| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Fox Having Trouble Selling Fewer Spots | | Fox Networks Group's plan to reduce its commercial loads this season, specifically in its Sunday night block of animation and comedy, has hit a snag, according to an Ad Age report. The initial goal was to cut about 40% of the ad time during more than 40 Sunday nights during the season. However, while Fox is still selling its new one-minute commercial pods, they are now currently set to run on only three Sundays in the fall next season, sources tell Ad Age. And the dates keep changing. Says one media buyer, "Every other day, they come out with a new way to sell it." The roadblocks are apparently coming from both Fox affiliates and its programming division, buyers say. Fox wants to move local ad pods out of many Sunday nights, but the affiliates are pushing back. And Fox is also now looking to sell limited commercials for returning sci-fi dramedy The Orville, which returns in mid-season on Thursday nights. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: While NBC has been having a smoother time rolling out its limited commercial offerings during the upfront, Fox has been having a rougher time. Fox should seemingly have had its deals in place with its affiliates long before the upfront selling began. Now it is unlikely those deals will be in place before upfront selling is completed. | A Take: Ad Age
| | | | #2 Problematic Instagram Ads Avoid Scrutiny | | Facebook-owned social platform Instagram has been running ads with offensive wording but, according to a Digiday report, the practice has not received public scrutiny like other social media sites. One ad for video game Hustle Castle promotes calling its first level players "retards." Instagram has also run ads that promote white nationalism. One industry executive tells Digiday, "If Instagram were a person, there'd be an angry Twitter mob. But it's Instagram so it gets a pass." Eric Schiffer, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants adds, "There's a perception that Facebook has been burning in ashes, but that Instagram is untouchable." Some of the lack of scrutiny can be blamed on ads placed via programmatic platforms. And Instagram does offer a reporting feature to help police its platform. But these ads are still getting through. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Instagram is reportedly adding more than 1,000 people to its global ads review team, while parent Facebook has been investing more in tech solutions to help flag and take down problematic ads. But right now the perception in the industry is that bad ads on Instagram continue to get through the system without the outrage that Google's YouTube faced for its lax handling of problematic ads. | | A Take: Digiday | | | | #3 Publishers Join Concert to Combat Tech Giants | | Publishers like Rolling Stone, PopSugar and New York Media are all joining Concert, a digital advertising marketplace operated by Vox Media, to give themselves a better chance of selling advertising against tech giants Facebook and Google, The Wall Street Journal reports. Concert now has the ability to sell digital ads across 122 million unduplicated unique site visitors on 40 websites, Vox Media says, and it is courting other publishers. Concert targets its audiences using categories like women's lifestyle, sports and C-Suite. It shares ad revenue with publishers in the network. Concert is a joint venture of Vox Media and NBCUniversal. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: "No individual publisher is going to be able to compete with Facebook and Google," says Ryan Pauley, VP of revenue operations at Vox Media and general manager of Concert. "But with Concert, we feel like we have a path to a publisher partnership that can." Still the reach of Concert pales in comparison to Facebook, which has about 2.2 billion monthly users. That's why Concert relies on targeting users by interest. | | A Take: WSJ | |
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| | 53 | | Percentage of U.S. internet users who are against websites and apps using their data to serve them relevant ads, according to a survey by Janrain. Some 49% say they are opposed to it because they simply don't like companies watching what they do online. Another 23% say they have concerns about how companies will use their data. And 22% are concerned that companies will not adequately protect their data from hackers. | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | Fox, NBC Split the Win | by Michael Malone
Fox and NBC were on top of Wednesday's prime, both networks posting a 1.0 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights. Fox had a 5 share while NBC's was a 4. The runners-up were ABC and CBS at 0.6/3. Fox offered the season premiere of MasterChef, which took up all of the network's prime space. Last spring's MasterChef premiere also landed a 1.0. NBC had the premiere of American Ninja Warrior from 8-10 p.m. at 1.2, down 14% from last spring's debut. The series premiere of tech drama Reverie scored a 0.6. ABC aired comedy repeats throughout prime. CBS had a SEAL Team repeat, then some fresh Code Black from 9 to 11 p.m. at 0.7, down 13%. Telemundo scored a 0.5/2 and Univision a 0.4/2. The CW weighed in at 0.2/1 with a Supergirl repeat, then The Originals at a level 0.3. | |
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| • ANNE MARIE NEAL was promoted to the newly created position of global chief marketing officer at Omnicom ad agency Rapp Worldwide. She was most recently president of Rapp San Francisco and has been with the agency since 2005. Earlier she served as senior VP, client services at Rapp Los Angeles.
• NILESH ASHRA and PAULO RIBEIRO, formerly with Wieden + Kennedy's creative technology unit The Lodge, have announced the launch of a new design and tech studio called Two Things. They left W+K in March.
• CHAD MATTHEWS was promoted to VP and news director at WABC-TV in New York. He was previously assistant news director. Matthews was with WABC from 2000 to 2012 before leaving to become assistant news director at NBC owned WTVJ in South Florida. He returned to WABC in 2017.
• TIM PASTORE is leaving his position as president of original programming and production at National Geographic Channel. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Geoff Daniels, who will oversee unscripted content for both National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild until a permanent replacement for Pastore is hired. Daniels is executive VP and general manager of Wild. Executive VP Carolyn Bernstein will oversee scripted content.
• SARA BAMOSSY and MARISSTELLA MARINKOVIC were named co-CEOs of Los Angeles-based agency Pitch. They succeed Rachel Spiegelman who left to become head of brand studio at Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine. Bamossy has served at chief strategy officer at Pitch since 2014. Marinkovic joins Pitch from Innocean USA, where he was senior VP and managing director. They previously worked together at Saatchi & Saatchi.
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