Message From Michael-Feb9th

Message From Michael                    (image placeholder)
                                                                                                              

• SWEEPS


• SUPERBOWL


• COMPETITION FOR THE CW


• COMPETITION FOR THE COMPETITION


• DON’T KNOW JACK ABOUT REGGAE


• COMING TO AN EARPIECE NEAR YOU


• COCKTAIL CHATTER

• SWEEPS:  Just one word.  That’s it.


• SUPERBOWL:   Okay, you’ve no doubt read and seen more about the Super Bowl and the commercials than you need or want, but I can’t write this week’s MfM without at least some mention.  First, the facts:  With 90.72 Million viewers, the telecast scored the largest audience for any SuperBowl since 1996 and the biggest audience for ANY TV show since that date.  The Programming Insider provided a unique number, Super Bowl XL reached an estimated 141.4 Million “unduplicated” viewers – a term we normally associate with websites.  There were SEVERAL ad favorites, all depending on who was measuring what.  An America Online poll found the Budweiser Streaker ad was the most popular.  USA Today’s annual Post-Super Bowl ad meter survey awarded top honors for best ad to Anheuser Busch’s Secret Refrigerator ad.  A survey by marketing services company ICOM gave the top honors to FedEx’s Caveman spot.  A poll conducted by Michigan State and NorthWestern ranked Dove’s Real Beauty ads first.  TiVo reported that the most replayed ads in their households were the Ameriquest ads.  comScore reports that the GoDaddy.com scored the most online hits with a 1500% increase.  Anyway, the point is two-fold.  One is that, with three out of four web users planning to go online looking for ads, the smart advertiser linked their ads and drove home their website to get more ‘bang for the buck.’  And that the point of all the advertising, as comScore noted in its survey of spots, is to “improve the brand’s images.”  


• COMPETITION FOR THE CW:  The newly formed network is getting some good buzz on Madison Avenue, but the next big buzz may be two unusual networks.  Mega brewer and advertiser Anheuser-Busch has announced that it is launching its own direct-to-consumer network online.  Called The Bud Screen, the new ‘network’ will bypass traditional TV networks to deliver advertising, programming and branded entertainment content to consumers’ computers, iPods and other devices.  On top of that, the National Football League has announced that it will broadcast eight games on its own network, The NFL Network.  Of course that’s only eight out of 256 games.  Commissioner Paul Tagliabue admits the league wants to retain greater control over its games but says the move will “complement what the others (networks) are doing for us.”  But The Philadelphia Inquirer notes the move is a first step to cutting out two middlemen with advertisers and journalists.


• COMPETITION FOR THE COMPETITION:  Okay, maybe not.  But… Al Jazeera is expected to launch its English language channel by May.  According to The Peninsula, Qatar’s Leading English Daily, the Arab network will have broadcast centers in four locations, Washington DC, London, Kuala Lumpur and Doha, the capital of Qatar.  Half of the programming will originate in Doha with the other half being split among the other three broadcast centers.  On a related note, a journalism conference in Doha talked about the growth of Arab media and while critical of American media talked about the need for Arab media to be self critical and not be intimidated by the state.  According to an article in the Gulf Times also published in Doha, ONLY 31.7% of the participants believed the Arab media had nothing to learn from western media.  As an interesting footnote (to me at least), when the article referenced the cartoon about the Prophet Muhammad, it contained a parenthesis after his name (peace be upon him).    


• DON’T KNOW JACK ABOUT REGGAE:  At least I don’t, but according to AdAge, the new, big thing in radio formats is Reggaeton which is just behind the popular DJ-free JACK radio format in terms of growth.  It is described as a Latin Hip-Hop, combining the Latin American sounds of bomba and plena.  Part of its growth is because of the growth in Hispanic radio in general, but the article notes that the sound is not limited to Latino audiences only.  The big name you will be hearing is Daddy Yankee.  And, as long as I am on a People magazine kind of note, the other big name you will soon be hearing, according to the New York Times, is a South Korean singing sensation named Rain, who is touring the U.S. On a semi-related note, MediaWeek is reporting that for the first time since Nielsen Media Research began measuring New York using local people meters, Spanish-language TV topped the January ratings for early fringe and prime-time access.  Univision owned-and-operated station WXTV was the top local news program beating out the ABC O&O for honors among the 18-49 demographic, and telenovela Piel de Otono beat out Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.  And on a related note to the semi-related note, the Hispanic network is reportedly up for sale with an asking price in the $10 Billion range.


• COMING TO AN EARPIECE NEAR YOU:  Several readers of MfM noted the move by Apple’s iTunes to provide something besides music.  You can now go to the website and find various university and college lectures being made available for downloading on your iPod, most notably by the University of Missouri. They’re available at the sites music store.  There is even one, under the title Backtime, that contains podcasts specifically aimed at broadcast journalists. (Thanks to Ashley Hayes, reporter/ WECT for this particular tip.)  On a related note, The New York Times has launched a series of 11 podcasts, available not only at its site but also on the iTunes website.  The newspaper’s Front Page podcast has already reached the #5 position in terms of downloaded podcasts.  And on a related-to-the-related note, according to an article in USA Today, the normally ‘risk-averse’ newspaper industry is trying to re-invent itself in light of new media developments, through such projects as The Readership Institute and The Press Institute.


• QUOTES:   As much as I dislike pithy quotes, there are two that come from the coverage of the death of former NBC News President Reuven Frank which I think every broadcaster should remember.  In one, the broadcast pioneer is quoted on the website of the Museum of Broadcast Communications as saying, “Pictures are the point of television reporting.”  And in a letter to the editor in Shoptalk by Dave Gonigam, a writer for WFLD, Chicago, Frank is quoted as saying that print was good at transmission of information but that TV was best at the “transmission of experience.”  


• COCKTAIL CHATTER:  According to a survey of 50,000 students at 69 schools, journalism students were the most likely to admit to cheating.  The study by the Center for Academic Integrity which is associated with Duke University found that 27% of the journalism majors admitted to cheating, one point ahead of business majors.  The ones who cheated the less, or at least said they cheated the less, were science students at 19%.  A female road warrior has come up with a novel idea for those long, boring airplane trips.  She has created a website called Airtroductions.com.  On it, you can submit your name and find the name of others who are looking for someone interesting to sit next to on those long flights.  The most expensive perfume in the world gets its key ingredient from the part of the Iris flower that is worth three times as much as gold bullion.  And as long as I am on the subject of websites, here is a link to the CBS News report on the State of the Media -- http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/03/eveningnews/main1281359.shtmlClive Christian No. 1 Pure Perfume sells for $2,150 for a one-ounce bottle, but supposedly since the perfume lingers for 24 hours, “a thousand dollar squirt goes a long way.”  (San Francisco Chronicle via The Week).  Some AOL users are upset because the company’s new marketing campaign built around its Instant Messaging service is supposedly blasphemous.  AOL made a play on words creating a campaign I AM.  But some Internet users are upset because I AM is also the English translation of YahWeh, the self-proclaimed name of God.  In Exodus, it is how God answered Moses when Moses asked him his name.  (World Net Daily)


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