| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Digital Ad Spending Up, But Marketers Have Some Blind Spots
| | | A new report from Forrester finds the 50% of marketing execs surveyed say they plan to increase digital spending in 2015, and some companies are spending equal amounts on digital and traditional marketing. But according to a Mediapost report, the survey also reveals that companies are having problems recruiting top digital talent and collaborating across departments internally. Jim Nail, principal analyst at Forrester, says, "there are enormous gaps in strategy, execution and skills" when it comes to digital marketing.
Why This Matters: Forrester suggests marketers should perhaps focus less on what they spend digitally and more on what they need to learn about how to be successful. "Rather than single-mindedly chasing new opportunities, the time has come to build a stronger foundation of core digital marketing disciplines," the report says.
A Take: MediaPost
|
| | #2 | Why Crackle Ditched NewFronts
| | | The streaming video service on April 14 will become the first streaming network to hold an individual upfront presentation. Eric Berger, Crackle executive VP and general manager, tells Adweek the company wants to send a message to marketers that "we are a premium streaming TV network with a core focus on creating quality, long-form original programming and delivering it over-the-top on every platform."
Why This Matters: Crackle has already had advertising success, with Best Buy, BMW, Verizon, Geico, Buffalo Wild Wings and Google on board. Berger is hoping to use its upfront presentation to tout its audience sweet spot of men 18-34, and stress to marketers its belief in free, ad-supported television.
A Take: Adweek
|
| | #3 | Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Tweet Breaks News That Mtn Dew's Baja Blast Is Back
| | | For its first 10 years, Baja Blast was exclusively sold at Taco Bell, but last summer parent PepsiCo offered it in stores for a limited time. The brand is being brought back to stores for another limited run beginning April 20, Ad Age reports, and the news was trumpeted to consumers via a tweet from NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. The launch was teased on social media this week before Earnhardt confirmed it.
Why This Matters: The launch will be promoted by a TV spot, but PepsiCo chose to first break the news via social media. Earnhardt's tweet was retweeted about 1,000 times within the first five hours and favorited 1,700 times.
A Take: Ad Age
|
|
#4 Subaru, Honda, Porsche Top Kelly Blue Book Brand Image Survey (MediaPost)
#5 Wieden + Kennedy To Handle Sprite Creative (Ad Age)
#6 Omnicom CEO Wren Gets 33% Pay Hike (MediaPost)
#7 Subway, TGI Friday's, L'Oreal Among Favorite Brand Loyalty Programs (Ad Age)
#8 Apple Watch Commercials Blitzing Primetime Prior To April 24 Launch (WSJ)
#9 'WSJ' Understates Native Ad Operation (Digiday)
#10 Saatchi Exec Has Worn Same Outfit At Work For 3 Years (Ad Age)
|
|  | • 44
Percentage of U.S. adults who live in mobile phone-only households, according to data from GfK MRI. Among millennials, 64% say they have mobile phones only at home, with 45% of genXers and 32% of baby boomers using only mobile phones at home.
– Reported by eMarketer
|
| | MBPT Spotlight | Three Months Of NHL Playoffs On NBCU Networks Offer Good Play For Millennial Men
By John Consoli
Marketers wanting to reach those elusive millennial men will again have a good and lengthy opportunity when the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs begin on April 15, with games to be televised on NBCSN, CNBC and USA cable networks, as well as on NBC broadcast network.
With only a few days to go in the regular season, NBC Sports has sold about 90% of the TV commercial inventory for the always-protracted playoffs which included 93 games last season but could total as many as 105.
Seth Winter, executive VP of sales and marketing for NBC Sports Group, says the later rounds are better sold than the early rounds, but with 10% of the inventory left, there are still a good amount of avails left for brands looking to break the ice.
The NHL offers up one of the youngest sports telecast audiences with a big chunk of viewers affluent men in their 30s with six-figure annual incomes, Winter says. About 75% of the viewership is male.
Which sponsors have made significant buys for this year's Stanley Cup playoffs? And why do the games offer, specifically, a great opportunity for a top wireless brand?
For more, click HERE
|
| | Fates & Fortunes | • MICHAEL GALANTE has joined Home Team Sports as VP, creative partnerships. He will be based in New York and report to Craig Sloan, senior VP of HTS. Galante was most recently with the NBA's Global Marketing Partnership group, where he led efforts in developing promotional marketing ideas to help the NBA's new business team secure sponsors. He also managed the NBA's Marketing Solutions team. Prior to that, Galante worked at ESPN for seven years in the creative works department. HTS is the Fox-owned sales entity that represents every regional sports network in the country.
• TYRA BANKS will host the 42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards to be televised on Pop network live on Sunday, April 26 at 8 p.m. Banks, a two-time Daytime Emmy winner for The Tyra Banks Show, will be returning to daytime TV in the fall with a new syndicated lifestyle show titled The FAB Life.
