Digital Strategies for Broadcasting - BIA/Kelsey

Changing our Blog Address

Rick Ducey — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:50:13 +0000

Dear DSB Blog Readers:

BIA/Kelsey coverages a dozen different local media platforms. We started the Digital Strategies for Broadcasting blog to give a focus on local broadcasting and its role in the rise of digital local media and advertising. We had several other blogs as well.

Since we found ourselves seeing commonalities leading to simultaneous cross-posting across our blogs, we decided it was time to put our efforts into one local media blog and add relevant metadata tags to help our readers find content most interesting to them.

So, for future posts we refer you to the BIA/Kelsey Local Media Watch blog at http://blog.kelseygroup.com/.

We won’t be doing new posts here.

Thanks!

Rick

Cox Scales Ad Network Through Acquisition of IB Local

Jed Williams — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:43:52 +0000

Just days after consolidating Adify and Cox Cross Media into the integrated advertising network Cox Digital Solutions, the company is making waves again. This time, it’s acquiring in order to expand scale by scooping up IB Local Network from Internet Broadcasting Systems, which serves more than 2,200 Web sites.

Internet Broadcasting already directs many of its clients to Cox’s digital network, which includes newspapers, AutoTrader.com and Kudzu. COO Jeff Kimball told BIA/Kelsey that divesting of the ad network was a logical way to offload an adjacent business and focus exclusively on the company’s core: building audience and revenue solutions for media companies. Plus, he acknowledged, “we realized that we couldn’t get the scale to compete in that crowded business.”

IBS will continue to push its three-pronged “think digitally” solution with media clients (local TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, cable): scalable technology, content engagement and monetization. This includes content management and publishing systems, original journalistic content and an array of advertising tools to empower local sales forces.

Internet Broadcasting Pushes Local TV to 'Think Digitally'

Jed Williams — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:15:06 +0000

With Apple projected to sell 50 million iPads in the U.S. alone by 2012 and smartphone penetration rising sharply, the multi-platform, multimedia era is officially here. Traditional media have been transitioning their content and leveraging their brands onto new devices for years, but the struggle to monetize them significantly — and independently of their legacy products — continues.

Internet Broadcasting Systems COO Jeff Kimball told BIA/Kelsey that a true digital strategy calls for “inverting the model.” Simply shoveling content from on-air to online and beyond (mobile, tablet, connected TV) won’t engage consumers deeply enough to drive real revenue.

Traditional media brands must “think digitally,” a concept that carries several applications, from pushing digital assets to drive on-air viewing to digitizing unused video footage to capture its long-tail value. Fisher Communications’ neighborhood sites in Seattle (built by DataSphere) do just that and are profitably “rolling up the nickels” by recruiting a new breed of small-business advertiser.

Internet Broadcasting’s solution for those struggling to make the shift is a holistic suite of products: content management and publishing systems, advertising tools, a scaled ad network and even original journalistic content (including international news reporting and topical vertical feeds). It caters primarily to local TV stations, but also services radio, newspaper, magazine and cable.

The company has created a portfolio of ad products and formats to drive deeper advertiser engagement across local media Web sites. Foremost among them is the “hover ad,” which can be appended with live, streaming video, and has returned improved clickthrough rates and higher-premium CPMs.

Ad tools are coupled with the IB Local Network, serving 2,200 Web sites across all major DMAs. Advertisers can geographically and demograpically target. This allows for local message versioning by national and regional brands, a growing trend among leading retailers seeking a stronger local presence.

Cox Media Group, Hearst Television and Telemundo are among Internet Broadcasting’s leading publisher partners. World Now and Broadcast Interactive, among others, are also competing to offer digital tools to traditional media.

Tag, You're It.

Rick Ducey — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:32:27 +0000

In the tag versus search battle for local online ad spending, take note, there’s a new “tag team” in town according to today’s Wall Street Journal. This tag team is led by Yext (BIA/Kelsey interviewed Yext’s CEO Howard Lerman last August). “Tags” in this case are Yext Tags that enhance company listings on more than a dozen local Web sites in a single dashboard interface that’s easy for small-business owners to use, all for $99 per month. The service launches next month.

