| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Digital Technology Now Key Component Of Luxury Automakers' Sales Pitches
| | | It's no longer horsepower and other under-the-hood features that highlight luxury auto companies' TV commercials. Today there's a heavy focus on advanced hybrid technology inside the cars, according to a report in Ad Age. And luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Jaguar are not only touting these new tech features in their marketing campaigns, they are also hiring tech-savvy salespeople to educate customers in their showrooms.
Why This Matters: This new way of trying to win over customers can present some challenges for the automakers' creative agencies that have to find ways for their clients to rise above the competition in this new battleground.
A Take: Ad Age
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| | #2 | Super Sunday Offers Lots Of Other Ad Opportunities
| | | Some alternatives for marketers: the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, now in its 11th season, which drew 13.5 million viewers last year with a commercial costing $100,000); Hallmark's Kitten Bowl, which drew about 1 million viewers; NatGeo's Fish Bowl that pulled in only 27,000; YouTube's halftime show, new this year; and the Lingerie Bowl/Legends Cup. There's also the Wing Bowl (held the Friday before the Super Bowl).
Why This Matters: These annual TV events are not going to come in any way close to Super Bowl viewership, but they do offer marketers a more economical way to reach an audience segment that may not be motivated to watch every minute of the pregame and halftime coverage—primarily pet owners and animal lovers.
A Take: Digiday
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| | #3 | Audi To Sit Out Super Bowl For First Time Since 2008
| | | The German carmaker praised the Super Bowl telecasts of the past for increasing awareness and showroom traffic following its commercial airings during game, but Audi spokesman Andrew Lipman told Ad Age, "While the NFL remains an important platform for reaching our consumers, we won't be investing in the game this year."
Why This Matters: Audi joins Volkswagen, General Motors, Lincoln, Ford, Jaguar, Honda and Acura as major auto brands sitting out the Super Bowl this year.
A Take: Ad Age
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#4 Omnicom Uses Facebook's Atlas To Check Google's DoubleClick Math (Digiday)
#5 Study Finds Social Sharing Of Super Bowl Commercials Is Declining (Ad Age)
#6 Younger Folks Willing To Pay More For Healthier Food (USA Today)
#7 Rentrak Adds Kantar Retail Data To TV Measurement (B&C)
#8 GSD&M Chairman Advising Hillary Clinton Campaign Again (Ad Age)
#9 Dentsu Offers Voluntary Buyout Program (MediaPost)
#10 Twitter To Acquire Ad Tech Company ZipDial (Ad Age)
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Percentage of Super Bowl commercials that were 60 seconds or longer during last year's game, according to Kantar Media data. That was up from 29% in 2013.
– Reported by eMarketer
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| | MBPT Spotlight | Sub Fees Seen Growing Despite Over-the-Top Competition—Sling TV launch signals pressure on cable bundle
By Jon Lafayette
While some analysts are alarmed about the effects over-the-top will have on the ability of programmers to generate revenue, others are confident that the trend of rising subscriber fees will continue, at least through 2015.
The launch of Dish's Sling TV was a sign that OTT would truly arrive as an option for that growing group of consumers who have opted not to subscribe to traditional cable. Streaming is becoming more popular, particularly with younger viewers, and with more programming becoming available online, the bundle—long a predictably profitable cash cow—is being threatened.
Following Sling's launch, Michael Nathanson, analyst with MoffetNathanson Research, enumerated the threats to the media ecosystem that existed at the end of 2014, and "officially" added OTT to his list.
Looking at the agreements Dish has made to launch Sling TV, Nathanson figures the programming costs for the 12 networks in its "Best of Live TV" package are about $13 per month, including ESPN. With a $20 monthly price point, that leaves $7 for "customer acquisition costs, technology and hosting, interconnection and transport costs and at least some customer service," Nathanson says. "That won't leave a lot of room." Nathanson figures Dish will make money as Sling sells higher-margin additional channel packages.
What does Nathanson see as the long-term prospects for Sling TV? And why are media buyers particularly pleased by such over-the-top options?
For more, click HERE (sub needed)
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| | Fates & Fortunes | • CHRISTINE MERRIFIELD is leaving her post as president of investment at MediaVest. She's been with the media agency for 10 years and has held her current position since 2012, when she succeeded Donna Speciale, who departed to take a top ad executive post at Turner. MELISSA SHAPIRO, a group director of investment at MediaVest, will succeed Merrifield.
• KRISTINE DECKER was named brand director, North America Brand Operations, for Procter & Gamble. She succeeds Jodi Allen who had been overseeing the packaged goods company's North America media spending since the departure of Julie Eddleman, who joined Google last year. Allen is also VP, North America Hair Care. Decker was brand director, North America Pet Care and has been transitioning into her new role under Allen, Ad Age reports.
