| Today's Top Stories | | #1 | NBCU Producing Original Programming for Snapchat
| | | Under the new multi-year content and ad deal, NBCUniversal will produce original, episodic shows for the social media platform. NBCU will both develop programming and sell ad packages that will incorporate all of Snapchat's ad opportunities. Initially NBC's The Voice and E! Entertainment's E! News will develop customized shows to run on Snapchat Discover. The Voice on Snapchat will debut on Aug. 22. Originals from The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live will also be produced, along with programming from NBCU's Hispanic networks.
Why This Matters: Snapchat, which recently expanded its partnership with the NFL for content, continues to talk with multiple networks and media companies about developing original content. It already has a deal with NBCU for Olympic content. From NBCU's perspective, the deal enables it to reach a mass audience of younger viewers and allows its advertisers to do the same.
Three Takes: MCN | WSJ | Ad Age
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| | #2 | Early NBC Olympics Viewership Down
| | | NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics opening ceremony from Rio produced 26.5 million viewers, making it the least-watched opening ceremony telecast since Athens in 2004, which drew 25.9 million. That was also down 35% from the 2012 opening ceremony telecast, which drew 40.7 million viewers. Through the first two nights of coverage, viewership is down 32% from the 2012 Games.
Why This Matters: That is not a good start for NBC, which Ad Age reports offered advertisers ratings guarantees similar to the ratings levels produced during the 2012 London Games. There is still some two weeks of coverage and many different events for viewers to tune into, so it is still too early to assume viewership won't turn around. NBC CEO Steve Burke has said that if there are ratings shortfalls, the makegoods could be offered during the remainder of Olympic telecasts, but adding more commercials to the mix could annoy viewers.
Three Takes: Ad Age | Adweek | WSJ
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| | #3 | Dentsu Acquires Majority Stake in Merkle
| | | The Japanese-based advertising holding company has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Baltimore-based data marketing firm Merkle. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Merkle specializes in "customer relationship marketing," which includes crafting loyalty programs for marketers and managing their customer databases. It also offers search advertising and data-driven ad buying and analytics. Merkle services, whose clients include MetLife, Geico and Dell, are also expected to be used by Dentsu Inc.'s Dentsu Aegis Network, which includes media and digital agencies Carat, mcgarrybowen, 360i, Vizeum, iProspect and Isobar.
Why This Matters: Dentsu continues to acquire ad-related companies outside of Japan in an effort to reduce its dependency on its home market where the economy isn't growing as fast as in some other countries. "We are continuing to use acquisitions to accelerate our growth," says Jerry Buhlmann, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network.
Three Takes: WSJ | MediaPost | Ad Age |
| #4 Olympics Opening Ceremony Ad Load Irks NBC Viewers (Adweek)
#5 ANA Transparency Report a Mystery to Many Marketers (MediaPost)
#6 Hulu Ends Ad-Supported Content (MediaPost)
#7 Luxury Auto Brands Selling More Than Cars (Adweek)
#8 Marketers Say Periscope Could Save Twitter (Digiday)
#9 Snapchat's Seven Olympics Ad Partners (Adweek)
#10 Kid Anti-Drug Ad Takes Aim at Parents (NYT)
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Dollars in billions expected to be generated in U.S. B2B ecommerce sales in 2016, according to Forrester Research projections. That would be an increase over last year of 9.6% and amount to 9.9% of the worldwide total.
– Reported by eMarketer |
| | Ratings | NBC Dominates With Olympics Coverage
By Luke McCord NBC blew the competition out of the water Sunday with its coverage of the Rio Olympic Games. The broadcaster pulled in a 9.0 rating/31 share among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnight numbers. However, that fell short of the numbers the London Games generated on the first Sunday in 2012, down 21%. CBS finished in second with a 0.7/2. 60 Minutes fell 50% to a 0.6, while Big Brother slipped a tenth to a 1.5. BrainDead fell two tenths to a 0.3. Fox with a 0.4/1 and ABC with a 0.6/2 were in repeats. For more, click HERE |
| | Fates & Fortunes | • VAUGHAN EMSLEY has joined creative crowdsourcing company Tongal as head of strategy and client development. He was previously a strategic adviser at Saatchi & Saatchi, but prior to that served as global head of planning and transformation. Before that he oversaw the P&G account at Saatchi for eight years. • BRAD BESSEY is leaving his post as executive producer of CBS Television Distribution's Entertainment Tonight and The Insider. Bessey joined ET in 1995 as coordinating producer and was promoted to supervising producer in 2000. He was named senior producer in 2004 and co-executive producer in 2005. He left ET in 2010 to become executive producer of CBS' The Talk, but returned to CTD in 2012 as executive producer of The Insider and then was named EP of ET in 2014. • DION VLACHOS was promoted to executive VP, retail sales, marketing and publishing, at Nickelodeon. He joined Nickelodeon as senior VP, retail sales and marketing in 2013. Prior to that he held assorted marketing and communications positions at The Walt Disney Company. • SHANNON SHARP has joined Fox Sports, where he will join Skip Bayless as cohost of a new sports opinion talk show scheduled to premiere on Sept. 6 on Fox Sports 1. Sharpe is a three-time Super Bowl champion and Pro Football Hall of Famer who spent 10 years appearing on CBS Sports' The NFL Today.
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