This is a team that local broadcasters should pay attention not only because it may become very competitive locally but also to see if they can become part of this emerging coalition in pursuit of increased digital sales.

Google has been very successful, to say the least, at capturing online ad spending from SMBs in local search. However, navigating the search space is confusing and a bit of a challenge for a number of local businesses. Directory listings and couponing services are more familiar to small-business owners.

Seeking to expand beyond search, Google Places sells “tags” for enhanced listings information for a flat fee of $25 per month. The Yext initiative offers a tag service that shows up not on just one service but adds value by covering multiple sites including MapQuest, CityGrid, Yelp and Yellowbrick.

ILM:10: Pandora … Coming to a Car Near You

Jed Williams — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:58:17 +0000

At ILM:10, Pandora’s Cheryl Lucanegro (senior VP of ad sales) and Brian Mikalis (VP of performance sales) made it very clear where the popular Internet radio service is headed next — to your car dashboard.

The company is leveraging two fundamental insights in driving (pardon the pun) its migration into the vehicle: More than 50 percent of all radio listening occurs in the car, and more than half of Pandora’s traffic is mobile (with more than 100,000 mobile activations each day) … a natural transition for on-the-go users.

Currently, Pandora’s auto strategy is nothing more than basic Bluetooth phone connectivity, but that will change in 2011 with manufacturing deals having been announced with Ford, GM and Mercedes.

Auto represents just the latest turf traditionally reserved for over-the-air broadcasting that Pandora is now loudly treading on. Now, the Oakland, California, service is targeting local businesses, many of which have longstanding relationships with legacy stations.

Mikalis runs an inside sales team that mainly prospects national and mid-market clients but has also begun local outreach. He emphasized that Pandora is also ”aggressively talking to companies with feet on street to allow them to include Pandora as part of their network to find distribution for their advertisers.”

Pandora users personalize streaming stations around their favorite music genres and bands. This behavioral information, combined with gender, age and ZIP code, gives its sales force the ability to do multi-layer targeting for local business advertisers. Lucanegro said it distinguishes Pandora’s value propositon from traditional radio by allowing clients to “reach the right person with the right message at the right time,” and then measure how well they’re doing this.

Advertising can assume several formats (Web, mobile, audio, video, banner) and create multiple consumer experiences (branding, direct response, engagement, multi-screen). For instance, businesses can direct audio commercials to consumers, coupled with companion banners that allow them to simultaneously act on it (including unlocking local offers). The net effect, Lucanegro said, is pushing a message in front of consumer “more dramatically,” and at a price point that is competitive with its traditional broadcast rivals.

ILM:10: CBS' Ezra Kucharz Envisions 'the Next Decade in Local'

Jed Williams — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:52:59 +0000

If the first two decades of the local Internet were primarily about on-boarding traffic, then CBS Local Digital Media President Ezra Kucharz foresees that the next decade will be about “opening doors to consumers, getting them the information they want, and getting them to transact.”

This philosophy drives CBS Local’s digital philosophy across its 28 owned-and-operated TV stations and 39 radio properties. Four consumer desires undergird this strategy: robust content (news, sports, local info, weather and traffic), business listings, local deals and answers to local questions. Kucharz shared with the ILM:10 audience that CBS Local will launch a Local Answers platform in January that will address queries as diverse as “who do the Yankees play?” and “who’s a trusted plumber?”

Like so many others who see deals as the hottest inferno of opportunity in the red-hot local ecosystem, Kucharz is also a believer. He spearheaded CBS’ deals launch four months ago and calls local deals “the best way for SMB to get local consumers in the door right now.” He also stresses that business listings must include “rich experiences” that exceed mere links within a directory.

Of course, none of these insights is necessarily new, so what positions CBS Local to capitalize where others may fail?

