| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Facebook to Exclusively Stream 25 MLB Games | | The social media giant has reached a deal with Major League Baseball for exclusive rights to stream 25 afternoon games for the upcoming season, Bloomberg reports. It is the first time that a major U.S. sports league has agreed to show regular season games exclusively on Facebook. The deal was approved unanimously by MLB team owners. Facebook will use the MLB Network feed, but will be permitted to integrate its own graphics and other enhancements aimed drawing in its younger viewers. Facebook is also streaming UEFA Champions League events from Fox Sports and Mexican soccer games via a deal with Univision. It also had 20 non-exclusive MLB games last season and has acquired exclusive rights to stream 47 college basketball games involving smaller conferences. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Little by little the professional sports leagues are doing streaming deals to bring in more revenue. This, in turn, is good for marketers who want to reach sports fans, particularly younger, more digitally savvy sports fans who prefer to watch games via internet streaming rather than on traditional linear TV. | | Two Takes: Bloomberg | Variety | | | | #2 Unilever Claims 30% Savings Bringing Ad Production In-House | | The consumer packaged goods giant announced in its annual report that it had saved about 30% on agency fees after bringing more of its ad work in-house and reducing the roles of its external agencies, Adweek reports. Unilever said its "U-Studios in 12 countries are creating content for brand teams faster and around 30% cheaper than external agencies." Unilever's in-house content unit, U-Studios was opened in 2016. It's initial goal was to engage with digitally-focused consumers while simultaneously countering the rise of ad-blocking software. It is not clear, according to Adweek, what specific duties it took away from the external agencies. Unilever did not respond for comment. Unilever did announce last year that it was going to cut costs by removing half of its creative agencies and 40% of the consultancies from its roster. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Unilever's announcement about savings by moving certain ad functions in-house is in line with those of its major competitor Procter & Gamble, which also reduced its number of external agencies and cut back on marketing production costs. Those types of moves do not bode well for the traditional agencies, however Adweek points out a potential downside for marketers. It points to the lesson learned by Pepsi when it had its internal agency create a TV commercial starring Kendall Jenner that drew widespread consumer backlash. It also pointed to a Dove ad from its internal studio that was deemed by consumers to be racially insensitive. | | A Take: Adweek | | | | #3 Innocean's CCO Sued for Harassment | | Former director of content at Hyundai's Innocean Worldwide, Victoria Guenier, has filed a lawsuit accusing the agency and its chief creative officer Eric Springer of sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, Adweek reports. Guenier says she was forced out of her job last May.She also alleges that Springer discriminated against and sexually harassed other women at the agency. Guenier says Innocean management failed to sufficiently investigate her claims before she left. No one from Hyundai or the company responded to Adweek's requests for comment. In a legal response, the company did dispute Guenier's allegations. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Several top male executives at assorted agencies have been dismissed based on agency investigations into claims of sexual harassment by female employees. In this instance, at least so far, Innocean by its legal response and lack of public comment beyond that, is seemingly standing by its CCO and how it handled the matter. | | A Take: Adweek | |
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| | 84 | | Percentage of digital marketers worldwide who expect to increase their investment in mobile video marketing in 2018, according to a survey conducted by Dimensional Research for YouAppi. Another 15% said they plan no change in their mobile video marketing spending this year, while 1% plan a decrease. | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | CBS Grabs Win With Comedies | by Michael Malone
CBS took Thursday's ratings title, as its comedies gave the network a clear win. CBS did a 1.6 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 6 share. Next up was ABC at 1.2/5.
CBS had Big Bang Theory at 2.6 and Young Sheldon at 2.2, both shows up a tenth of a point from last week, then Mom at a flat 1.5 and Life in Pieces north 9% to 1.2. Drama SWAT closed out prime up 11% for a 1.0.
ABC's dramas were down. Grey's Anatomy fell 15% to 1.7 and Scandal too dipped 15% to 1.1, before How to Get Away With Murder dropped 18% for a 0.9. Scandal and Murder enjoyed a crossover stunt last week.
NBC was at 1.1/4, with Superstore up 22% to 1.1, A.P. Bio at a flat 0.8 and Will & Grace doing a level 1.1, then the premiere of comedy Champions a 0.8. Drama Chicago Fire was up 18% to 1.3.
Fox rated a 0.6/3. Gotham was down 13% for a 0.7 and Showtime at the Apollo rated a flat 0.6.
The CW did a 0.5/2 with Supernatural off 17% to 0.5 and Arrow at a level 0.4.
Univision scored a 0.5/2. Telemundo rated a 0.4/2. | |
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| • DAVE DAMMAN was named chief creative officer at Minneapolis agency Level. He was most recently a freelance creative, but prior to that he was chief creative officer of Gallegos United. He also served as a managing partner and chief creative officer at Carmichael Lynch.
• PREETHAM MALLIKARJUNA has rejoined Simulmedia in the newly created position of chief product officer. In this new role, he will oversee the offering of Simulmedia's VAMOS advanced advertising targeting software to agencies, media owners and distributors. He was most recently linear product lead at ESPN and previously worked at Simulmedia as senior VP of product strategy until 2016.
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| Technology Leadership Summit
February 28 – March 1, 2018 | Raleigh, NC
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