Some Industry News that are of interest...
5 Reasons Why This Upfront Will Be Good For TV Companies
Source: Media Insider Commentary by Dave Morgan, April 26, 2018
We’re in the middle of upfront season, and once again there are all sorts of prognostications about how it might turn out. Here comes mine. I believe it will be a very good upfront for TV companies this year. Here’s why:
1. There is still an upfront. For years, pundits have been predicting the impending demise of the upfronts, saying that they’re archaic — a “horse and buggy” process in a digital world.
However, the upfront is still here, for a very simple reason: It is a futures market. We still have it because there is more demand for TV advertising — and for specific blocks of shows, networks and dayparts — than there is inventory to service that demand. Thus, advertisers and their TV media buyers need to lock in their buys and prices now, or risk not having enough inventory at the right price when they need it later this year or early next. That’s good for TV companies.
2. Audience losses fuel scarcity. Yes, it doesn’t seem fair, but when a product is precious, scarce and in demand by competing entities, prices can go up even if viewership falls. Moreover, digital video just doesn’t have the scale to be a true substitute for TV advertising for most big brands.
Don’t forget, Judge Judy still delivers more audience, watching more ads, in 30 minutes in the U.S. than Google’s YouTube can deliver all day. Increasing scarcity is good for TV companies.
3. TV company mergers create even more uncertainty for buyers. Discovery recently completed its first upfront since merging with Scripps Networks. AT&T and Time Warner might merge soon, as well as CBS and Viacom. The same for Disney and big parts of FOX. This creates lots of new uncertainty – and nervousness – for buyers wondering what consolidated market power on the sales side might mean, and how it might impact legacy rates. In competitive auctions, nervous buyers pay more than they should. Nervous buyers are good for TV companies.
4. TV doesn’t have fraud issues. The headlines around digital video are rife with words like fraud, viewability and bots. TV doesn’t have that problem. That is good for demand and good for TV companies.
5. Many brands believe that they over-pivoted to digital. Marc Pritchard of Proctor & Gamble has been on a year-long roadshow talking about how P&G and other brands moved too much money from TV into digital over the past few years, which has hurt sales and return on ad investment. They are now moving money back to TV. That is good for TV companies.
Tallying Digital Video Spending at the Upfronts
Source: eMarketer, May 1, 2018
The amount of money committed to digital video ads during the US TV Upfronts and Digital NewFronts season will reach $3.64 billion in 2018, according to new estimates from eMarketer.
That's a 25.4% increase over last year. Upfront video spending will further grow by 20.6% in 2019, eMarketer projects.
he upfront spending data is highlighted in a new eMarketer report, "Q2 2018 Digital Video Trends: Monetization, Audience, Platforms and Content," which also digs into subscription revenues, new audience estimates, and video content trends.
Upfront dollars make up a considerably smaller share of total US digital video and rich media ad spending compared with TV, noted Paul Verna, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the report.
"The TV Upfronts have been ingrained for decades as a marketplace for primetime TV ad inventory," he said. "Buyers get a discount on ad rates in exchange for making upfront commitments to TV networks."
By contrast, the digital space is more fluid and unpredictable, he said. Shows don’t have regular schedules or uniform lengths, and a large portion of ad inventory is transacted programmatically.
NBCU’s Burke Sees Dollars Swinging from Digital to TV - ‘Robust’ upfront ahead, CEO says
Source: Broadcasting&Cable by Jon Lafayette, Apr 25, 2018
Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal says he’s expecting a robust upfront because of signs he sees that advertisers might be deciding to shift dollars from digital to TV as the upfront market approaches. Speaking Wednesday on Comcast’s earnings call with analysts, Burke described an ad spending pendulum that swings back and forth between digital and traditional linear broadcast and cable.
“I think for a whole variety or reasons advertisers are coming to the conclusion that that pendulum ought to swing back in our favor,” Burke said. “That’s not to say it definitely will, but there’s certainly signs and people that we’ve talked to of a coming home to a trusted environment, where an ad can be in context, where an ad can be watched the way people watch television ads from the beginning until the end and behaviors change and brands are built, and businesses succeed.” In the past few weeks, there have been headlines about data being breached at Facebook and ads on YouTube running against unsavory content.
Burke added that ratings have been strong at NBC and NBCU’s cable networks.
