ITV

Tag: Kantar Media

  • Recapping 2012

    Recapping 2012

    The year 2012 was an action-packed one for the television broadcasting industry. India began its historic journey with digitisation and the first phase kicked off in November. NDTV filed a landmark case in New York against TAM Media Research and its holding companies Nielsen, Kantar Media and Cavendish Square Holding BV. Broadcasters united to put pressure for creation of a new Broadcasters Audience Research Council (Barc).

    The year also witnessed a slew of deals and marked the entry of two big industrial houses into television broadcasting — Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) by helping Raghav Bahl‘s Network18 group to snap up ETV and the Aditya Birla Group by acquiring a 27.5 per cent stake in Aroon Purie‘s Living Media, which runs TV Today Network.

    Sahara made an entry into cable TV distribution and acquired Digicable. Network18 Group formed a distribution company, IndiaCast, which will also house the syndication business and exploit content across all media platforms.

    It was the year in which Zee Network completed 20 years, after having pioneered private television broadcasting in India. The year saw a Hindi general entertainment channel Imagine, which was acquired by Turner from NDTV, being zapped, when it slipped below the second-rung Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs).

    The sports genre saw the exit of The Walt Disney Company with News Corp acquiring its 50 per cent interest in their joint venture ESPN Star Sports for $335 million. Sony, which has the rights for the Indian Premier League, launched its first sports television channel. After having agreed to buy Walt Disney‘s interest in ESPN Star Sports, Star India pipped Multi Screen Media (MSM) to bag BCCI media rights till 2008 for a whopping Rs 38.51 billion.

    There was a lot of action during the year in the kids TV genre. Though BBC‘s advertisement free Cbeebies channel exited India citing prohibitive carriage fees, a few kids‘ channels got added to the bouquet. Discovery Kids, Disney Junior, ZeeQ and Nick Jr were launched during the year, which coincided with the beginning of the compulsory shift to digital delivery of television channels in the country.

    Channel launches:

    • Star launches its second Hindi movie channel Movies OK under ‘Ok‘ brand
    • Star launches Bengali movie channel Star Jalsha Movies
    • Star-owned Asianet Communications launches Asianet Movies, the first satellite movie channel in Malayalam
    • Zeel launches Bengali movie channel Zee Bangla Cinema
    • After a football and cricket dedicated channel, Zeel launches its third specialised offering Ten Golf
    • Zeel enters kids genre with ZeeQ, an edutainment channel targeted at 4-14 kids
    • Viacom18 launches its third kids channel with preschool channel Nick Jr
    • Disney launches a full-fledged pre-school offering with Disney Junior
    • Discovery enters kids segment in India with Discovery Kids
    • MSM‘s much awaited sports channel Sony Six makes a debut during IPL
    • HBO partners Eros to announce launch of two ad free channels HBO Defined and HBO Hits
    • Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and European entertainment network RTL Group joint-venture launch their first channel Big RTL Thrill
    • Big CBS, the joint venture between RBNL and CBS Corp, forays into regional TV space with the launch of its fourth channel, Spark Punjabi
    • Leading Gujarati dailies Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar enter television market with the launch of their news channels, GS TV News and Sandesh TV
    • 9X Media launches its international music channel 9XO
    • Softline Creations enters TV broadcasting with Cinema TV
    • Delhi-based production house AAP Media launches Bhojpuri entertainment channel Anjan TV

    Deals:

    • Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) marks his entry into media and entertainment space by investing in Network18
    • Media & Investments and TV18 Broadcast through an Independent Media Trust
    • News Corp and The Walt Disney Company end their Asian sports JV ESPN Star Sports with the former taking complete ownership of the sports broadcasting company for $335 million
    • Aditya Birla Group acquires 27.5 per cent stake in Aroon Purie-controlled Living Media, which runs TV Today Network
    • Sahara acquires 90 per cent stake in Digicable for $52 million
    • Sony Pictures Television, the parent company of Multi Screen Media (MSM), makes its regional foray as it agrees to acquire 30 per cent stake in Maa Network
    • Ajay Bijli-promoted PVR buys out promoter stake in Cinemax for Rs 3.95 billion to become biggest multiplex operator in the country
    • Karthikeya Sharma-promoted ITV Media snaps up News X from Indi Media, a joint venture between NaiDunia promoter and CEO
    • Vinay Chhajlani and former Business World editor Jehangir S Pocha
    • After a decade long rocky relationship, the Indian shareholders of MSM exit the television company with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) acquiring 32 per cent stake in MSM for $271 million
    • The Walt Disney Company buys out Ronnie Srewvala‘s stake in UTV Group for Rs 8.05 billion
    • CA Media picks up 49 per cent stake in Endemol India
    • Cisco becomes largest video and content security solutions provider in India with its $5 billion global acquisition of NDS