• GINA LaRUSSA was promoted to senior VP of human resources, advertising sales at NBCUniversal. She was most recently VP and after joining NBCU in 2013, she led the launch of the ad sales department's NBCUniversity. Prior to that she was director of human resources at PricewaterhouseCoopers and also spent 18 years at Turner Broadcasting Systems in assorted human resources roles.
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| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
'2 Broke Girls,' 'Scorpion,' 'Gotham' Lead Monday
CBS' 2 Broke Girls and Scorpion tied with Fox's Gotham as Monday's highest-rated shows, with the two CBS series both down 8% from their respective last original episodes. CBS won the night. Mike & Molly was even and NCIS: Los Angeles declined 25%. ABC finished second. The Bachelor grew 17% from last week and Castle was up a tenth of a point. Fox landed in third as Gotham was down 12% from Jan. 5 and Sleepy Hollow fell to a series low, down 19% from two weeks ago. NBC was in fourth place. The Celebrity Apprentice rose one-tenth of a point from last week and State of Affairs grew 57% from last week. The CW rounded out the night. The Originals was even with its last new episode Dec. 8 and Jane the Virgin, in its first new episode since lead actress Gina Rodriguez earned the network's first Golden Globe, was even with its last new episode.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
Basketball Tops Thursday Night
TNT's 10:30 p.m. NBA basketball showing was the leading original cable program on Thursday, drawing a 1.0 rating with adults 18-49 and 2 million viewers. Syfy's WWE Smackdown came in second with a larger audience of 2.7 million viewers but a 0.8 in the demo. TNT's earlier basketball matchup and History's Pawn Stars hour drew a 0.7 rating.
For more, click HERE
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| Overnight Ratings: Monday, January 19
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | FOX | GOTHAM | 2.2 | 6.4 | | CBS | 2 BROKE GIRLS (8)
MIKE & MOLLY (8:30) | 2.2
2.1 | 8.9
9.3
| | ABC | THE BACHELOR | 2.1 | 7.6 | | NBC | CELEBRITY APPRENTICE | 1.8 | 6.5 | | UNIVISION | MI CORAZÓN ES TUYO
| 1.3 | 3.3 | | CW | THE ORIGINALS | 0.6 | 1.5 |
| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | SCORPION | 2.2 | 12.0 | | ABC | THE BACHELOR | 2.1 | 7.4 | | NBC | CELEBRITY APPRENTICE | 1.9 | 6.5 | | FOX | SLEEPY HOLLOW | 1.3 | 4.2 | | UNIVISION | HASTA EL FIN DEL MUNDO
| 1.3 | 3.2 | | CW | JANE THE VIRGIN | 0.5 | 1.4 |
| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | NCIS: LOS ANGELES | 1.5 | 9.4 | | ABC | CASTLE | 1.4 | 7.5 | | NBC | STATE OF AFFAIRS | 1.1 | 4.5 | | UNIVISION | QUE TE PERDONE DIOS
| 1.1 | 2.6 |
| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • TeenNick Gets To 'Heart' Of Mystery In New Drama
Mystery series Open Heart, premiering at 9 p.m., centers on a 16-year-old girl who falls in with the wrong crowd, gets arrested and must perform community service as a volunteer at Open Heart Memorial Hospital, where her mother and sister are both doctors and her grandparents are board members. The mystery is that her dad was last seen at the hospital before he disappeared. The upshot: Open Heart springs from the producers of long-running teen drama Degrassi (which is now on MTV), and Open Heart stars three former Degrassi cast members.
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| • 'Tykes' Go For It On Second Down
The Esquire Network reality show focusing on the 8- and 9-year-old division of a Texas youth football league premieres its second season (9 p.m.) after being both praised and criticized the first time around. Some believe it glorifies bullying and verbally abusive coaches; others see it exposing the underbelly of kid sports in Texas. The upshot: Friday Night Tykes got Esquire Network mass exposure in its first season and posted the most-watched premiere episode for the network that relaunched from Style in Sept. 2013. Its average 400,000 viewers was not huge but Esquire is still evolving into a male-centric network and Tykes helped get it on the map.
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| • FX's 'Justified' Back For Final Season
The Emmy-winning drama returns for its sixth and final season (10 p.m.). Justified is based on the works of crime novelist Elmore Leonard and stars Timothy Olyphant. In the final season, a mysterious stranger stands between Olyphant's U.S. Marshal Givens and retirement. The upshot: Creator and showrunner Graham Yost has done a good job of maintaining viewership. Justified averaged about 2.2 million viewers and a 0.8 18-49 demo rating for season 5, down a tick from season 4, but solid numbers for a veteran cable series.
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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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