“Scatter for the last two or three quarter has been quite strong. The first quarter was the stronger quarter for scatter that we’ve had in a while. It’s too early to say what the second quarter will be,” Burke said. Scatter pricing, particularly in the second quarter is often an indicator of the likely strength of the upfront market.
“I think we have the cards to enter the upfront in a stronger position than we have in many years,” Burke said.
“So for all those reasons the strength of our portfolio in general but in particular with NBC and also the strength of the market and the pendulum coming back to television, I’m really looking forward to a very robust upfront,” he said.
Disney Digital Network Takes Bite out of Food Category - Disney Eats working with Tastemade
Source: Broadcasting&Cable by Jon Lafayette, Apr 25, 2018
Disney Digital Network is expanding into new areas, including food, where it is launching a new brand Disney Eats.
At its NewFront presentation in New York Tuesday, Disney said it is pairing the digital content creation and programming capabilities of Disney Digital Network with its TV assets including ABC and Freeform, so that advertisers can reach mass audiences across media platforms.
"We know that our clients and advertisers are looking for unique, compelling, brand-safe, and diverse ways to reach audiences at scale,” said Rita Ferro, president, advertising sales and marketing, direct-to-consumer and international, Disney|ABC. “The results that Disney Digital Network has generated for advertisers in the last year alone prove that we are delivering on those needs," Ferro added. "Looking at all that our portfolio offers -- the opportunity to align brands with emotionally resonant content, a highly sought-after millennial audience, and mobile-first formats and platforms -- and pair that with our deep insights, brand safety, and broader media mix across our broadcast and cable assets, truly sets us apart from the rest.”
Disney Digital Networks’ new brand Disney Eats, is aimed at giving millennials a taste of foods inspired by Disney characters and by the Disney theme parks around the world. In addition to videos, the brand will extend to consumer products available at shopDisney.com and the Disney Store.
Disney Digital Networks’ Oh My Disney will also expand via a new free app that will launch this summer. The app will feature social content, short-form videos and podcast that will contain stories about Disney’s history and heritage.
The app will also deliver new inventory and opportunities for advertisers. The Disney digital slate includes:
● Club Mickey Mouse (Oh My Disney) - Club Mickey Mouse returns in a Back-to-School special with new celebrity mentors, dance videos, original music videos, and behind-the-scenes action.
● Disney Backstage Podcast (Oh My Disney) - Disney Digital Network’s first podcast series will bring listeners behind the scenes and into the history and heritage of The Walt Disney Company. The first episode will give audiences an inside look at the making of the Walt Disney Animation Studios’ film The Lion King.
● Kitchen Little (Disney Eats with Tastemade) - Kids call the shots as they team up with celebrity chefs to recreate Disney-themed recipes in new episodes of the Tastemade series.
● Tiny Kitchen (Disney Eats with Tastemade) - Artists will create miniature replicas of the too-good-not-to-eat foods from beloved Disney films.
● Must Be Science (Disney Eats with Tastemade) – In this new series, the world of food and science collide as we’ll test our unique Disney food experiments using ingredients you can find in your kitchen.
● Designing Disney (Disney Style) - Designing Disney celebrates artists who design, sew, style and create for Disney. Each episode will spotlight a different creator’s craft. Designing Disney is available on Facebook Watch, with new episodes premiering every Wednesday.
● Disney Dream Job (Disney Family) - This show follows five children as they work with Disney cast members, from animators to Imagineers. Disney Dream Job will premiere on Facebook Watch and will later live on Disney.com.
● Most Extra Parents (Babble) - Most Extra Parents awards and recognizes parents who go the extra mile to make family time a little more special.
● Star Wars Season of the Fan - Star Wars Season of the Fan is a cross-network campaign that celebrates the Star Wars fan base through three digital video programs. The campaign will kick off this summer with the new docu-series, Our Star Wars Stories, which highlights impressive feats of fandom. The Star Wars Fan Film Awards will return as the Star Wars Fan Awards with expanded categories recognizing the best fan content in video production, art, costuming, and photography. The winners will be recognized during a special The Star Wars Show live-stream from the Lucasfilm offices in San Francisco.
● 90 Days of Mickey Mouse - Disney Digital Network will countdown to the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse with 90 days of original Mickey themed content. The countdown will feature new show episodes and series from Oh My Disney, Disney Style, and Disney Family.
