| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | Lean Cuisine Swears Off Weight-Loss Marketing With Brand Overhaul
| | | The Nestle-owned frozen food brand wants to modernize its entrees and is embarking on a major overhaul that includes new advertising, packaging and food options that link the brand to modern eating and health trends rather than calorie counting, Ad Age reports. New meals will include sweet and spicy Korean style beef, Vermont white cheddar mac and cheese, and pomegranate chicken, among other options. A social media campaign will precede a major TV marketing campaign.
Why This Matters: Lean Cuisine sales have declined 20% in the past two years to about $800 million annually and the brand needs an overhaul. It has not actively advertised for 18 months while it plotted the overhaul so this will be a major coming out party.
A Take: Ad Age
|
| | #2 | New Branded Content Agency to Feature YouTube Stars
| | | Strategic consultancy Co:Collective has opened a new branded content agency called The Pub that will help brands connect with YouTube stars and others to create native content for brands, Adweek reports. The content will include everything from video to website postings on social media sites. Dave Clark, formerly of 72andSunny, has been hired as executive creative director. Other execs include Eric Wilson, formerly of CAA Marketing, and Shawn Shahani, previously from Havas Worldwide. The plan is to bring in outside content creators to work on different projects. The Pub hopes to partner with digital publishing sites.
Why This Matters: The competition for creative and planning agencies continues to grow with small startups like these that, added up, can start taking away larger chunks of dollars away from traditional agencies.
A Take: Adweek
|
| | #3 | Apple's New Digital Radio Station Will Include Sponsor 'Mentions,' Not Ads
| | | When Apple premieres its new global radio station Beats 1 next week, it will have a sponsorship-only model in seeking advertisers, Ad Age reports. It will not carry audio and video ads like those running on Apple's iTunes Radio service or other sites like Pandora. Instead, it will feature "audio mentions" that will be interspersed throughout songs and segments. The mentions will be similar to DJ-spoken ads on traditional AM-FM radio stations.
Why This Matters: Startups sometimes have a harder time grabbing large slices of the existing ad pie by simply offering the same type of advertising everyone else is doing. So Apple is trying to be a little different in hopes of drawing a small core of initial advertisers to test its concept.
A Take: Ad Age
|
|
#4 Aston Martin Collaborates With WPP on Marketing Strategies (Automotive News)
#5 Twitter Says Strategy Team Can Help Brands (Adweek)
#6 CEO Asks Al Gore to Invest in WPP, Join Board (MediaPost)
#7 McDonald's Canada Won't Buy Any More 'Family Guy' Ads (B&C)
#8 Taxi Driver Strike Protesting Uber Creates Havoc for Cannes Lions Attendees (Ad Age)
#9 Screenvision Unveils Branded Content Programs (MediaPost)
#10 Brands Praise Court's Gay Marriage Ruling (Ad Age)
|
|  | • 56.35
Dollars in billions that are projected to be spent this year in the U.S. on retail ecommerce back-to-school sales, up 14.4% from last year, according to a new eMarketer data.
– Reported by eMarketer
|
| | MBPT Spotlight | No Must See Shows, No Urgency to Buy
By John Consoli
There has been much analysis written in the past few weeks about why the broadcast network upfront is proceeding at a snail's pace. Some of it is blamed on the large number of media agency reviews being conducted by marketers. Some of it is blamed on the continued move from C3 to C7 as a ratings guarantee currency. And some of it is blamed on the more complex nature of negotiations as agencies are buying not only linear commercial time but ads on TV network digital platforms.
However the most significant factor when you talk to media buyers is simply there are no must see or must buy shows on television, either on broadcast or cable.
Media buyers say excluding NFL games, there are only three primetime entertainment series — Empire on Fox, The Big Bang Theory on CBS and The Walking Dead on AMC — that might be classified as big time TV hits.
How many shows offered a 3 rating in the demo to buyers looking to reach a sizable audience? And will moving slowly benefit buyers or sellers?
For more, click HERE
|
| | Fates & Fortunes | • BRIAN SULLIVAN was named president of digital at Fox Networks Group. He was previously CEO at Sky Deutschland. In his new position, Sullivan will oversee operations including FoxNow, FxNow and Fox Sports Go. He will be responsible for both coordinating strategy in the direct-to-consumer digital video category and developing a global commercial platform to harness digital opportunities around data, monetization and ad serving.
|
| | What They're Watching | BROADCAST RATINGS
'Big Brother,' 'Under The Dome' Lead Way for CBS
Big Brother and Under the Dome earned CBS a Thursday night win. Big Brother dropped 5% from its premiere Wednesday, while the third season premiere of Under the Dome took a 38% hit from last season's premiere. Fox finished in second. Wayward Pines was even from its last original episode. NBC pulled into third. Dateline was even, matching a season high. Aquarius, which was renewed for a second season, dipped 14% to a series low. Hannibal, which was cancelled, struggled, dropping 20%. ABC followed, as The Astronaut Wives Club fell 27% from its premiere. Mistresses earned a series low, a 22% drop. The season premiere of Rookie Blue came in down 45% from last season's premiere. The CW's Beauty and the Beast was down 33% from last week.