• BOB SCHIEFFER, veteran CBS newscaster, has announced plans to retire. Schieffer, 78, has worked at CBS for nearly half a century and has interviewed every sitting president since Richard Nixon. He joined CBS in 1969 and has hosted the Sunday morning program Face the Nation since 1991. He was also anchor of the Saturday edition of The CBS Evening News for 23 years and hosted the weeknight edition for a brief period. He began his career as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
|
| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
CBS Returns Wednesday Lineup to Win Night
CBS returned its full Wednesday lineup after a week off and took the win. Criminal Minds was down a tenth and CSI: Cyber was steady with its last original episode. Survivor, which aired last week, rose 5%. A special Wednesday edition of The Voice pushed NBC to second. The Voice was down more than 20% from both shows earlier in the week, but improved that time slot's normal performance by 75%. ABC landed in third. The Middle was even and The Goldbergs dipped a tenth. Following a Modern Family repeat, Black-ish sank 21% to its lowest rating so far and Nashville was down 15% to a series low. Fox was in fourth as American Idol fell 22%. The CW rounded out the night with repeats.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'Beverly Hills' Housewives Top Tuesday
Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was Tuesday night's leading original cable program. The reality show had a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.2 million viewers. TLC's 19 Kids and Counting hour, Comedy Central's Tosh.0 and the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship on ESPN all scored a 0.7 in the demo. A number of series had a 0.6 rating, including OWN's If Loving You Is Wrong, BET's Being Mary Jane and Beverly Hills lead-out Real Housewives of NYC. FX's penultimate Justified episode had a 0.5 in the demo and 1.8 million viewers.
For more, click HERE
|
| Overnight Ratings: Wednesday, April 8
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | SURVIVOR | 2.3 | 9.6 | | NBC | THE VOICE | 2.1 | 9.5 | | ABC | THE MIDDLE (8)
THE GOLDBERGS (8:30) | 1.8
1.9 | 7.2
6.5 | | FOX | AMERICAN IDOL | 1.3 | 6.0 | | UNIVISION | AMORES CON TRAMPA
| 1.0 | 2.8 | | TELEMUNDO | AVENIDA BRASIL
| 0.4 | 1.2 | | CW | ARROW (R) | 0.3 | 1.1 |
| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | CRIMINAL MINDS | 2.0 | 10.1 | | NBC | LAW & ORDER: SVU | 1.8 | 7.3 | | ABC | MODERN FAMILY (R) (9)
BLACK-ISH (9:30) | 1.7
1.9 | 5.8
6.1 | | FOX | AMERICAN IDOL | 1.5 | 7.1 | | UNIVISION | HASTA EL FIN DEL MUNDO
| 1.0 | 2.9 | | TELEMUNDO | TIERRA DE REYES
| 0.4 | 1.2 | | CW | SUPERNATURAL (R) | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | NBC | CHICAGO P.D. | 1.5 | 6.7 | | CBS | CSI: CYBER | 1.4 | 8.1 | | ABC | NASHVILLE | 1.1 | 4.7 | | UNIVISION | QUE TE PERDONE DIOS
| 0.8 | 2.3 | | TELEMUNDO | DUEÑOS DEL PARAÍSO
| 0.5 | 1.4 |
| | TOMORROW'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • NBC Looks For A Little Ratings 'Law & Order' On Thursdays
The network is still trying to find a stronger lead-in to its 9 p.m. drama series The Blacklist. After airing rookie The Slap at 8 p.m., where it averaged only 3.7 million viewers, and then a fresh edition of Dateline, which averaged 5.7 million, the network will now try repeats of Law & Order: SVU. That series is averaging 6.8 million viewers and a 1.5 in the 18-49 demo at 9 p.m. on Wednesday nights, where it will continue to air. Meanwhile, Dateline is moving to 10 p.m. Thursday, replacing The Slap. The upshot: NBC's Thursday lineup remains a big struggle, and the net's decision to move The Blacklist to the night continues to look like a major blunder.
|
| • 'The Comedians' Into 'Louie'—FX's One-Two Punch Line
The Comedians (10 p.m.) stars Billy Crystal and Josh Gad as a late-night sketch comedy duo whose egos collide. Crystal plays a legendary funnyman; Gad is the edgier up-and-coming star. The series has a 13-episode order and will lead into the season 5 return of Louie, starring Louis C.K. Louie will air only seven episodes, with each being written and directed by the comic. The upshot: The fourth season of Louie was not very successful, averaging less than 800,000. FX brass may be looking for Crystal fans to tune in and then stick around for Louie.
|
| • USA Viewers Not Digging 'Dig'
The 10-episode scripted drama from the producers of Homeland and Heroes is struggling to keep viewers halfway through its first-season run (10 p.m.) on USA Network. Dig follows an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem investigating a murder, who uncovers an ancient international conspiracy. It's averaging 1.5 million viewers and a 0.4 18-49 rating. However, it premiered with 1.8 million viewers and last week drew only 1.3. The upshot: USA has a history of dramas drawing large audiences but Dig doesn't seem to have captivated the net's viewing faithful.
|
|
|
| |  |  |
| 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
|
|  |
|  | | |
