Weekly Roundup – Week of August 15, 2022
Sports Media & Sports Betting News
FanDuel, DraftKings and Others Scale Back Marketing as NFL Season Arrives
“Sports-betting companies are revisiting their game plans. Gambling operators have been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the pursuit of new customers as more states have adopted online sports betting. Now, those companies are under pressure to rein in spending because they have said they plan to turn a profit sometime next year.”
NBCUniversal’s World Cup Ad Inventory Nearly Sold Out 100 Days Before Kickoff
“Despite being just under 100 days until the 2022 FIFA World Cup, NBCUniversal has already sold approximately 90% of its advertising inventory for the tournament.
NBCUniversal and Telemundo have the exclusive Spanish-language broadcast of the soccer competition, kicking off on Nov. 20 in Qatar.
“We’re approximately 90% sold, pacing way ahead of where we were for 2018,” Peter Lazarus, evp, advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal, told Adweek. “We’ve had really successful sales. We got into the market early.”
This marks the first time the World Cup will take place in the fourth quarter versus the summer months, something Lazarus said is beneficial to NBCUniversal regarding the advertising market.
“[It] was an advantage for our marketers going into that retail season, particularly when we look at the Thanksgiving weekend and the strength of schedule we have over that weekend,” he said, which includes matchups between England and the U.S., Argentina vs. Mexico and Spain vs. Germany.””
Streaming Surpasses Cable as Top Way to Consume TV
“Streaming has officially topped cable as the most popular method by which Americans consume television content, according to new data from Nielsen.
Why it matters: Just as cable’s victory over broadcast ushered in waves of change to U.S. media, streaming’s rise will continue to bring new businesses and cultural forces to the fore.
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While the total amount of TV consumption has remained consistent in the past year, the amount that Americans have streamed has increased 22.6%, compared to declines in cable and broadcast of 8.9% and 9.8%, respectively.
What to watch: With more live sports rights moving to streaming, that trend seems likely.”
Politics + Media + Radio News
Democrats Are Pulling Ahead of Republicans, Just in Time for Midterms
“When Democrats pulled ahead of Republicans late last week in broad averages on the generic ballot, I didn’t believe it. We’ve seen many large polling errors in Democrats’ favor in recent years, a 50-50 House vote would defy the historical trend toward the incumbent president’s party facing backlash in the midterms, and Joe Biden’s low approval ratings seem inconsistent with Democrats doing well.
But a couple of events on Aug. 9 have made me a believer.
First was a special election for a House seat in Minnesota. Democrats didn’t win. But, in losing, their candidate ran about 3 percentage points ahead of Joe Biden’s 2020 margin in the district and about even with Democrats’ 2020 candidate for the seat. Those numbers are similar to the results we saw in the June 28 special election for Nebraska’s first congressional district. Again, the Republican won. But he won with numbers that were somewhat weaker than Trump’s in 2020 and about flat with House Republicans’ performance.”
Read more on WashingtonPost.com
Apple Ramps Up Its In-House Podcasting Efforts With Studio Deal
“Apple Inc., stepping up its spending on original podcasts, signed an agreement with a Pulitzer Prize-winning studio and is holding talks with other companies about additional deals.
The iPhone maker is looking to add original content to its Podcasts app that it hopes could eventually turn into shows on its Apple TV+ service. The deal — an agreement with Futuro Studios, the maker of the criminal-justice series “Suave” — will fund development and production of podcasts, according to people familiar with the situation. In exchange, Apple will have the first chance to turn any podcast into a film or TV show.”
The Future Of Digital Audio Advertising Belongs To Podcasts – And Radio
“Where to spend advertising dollars is a quandary that has kept marketers awake forever—and as Cannes Lions recently showed, it’s only getting harder to find the budget in this constantly-shifting economy. This is only compounded by the need to reach multiple shifting audiences across multiple platforms. Given the highly volatile nature of digital, it’s natural for marketers to want to adopt a wait-and-see approach. If there is one area that continues to deliver big for brand awareness, however, it’s digital audio.
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Traditional radio currently still outpaces digital audio in audience, reaching about 217 million to digital audio’s 169 million last year. According to Statista’s Advertising & Media Outlook, however, those numbers are shifting dramatically, and in the next three years, they’ll compete neck and neck—phenomenal growth for digital audio. Not surprisingly, digital audio spending is on the rise, projected to reach nearly $8 billion by 2025, which will account for more than 40% of all audio ad buys.
While investing in audio makes sense for marketers, less clear is whether to funnel that investment into traditional radio or podcasts. The truth is, podcasts and radio do completely different things at different ends of the funnel. Podcasts, for example, attract incredibly niche audiences. These audiences may be small in number, but listener attention is great, and there is a strong possibility of eliciting a behavioral response.
Radio, on the other hand, has a much higher listening audience but with a much lower attention rate. Radio is an ideal format for creating memory structures with its audiences, opening up “mental availability” through repetition. It is a wonderful source for introducing an audience in a light-touch way to your brand.”
Experiment With Nielsen Alternatives Increase But Questions Remain, VAB Finds
“At the 2022-2023 Upfronts, 85% of networks and advertisers increased their use of or investment in a number of measurement providers, according to the findings of a newly released survey by the VAB Measurement Innovation Task Force.
Over one-quarter of respondents said that 25% to 49% of their Upfront advertisers will actively use or test a measurement option other than Nielsen, with 175 advertisers engaged with TV publishers in the use or testing of new measurement solutions.
While the survey shows that the ad marketplace is embracing new measurement options other than Nielsen, there is not yet widespread adoption of an alternative currency or measurement solution. The survey findings represent 90% of the TV ad revenue market, including major TV publishers and majority of single networks.
The post-Upfronts survey of the TV advertising market found that networks and advertisers are adopting new currencies and measurement solutions at higher levels of use and investment, but have yet to widely coalesce around solutions that would replace the embattled Nielsen as the industry’s primary currency.”
Read more on MarketingDive.com
Recent Blogs on HarkerBos.com
HBG Media Minute: Radio Presets Are Alive and Well
In the latest installment of the Harker Bos Group Media Minute, Sean dives into recent research exploring the current use of radio presets in cars.
