The Upfront Market

"When it comes to the $9 billion-plus upfront market, it's easy for marketers to get distracted by the horse race of TV networks trying to outdo each other in terms of price increases or volume. Do that this year, and you'll lose sight of the dangers that may lie ahead when it comes to getting your ads on TV.

"Lost in all the numbers, however, is a serious consideration of the ramifications advertisers are bound to face come fall. With more viewers getting entertainment and information from the web and other emerging venues, the networks' supply of ratings is dwindling -- and so is a marketer's ability to get ads on TV without advance planning.

"The question that really remains is: What will be left later on in scatter?" asked Gary Carr, senior VP-director of national broadcast at independent media buyer TargetCast TCM, referring to ad time that is purchased closer to a show's air date. "Are [the networks] going to higher sellout levels, and only a little bit will be left later on?"

Nielsen Kills Moonlight Too

"Dear The Powers That Be at CBS:

Once again, you got me sucked into a drama and reward me by YANKING it off the air! Gee, didn’t you try the same approach with “Jericho”? I thought I learned my lesson after that stunt, but I guess I’m a slow learner. Forget it! You can put the best drama on next season, with the best actors and actresses, and I am NOT going to watch it. Because I know that as soon as I get involved, work my schedule around watching it, find the episodes engaging – then – it’ll get the axe."



“In the weeks leading up to this prelude to the upfront advertising marketplace, the Media Rating Council quietly met, reviewed a crucial audit of Nielsen’s so-called C3 ratings system, and opted to withhold accreditation for what will be the currency for billions of dollars in TV advertising buys.”

Confused? Allow us to explain. You know those upfront presentations all the networks are hosting to solicit ad buys for the upcoming television season? Those billion dollar deals are based on Nielsen data that hasn’t passed muster for the second year in a row.

And then it gets worse."

I am so tired of people not understanding that Jericho fans, as well as fans of many cancelled shows, do and did show up to watch on TV but it's Nielsen Ratings that refuse to count us. The networks allow this to happen and they have to know not all of us are being counted. We will lose many more great shows until Nielsen is removed from their death grip on the networks.

"CBS execs aren't using those words, of course: They love their online fans! But they're done listening to them.

This spring CBS paid attention to a noisy group of Webheads who demanded the return of "Jericho", a show that real world viewers didn't care for but which supposedly had a huge online fan base. The problem -- after CBS revived the show, the online fans didn't show up to watch the show on TV."

Nuts Day In Oldsmar

Update: Many thanks to ChiGal76

"Mission accomplished, Nors! Micky's truck showed up at 12:03 PM by my car's clock. There were a group of people standing outside in the loading bay looking nervous for about 20 minutes beforehand. Noon was a great time, because people were out on their lunch breaks. I parked near the loading bay. I missed the arrival of the Micky's truck because I didn't record it properly. THere were 2 HUGE bags of nuts on the back of this white panel truck with signs that said "NUTS TO NIELSEN: SAVE JERICHO" on it. If you ever want to see what 4000 lbs of peanuts look like...it's a lot, trust me. The word must have spread quickly because there were a BUNCH of Nielsen employees peeking through the sun screens to look out over the loading bay. I have videos of that and the America's Second Harvest truck arriving. I didn't see any tv cameras, but I did see newspaper photographers, but then, I escaped before the security people came out to the parking lot, lol."


Get your nuts here. There's still time.
The Nuts are coming to Oldsmar.



"On Eve Of TV Upfront, Nielsen Ratings Remain Unaccredited"

"That for the second year in a row, those billions of dollars in upfront advertising buys will be negotiated, bought and sold on the basis of somewhat shaky, and still unaccredited Nielsen TV ratings.

In the weeks leading up to this prelude to the upfront advertising marketplace, the Media Rating Council quietly met, reviewed a crucial audit of Nielsen's so-called C3 ratings system, and opted to withhold accreditation for what will be the currency for billions of dollars in TV advertising buys."


"When asked about why his network is doing so poorly in the ratings, president and chief executive officer of NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker told Television Week, "It's not just about the ratings anymore."

Just to be fair, Zucker explains that the ratings don't matter because the network is fulfilling the expectations of the advertisers. "We're in an era where - we've made a commitment to our advertisers to a schedule. Advertisers have an expectation. It's not just about the ratings anymore. It's about our relationship with our advertisers and what their expectations are."

Why Not Emily ?

"Do you think this is all a corporate plot? If so, does that make sense or make your head hurt? Or do you think nutjob elements of the government found this contingency plan and decided to play it out? And why did Bonnie have to die -why couldn't it have been Emily?"




"However, as we begin to turn our attention to this year's upfront market, the question we find ourselves asking is, Do TV ratings still stand up as a reliable and usable measure that advertisers, agencies and broadcasters need to make the right investment decisions? In a multiplatform, digital media world where engagement is as important as headcount, it's time to think about a different currency.

This is why we developed the Content Power Rating. This is the first and most comprehensive survey of its kind that ranks network and cable programs size across broadcast TV, web, online video and mobile; its value in terms of PR and word-of-mouth buzz; and audience appeal. The purpose of this report is to provide an independent assessment of a TV program's true commercial value and footprint. Content Power Ratings is a currency to value TV shows for networks, producers, advertisers and sponsors."

Conventions

"Next week's annual National Association of Television Producers and Editors Conference in Las Vegas will reflect a syndicated marketplace that is feeling pretty good about its prospects.

Buyers estimate syndicated TV finished the 2007 upfront with a 3% increase from 2006's totals to $2.06 billion. Tightened ad inventory from a robust upfront coupled with the shifts in TV spending brought on by the writers strike could make for some pretty premiums on those cost-per-thousand-viewers metrics."



NEW Forum for Jericho at Sci-Fi Channel



"WonderCon celebrates its 22nd year as Northern California's most popular comics and pop culture event with a return to Moscone Center South on February 22-24, 2008. The February date solidifies WonderCon's status as the first major convention of the year in the United States."

Calling Nina Tassler

In her statement announcing the return of Jericho to the CBS lineup Nina Tassler added the condition that Jericho fans had to get more viewers to watch " live."
Today, perhaps, is a good day for Ms. Tassler to read some media reports.

In May, Nielsen Media Research announced that Jericho ranked 3% higher in viewing of commercials when people watched it via DVR. Nielsen calls this the Average Commercial Minute Ratings. It seems that people who taped Jericho watched more commercials as opposed to fast-forwarding through them. Advertisers and networks are now in agreement to count viewers who watch a taped show within 72 hours of its' first airing. Yahoo News reported today that this "live-plus-three" will be involved in many ad buys this year.

According to yesterday's NY Times, the deals being made this week in what is called the upfront market include advertising on network Web sites where fans of programs like “Jericho” can watch episodes they missed on TV. Now, before you get too excited, remember you still count only if you're a Nielsen family. Just because you DVR the show or watch it online doesn't mean a thing.

In years past upfront agreements were based on live viewership of shows. These new changes include the shift to commercial ratings from program ratings, which advertisers wanted and measuring of viewership based on “live plus three” — counting live viewership along with three days’ worth of playback of recorded programs which the networks wanted.

While I find this news encouraging I am still concerned about the fact that all viewers aren't counted. There are still so many of us who aren't Nielsen families. Now if the new Hey Nielsen allows us all to let the networks know we're here and if the networks will use that information I'll be happier. In the meantime, Ms. Tassler, could you tell us, again, why we should be watching "live" when you don't plan to count us?


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/business/media/20adco.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin