| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Conde Nast Joins NBCU, Vox in Digital Sales Partnership | | In the latest move by publishers and TV conglomerates to better compete with digital advertising giants like Google and Facebook, Conde Nast is joining with NBCUniversal and Vox Media to sell advertising across their combined digital properties. NBCU and Vox have already been selling digital ads in combination through a partnership called Concert. Advertisers will now have access in this expanded three-way partnership to digital sites for Conde Nast's Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Vogue, among others. The Concert partnership till now has been only for display ads, but the new partnership will also include video advertising on all the sites. As part of the partnership, the trio have developed two new ad products focused on mobile video and branded content. It will also incorporate Conde Nast's data offering Spire, which provides digital behavioral data with online and offline purchase data to help optimize campaigns. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: While the media companies are competitors in many ways in the battle for ad dollars, they also have to compete for digital dollars against the digital giants Google and Facebook. This partnership will ideally help them sell digital en masse in certain instances to be able to offer more sizable audiences and more comprehensive data for marketers. "Our goal always is to deliver for our marketing partners scalable, high quality advertising experiences aligned with the targeted data they need to reach consumers in a uniquely trusted environment," says Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCU. | Two Takes: Ad Age | Media Post
| | | | #2 John Hancock Parts Ways with Hill Holliday | | Manulife, the Canadian financial services company that owns and operates John Hancock in the U.S., has launched a global creative agency review, Ad Age first reported. Incumbent creative agency Hill Holliday, which has handled John Hancock creative since 1985 in the U.S. is not participating in the review. Dentsu handles creative for Manulife in global markets and it was not clear if the agency will participate in the review. WPP and GroupM's Mindshare handles global media for Manulife and that account is not up for review right now. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: All good things come to an end, the saying goes, and such is true for Hill Holliday, which has handled the account for 32 years through numerous executive changes at John Hancock. Manulife did get a new global CMO last fall, Gretchen Garrigues, so perhaps that had something to do with the current review. | TwoTakes: Ad Age | Adweek
| | | | #3 Publishers Face Content Studio Growing Pains | | The trend for magazine publishers to start in-house, agency-style content creation units to help their advertisers create ad campaigns is starting to hit some road blocks, Digiday reports. Among them – the hefty financial cost of implementing the infrastructure, resources, technology and scale to meet advertiser demands. While more than 1000 publisher sites are selling native advertising, up from 218 in 2015, according to Media Radar, starting a content studio to produce that native advertising can eat into revenue. Paul Rossi, president of The Economist Group points out that while running a display ad on a site brings in nearly all profit, the margin on a branded content campaign could cut that profit in half. And publishers who start their own creative content studios adopt some parts of ad agency models but not others. Most publisher content studios don't work on a retainer basis, so when there is no demand, they get nothing. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: These publisher growing pains should give traditional creative agencies at least some reason for relief of angst that their business is going to be lured away. But there are so many publishers now getting into native advertising and starting their own studios that the threat is not likely to go away, even if publishers need to find a better way to monetize the costs of their studios. | | A Take: Digiday | |
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| | 26.1 | | Percentage of U.S. internet users who have purchased one smart clothing or wearable device (18%) or multiple devices (8.1%), according to a survey by AYTM Market Research. Another 27.6% say they are "somewhat likely" to buy smart clothing or a wearable device within the next five years. Fitness/health tracking features are most popular, mentioned by 83.9% of those who purchased a wearable device. | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | ABC Comedies Best in Class | by Michael Malone
ABC seized the Wednesday broadcast crown, posting a 1.5 in adults 18-49, and a 6 share. The Goldbergs did a flat 1.7 and Speechless a flat 1.5, while Modern Family rated a 1.9, down from 2.0, and Black-ish a 1.4, down from 1.6. Designated Survivor then scored a 1.3., up from its winter finale score of 1.2.
CBS was in second at 1.4/5. The spring premiere of Survivor tallied a 1.7, down from its winter finale of 2.0, before the season premiere of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders did a 0.9; it wrapped last spring at 1.0.
Fox posted a 1.2/4. Lethal Weapon was good for a 1.2, down a tenth, and Star a flat 1.1.
NBC, in repeats, scored a 0.8/3.
The CW, also in repeats, did a 0.2/1. | |
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| • MARCUS FISCHER was promoted to chief operating officer at IPG agency Carmichael Lynch. He has served as president since 2012, after rejoining the agency from digital agency Space150. He previously was an account planner at Carmichael Lynch from 2003 to 2008. Prior to that held account planner posts at One and All and Fallon.
• MIGUEL VARONI was promoted to VP and creative director of Telemundo Studios and Telemundo International Studios. He was previously creative director for Telemundo Studios. In his new role he will also work on scripted projects for Telemundo International Studios for programming targeting the Latin America market in addition to the U.S. He most recently directed Telemundo's Senior Acero and directed and starred in the romantic comedy La Fan.
• MILAN MARTIN has left his position as president of Grey San Francisco after more than three years in the role, according to an Agency Spy report. He joined Grey in 2013 after serving as chief strategist and managing director at San Francisco-based digital agency Anthem Worldwide. | |
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