| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 AT&T to Acquire Otter Media | | While all the focus is on the telecommunications giant's bid to acquire Time Warner, AT&T is also close to a deal that would allow it to buy Otter Media, which it currently co-owns with The Chernin Group, Digiday reports. Otter Media is a digital holding company for a variety of video businesses including Fullscreen, Crunchyroll, Gunpowder & Sky and Hello Sunshine, the later co-founded by actress Reese Witherspoon. AT&T plans to buy out The Chernin Group's stake, sources told Digiday. The two companies committed $500 million to fund Otter Media when it was formed three years ago. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Thus far, AT&T has been a silent investor in Otter Media, sources tell Digiday, but once taken over, it would manage the company's potential content and distribution possibilities across a portfolio that could include both DirecTV and the Time Warner assets should that deal be approved by the Justice Department. AT&T also operates internet TV streaming service DirecTV Now. And AT&T also runs programming from Otter Media's Fullscreen on its Audience Network cable channel. And Crunchyroll is looking to get its own TV channel. While everything is in limbo until the DOJ rules on the Time Warner acquisition, there are numerous possibilities that exist for AT&T and advertisers if the merger is approved. | | A Take: Digiday | | | | #2 Brands Avoid Controversial Kaepernick | | Colin Kaepernick was recently selected at GQ's "Man of the Year" and in 2013 he led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. He has 5 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. But as Digiday points out, since his kneeling during the national anthem at NFL games to protest racism and police brutality has divided audiences, he has not appeared in any brand campaigns. At his peak of popularity, Kaepernick was appearing in major brand campaigns for McDonald's, Beats by Dre, Jaguar, Electronic Arts and MusclePharm, and was earning at least $3 million annually in endorsement money. But because of his controversial position on the anthem, no brand wants to identify with him. And that's ironic since his lack of sponsors comes at a time when some brands have adopted aggressive cause-marketing stances, such as Starbucks, Airbnb, Abercrombie & Fitch and Urban Outfitters. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Scott Davis, chief growth officer at global brand and marketing consultancy Prophet says brands that take strong stances should be "natural landing places" for Kaepernick and "would create the buzz that these brands thrive on." But that hasn't been the case. There is seemingly a limit to how far even the most issue-conscious brands will push the envelope. | | A Take: Digiday | | | | #3 How Retailers Can Steal Shoppers from Amazon | | Conor Ryan, co-founder of performance marketing company StitcherAds, says traditional retailers can optimize their Facebook ads to steal away holiday shoppers from Amazon. In a first person article in Adweek, Ryan says while online shopping continues to grow, brick-and-mortar stores still comprise 81% of total holiday shopping and Amazon is just starting to penetrate that holiday business. He says Amazon is making inroads by better targeting its ads than retailers do. He says new Facebook tools allow retailers to target as finite as Amazon by giving them the ability to pass offline purchase data through Facebook to reach more customized audiences. Creating online Facebook campaigns based on offline data levels the playing field with Amazon. He says retailers who better target online will be better able to lure consumers into nearby brick-and-mortar stores. He says they should even use ads with map cards encouraging store visits. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: There has been so much written about how Amazon is making inroads into traditional retail chain's businesses and stealing away customers. Ryan is saying those traditional retailers need to fight back and with Facebook's new more finite targeting tools, they will be able to do that. | | A Take: Adweek | |
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| | 86 | | Percentage of worldwide marketers who plan to take some portions of programmatic in-house to manage on their own, according to a survey by Infectious Media. Some 68% say the main reason for wanting to bring programmatic in-house is a lack of transparency, while 71% believe they have more qualified employees to handle programmatic on their own. | – Reported by Adweek
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| | 'Thursday Night Football' Up as NBC Wins Big | by Michael Malone
With Thursday Night Football on its air, NBC was the big winner in Thursday prime ratings, posting a 2.7 in viewers 18-49, and a 10 share. That topped the 1.5/6 put up by CBS. NBC had Football Night in America fall 10% to 1.9, and the game, Steelers versus Titans, climb 12% to 2.8. On CBS, The Big Bang Theory did a 2.6 and Young Sheldon a 2.1, both down a tenth of a point from last week. Mom rated a 1.4 and Life in Pieces a 1.1, then SWAT a 0.9. Those too were down a tenth of a point. ABC was at 1.3/5. Grey's Anatomy scored a 1.9, same as last week's 300th episode. Scandal did a 1.1 and How to Get Away With Murder a 0.9. Those were both flat with last week too. Fox did a 0.9/3, with Gotham at a flat 0.9 and The Orville down 10% at 0.9. The CW rated a 0.6/2. Supernatural scored a 0.6 and Arrow a 0.5. Both were flat. | |
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| • AMY MIRANDA, who founded Toronto-based creative services agency Lunch in 2009, has launched a new creative agency Lunch 2.0, headed by an all-female creative leadership team, Agency Spy reports. ELAINE LI will serve as strategy and media lead. GLORIA UI YOUNG KIM and AVERY PLEWES will be creative leads. JEN METE will be integrated and experiential lead. NATALIE URQUHART will be narrative content lead. CHANDRA CHEVANNES will be factual content lead. SASHA PIERCE will be fine art lead, while IRENE ANGELOPOULOS will be illustration and animation lead. Miranda says she wanted to do something about the amount of creative content being produced for women. "Sometimes women aren't even touching the work, yet it's being made for them as consumers."
• AMY HILLICKSON was promoted to managing director of creative and marketing agency Laundry Service. She was elevated from VP of client services, West Coast. She will now oversee accounts across the agency's six offices in the U.S. and London.
• ESPN radio show Mike & Mike aired for the final time on Friday morning, after nearly 18 years on the air. The show starred co-hosts MIKE GREENBERG and MIKE GOLIC.
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February 28 – March 1, 2018 | Raleigh, NC
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