One of this summer’s “hottest” new shows is a reality based sports drama featuring daily updates each morning. It raises the usual reality fare a few notches, including spontaneous fistfights, a psychopath who has been kicked off the island, illicit drug use and egos which dwarf anything that Hollywood could imagine. This production uses real world class athletes competing for big prizes. And instead of unseen producers manipulating the circumstances to imitate reality…it uses reality.

OK, it’s in France. Maybe not the reality most of us share, but it’s reality for the 198 riders in this year’s Tour de France – a three-week daily drama taking place across the pond.

Reality shows are usually weekly cliffhangers. In this version, protagonists that ride on cliffs are often eliminated on a daily basis.

There is danger aplenty on the screen with steep canyons, narrow roads, rain, cars, motorcycles, the press and cobblestones. And let’s not forget team rivalries and personal rivalries. Add to this – doping allegations, drug tests and blood samples.

While Versus awaits validation of this programming with hopefully higher ratings, it seems like this reality show should produce that desired effect.

Too much to keep track of? Here’s a short list of Top Things You Should Know About The Tour de France so far:

• Lance Armstrong – The sentimental favorite, in his final TDF race, crashes several times and is now too far back to win. According to BenepesBikeBlog on location coverage of the race, “Armstrong said he clipped pedals with another rider, his wheel rolled, and he came down hard as he was traveling about 65 kph (about 40 mph). He had bloody wounds on his arms and back.”  Lady Luck may have been in his corner on seven previous TDF wins, but not this year (Future Headline: “Lady Luck Bitch Slaps Lance in 8th TDF Win Attempt”)
• Alberto Contador – Last year’s winner and Armstrong’s nemesis is riding effortlessly, currently in 3rd place.
• Floyd Landis – The disgraced former rider has admitted to drug-taking and is trying to take Lance Armstrong down with him.
• Great Finishes – Can happen on any single stage but never on the last one in Paris. Tradition dictates no change in leadership on the final day.
• Crashes – Even after horrible crashes, some riders refuse to give up, others are not so lucky. A few notable crashes so far in the race: Christian Vande Velde (broken ribs /out), Tyler Farrar (broken wrist / in), Robert Gesink (fractured forearm / in), Adam Hansen (broken sternum / out).
• Who’s leading now – Cadel Evans of Australia.
• What’s next – Levi Leipheimer, Lance Armstrong’s teammate, is currently the highest-ranked American in 8th place, and Team RadioShack will now devote all its efforts to leading him to victory.
• Who will win – Alberto Contador is the strongest rider and has excellent support on Team Astana.

Back to our show – watch out for the bikes lying on the road ahead of you.

Source: BenepesBikeBlog, 7/11/2010
See also: Canada.com 7/29/07

New York, July 7 — Nielsen has announced organizational changes which will give set top box data greater visibility in the ratings company. In addition to announcing STB analyses from Charter systems in St. Louis, Greenville/Spartanburg, and Reno, Nielsen told clients about organizational changes designed to integrate STB data “formally within our existing audience measurement product leadership teams.”

The letter to Nielsen’s clients also announced that Matt O’Grady will be responsible for testing and incorporating STB data into Nielsen’s national and multi-platform products. Cheryl Idell will have integration responsibilities for local products.

Kantar (formerly TNS Media Research), Rentrak and TiVo have existing products and client bases already using these data. Rentrack’s Station Essentials product, using AT&T and Dish Network data, has been adding clients to its sec-by-sec no-demographics alternative to traditional NSI local market data. It’s not clear from the announcement if Nielsen is upping the ante or if they are just publicizing previous efforts.

The July 7 announcement was nuanced so as not to discredit the current local and national TV measurement services which serve all DMAs with a combination of people meters, household meters and paper diaries. “While STB data is incomplete on its own, we believe combining the stability and granularity afforded by this data with the representative quality of our panels will provide enhanced capabilities, analytics and insight,” says Nielsen’s Dave Thomas and Steve Hasker.

The new Nielsen tests will compare the ratings currency to STB data “to determine if the STB data can help supply greater fidelity to our ratings projections and enable more granular reporting, including to additional stations and regional networks.”

New York, June 23 — Canoe Ventures may not always be on time but yesterday they were certainly on message. “Interactivity is here,” was the message CEO David Verklin repeated numerous times at the Advertising Research Foundation AMS 4.0 Conference in New York.

Verklin says RFI — Canoe’s first interactive app — is now up and running. “Request For Information” is an overlay to existing commercial content that lets consumers click a button to request request information, free samples or mailed coupons after following a double opt-in screening process.