    Exits:

    • News Corp exits cable business in India as it divests 17.3 per cent stake in Hathway Cable for Rs 3.58 bn
    • Walt Disney‘s ESPN exits sports broadcasting in Asia following stake sale in ESS
    • News Corp exits news business in India and is in process of selling its 26 per cent stake in Media Content and Communications
    • Services (MCCS), the company that runs Star News (ABP News), Star Majha (ABP Majha) and Star Jalsha (ABP Majha), to JV partner ABP Group
    • Turner ends its expensive date with Hindi GEC space, shutters Imagine TV citing unviability
    • ABP Group exits Bengali GEC space by shutting Sananda TV more than a year after its launch
    • NDTV ends ad sales partnership with News Corp‘s Star India; to handle ad sales on its own

    Government

    • Information and Broadcasting ministry extends the digitisation deadline for the first phase of digitisation in four metros to 31 October
    • Ahead of digitisation, government raises foreign direct investment (FDI) ceiling to 74 per cent from 49 per cent in DTH and MSO biz; FDI limit in teleports and hubs set up for uplinking of television channels also raised to 74 per cent
    • Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari takes charge as the new Information and Broadcasting minister replacing Ambika Soni
    • Arasu fails to get DAS licence for Chennai despite repeated pleas to the government
    • MIB kicks-off the second phase of digitisation covering 38 cities and towns across 14 states
    • Rahul Khullar appointed as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for a three-year term
    • Former Supreme Court judge Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed as the new chairperson of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat)

    Some other milestones:

    • Star India bids a whopping Rs 38.51 billion to bag the BCCI media rights till 2018
    • Sun TV bags Hyderabad franchise for Rs 4.25 billion, bidding higher than PVP Ventures‘ Rs 3.45 billion
    • BCCI terminates Deccan Chargers franchise agreement followed by a protracted legal battle which ends with Supreme Court finally upholding Chargers termination
    • The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) form audience research joint body Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc)
    • New Delhi Television (NDTV) files a lawsuit against TAM and its holding companies in New York Supreme Court for manipulation of viewership data
    • Channel [V] stops airing Bollywood music from 1 July becomes a Youth GEC
    • TV18 and Viacom18 form distribution joint venture IndiaCast to distribute all channels and content of the two companies in India and abroad
    • Congress MP Naveen Jindal files FIR against Zee News for allegedly demanding Rs 1 billion in extortion to go slow on its coverage of Coal scam which leads to the arrest of Zee News and Zee Business editors Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia
    • Aamir Khan makes his TV debut with Satyamev Jayate, which creates massive buzz in the social media
    • After yearlong negotiations, Sun TV strikes a distribution deal with Tamil Nadu government-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation
    • Pepsi replaces DLF as the title sponsor of IPL, forks out Rs 3.95 billion to take the rights
    • Youth focussed channel Big CBS Spark transitions into a music channel
    • UTV bindass undergoes makeover, sheds UTV in its name and takes the positioning ‘Rest Less‘
    • MSM CEO Man Jit Singh is elected IBF president
    • History TV18 launches Urdu feed
    • Discovery Science goes regional with Hindi fee

  • Esha Media to enter TAM territory

    MUMBAI: Mumbai-based media monitoring service provider Esha Media Research Limited (EMRL) is foraying into the television audience measurement space.

    Television audience measurement or television ratings service is currently monopolised by TAM Media Research, a joint-venture of Nielsen and Kantar Media.

    Without revealing its plans in detail, EMRL Managing Director R S Iyer said the company‘s television viewership measurement instruments are being tested digitally.

    “We are interested in the television ratings space however I won‘t be able to reveal much about it at this point,” Iyer tells Indiantelevision.

    EMRL has been formed from the merger of Esha News Monitoring (ENM) with Laser Dot, a Hyderabad-based company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Iyer was one of the founding promoters of ENM.

    Laser Dot was renamed as Esha Media Research Limited (EMRL) after the reverse merger and has become the country‘s only media monitoring services firm listed on an exchange.

    ENM braved an economic slowdown of 2008 and a failed sale deal with Octant Interactive in 2009 amidst the economic slowdown. It survived to tell a tale.

    The immediate goal before ENM founders was to raise capital to fund their growth plans and they found a way out with the plan to merge with Laser Dot, which was into printing and publishing.

    EMRL has set a two-pronged strategy: to upgrade its existing technology and to raise capital to expand in new areas with a pan-India footprint.

    Apart from television audience measurement, EMRL is also looking to foray into other newer areas which include Online Business Monitoring Report, Television Monitoring Intelligence Report, Online Print Media Monitoring, and Social Media Monitoring.

    “Our desire is to position EMRL as a complete media monitoring company and also have a pan India presence. Therefore, we decided to merge ENM with a listed entity so that it can raise adequate resources,” Iyer states.

    ENRL has already raised Rs 50 million of equity from high networth individuals (HNIs) and is in the process of mobilising another Rs 80 million from HNIs for expansion, says Iyer.

    During fiscal 2012, ENM had earned a net profit of Rs 5.2 million on revenues of Rs 111.5 million.

    “Merging with a listed company gave ENM adequate avenues to raise capital so that it can venture into other areas,” Iyer adds.

    EMRL is slated to also introduce a special product designed to track political developments and events which the company claims will be a first for the Indian market.

    All services will be available online breaking all the delivery restrictions, Iyer asserts.

    Apart from Iyer, ENM‘s founding directors included Jyoti Babar, Chhaya Parab, and Shilpa Pawar. The other shareholders of ENM included Iyer‘s friends and relatives.

    The shareholders of ENM now own 67 per cent of EMRL.

    The four founding directors of ENM would be on the board of EMRL. “The entire management of the listed entity now vests with the new team,” informs Iyer.

    Asked about the deal with Octant Interactive in 2009, Iyer said the agreement could not be completed as the company backed off due to recessionary fears. The hunt for capital finally saw the founders forging a partnership with Laser Dot last year.

    “During the time of recession in 2008-09, the working capital cycle got elongated due to slow recovery from debtors. ENM did not enjoy any working capital facilities from any bank or financial institution. It was a turbulent time as the company was going through an uncertain phase,” Iyer said reminiscing those days.

  • WPP’s Kantar acquires digital media intelligence firm AdGooroo

    MUMBAI: WPP’S wholly-owned operating company information, insight and consultancy group Kantar has acquired AdGooroo, Inc. (“AdGooroo”) which provides global digital media intelligence.

    The acquisition is a step towards enhancing Kantar Media’s current methodic insight into display, video, ad networks and paid search advertising trends.

    The consultancy was founded in 2004 and based in Chicago. It employs 30 people and has unaudited assets of $1.3 million. The company will become part of Kantar Media.

    Currently, AdGooroo works with nearly 4000 users from many marketers and agencies, providing them with insight and data on competitors’ key words, creative, backlink data, campaign statistics and budgets.

    Kantar companies work across 100 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle.

  • US ad spend up by a marginal 0.9% in Q2: Kantar Media

    MUMBAI: Total advertisement expenditure in the US in the second quarter of 2012 increased 0.9 per cent from a year ago and finished the period at $34.4 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media a provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Total spending for the first six months of the year grew 1.9 percent to $67.1 billion. The top 10 advertisers included P&G, Comcast, L‘Oreal, Time Warner and News Corp.

    Kantar Media US chief research officer Jon Swallen said, “Ad spending growth sputtered during the second quarter and was unable to sustain its early year momentum. The advertising market is mirroring the tepid, slow growth performance of the general economy. Third quarter results will get a short-term boost from the Summer Olympics and political advertising but sustained long-term improvement will probably be linked to the health of consumer spending on the goods and services that marketers provide.”

    Television continued to lead the ad market in the second quarter of 2012, with overall growth of 4.4 per cent. Cable TV expenditures rose by 4.2 per cent and growth was driven by sports programming and networks with larger audience ratings. Network TV spending was down 0.4 per cent and comparisons were hurt by a timing shift that moved ad money for NCAA final four games out of April and into the prior quarter.

    Spot TV expenditures increased by 4.6 per cent, lifted by a first wave of political money that began pouring into a handful of swing states crucial to the Presidential race. Double digit growth for spot TV spending in these select geographic areas was a marked contrast to the 2-3 percent growth rate for all other spot TV markets. Spanish language TV budgets jumped 17.8 percent on increases from direct response marketers, consumer package goods and auto manufacturers. Spending on syndication TV rose 10.0 percent, reflecting a combination of audience ratings performance and more hours of programming.

