| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 U.S. World Cup Elimination a Blow to Fox | | The U.S. men's soccer team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and that could have major ratings and ad revenue implications for Fox, which paid between $450 million and $500 million for U.S. video rights for the next two Cups. The U.S. qualifying match loss to Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday means the American team will not be competing in the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Fox has already signed up a number of sponsors for its World Cup coverage which begins from Russia on June 14 and runs through July 15. Among those sponsors are Verizon, which will sponsor the half-time shows of matches, and Volkswagen which will be post-game sponsor. In addition, more than a dozen other advertisers are on board, including Adidas and Coca-Cola. Fox also has U.S. digital rights. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: After Fox paid something like four times as the previous contract held by ESPN to win rights to the next two Cups, its ratings, at least for the 2018 telecasts are likely to be depressed without the U.S. team participating. This will lower the amount it can charge for advertising that would be used to recoup its rights payments and its cost of covering the month-long tournament. It will also negatively impact sponsors who wanted to reach the American soccer viewers. Telemundo, which owns the U.S. Spanish-language rights, will be less effected since many of its U.S. viewers have ties to several other countries that have teams in the tournament. | Three Takes: B&C | Bloomberg | Business Insider
| | | | #2 Agency Helps Las Vegas Plan Recovery | | R&R Partners, the longtime agency for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, immediately pulled its 13-year-old campaign with the tagline, "What Happens Here Stays Here, following the mass shooting on Oct. 1. The agency replaced it will a new campaign called "VegasStrong" that borrows the same hashtag used by other disaster-stricken cities, including Boston and Orlando. R&R's CEO Billy Vassiliadis, tells Ad Age that the goal was to come up with a more appropriate message to capture the city's grief and resolve. The new campaign started with a new line, "We've been there for you during the good times. Thank you for being there for us now." The first video aired just three days after the shooting. It featured a voiceover by Las Vegas native Andre Agassi and paid tribute to the first responders, medics and surgeons, police and local businesses that rushed to pitch in after the shooting. That spot also aired nationally on CBS Thursday Night Football. Clear Channel has donated over 1,000 outdoor billboards to the campaign. National Cinemedia has given theater ad space, R&R says. And ads are running in Times Square in New York through a donation from out-of-home ad company Branded Cities. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Arnie DiGeorge, executive creative director at R&R, says, "We just want to make sure that the city comes out of this and gets back to some sort of normal. It's less of a marketing thing and more of just trying to have everybody understand. People are saying such great things, and saying how they are coming back. So instead of us saying it, we are going to let the public say it." | A Take: Ad Age
| | | | #3 Twitter Looks to Steal Video Dollars from Facebook | | Some publishers have indicated their disappointment with the performance of Facebook Live video and are hopeful that as Twitter embraces the format it will perform better on that platform, Digiday reports. Twitter has been live-streaming events and recently announced a streaming video service with Bloomberg Media, in addition to other live news, sports and entertainment programs from content creators including BuzzFeed, Vox Media's The Verge and the WNBA. The focus on Twitter comes as The Verge has dramatically scaled back the number of live videos it does on Facebook, where it used to do as many as four a week. And Scott Havens, global head of digital at Bloomberg Media, says Twitter's ad revenue sharing approach is more favorable that other platforms. On Twitter, content providers are also allowed to sell ads. Havens calls it "a nice marriage." | | WHY THIS MATTERS: While Facebook seems to be losing interest and de-emphasizing live video, Twitter is going full throttle and that's a good thing not only for the publisher content providers, but also for advertisers who get to reach a somewhat younger audience via Twitter. | | A Take: Digiday | |
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| | 1.65 | | U.S. digital ad dollars in billions projected to be spent on Amazon in 2017, according to eMarketer estimates. That is up 48.2% over 2016 and is 2% of all U.S. digital ad spending. The total is projected to rise another 42% in 2018 to $2.35 billion. | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | NBC Wins as 'Voice' Grows | by Michael Malone
NBC had the top score in Tuesday ratings, putting up a 2.1 in viewers 18-49, and an 8 share. Second was CBS at a distant 1.2/5. The Voice did a 2.3 on NBC, up a tenth of a point from last week, and This Is Us was down 10% to 2.8. Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders rated a 1.1, down a tenth of a point. CBS had NCIS down 13% at 1.4 and Bull at a flat 1.2, before NCIS: New Orleans climbed up 10% to 1.1. ABC was at 1.1/4 as its comedies dropped from their premieres. The Middle fell 13% to 1.4 and Fresh Off the Boat dropped 15% to 1.1. Black-ish slipped 13% to 1.3 and The Mayor was off 17% at 1.0, before Kevin (Probably) Saves the World fell 20% to 0.8. The CW, Fox and Telemundo scored a 0.8/3. The CW had the premiere of The Flash at 1.0, down a tenth from its May finale, and the season debut of DC's Legends of Tomorrow at 0.6, level with its spring season finale. On Fox, Lethal Weapon was down 18% to 0.9 and The Mick fell 22% to 0.7, with Brooklyn Nine-Nine also at 0.7, which was flat for the comedy.
Telemundo had Eliminatorias Copa Mundial at 0.8 and El Señor de los Cielos at 0.9. Univision was at 0.5/2.
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| • TOM WALSH has joined independent cable TV ad management company Viamedia as senior VP of advanced advertising strategy. Walsh was most recently senior director, strategic relationships for Comcast Advance Advertising (Freewheel). In his new role he will oversee, develop and define the future of the company's digital, addressable and cross-screen advertising initiatives.
• KEITH BUTTERS was named global chief technology officer at Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal. He is a co-founder of The Barbarian Group and, before departing last year during a restructuring at the agency, served as chief experience officer. | |
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