In May, Canoe announced that E!, Discovery Channel, USA Network and AMC had committed to using RFI. MediaPost reports that the service is only available on Comcast and Time Warner, two of the six Canoe MSO partners.

Canoe has received alot of criticism for its slow progress in delivering on the promise of interactivity. “Just imagine what it’s like trying to get six cable companies to work together,” says Verklin. “The set top box universe is amazingly heterogenous. The challenge is to find something that works across all platforms.” Verklin says the solution is EBIF, the Enhanced Binary Interchange Format technology which Canoe will use to deliver interactive television spots.

“I think we are succeeding because of the support across the cable MSOs,” he said. “They are committed to making an interoperable and interconnected national cable structure.”  Verklin says RFI is the first of several Canoe initiatives that will make interactivity simple and easy to use. “Interactive TV on network breaks has become a reality,” he said.

Sources: AdWeek, MediaPost, Canoe Ventures

Arbitron is going high tech with their portable people meter rolling out a replacement for the 80’s-like pager-looking device with hardware that uses cell phone technology.

The new wireless PPM 360 technology will use a cellular network to collect data from Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) panel. PPM ratings using the existing cradle technology will be available in 50 markets for the Summer 2010 book.

“We have multiple solutions for data capture and retrieval,” says Arbitron spokesperson Jessica Benbow. “While this version is on a cell phone delivery system, the existing PPM technology retrieves data from the meter through a docking station and sends it to Arbitron through a landline or a cell modem depending on status of the household and the availability of cell coverage. That system will remain intact simultaneously as this system is deployed.”

Arbitron’s president says the enhanced PPM will liberate audience measurement from the home and make it easier to follow the mobile consumers. “This platform is designed to be an integrated component to our existing radio services and drive future innovation for media measurement,” says William Kerr, Arbitron President and CEO.

Arbitron has decided to keep the name of the cell phone carrier secret. Rollout plans for PPM 360 will be announced after field testing of the new system concludes at the end of 2010.

High Definition TV has been good to TV manufacturers, program producers and consumers. HD helps sell more high-end TVs to consumers who like the Big Picture and richer viewing experience. Now new research suggests there might be good HD news for media buyers and sellers, too.

A comprehensive study of commercial viewing to a dozen of the largest network TV advertisers suggests that commercial tuneaway is lower in HD households. Higher audience retention means bigger commercial ratings which might translate into future cha-ching for broadcast and cable ad sales executives.

A new Kantar Media study reports that viewers tune away from commercials about half as often on HD channels compared to the standard definition (SD) feed for the same network. Ad supported HD channels have an average tuneaway of 3.73 percent of commercial seconds compared to 6.8 for SD viewing.

The analysis is based on nearly 124,000 thirty second spots for advertisers in the automotive, communications, retail, QSR, insurance and prepared foods categories. October 2009 data from 100,000 set top boxes in Kantar’s DIRECTView sample were used for the analysis. The complete results will be presented at the Advertising Research Foundation AMS 5.0 conference in NYC on June 22-23.

Broadcast also benefits from HD. High Def broadcast channels have 31 percent less tuneaway compared to the same commercials on SD channels  (2.2 vs. 3.2).

“This may be another measure of engagement,” says Leslie Wood, president of Media Trust and a study co-author. “If a person is watching on the HD channel, they care more about their TV experience.”

The finding could also be a win for set top box providers.  “Return path data can provide important insights into consumers’ digital viewing behavior,” says George Shababb, president of Kantar Media Audiences. “The ability to isolate the tuneaway effect of HD versus SD is unique to these data,” he says.
Wood notes that it isn’t clear if HD makes people spend more time with commercials or if the household characteristics of HD homes  — such as income, family size, etc. — differentiate SD and HD commercial viewing. Either way, it’s good news. “Greater audience retention and its implied higher commercial rating are a powerful rationale for networks considering adding a HD feed,” she says.

Breakthrough research is nice – but actionable findings are what matters most to media buyers. “These data suggest that HD channels reach a more engaged viewer which can have repercussions for our advertisers,” says Kevin Moeller, partner and Insights Director at MediaCom. “If HD programming results in a more engaged viewer it will encourage media communications planning and buying teams to rethink media plans.”

Although these preliminary data suggest an additional payoff to networks’ HD investment, one sales veteran is cautious about cashing in.