    There were isolated pockets of growth beyond the television sector. Network radio spending rose 20 per cent but comparisons were inflated by the addition of more radio programming to Kantar Media‘s monitoring. Expenditures in outdoor media rose 2.5 percent, the ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases, and were spurred by healthy gains from local retail and service businesses. Internet display advertising fell 5.4 percent in the second quarter. Spending totals, which do not include either video or mobile ad formats, were impacted by a reduced volume of ad impressions with some offset from higher average CPMs.

    Print media continued to lose ground. Ad spending in Sunday magazines declined 7.6 per cent and consumer magazines dropped 2.6 percent due to steep cutbacks from pharmaceutical companies and auto manufacturers. Local newspaper budgets were down 1.9 percent as weaker spending by financial services, travel and telecom marketers erased increases from retailers and auto dealers. National Newspapers suffered spending reductions across key advertising categories as its total expenditures tumbled 10.7 percent during the quarter.

    Spending among the ten largest advertisers in the second quarter of 2012 was $3,578.0 million, a 5.5 percent decrease compared to a year ago. Among the Top 100 marketers, a diversified group accounting for more than two-fifths of all measured ad expenditures, budgets rose 1.1 percent. Lower spending from the top ten group was most pronounced for a trio of advertisers (AT&T, General Motors, Procter & Gamble) that had expensive TV sponsorship positions in the Summer Olympics. Some of their second quarter reductions represent a deferral of spending into July and August to support Olympic marketing programs. Because of this timing phenomenon, the Top Ten advertisers are a less reliable benchmark when analyzing the Q2 ad marketplace.

    Procter & Gamble was the top-ranked advertiser in the period, with measured spending of $577.3 million, down 13.2 percent. It was the sixth consecutive quarterly decline for P&G and is consistent with company announcements that it plans to tighten marketing budgets and shift more money out of traditional media.

    The largest percentage drop among the top ten marketers came from General Motors which slashed its expenditures 30.1 percent, to $291.9million. GM‘s annual rate of measured ad spending is now at its lowest level in over a decade. By contrast, Toyota Motor spent $285.0 million in the second quarter, an increase of 22.7 percent compared to the year ago period when operations were severely curtailed by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

    Ad expenditures for the two largest telecom marketers continued to move downward. AT&T expenditures fell 21.0 per cent, to $375.5 million and Verizon cut its media budgets by 14.7 per cent, to $326.9 million.

    Unilever entered the top ten rankings by spending $278.3 million, a 48.6 per cent jump. The company raised marketing support broadly across its brand portfolio. Media expenditures at Comcast increased 12.8 percent and reached $469.7 million on higher budgets from its movie studio division. L‘Oreal investments rose 9.0 percent to $377.8 million as the company continued to aggressively support its core cosmetics and hair care brands.

    Expenditures for the ten largest categories grew 1.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 to $21,248.1 million. Retail was the top category with expenditures of $3,837.4 million in the period, up just 0.9 per cent versus a year ago and a sharp slowdown from 8.6 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2012. Higher spending by department store brands was offset by declines from home improvement and home furnishing stores.

    Automotive was the second largest category by dollar volume, with media spending of $3,373.5 million – a 7.7 per cent increase. Dealer ad budgets rose 16.8 percent while manufacturers spent 2.2 per cent more. Category growth was primarily attributable to Toyota and Honda, which could easily demonstrate growth compared to 2011, when their production and marketing activities were at a fraction of normal levels due to the earthquake and tsunami. Apart from Toyota and Honda, aggregate spending by the rest of the auto industry was flat in Q2. Second quarter expenditures for Personal Care Products increased 3.8 percent to $1,897.3 million, paced by competition among leading marketers of cosmetics, hair care and skin care products. Media investments within the Restaurant category were up 2.1 percent to $1,525.7 million, aided by major repositioning campaigns from Burger King and Wendy‘s.

    Telecom ad expenditures were down by 2.4 per cent to $1,990.9 million. Category performance remains divided, with advertising budgets from wireless service providers wilting under the weight of slowing subscriber growth and rising capital investments for upgrading networks while TV service providers continue to raise their media budgets.

    Ad spending in the Financial Services category turned sluggish during the second quarter, falling by 3.4 per cent to $1.9 billion on reductions from credit card issuers and ongoing weakness within the Consumer Banking segment.

    After an extended run-up that began during the 2009 recession, expenditures for Food & Candy are now steadily falling back. Q2 continued the pattern as spending dropped 5.5 percent to $1,538.9 million.

  • NDTV, WPP harden stance over lawsuit against TAM

    NDTV, WPP harden stance over lawsuit against TAM

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) on Thursday hit back hard at global communications agency WPP, which indirectly owns 50 per cent of TAM Media Research, for threatening defamation proceedings over allegations in a lawsuit against TAM’s faulty television ratings in India.

