Commercials Suck...

Unless they are as anticipated as the content itself...like on the Super Bowl.

The spots are so popular they are featured on the NBC website--Right next to "Matt Lauer interviews the President"


And on Hulu, NBC and News Corps co-owned TV and Movie content site, the same thing. Not to mention many other sites I found embedding the spots and allowing viewers to vote for their favorites.
Interactive, on-demand, and front and center. Hmmmm.

Wonder what might happen if there was an injection of "creative" in radio spot creative--good writing, multiple voices, real sound effects, and no zaps and explosions. Afterall, commercials take up, in most cases, at least 20% of every hour.

Are there ANY spots on your station you would place on your website with a big sign saying, "listen to me?"

Content Is What Content Does

The Olympics have turned into a valuable research project for NBC Universal; examining the impact and effect that new media is having on old media. And the NBCU research department has discovered a number of key findings--some of which are educational and actionable for the radio industry.

The 2008 Summer Games have been the poster child for cross-platform distribution. These summer Olympics have combined traditional TV coverage, multiple cable channels, web, video downloads, VOD, and mobile.

As you have read, watched or heard these games are a big winner in terms of delivery of audience. Even Olympic content requested on peoples cell phones is coming close to breaking through half million mark daily.

Read on and you will see how something counter intuitive like encouraging viewers to use other delivery systems actually drive larger audiences and success on the main channel. Of course the added byproduct is the development and growth on new distribution channels which naturally will continue to mature and grow with time.

Source: AP Television Writer DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP)—About half of the people who are using mobile phones to pull down video or information about the Olympics have been trying out that technology for the first time, NBC said Wednesday.

NBC Universal has been using the Olympics as something of a research lab to track the adoption of new media technology. Since the opening ceremony last Friday, the company has made content available online, through video on demand and via cell phones along with traditional TV.

The number of people requesting Olympic content over their phones is still relatively small—494,506 on Sunday and 476,062 on Monday—but NBC executives say they’re stunned at how many of those never used the phones for this purpose before.

“To some extent, the Olympics are beginning to influence how people use new technology,” said Alan Wurtzel, research president for NBC Universal.

By far, however, television is still the preferred format. Of the estimated 107 million people to experience at least a few minutes of the Olympics on Sunday, 95 percent watched it on TV, NBC said.

Given the choice between a high-definition TV placed before a couch or a small, grainy picture on a computer screen, it’s still a pretty obvious call, Wurtzel said.

NBC’s prime-time ratings are running well ahead of the Athens games in 2004. Through five days, the average prime-time viewership for NBC is 31.3 million, the network said. Interest in Athens started slowly but heated up with gymnastics, while the Beijing games have been a draw from the start.

It has become a communal event that the country has enjoyed sharing, Wurtzel said, a rarity in the day of media fractionalization.

“I don’t think you’re going to see too much of this in the future,” he said.

Americans downloaded some 1.7 million video streams of Monday’s stunning swimming relay where the American team came from behind to beat France and keep Michael Phelps’ gold medal streak alive. An estimated 1.5 million video streams were e-mailed from one person to another, Wurtzel said.

NBC Universal worried in past Olympics years that its decision to air much of the Olympics on cable outlets like CNBC, MSNBC and USA would siphon interest from prime-time, which is still where the network earns the bulk of its advertising revenue.

But the opposite proved to be true and, this year, the same thing has happened with the digital content, said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics.

The Nets Get Older

No, not the internet...the broadcast television networks.

Variety reports that all of the networks have aged--some more than others with ABC and CBS, aging out of the prime TV demo, 18-49. For the just-completed 2007-08 TV season, CBS was oldest with a median age of 54. ABC clocked in at 50, followed by NBC (49), Fox (44), CW (34) and Univision (34). When you factor in time shifted viewing (DVR) the ages drop by about a year. In case you were wondering the average median age in the US is 38.

The article pointed out that traditional television is no longer necessarily the first screen for the younger set.

Even the shows that one might think would deliver younger viewers such as The Tonight Show profile out of the demo. In fact Leno's median age is the oldest of the late night talkers at 54, followed by "Late Show With David Letterman" at 53. "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" has edged up to 46 but still delivers the youngest demos of the late night shows.

I feature this story to further illustrate the challenges ahead for ALL traditional media--TV, newspaper, and RADIO. As the Variety story pointed out, TV was not necessary the first stop for young viewers, just as radio may not be the first choice for younger listeners. We know that 12-24's are still radio cumer's (down over the last decade but still there) based on Arbitron's national listening study, but we also know that their time spent listening and AQH rating are down dramatically.

We all must live in the here and now--meaning that programming must deliver ratings that sales can sell today. Budgets must be met. We all understand this reality. Unfortunately, that leaves little room to re-think, re-tool, re-deploy assets (stations) with new, inventive, and radically changed products. Products that may not be a big ratings draw--at first. Eventually the day will come and these changes will have to be made.

Will it be too late?