved to the ad-tech side, Ad Age reports. When Erika Nardini left as chief marketing officer of the brand group in November, her brand-side responsibilities were shifted to ad-tech.
Why This Matters: The content division has been stagnant, with AOL looking to narrow down to 15 content brands, compared to close to 300 in 2009. Meanwhile, the ad-tech division is driving the company's growth with ad revenue up significantly in third-quarter and year-to-year.
A Take: Ad Age
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| | #2 | Brands Plan Experimenting With Oculus Rift-Driven Marketing
| | | The virtual-reality device is quickly moving past its obscure curiosity status, Adweek reports. Oculus distributed 100,000 developer kits to agencies, brands and vendors in 2014 for test usage and some brands see merit in using virtual reality videos for marketing purposes—Elle magazine and Marriot among them.
Why This Matters: The upside is that virtual video devices such as Oculus are popular among the marketer-desired millennial audience. A Deep Focus survey of 1,203 young adults found 51% had heard about VR devices and 41% said they would like to try them. The downside—right now, a 3-minute VR video can cost up to $1 million to produce.
A Take: Adweek
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| | #3 | Universal Music Group Partners With Havas In Global Deal
| | | The French-based advertising and marketing holding company and the American-based, French-owned music company have formed the Global Music Data Alliance. UMG's proprietary data across its artists and music genres will be combined with Havas' behavioral data to come up with insights that Havas clients and their brands can use to target-market the music consumer audience.
Why This Matters: Universal is the world's biggest music producer with an artist roster that include Nick Jonas, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Elton John, U2 and Pearl Jam. All of them have millions of fans so data about how to reach those fans, many of whom are harder-to-reach millennials, will be welcomed by Havas clients.
Two Takes: Ad Age | MediaPost
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#4 TapSense To Release Apple Watch Ad-Buying Service (Reuters)
#5 Cam Newton Replaces John Stamos As Dannon Oikos Yogurt Spokesman (Ad Age)
#6 Forbes To Create Native Ad Second Cover For AT&T (WSJ)
#7 Snapchat-Commissioned Study Finds Users Like Its Ads (Ad Age)
#8 General Motors To Offer Retailers More Access To Its Drivers (USA Today)
#9 McDonald's Begins New Brand Vision But Keeps 'I'm Lovin It' Tagline (Ad Age)
#10 Is Google Using YouTube To Tighten Its Grip On Ad Tech? (Digiday)
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Percentage of shoppers who say they prefer to look up information on their mobile devices while shopping, rather than talking to an in-store employee, according to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association.
– Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | TV Business Focuses On Disruption From Digital—Ratings and ad business under pressure from new competitors
By Jon Lafayette
In 2015, the TV industry will see if several scary trends turn out to be blips on the radar or signs of the digital disruption that crippled the print and music businesses.
Ratings have dropped sharply for broadcast and cable networks, leaving executives scrambling for an explanation. After years of persuading advertisers to pay higher prices for fewer viewers, the ad market turned chilly and several of the large programmers reported declines in domestic ad revenue during the third quarter. Where'd the money go? To digital media, of course.
The situation stunned Wall Street. To placate analysts and keep repurchasing their own shares, some media companies instituted staff cuts, another sign of an industry facing at least temporary distress.
In the meantime, revenue from distributors grew reliably. In showdowns between programmers and distributors, the distributor got run over. Case in point: CBS, which pulled its signal from Dish Network subscribers. Less than 24 hours later, CBS had much of what it wanted from Dish. CBS is assuring investors it will be rolling in $2 billion in retrans by 2020.
But it is unclear how much longer those distributor geese can continue laying golden eggs. As cable and satellite subscriptions rose in price, Nielsen saw more homes with broadband and no cable. Also, more homes pulled the plug on cable to become consumers of over-the-air broadcasting only. Companies including Dish, Sony, HBO and CBS were lining up to offer subscriptions to over-the-top services, which promise fewer channels at a lower price but better high-tech ways for consumer to find the entertainment for which they're paying.
What are the experts saying about 2015 ad trends? And how is the upfront picture shaping up?
For more, click HERE (sub needed)
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • ROB SCHWARTZ was promoted to chief executive officer of TBWA/Chiat/Day New York. He was most recently global creative president. At the same time, Robert Harwood-Matthews, president of the New York office since Sept. 2012, is leaving the agency. Schwartz has been with TBWA for 16 years. Prior becoming global creative president in 2012, he was chief creative officer at TBWA Los Angeles.
• AARON LaBERGE was named executive VP and chief technology officer at ESPN. He will report to John Skipper, ESPN president and cochairman, Disney Media Networks, and will be responsible for oversight, strategic leadership and direction of technology across all ESPN media and businesses. He is only the second CTO in ESPN's 35-year history. LaBerge first joined ESPN in 1997 as a software engineer. He spent six years as cofounder of tech company Fanzter Inc., before returning to ESPN in Jan. 2013.