“I am not wild about centering a sales effort on the potential of this incremental gain,” says Harvey Ganot, a partner at New Markets Now and former President of Advertising Sales at MTV Networks. Ganot says charging more for HD is a double-edged sword: if HD is worth more, does that mean standard definition is worth less? “Advertisers are getting the HD advantage for free now. Why would they want to pay more?” Logistical issues would also make an HD-only sales effort difficult. “Segmentation and micro-placement of schedules in an HD environment are time consuming and labor intensive tasks,” Ganot adds.

Higher HD commercial ratings may not justify bigger ad sales rates down the road. But if it helps justify networks’ continued investment in high def distribution and technology, it’s bound to help broadcast and cable CFOs sleep better at night.

Dave Zornow is president of TNG Research, a media research and applications development company in Nyack, NY. He is also co-author of the study, “Using Return Path Data to Understand Contextual Advertising Engagement on TV,” which will be presented at the ARF AMS Conference in New York on June 22.

by Dave Zornow

If you find yourself going online to learn what’s going on around town, you’re not alone. More Americans are using digital tools to complement face time with neighbors and friends to keep current on what’s up — downtown.

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, one in five adults (20%) used digital tools to talk to neighbors and keep informed about community issues. Online blogs about community issues (21%), emailing (9%) and texting (4%) with neighbors are some of the ways that we are now wired (sometimes wirelessly) to our communities.

Interactive marketing consultant Richard Dysinger says people use digital media to  communicate because it’s faster and easier. Although the average letter is read within a week of being sent, “the average text message is read within fifteen minutes of being sent and emails on average are read within 48 hours,” he says. “This level of immediacy coupled with a buffered level of intimacy is at the heart of the new age of communication.” It’s another example of how technology is shrinking the world — making small towns even smaller. “Digital media and social media have facilitated  communication across a vast virtual network. We have gone from six degrees of separation to three,” Dysinger says.

Pew reports that there’s still a place for conversations on the front porch or over the back fence: Almost half (46%) of all Americans talk face-to-face with neighbors about community issues. The phone is used by about one in five adults (21%) — about the same number who say they stay connected with digital connections.

What’s the message here? If you are trying to get the message out about a community issue or event — or even run for public office — word of mouth is still your best friend. But more and more words are being digitized for posting, emailing and texting across town as well as around the world.

This story was also cross posted at NyackNewsAndViews.com

Source: Neighbors Online, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 4/9/2010

The tables have been turned on the ratings business.

Predicting that “Nielsen should score big audience ratings on Wall Street,” the NYT thinks the private equity team which took the former VNU company private four years ago has done a good job — and will be rewarded with a successful IPO of up to $1.75 billion. Nielsen’s SEC filing says they plan to use the proceeds to reduce its $8.6 billion debt and “general corporate purposes.”

Here’s the “by the numbers” analysis of Nielsen’s numbers:

• Nielsen takes in about $4.8 billion in revenue each year from nearly 100 countries.
• In 2006,  former GE Exec David Calhoun and a group of private investment firms including Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought Nielsen from VNU for about $10 billion.
• Calhoun and company injected another $3 billion in capital into the business, buying up new properties like IAG, mobile measurement firm Telephia and video analytics company GlanceGuide. They also shed non-core assets like Nielsen EDI (sold to Rentrak) and a long list of venerable publications, closing Radio & Records and Editor & Publisher and selling Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter to e5 Global Media. According to the WSJ, Nielsen also cut 10% of their staff after the buyout.
• Nielsen earned about $1.3 billion last year compared to $879 million four years ago.

Where the NYT is bullish on Nielsen’s IPO prospects, a skeptical WSJ calls “bullsh1t.” Noting that Nielsen was acquired in a pre-Twitter and Facebook(-dominant) world where they now trail comScore in Internet measurement, the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Corkery blogs that “anytime savvy investors – such as KKR, Blackstone and Carlyle Group – are selling out in a volatile stock market — potential investors should be asking themselves why.”

At the end of the day, Van Morrison may have the last word on the success of Nielsen’s planned IPO.

In the song “Wild Night,” Morrison writes “…and all the girls walk by dressed up for each other.” If you substitute private equity firms for girls you get some insight into how The Street views Nielsen’s IPO. “An initial offering that comes close to doubling their money would also help dispel criticism that buyout firms are nothing more than undertaxed financial engineers,” says the New York Times.

If anyone has a reality show treatment called “Pimp My Ratings Company” in the works, this would be a great time to do some lunches.

