’22 Will Be Spot TV’s ‘Year Of The Test’
Executives from NBCUniversal Local, Magna Global, Zenith and Dentsu told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week that the move from GRPs to impressions, plus Nielsen’s inclusion of BBO homes in its measurement, will make for a year of transition before ratings normalize.
TVN Focus On Advertising | Sports Betting Skyrockets For Broadcasters
Sports wagering has invigorated station groups’ core revenue, climbing to the second-biggest ad sales category for many of them and angling to knock automotive from its top spot in the next few years. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.
TVN Focus On Advertising | Stations Project Core Ads To Rise In 2021
Sales and research executives from CBS Television Stations, Gray Television and BIA said they see a sharp rise in core revenue ahead this year, while UM Worldwide threw some colder water on that prediction in a TVNewsCheck webinar on spot TV last week. The executives also tackled the iffy near-time prospects of fully-functional automated buying and selling and the growing revenue prospects of local streaming. Above, Julio Marenghi, president, advertising sales at CBS Television Stations said that the CBS owned stations are seeing more money from OTT business extensions — “There’s definitely more money than there was a year ago” — but it’s not yet significant.
A TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar will gather senior executives of the spot TV marketplace to consider how the growing use of attribution platforms is affecting the buying and selling of local TV advertising campaigns. Set for Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. ET, the webinar will feature (clockwise from left: Adam Monaco, SVP Disney Advertising Sales Local; Tracy Chavez, EVP and director of investment operations at Publicis; Shawn Makhijani, SVP NBC Spot On and SVP business development and strategy at NBCU Owned Stations; Janet Stilson, contributing editor, TVNewsCheck, moderator; and Chaitanya Upadhyay, VP local solutions at Alphonso. Register to attend the webinar here.
TVN Focus On Advertising | Stations Hungry For Better Ad Solutions
Per-performance deals are in broadcasters’ sightlines, but Nielsen measurement woes are one of the problems gumming up the works, a TVNewsCheck webinar found.
Focus On Advertising | Local Spot Revenue Shows Signs Of Life
A TVNewsCheck webinar on optimizing spot TV in this COVID-challenged economy last week found spot revenue picking up in some places, with steady rises since April’s low point. But concerns are afoot about Nielsen’s sample base and problems that may stem from its addition of broadband-only homes to the local TV currency.
Exclusives
A new Nielsen analysis indicates that spot advertising in local markets appears to be starting to turn the corner after declining in some areas by as much as 35% at the end of March.
Growing Fees Slow Spot Automation Growth
Per-transaction fees and resistance by walled gardens are hampering the development of tools to streamline the complicated world of buying and selling spot TV advertising.
Spot Automation: A Timeline
A user’s guide to automation development at Hudson MX, ProvantageX, Videa and WideOrbit.
TVN Focus On Advertising | Spot TV 2020: Total +19%; Core -1.3%
The total growth is pegged to political advertising, while the drop in core will be due mostly to dwindling dollars from automotive, retail and quick service restaurants. That’s the consensus of station groups and industry watchers surveyed annually by TVNewsCheck.
Lower Auto Sales Slows Spot Market
A dismal first quarter had auto spot spending down nearly 10% compared to the prior year because auto ad spending moves in lockstep with actual sales of cars and light trucks and those have been trending down. However, even though auto sales are down, they are still at a pretty high level and if 2019 results come in at 16.9 million as predicted, that’s up over 60% in 10 years.
DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim slots the event for May 2-3 and says the event may result in Justice changing how it looks not only at mergers, but also at spot advertising and retrans.
Publicis Agency Sets All-Automated Spot Buy
Publicis Media is making a $50 million local TV buy for one of its most challenging clients using an automated platform system, involving 90 markets across the country. This is just one of the strategies to improve the automated ad buying process to increase the relevance of local spot discussed at TV2020 on Wednesday.
Ryvicker: Local TV Stocks Rated Outperform
Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker sees station groups’ core advertising, which excludes political, growing 2% next year. In addition, she says broadcast stocks are also likely to get a boost from the FCC’s easing of the media ownership restrictions that will lead to further consolidation of the industry.
S&P Global’s 34th annual Radio and TV Summit last week addressed a range of topics, including the lack of consolidation following the FCC’s spectrum auction; the state of retransmission consent and reverse comp; and an overview of the good and bad news coming from the spot TV ad market.
Uncertain Political Is Broadcast Wake-Up Call
Lower-than expected spending by the Trump campaign is causing some groups to reforecast their political revenue and depressing stock prices. More important, it highlights the need for adoption of ATSC 3.0. The new broadcasting standard will allow stations to offer zoned, targeted and interactive advertising and maintain their lion’s share of the political advertising dollars.
Broadcasters Get Creative To Grow Auto Biz
More and more stations and groups are taking the initiative in securing and growing the crucial auto category at a time when stations’ share of ad marketing dollars are not keeping pace with booming auto sales as they have in the past. One tack is an increasing interest in programmatic buying and selling, while another is to aggressively follow auto dollars into the digital realm. Publisher’s Note: Deep Dive is a new, branded feature of TVNewsCheck.com. It is offered free today as a sneak preview of the kind of in-depth content soon to be offered in the our Premium Member Center. To read the first part, click here.
Spot Auto Revenue Lags Surging Auto Sales
The old rule of thumb that TV station auto revenue will mirror the growth (or decline) of auto sales no longer seems to be holding true. Experts say it’s due to lower overall auto spending on advertising, an unmeasured shift of money to mobile and continuing hard-nosed competition from the scores of basic cable networks. In Part II, which will post Aug. 26, we’ll look at how some broadcasters are working to rev up their auto business. Publisher’s Note: Deep Dive is a new, branded feature of TVNewsCheck.com. It is offered free today as a sneak preview of the kind of in-depth content soon to be offered in the our Premium Member Center. Details? Stay tuned.
Core spot spending will remain flat in the third quarter, according to the latest from Wells Fargo Securities, and the reason is not clear. The good news is political spending will start pouring in in the quarter with Nexstar and Sinclair the chief beneficiaries among the pure-play station groups.
After 3 Quarters: Total, +16.1%, Core, +4.5%
Those percentages, from Matrix Solutions, are a marked improvement over the firm’s first-half figures and the 4.5% core growth is tied directly to continued strength of auto advertising. Matrix President D.J. Cavanaugh: “Obviously, political is driving this business right now — some might argue that it’s driving it crazy — but even when you take political out, 4.5% growth is pretty healthy, particularly in this economy. I think it bodes well for the business.”
First Half Results: Total, +10.4%; Core, +3.9%
Heavy political spending and the recovery of the auto market account for the growth in the six months ending June 30, according to actual sales data collected by Matrix Solutions. Auto was up 18.4% with dealer associations contributing a 24.3% gain. But many other categories sunk. Packaged goods and telecommunications were off 11.36% and 10.06%, respectively.