According to Kucharz, the network’s well-etched brand advantages with its local business partners distinguish it. SMBs encounter several problems in moving their message and money online, from an aversion to complex digital buying to a lack of creative to a general lack of coherent strategy. CBS’ formula to leverage its assets is “the reach of traditional media + the targeting of online media + mobile media = results for SMBs.”

To generate even greater brand and platform synergies, CBS Local is in the process of rolling up its various properties in major markets under a larger banner. In New York, for instance, three radio and one TV have been fused into CBS New York. This approach will scale to its 24 major metros in 2011. The bundled effects (both in revenue and traffic) of rolling up individual properties into an aggregated brand have produced “1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7″ benefits.

FM on Cell — Is It Worth the Effort?

Rick Ducey — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:59:22 +0000

BIA/Kelsey just released a new report examining the issue of FM chips on cellphones and what this new distribution platform could mean to radio broadcasters.

Actually, in our analysis we broadened our to scope to consider not just FM on cell but also AM radio. We also identified three different strategies for getting broadcast radio on cellphones: analog FM chips (cheapest but no AM), HD Radio chips (more expensive but digital; still no AM) and Mobile DTV chips (most expensive but digital and both AM and FM could be included).

Essentially, our bottom line is that cellphones are a critical important platform for radio broadcasters to embrace to expand their market distribution.

BIA/Kelsey estimates that the average minute of total radio listening in the U.S. is worth $294,430.

Each minute of radio listening lost to radio to competing platforms and services has real financial impact. On the other hand, each additional minute of listening broadcast radio picks up on new distribution on cellphones is worth that same amount. There are 239 million weekly radio listeners in the U.S. If even just a tiny fraction of this listening base added a few more minutes of broadcast radio to their weekly diet by having it available to them on cellphones, the implications for the radio industry could be enormous.

The challenge is not just to get chips, FM-only, HD or MDTV, into cellphones. An ecosystem is required as shown in the figure below. Actually, as shown in an NAB FASTROAD report and our own analysis, there are plenty of cellphones that already have FM chips in them. If you read the iPhone’s bill of materials (”BOM”), you’ll see that it already has an FM-capable chip. Same for dozens of other cellphone models in the market. The challenge is to get not just the chip but also the user interface, electronic program guide and other advanced features including DVR-like functionality into the devices. That requires ecosystem partnerships with wireless carriers, device manufacturers and the application communities.

All ecosystem players must see a win-win before the scenario getting broadcast radio services on cellphones will happen.

TBD Shelves Community Ad Network After Marginal Results

Jed Williams — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:57:26 +0000

TBD.com, the Washington, D.C., hyperlocal news site branding the online operations of Allbritton Communication’ WJLA-TV and Newschannel 8 under the TBD umbrella, is tabling its local ad network, citing limited advertiser interest.

The site currently has agreements with more than 200 blogs and local sites (up from 120 at launch in August) to link to their work from TBD’s home page. As an extension of this hub-and-spoke strategy, which blends original content with outside linking, TBD formed the ad network so that its sales force could leverage the reach of these content partners for bigger and more targeted buys.

Former TBD General Manager Jim Brady told BIA/Kelsey in September that the hope was that advertisers would see added value in delivering messages to wider audiences, but at geo- and contextually targeted levels (local sports teams or Fairfax County families, for example). At the time, three purely digital sellers were brought on-board to complement Allbritton’s 20-plus member TV sales force.

Early takers were the MLS soccer team D.C. United and the Washington Opera. But according to Steve Buttry, TBD’s director of community engagement, “the advertising aspect of the network has not taken off as effectively as the traffic and linking relationship.” TBD will now consider alternative approaches.

Brady resigned his post in early November after philosophical disagreements with management over future content directions for the site.

TBD is not alone in experimenting with community ad networks. Recently, KING-TV in Seattle, in conjunction with the Seattle Times, developed an online ad network in which the TV and newspaper sales teams market to mid-market clients and agencies across a swath of 28 western Washington blogs. It is part of Belo’s beLOCAL Ad Network, a division of belocalmedia.com.eastbay shoes Manolo Blahnik Royal Blue Hangisi weil pumps
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