At the 1964 World’s Fair, AT&T introduced a new product that combined the telephone and television into a surefire hit for businesses and consumers. Three million Picturephones were predicted to be in use by the 1980’s. Instead of Picturephones, we now remember the 80’s by a different cultural failure: disco music.

AT&T is estimated to have spent up to $500 million developing the Picturephone. Why wouldn’t you want to see the person to whom you were speaking? If facial expressions weren’t important, why did those thoughtful Internet pioneers invent all of those emoticons to express what words alone couldn’t do? AT&T failed partially because they charged $21 a minute for the bandwidth hungry picture phone in a pre-fiber, barely satellite communications age. Today we can do it for free via iChat or Skype — but even free hasn’t made consumers want to be heard and be seen.

Last week Google announced a new service which will join two commonly used communications technologies. Google TV will marry TV with search to improve the consumer experience and, in Google’s words, “change the future of television.” Anyone who has ever tried to use a remote control to text search a TV interactive program guide can see the possibilities of searching “all of your channels, recorded shows,  YouTube and other Websites” in one place.

Long before the industry anointed  “convergence” as the holy grail of media synergy, AT&T learned that consumers can be a fickle bunch. Google, a dominant communications company of the 21st century, might want to take a history lesson from AT&T, which was the largest communications company of the 20th century.

Google and their technology partners hope to sell new TVs (from Sony) or new HDMI-connectible set top boxes (from Logitech) to merge your desktop and set top digital words. Google TV Product Lead Rishi Chandra says Google TV will let viewers use the voice search feature of Android phones to query Google TV. NewTeeVee.com provided a play-by-play of the new service as demoed at the Google I/O conference. First, Chandra searched for live TV content and scheduled TV programming to program a DVR.

Then he searched for House, and Google TV returned search results Hulu, Fox.com and Amazon. Clicking on the Amazon search result led to the website of Amazon’s VOD service. The search bar can also be used to directly input urls and search saved bookmarks. “It’s just as easy to go to any site on the web as it is to go to any channel on your television,” says Chandra.

Google’s business model is to make money by bringing search to TV and extending the reach of advertising through Adwords. In an interview on the Fox Business Channel, Google CEO Eric Schmidt says that because Google TV seamlessly combines TV and computers, “we know a lot more about what people are doing and can make more relevant television advertising  — which should be worth alot of money.”

Will Google succeed where AT&T once failed and Apple TV and Microsoft’s Media Center have stalled? There’s only one way to end an article that talks about almost 50 years of TV and technology: Stay tuned.

Sources: DavidZondy.com, Porticus.org, Google TV, NewTeeVee.com, Digital Daily, Fox Business Channel, BobLucky.com

See Also: Engadget, timeline.com, BusinessInsider.com

Network TV has long pitted the laws of gravity against the laws of inertia. Despite audience ratings a fraction of what they were 25 years ago, instead of prices falling to earth, they have continued to rise. Among media buyers, inertia always beats gravity because old habits are hard to change. Although cable and the Internet are less expensive ways to reach the same people, network TV still rules the roost.

TV critics, however, are not so forgiving. Which is why Conan’s November move to TBS is a win-win for Time Warner and O’Brien.

Scenario: O’Brien signs with Fox. Can you easily imagine the post premiere headlines? “Sorry Team Conan, Jay Leno’s Ratings Are Enormous” or “Conan keeps heat on NBC during ‘Tonight.” Wait, sorry — those were actual headlines from last year. You get the point. It’s too easy for critics and TV handicappers make an apples to apples category and declare a Winner and a Loser.

Cable solves all of that. Although The Daily Show and Colbert can’t compete with the audience size of Leno and Letterman, no one writes them off. Call it a double standard. But no one ever said the entertainment business was fair.

The NY Daily News put it nicely: on NBC, 2.5 millions viewers a night made Conan a disaster. On TBS, it would make him a Cable God.

TBS is taking a page from the Fox playbook — literally. When Fox threw a financial ‘hail mary’ pass in 1994 and acquired their first Sunday NFL package for $395 million a year, it was a coming of age moment for a network mostly known for The Simpsosn and Married With Children. They probably lost lots on that first deal. But in the long run it paid off — big. TBS stands to gain in the same way by backing the TBS “Very Funny” slogan with a very funny, big name talent.

It also works — potentially — for the bumped George Lopez, too. Although he gets a less favored time slot, he will benefit from the massive exposure that CocoLoco will generate. And don’t count out the DVR (re)generation, either — or cable’s ability to reuse and recycle owned content over and over (rumor has it that the Latin translation of cable is “re-run it until you wear the sprockets out.”)

Kudos to Conan for changing the rules in a no-win network TV game to win big financially from two networks while breathing new life into his career, TBS’s future and future schedule-Wingman George Lopez’s show, too.

See also: NY Daily News, 4/14/2010, suite101.com, nj.com

At 8:45p Sunday evening, WABC-TV and Cablevision announced an “agreement in principal” which averted a crisis for both parties allowing the Oscars to be carried by Cablevision at 9p Sunday night.

by Dave Zornow

WABC-TV, New York has removed their signal from Cablevision’s lineup blacking out all of the Disney-owned station’s programming including tonight’s broadcast of the Academy Awards.

The banner headline on the station’s Website, SaveABC7.com, says “Cablevision betrays their customers again! First HGTV and Food Network, now ABC7.”

Cablevision’s Website counters: “The definition of corporate greed: ABC demanding $40 million for WABC-7.”

Just like the health care debate, the screaming obscures the facts. Until cooler heads prevail, the three million Cablevision subs in the NY metro can go to a neighbor’s house and watch the Oscars on Verizon’s FiOS, Time Warner, Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network or online at ABC.com or Hulu.com.

Here is a profile of the leading characters for today’s performance.

Q: I’m going to miss Good Eats AND The Oscars? How can this be? TV is supposed to be free!

A: When SaveABC7.com says “First HGTV and Food Network, now ABC7″ they are refering to a squabble earlier this year between Scripps Networks and Cablevision where Scripps’ channels were off the air for three weeks in Cablevision homes. WABC’s implies that Cablevision no longer carries HGTV and Food network. This is incorrect.

Also remember that there is no such thing as free TV. WABC, Cablevision and everyone else on the dial makes money by promising advertisers that you will be there to view their commercials. Although you may not think you are paying to watch TV — in the eyes of media buyers and sellers — your attention is a valuable commodity for which billions of dollars are paid each year nationally.

Q: Why is this happening now?

A: FCC rules say that a station can request compensation OR grant retransmission consent in exchange for a preferred channel position. This agreement, negotiated on a system by system basis, is up for renewal every three years.

Q: So, if WABC already has a preferred position (Channel 7), why are they asking for money, too?

A: Good question. WABC is playing hardball for a $40 million increase on top of the $200 million which Cablevision says they already pay Disney. WABC says disputes these figures.

There’s alot of information we don’t know — and will never know, either. Disney’s cable channels include ESPN channels, ABC Family and The Disney Channel. Over time, Disney has received carriage of new channels — and better channel positions — as part of these negotiations.

It’s possible that the $200 million which Cablevision says that it now “pays” is the calculated value of all of these negotiated concessions. We don’t know. But it’s reasonable to assume that Cablevision has been paying cash as well as giving up other concessions to Disney for carrying WABC-TV. Things which prior to today Disney felt had value.

Q: Certainly WABC pays a lot for these programs. Shouldn’t Cablevision should pay its fair share?

A: It is unlikely that WABC-TV pays anything for the programming it receives from the ABC Television Network. In fact, many stations in the country are paid by the ABC, CBS and NBC to carry network programs in a decades long practice called “compensation.” Because WABC-TV is an owned and operated station of the ABC Television network, it isn’t clear if they receive cash compensation to carry programming from their corporate parent.

Q: If Cablevision decides to pay more for WABC-TV, will my cable bill go up?

A: Here’s the FCC’s answer: “In return for allowing a cable system to carry its signal, a television station may require the payment of a fee or other consideration. Any new or additional costs incurred as a result of retransmission consent agreements may be passed through to cable subscribers.”

Q: If WABC-TV only makes money when they run commercials, won’t they be hurting themselves by yanking the Oscars and all of their other programs from three million households in the biggest TV market in the US?

A: WABC-TV and the ABC Television network have promised advertisers a certain “delivery” of demographic viewers to tonight’s Oscar broadcast. If tomorrow’s Nielsen results show they fell short, they will owe “make-goods” (future no-charge commercials) or cash back. This is an issue for both the local station and the ABC Television network.

Q: So if Cablevision subscribers are angry and Disney advertisers will be angry with WABC-TV, why are they doing this?

A: Good question. This is the grown-up version of adolescents daring each other to see who can hold their hand over an open flame for the longest amount of time. But in this game, Cablevision, ABC and Oscar fans are all going to get burnt by this episode of “As The Media Turns.”

Sources: FCC, SaveABC7.com, Cablevision
See also: NYT 3/7/2010

This story was originally posted on NyackNewsAndViews.com