Source: Media Insider Commentary by Dave Morgan, April 26, 2018
We’re in the middle of upfront season, and once again there are all sorts of prognostications about how it might turn out. Here comes mine. I believe it will be a very good upfront for TV companies this year. Here’s why:
1. There is still an upfront. For years, pundits have been predicting the impending demise of the upfronts, saying that they’re archaic — a “horse and buggy” process in a digital world.
However, the upfront is still here, for a very simple reason: It is a futures market. We still have it because there is more demand for TV advertising — and for specific blocks of shows, networks and dayparts — than there is inventory to service that demand. Thus, advertisers and their TV media buyers need to lock in their buys and prices now, or risk not having enough inventory at the right price when they need it later this year or early next. That’s good for TV companies.
2. Audience losses fuel scarcity. Yes, it doesn’t seem fair, but when a product is precious, scarce and in demand by competing entities, prices can go up even if viewership falls. Moreover, digital video just doesn’t have the scale to be a true substitute for TV advertising for most big brands.
Don’t forget, Judge Judy still delivers more audience, watching more ads, in 30 minutes in the U.S. than Google’s YouTube can deliver all day. Increasing scarcity is good for TV companies.
3. TV company mergers create even more uncertainty for buyers. Discovery recently completed its first upfront since merging with Scripps Networks. AT&T and Time Warner might merge soon, as well as CBS and Viacom. The same for Disney and big parts of FOX. This creates lots of new uncertainty – and nervousness – for buyers wondering what consolidated market power on the sales side might mean, and how it might impact legacy rates. In competitive auctions, nervous buyers pay more than they should. Nervous buyers are good for TV companies.
4. TV doesn’t have fraud issues. The headlines around digital video are rife with words like fraud, viewability and bots. TV doesn’t have that problem. That is good for demand and good for TV companies.
5. Many brands believe that they over-pivoted to digital. Marc Pritchard of Proctor & Gamble has been on a year-long roadshow talking about how P&G and other brands moved too much money from TV into digital over the past few years, which has hurt sales and return on ad investment. They are now moving money back to TV. That is good for TV companies.
Tallying Digital Video Spending at the Upfronts
Source: eMarketer, May 1, 2018
The amount of money committed to digital video ads during the US TV Upfronts and Digital NewFronts season will reach $3.64 billion in 2018, according to new estimates from eMarketer.
That's a 25.4% increase over last year. Upfront video spending will further grow by 20.6% in 2019, eMarketer projects.
he upfront spending data is highlighted in a new eMarketer report, "Q2 2018 Digital Video Trends: Monetization, Audience, Platforms and Content," which also digs into subscription revenues, new audience estimates, and video content trends.
Upfront dollars make up a considerably smaller share of total US digital video and rich media ad spending compared with TV, noted Paul Verna, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the report.
"The TV Upfronts have been ingrained for decades as a marketplace for primetime TV ad inventory," he said. "Buyers get a discount on ad rates in exchange for making upfront commitments to TV networks."
By contrast, the digital space is more fluid and unpredictable, he said. Shows don’t have regular schedules or uniform lengths, and a large portion of ad inventory is transacted programmatically.
NBCU’s Burke Sees Dollars Swinging from Digital to TV - ‘Robust’ upfront ahead, CEO says
Source: Broadcasting&Cable by Jon Lafayette, Apr 25, 2018
Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal says he’s expecting a robust upfront because of signs he sees that advertisers might be deciding to shift dollars from digital to TV as the upfront market approaches. Speaking Wednesday on Comcast’s earnings call with analysts, Burke described an ad spending pendulum that swings back and forth between digital and traditional linear broadcast and cable.
“I think for a whole variety or reasons advertisers are coming to the conclusion that that pendulum ought to swing back in our favor,” Burke said. “That’s not to say it definitely will, but there’s certainly signs and people that we’ve talked to of a coming home to a trusted environment, where an ad can be in context, where an ad can be watched the way people watch television ads from the beginning until the end and behaviors change and brands are built, and businesses succeed.” In the past few weeks, there have been headlines about data being breached at Facebook and ads on YouTube running against unsavory content.
Burke added that ratings have been strong at NBC and NBCU’s cable networks.