• SANDY BRELAND was promoted to group VP at Raycom Media, where she will succeed Leon Long who is retiring at the end of January. Breland was most recently VP and general manager of Raycom station WVUE New Orleans. She joined Raycom in 2008 as VP/general manager of WAFB-WBXH Baton Rouge. In another move at Raycom, COLLIN GASTON was named VP and general manager of WBRC Birmingham, replacing Lou Kirchen, who will also retire at the end of January. Gaston joined Raycom in 2007 as general sales manager at WSFA Montgomery and in 2011 was promoted to VP and general manager of the station.
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
ABC's 'Galavant' OK in Premiere
ABC kicked off midseason on Sunday with the premiere of its musical comedy Galavant, which drew OK ratings that were in line with the season average of Once Upon A Time, the series it's replacing in the network's lineup for the next four weeks. The debut of Galavant was down 40% from Once Upon A Time's season premiere back in September. America's Funniest Home Videos led into Galavant, even with its last new episode Dec. 7. Resurrection and Revenge were also even. ABC was the night's No. 3 network. Fox was the night's top broadcaster thanks to overrun from the NFC wild card matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions. NBC's Celebrity Apprentice premiered up 35% from its last season premiere in 2013. NBC finished second. CBS came in fourth as Madam Secretary was down 26% from its last episode Nov. 30. The Good Wife was down one-tenth from Nov. 23 and CSI declined 14% from last week.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
College Bowl Games Score Big on Tuesday
ESPN had the top three original cable programs on Tuesday with college bowl games throughout the day. The Georgia vs. Louisville matchup took first place, drawing a 1.9 rating with adults 18-49 and 6.4 viewers. Notre Dame's win over LSU followed with a 1.4 in the demo and 5.3 million viewers. Stanford vs. Maryland came in third with a 1.0 rating and 3.2 million viewers. Discovery's Moonshiners was the top non-sports cable original with a 0.8 in the demo and 2.5 million viewers.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Sunday, January 4
| | 7 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | FOX | NFL OVERRUN (7)
THE OT (7:30) | 13.1
12.0 | 40.1
35.2 | | ABC | AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS | 1.3 | 6.1 | | CBS | 60 MINUTES | 0.8 | 7.5 | | UNIVISION | AQUÍ Y AHORA
| 0.8 | 2.2 | | NBC | DATELINE: NBC | 0.7 | 4.2 |
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | FOX | THE SIMPSONS (8)
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE (8:30) | 4.6
2.9
| 10.5
6.0
| | ABC | GALAVANT | 2.0 | 7.3 | | NBC | DATELINE: NBC | 1.9 | 8.3 | | CBS | MADAM SECRETARY | 1.4 | 11.5 | | UNIVISION | EL PATRULLERO 777
| 0.9 | 2.2 |
| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | FOX | FAMILY GUY (9)
BOB'S BURGERS (9:30) | 2.8
1.9 | 5.5
3.9 | | NBC | CELEBRITY APPRENTICE | 2.3 | 6.7 | | CBS | THE GOOD WIFE | 1.3 | 10.2 | | ABC | RESURRECTION | 1.0 | 4.1 | | UNIVISION | EL PATRULLERO 777
| 0.9 | 2.3 |
| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | NBC | CELEBRITY APPRENTICE | 2.4 | 6.9 | | CBS | CSI | 1.2 | 8.5 | | ABC | REVENGE | 0.9 | 3.9 | | UNIVISION | SAL Y PIMIENTA
| 0.7 | 1.8 |
| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • NBC Fired Up For 'Celebrity Apprentice' Return
After a one-season hiatus, Donald Trump's reality series returns for a seventh season in its regular time period of 8 p.m. Mondays after premiering Sunday night at 9. The 16 celebrity contestants—competing as usual to win money for specific charities—includes Geraldo Rivera, Kate Gosselin, Vivica A. Fox, Johnny Damon, Ian Ziering, Gilbert Gottfried, Leeza Gibbons and Terrell Owens. The upshot: The Celebrity Apprentice, once a hit for the network, is now pretty much a time-filler. It last aired from March to May 2013, averaging only 5.6 million viewers, a far cry from the 11 million it drew in its first installment in 2008. On Sunday it drew 6.8 million viewers, with Keshia Knight Pulliam the first celebrity to be fired.
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| • 'The Bachelor' Begins Another Bride Hunt
The long-running "rose" bowl is back for season 19 (9 p.m.) on ABC, beginning its 2-hour weekly telecasts. The current bachelor is Chris Soules, the farmer from Iowa who was sent home by Andi Dorfman on The Bachelorette last season. The upshot: As has been the pattern of recent Bachelor and Bachelorette installments, a former losing contestant is being brought back for another chance at finding romance. Viewers like the idea, with The Bachelor last season averaging 8.4 million viewers and a 2.5 18-49 demo rating.
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| • VH1 Sticks With 'Sorority Sisters'
The reality series (9 p.m.) that follows a group of Atlanta women who belong to the same sorority premiered Dec. 15 to 1.3 million viewers and a 0.7 demo number, but faced a massive backlash on Twitter that led several advertisers to withdraw. Critics say it misrepresents black sorority life and focuses on negativity. One more episode aired Dec. 22 and saw a sizable 23% drop in viewers to 1 million, and a 14% decline in the demo. The upshot: Last week VH1 aired a movie special in the time period, but Sorority Sisters returns this week. VH1 professes its continued support and says it has no cancellation plans.
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