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January 14, 2009

TOP STORY

• Execs Expect Online Sales to Grow in ’09
  Traditional advertising sales may decline in 2009, but several local cable ad sales executives expect online sales to grow significantly in 2009. more » » » 

GREAT IDEAS

• Listen Up — To Clients
  Before John Vanderberg of Comcast Spotlight Colorado meets with clients, he always does a little research first, especially with new clients. more » » » 
• Giving Car Dealers a Hand
  Now that the recession is official, and advertising revenue is taking an even bigger hit, one West Virginia broadcast station has launched a sales campaign to promote the region’s strong points by bolstering local industries, especially local car dealers more » » » 
• ESPN Revamps Web Portal
  ESPN.com is counting on less clutter and more advertising options to bolster revenue at a time when its sister cable channels are battling rare weakness. ESPN has redesigned much of its primary Web portal. more » » » 

Q&A

• Q&A: Comcast Spotlight's John Vanderberg
  For the last two years, John Vanderberg has served as manager of advanced media sales for Comcast Spotlight in Denver. He oversees sales for the on-demand offerings, as well as Comcast.net, Vehix, Automotive Ad Network and On Demand Publishing. Vanderberg talked to Local Ad Sales about the new year and advance services. more » » » 

BRIEFING ROOM

• Ad World Looks for Recession's Silver Lining
  Despite the bleak economy, some media buyers say the outlook might not be as bad as first thought. Optimists point to a bailout of the auto industry, the upcoming inauguration and a (hopefully) stronger midseason lineup for the broadcast networks as beacons of hope. And the green shoots of a possible recovery are springing not from the usual positive-spinning public relations reps, but from operational business executives who think the current down cycle has some useful upside. Advertisers are forcing media buyers to be more accountable and smarter. Many said they expect the marketplace to continue to evolve. more » » » 
• Online Users Grow
  Younger demos may be leading the charge into online video, but adults are not far behind. Just consider YouTube, which has emerged as the 800-pound gorilla in the online video business with 77 million users — a hefty proportion of the 120 million Americans who watch video online each month. The tale of YouTube’s move into the mainstream of adult demographics highlights the important role that digital media is likely to play for the television industry in 2009, as traditional advertising revenue is likely to slump. For instance, all of CNN’s ad deals are now multiplatform, incorporating digital components, as well as television. So far, usage of its Web product CNN.com Live this year has increased by 300% — nabbing a record of 5 million live streams on Election Day — with the linear network also setting ratings records. And CNN isn’t targeting tech-savvy kids. The average age of the CNN Live user is 47.7. more » » » 
• DVR Users Zap Fewer Ads on Cable Than Broadcast
  TiVo users who watched time-shifted cable shows skipped 51% of the commercials in October 2008, while broadcast commercial skipping hit 64% for the month in 2008. That's according to the latest report from the DVR company's StopWatch ratings service, which aggregates data from 100,000 subscribers for 66 cable and broadcast networks. At BBC America, for one, the situation may be even worse than the broadcast average. Network chief Garth Ancier, at an industry conference last month, said just 30% of his network's ads are viewed on a time-shifted basis, if that. Another finding from TiVo's StopWatch for October is that cable networks had sizeable year-over-year growth in viewership for total and time-shifted viewing, while broadcast declined. That ran counter to some recent trends in TiVo's data showing broadcast networks received a primetime lift in year-over-year viewership while cable lagged. more » » » 
• Cable Posts 8.4% Ad Spending Gain Through Q3: Nielsen
  Advertising spending declined by just under 1% through the first three quarters of the year versus the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen. While ad spending has dipped 0.6% overall, cable TV has seen the most growth of any media category, climbing 8.4% over the same period last year. Hispanic cable TV saw a 1.1% gain in the first three quarters. In general, television showed the most growth, representing four of the top five media categories. After a 6% dip through the first half of the year, network TV -- thanks to a boost from NBC's Olympic broadcasts -- worked its way back up to a slight growth, up 0.9%, through the third quarter. more » » » 

• Reaching College Kids. Praebius Communications is rolling out its AD Systems Inc. service in more than 60 universities around the country becoming the exclusive cable ad sales company for each of universities’ cable systems. "Ad Systems has had very strong fourth quarter results for media sales in this targeted market,” said Bob Hall, Praebuis chairman, in a prepared statement. “Our technology allows us to pinpoint our media clients' messages directly to the desired channel in the universities. We have another 60 campuses scheduled for deployment and we are actively working with other major universities to continue expanding our ability to provide our advertisers with a way to present their messages to college students on all major cable TV Networks." Dave Allen, Ad Systems' vice president of sales, notes: "We are finding that there are many regional and national advertisers who are looking to us as a niche advertising medium to get their messages out to the 18 to 25 year old college student."

• Looking At 2009. A survey by Strata Marketing Inc. found that respondents expect a decrease in advertising dollars, a focus on television and a bump in Internet advertising in 2009. Strata surveyed media buying advertising agency clients to get an idea of trends and challenges agencies may be facing heading into the new year. Compared to the same time last year, half of the agencies surveyed felt their business has decreased this quarter. The survey group did see a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel may be long. Of the respondents, 45% felt that the economy and their business will not return to a strong growth period until at least early 2010, though a quarter of the agencies see a rebound by late 2009. The advertising dollars may be less, but of those dollars the focus of media buying and placement looks to remain with spot television. The survey showed that 60% say that their customers are more focused on spot TV than any other type of placement in 2009, and that number jumps to 73% in the Midwest. Of the focus on spot TV, 77.5% say they will spend either the same amount or more in 2009 than they did in 2008. The survey also found that advertising on the Internet continues to take a larger share of advertising dollars. Compared to last year, 70% said that they plan on doing more internet advertising, with 25% staying the same. Only 5% said that their clients will advertise less on the Internet in 2009. The bump in Internet advertising was very noticeable in the Midwest, where 82% of respondents say that they see their customers more focused on internet than last year compared to just 58% in the West. Of the 40 agencies, 57.5% said their customers will cut their print advertising from last year.

• NBCU, Rentrak Deal. Rentrak Corp. has entered a multi-year agreement with NBC Universal to use Rentrak’s Mobile Essentials service which has been in trial with NBCU Mobile since early 2008.The Mobile Essentials tool will allow NBCU Mobile access to timely data. Rentrak’s Mobile Essentials system offer a suite of tools that analyzes trends and tracks massive amounts of data in hard-to-aggregate formats such as video clips, SMS messaging, ring tones, video games, wall paper, and other mobile content in order to provide programmers, advertisers, operators and carriers immediate answers to questions that have traditionally required fielding extensive market research and consumer panel studies. The product will enable NBCU Mobile to view and analyze their anonymous mobile data for the consumption of video and other downloads, text messaging, games, and more, all in one comprehensive application, said Ken Papagan, Rentrak’s president/chief strategy officer, said in a prepared statement. “Mobile handsets are the only video devices that are completely unique to each user and Mobile Essentials provides a major industry breakthrough by enabling longitudinal analytics of individual mobile viewing patterns that can also be used to drive viewers back to the TV screen as well,” he said.

Viamedia has tapped former Time Warner Cable Media Sales president Larry Fischer as vice president/general manager for their New York market.

Peter Moran has been named senior vice president of sales for Syntryx Executive Solutions. He had been SVP of Collective Intellect in Boulder, Colo.

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