“Scatter for the last two or three quarter has been quite strong. The first quarter was the stronger quarter for scatter that we’ve had in a while. It’s too early to say what the second quarter will be,” Burke said. Scatter pricing, particularly in the second quarter is often an indicator of the likely strength of the upfront market.
“I think we have the cards to enter the upfront in a stronger position than we have in many years,” Burke said.
“So for all those reasons the strength of our portfolio in general but in particular with NBC and also the strength of the market and the pendulum coming back to television, I’m really looking forward to a very robust upfront,” he said.
Disney Digital Network Takes Bite out of Food Category - Disney Eats working with Tastemade
Source: Broadcasting&Cable by Jon Lafayette, Apr 25, 2018
Disney Digital Network is expanding into new areas, including food, where it is launching a new brand Disney Eats.
At its NewFront presentation in New York Tuesday, Disney said it is pairing the digital content creation and programming capabilities of Disney Digital Network with its TV assets including ABC and Freeform, so that advertisers can reach mass audiences across media platforms.
"We know that our clients and advertisers are looking for unique, compelling, brand-safe, and diverse ways to reach audiences at scale,” said Rita Ferro, president, advertising sales and marketing, direct-to-consumer and international, Disney|ABC. “The results that Disney Digital Network has generated for advertisers in the last year alone prove that we are delivering on those needs," Ferro added. "Looking at all that our portfolio offers -- the opportunity to align brands with emotionally resonant content, a highly sought-after millennial audience, and mobile-first formats and platforms -- and pair that with our deep insights, brand safety, and broader media mix across our broadcast and cable assets, truly sets us apart from the rest.”
Disney Digital Networks’ new brand Disney Eats, is aimed at giving millennials a taste of foods inspired by Disney characters and by the Disney theme parks around the world. In addition to videos, the brand will extend to consumer products available at shopDisney.com and the Disney Store.
Disney Digital Networks’ Oh My Disney will also expand via a new free app that will launch this summer. The app will feature social content, short-form videos and podcast that will contain stories about Disney’s history and heritage.
The app will also deliver new inventory and opportunities for advertisers. The Disney digital slate includes:
● Club Mickey Mouse (Oh My Disney) - Club Mickey Mouse returns in a Back-to-School special with new celebrity mentors, dance videos, original music videos, and behind-the-scenes action.
● Disney Backstage Podcast (Oh My Disney) - Disney Digital Network’s first podcast series will bring listeners behind the scenes and into the history and heritage of The Walt Disney Company. The first episode will give audiences an inside look at the making of the Walt Disney Animation Studios’ film The Lion King.
● Kitchen Little (Disney Eats with Tastemade) - Kids call the shots as they team up with celebrity chefs to recreate Disney-themed recipes in new episodes of the Tastemade series.
● Tiny Kitchen (Disney Eats with Tastemade) - Artists will create miniature replicas of the too-good-not-to-eat foods from beloved Disney films.
● Must Be Science (Disney Eats with Tastemade) – In this new series, the world of food and science collide as we’ll test our unique Disney food experiments using ingredients you can find in your kitchen.
● Designing Disney (Disney Style) - Designing Disney celebrates artists who design, sew, style and create for Disney. Each episode will spotlight a different creator’s craft. Designing Disney is available on Facebook Watch, with new episodes premiering every Wednesday.
● Disney Dream Job (Disney Family) - This show follows five children as they work with Disney cast members, from animators to Imagineers. Disney Dream Job will premiere on Facebook Watch and will later live on Disney.com.
● Most Extra Parents (Babble) - Most Extra Parents awards and recognizes parents who go the extra mile to make family time a little more special.
● Star Wars Season of the Fan - Star Wars Season of the Fan is a cross-network campaign that celebrates the Star Wars fan base through three digital video programs. The campaign will kick off this summer with the new docu-series, Our Star Wars Stories, which highlights impressive feats of fandom. The Star Wars Fan Film Awards will return as the Star Wars Fan Awards with expanded categories recognizing the best fan content in video production, art, costuming, and photography. The winners will be recognized during a special The Star Wars Show live-stream from the Lucasfilm offices in San Francisco.
● 90 Days of Mickey Mouse - Disney Digital Network will countdown to the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse with 90 days of original Mickey themed content. The countdown will feature new show episodes and series from Oh My Disney, Disney Style, and Disney Family.