March 6th, 2006

Message From Michael (image placeholder)
March 6, 2006

• NEWS IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER


• ADVERTISING IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER


• EDUCATION IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER


• INTERNET AD GROWTH


• OSCARS AND OLYMPICS


• MOVIE FOOTNOTE


• COCKTAIL CHATTER – REBATES AND CELL PHONES

• NEWS IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: More people get their news through a local broadcast than any other way, according to a Harris Interactive poll reported by United Press International. Three out of four (77%) U.S. adults report watching local broadcast news, followed closely by 71% who say they watch network news. In comparison, 63% say they read a local daily newspaper while only 18% say they read a national newspaper. But 64% say they get their news by going online either daily or several times a week. Other figures: 54% listen to radio news; 37% listen to talk radio and 19% listen to satellite news.And to prove my headline, another survey found that more people see their local newspaper as the best source for LOCAL news. The survey by market research firm Outsell Inc. and reported in The Baltimore Sun found that 61% see their newspaper as the “essential” source for local news, events and sports, compared to 58% who cited television and 35% who said radio. Only about 6% turned to the Internet and, again, it should be emphasized, for LOCAL news and information. The survey did say that more people (71%) saw television as the primary source for national news.On a somewhat related note, MediaWeek reports that the “smaller” cable news outlets showed the greatest growth in ratings with CNN Headline News scoring a whopping 73% increase, followed by CNBC with a 37% jump and MSNBC with a 24% increase. CNN was only up 3% while Fox News Channel was actually off 5% in overall ratings but 21% in the adult 25-54 demo. Now, for a reality check, FNC still was the ratings king with 1.45 million viewers compared to CNN’s 657,000 and CNN-HN’s 347,000, MSNBC’s 357,000 and CNBC’s 164,000.


• ADVERTISING IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Some prime time shows now have more minutes of product placement time than they do TV commercial time, according to a study by TNS Media Intelligence. The study reported in Media Daily News showed the average prime-time network show had 4 minutes and 25 seconds of branded appearances versus 17 minutes and 35 seconds of actual commercial time. In reality shows, the figures are more dramatic with product placement scoring an average 11 minutes and 5 seconds of brand exposure versus 17 minutes and 4 seconds of actual commercial time. But the ‘worst’ was CBS’s King of Queens which had 18 minutes and 13 seconds of branded exposure versus 16 minutes and 49 seconds of commercial time; NBC’s The Apprentice: Marta Stewart had what the article called an “egregious” 33 minutes and 51 seconds of branded exposure versus 16 minutes and 32 seconds of commercial time. The study says nearly 11% of all programming minutes now include some kind of branded reference.


• EDUCATION IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Okay, that’s the last one of these headlines, but it is applicable. Congress has dropped a restriction requiring colleges and universities to deliver at least half of their courses on campus instead of on-line in order to qualify for federal student aid. As the New York Times notes, many colleges and universities are moving into the on-line education business, but the real beneficiaries of the change are the for-profit education institutions. The restrictions were imposed in 1992 after a Congressional investigation showed that some for-profit trade schools were little more than diploma mills. The argument for dropping the restriction is to make it easier for non-traditional students to get an education. The article notes that the assistant secretary for education who oversees higher education is a former lobbyist for the University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest for-profit college.


• INTERNET AD GROWTH: An advertising analysis by Merrill Lynch shows that, based on the first two months of this year, the Internet is the only medium showing any real advertising growth. The firm is standing by its modest projection that advertising will only grow 4.6% this year. Media Daily News notes in an article on advertising that other firms project a higher rate, between 5.1% and 5.8%. Merrill Lynch analysts project Internet advertising growth to be 27.4%. The only other segment coming close to that figure is cable TV advertising which the firm projects to increase 7%.


• OSCARS AND OLYMPICS: Okay, by now, you’ve probably heard about the Olympics ratings. The best summary comes from the Cynopsis daily programming report which said simply that this Winter Olympics scored a bronze, averaging 20.2 Million viewers, behind Salt Lake City’s Gold of 31.9 Million and Nagano’s silver of 25.1 Million. Continuing the analogy, ABC won the gold in the 18-49 ratings battle with a two-tenths of a rating point victory over second place Fox. Of course, NBC won the sweeps with total average viewers for the month of 15.7 Million but ABC was close behind with 14.4 Million. NBC can take consolation though that its website set online traffic records for visits.Crash won best picture of the year in last night’s Oscar ceremony which, as a reminder, sold for $1.68 Million a spot. Jon Stewart scored with his usual acerbic wit. In a night of great one-liners, his possible best came when he talked about the movies Capote and Good Night and Good Luck which he noted were both about the journalistic search for truth and justice. Then he added that needless to say, they were both period pieces.


• MOVIE FOONOTE: All The President’s Men, often described as one of the best political films and best journalist films, has come out in a special two DVD set. Like today’s Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney, the Woodward-Bernstein affair was made into a movie because of an actor’s interest – Robert Redford who played opposite Dustin Hoffman. The DVD set contains a series of features and interviews, including ones with Woodward, Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, Walter Cronkite, Linda Ellerbee and Newsweek’s Jonathon Alter who all argue the story might not make it today because reporters would be subpoenaed, notes would be quashed, publishers would get greater pressure, disinformation blogs and administration ‘smokescreens’ would confuse the issue AND because television isn’t built to follow such stories any more in this 24-hour news cycle and that newspapers no longer have the influence they once had. In a more surreal but nevertheless real fashion, also coming out in a two-set DVD edition is the 1976 satirical film Network which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. As reported by the Associated Press’s entertainment reporter, Jake Coyle, the story about Howard Beale – “the first known instance of a man killed for lousy ratings” – remains the pre-eminent satire about the encroachment of entertainment values into TV News. In an interview with director Sidney Lumet, the 81-year-old director argues that everything depicted in the film – except for the on-air death of Beale – has come to pass. Of course the iconic scene in the movie is when actor Peter Finch portraying Beale shouts, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more.”


• FOLLOW-UP: In response to last week’s MfM about media delivery to screens micro and maxi, former CNN technology guru and now consultant Ken Tiven suggests an idea which he modestly calls Tiven’s Theorem. The size of the video monitor you can live with is the inverse of the desire to watch the program. i.e., Great Desire – Ipod screen; No desire – 60” Plasma.


• COCKTAIL CHATTER: More than 40% of rebate offers are never redeemed, according to research by consulting company Vericours Inc. In an article in the New York Times, the company reports that manufacturers are saving $10 Billion annually in unpaid rebates. One out of every five cell phone users switch providers each year, according to market research firm the Yankee Group. That translates into 45 million customers. In an article also in the New York Times, the firm says concern over customer service is a growing factor in that turnover. Proctor and Gamble remains the nation’s “alpha advertiser” just ahead of General Motors even though P&G cut its advertising budget by 4.6% while GM increased its by 7.1% in 2005. Dollars spent by P&G? Just under $3 Billion. In a profile of MP3 users, BIGResearch says, as you would expect, they are young (80% are below age 44), higher income ($67,854 a year versus $50,000 for the average American), heavy TV and Internet users BUT their primary retail destination is Wal-Mart and they are more likely to buy a Ford or Chevy than an import.


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