For more, click HERE
CABLE RATINGS
'Duck' Beats 'Suits' Wednesday
The eighth season premiere of A&E's Duck Dynasty led all original cable programs Wednesday with a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.5 million viewers. Leading out of the program was Country Buck$, which debuted back-to-back episodes of its second season. Both installments drew a 0.4 rating; the show reeled in 1.0 million viewers for the 10 p.m. episode and kept 858,000 for the second. Even though USA released the pilot of Mr. Robot online weeks ago, the series premiere of the hacker drama still generated a 0.5 in the demo and 1.7 million viewers. Its lead-in, Suits, returned for its fifth season with a 0.6 rating and 2.1 million viewers.
For more, click HERE
|
| Overnight Ratings: Thursday, June 25
| | 8 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | BIG BROTHER | 2.0 | 6.4 | | NBC | DATELINE | 1.3 | 6.8 | | FOX | BOOM! | 0.9 | 2.5 | | ABC | THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB | 0.8 | 4.5 | | UNIVISION | AMORES CON TRAMPA | 0.8 | 2.1 | | TELEMUNDO | AVENIDA BRASIL | 0.4 | 1.1 | | CW | BEAUTY AND THE BEAST | 0.2 | 0.9 |
| | 9 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | UNDER THE DOME | 1.3 | 6.4 | | FOX | WAYWARD PINES | 1.2 | 3.4 | | UNIVISION | LO IMPERDONABLE | 0.9 | 2.3 | | ABC | MISTRESSES | 0.7 | 3.3 | | NBC | AQUARIUS | 0.6 | 3.2 | | TELEMUNDO | TIERRA DE REYES | 0.4 | 1.1 | | CW | THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (R) | 0.2 | 0.6 |
| | 10 PM | | NET | SHOW | A18-49
Rating | TOTAL VIEWERS
(MILLIONS) | | CBS | UNDER THE DOME | 1.2 | 5.9 | | UNIVISION | QUE TE PERDONE DIOS | 0.8 | 2.2 | | TELEMUNDO | EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS | 0.8 | 1.7 | | ABC | ROOKIE BLUE | 0.6 | 3.7 | | NBC | HANNIBAL | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| | THIS WEEKEND'S BIG RATINGS STORIES TODAY | • World Cup Back on Fox Primetime
The network will broadcast another United States Women's World Cup soccer matchup on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. when the Americans take on China. Fox will also air Germany vs. France at 4 p.m. Two Fridays ago, the U.S. team played to a 0-0 tie vs. Sweden on Fox in primetime drawing 4.5 million viewers. A U.S. win over Nigeria on Fox drew 5 million viewers and the defeat of Colombia on FS1 drew 4.7 million viewers. The upshot: Overall ratings for this year's FIFA Women's World Cup matches at this stage on Fox and FS1 are larger than in 2011 on ESPN and ESPN2. Expect the U.S.-China match to surpass 5 million viewers.
|
| • 15th Annual BET Awards
Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson, costars of the ABC sitcom Black-ish, cohost the annual awards show live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night at 8. Smokey Robinson and Tom Joyner will receive special awards. Among the performers will be Chris Brown, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill and Ne-Yo. A number of major brands including Coca-Cola, Cricket Wireless, Domino's, Macy's, McDonald's, Nissan, Samsung, State Farm, Verizon and the U.S. Army are advertising in the telecast. The upshot: Last year's telecast drew a 3.1 18-49 demo rating and 7.5 million viewers and was the most-watched Sunday night program on television in both viewers and the demo.
|
| • The Skies Are Falling on TNT
Drama Falling Skies returns for its fifth and final season Sunday night at 10. Like last season, it will lead out of another popular TNT drama The Last Ship, which had its second season premiere last week. Falling Skies focuses on a college professor who becomes the leader of the resistance against an invasion by an alien race. Falling Skies averaged a 0.7 18-49 demo rating and 2.7 million viewers in season 4, down significantly from its season 3 average of a 1.2 demo rating and 3.5 million viewers, despite a strong lead-in from Last Ship, which averaged a 1.1 in the demo and 4.4 million viewers. The upshot: Falling Skies produced solid numbers last season, but like most sci-fi series once viewers start to abandon it, and a storyline has run its course, it's hard to turn ratings around. The network is hoping to get one more solid season out of the series for advertisers.
|
|
|
| |  |  |
| 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
|
| 
|
| 
| | |