    In a rejoinder to WPP’s statement on Wednesday, NDTV said WPP has made a “silly error” in dismissing NDTV’s lawsuit as “hypothetical” and claiming that the lawsuit has not been served weeks after it was filed in the Supreme Court of New York.

    In a rebuttal, NDTV said the service of the lawsuit was made on 10 August in New York, and the normal processes under the Hague Convention are also under way. The Hague Convention relates to serving of judicial and extrajudicial documents abroad in civil or commercial matters, under the Hague Conference, a global inter-governmental organisation.

    WPP, on its part, insisted, “Service has not taken place and any suggestion that this has taken place is false. There has been a faulty attempt to serve on one company but nothing on the others at all. No lawyer acting on behalf of any WPP company has made any such statement.”

    NDTV filed the lawsuit late last month alleging gross inaction against manipulation of television ratings in India on the part of TAM, its parents AC Nielsen Research Services Private Limited and Kantar Market Research Services Private Ltd, and Kantar’s owner WPP, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq.

    According to NDTV, the lawyers for Kantar Media Research (UK) have already confirmed to NDTV that the service on his client was acceptable in New York. “In fact, matters have progressed much beyond ‘service‘; the lawyers for Nielsen have been in touch with our lawyers and have requested for an extension. In addition, the CEO of Kantar has been in touch with us and has acknowledged receiving the complaint. NDTV has affidavits to substantiate this,” NDTV said.

    WPP, in an email response to Indiantelevision.com, said, “In fact, Kantar Media (Research) UK is not even named as a party to any lawsuit.” WPP is the owner of Kantar. WPP is right as the only Kantar group company named as defendant in the NDTV lawsuit is Kantar Media Research.

    In a retort for terming its lawsuit hypothetical, the news broadcaster said it is “baffled and amused by the PR effort issued by WPP. PR is clearly the main aim, as the WPP statement contains a number of legal flaws.”

    “We suggest WPP refrain from using their massive PR machine to make baseless threats against NDTV. Instead we request that WPP should focus on honestly fixing (for want of a better word!) their badly damaged and dishonest (television) ratings system in India – which in their statement they acknowledge they have control over and is their responsibility,” NDTV said.

    On Wednesday, WPP had said it has instructed its lawyers to consider filing defamation suit against NDTV and that it along with its operating companies – Kantar and TAM – were also in the process of filing an application in New York to have the lawsuit dismissed.

    “We are taking the unusual step of proceeding to dismiss the hypothetical lawsuit, despite the lack of any service, simply due to the attempted “trial by media” which has been generated by the (unserved) lawsuit. In any event, there is no merit in the purported claims, nor do the US courts have any jurisdiction to hear any such claims. Any claim should be made properly, in India, in front of the Indian courts, which are more than capable of properly hearing any valid claim,” WPP said.

    WPP, in a teaser, said NDTV appears to be blaming their poor financial performance on the ratings. “NDTV ‘s financial state shows a dramatic decline, with its market capitalisation declining from around $800 million in early 2008 to around $60 million today (23 August). Over the same period NDTV‘s share price has declined from a high of Rs 512.70 to around Rs 50 today. NDTV is operating in an extremely competitive market, and its competitors have also been in a difficult position, NDTV‘s decline is not down to any perceived failures in TAM data.”

  • London Olympics draws record viewership

    MUMBAI: London Olympics started with an exceptional performance especially in the United Kingdom with 23.5 million viewers tuning in for the opening ceremony on BBC1 for an 82.3 per cent market share, making it the top of the year so far, according to Eurodata TV Worldwide trends.

    Viewing figures were also high across the World for the spectacular opening ceremony. In France the event gathered great audiences on TF1 with 8.7 million viewers and a 56.9 per cent market share, that is to say a better score compared to Beijing 2008 (5 million viewers on France 2).

    Over in Germany on ZDF, 7.6 million sports fans watched the event for a 43.5 per cent market share. Although this matched results for Beijing, it nonetheless represents a drop compared to Athens 2004, partly due to the length of the ceremony added to the time difference.

    Among Spanish audiences on La 1, the event gathered 5.6 million viewers with 46.1 per cent market share, more than doubling the results of Athens 2004. This huge rise demonstrates that the Spanish are more and more enthusiastic for sports in general, thanks to the incredible success of local athletes and teams.

    Italians also appreciated the Opening Ceremony with more than 5.5 million people tuning in on Rai 1 with a market share of 42.6 per cent, in line with previous Games.

    In China, despite a big time difference, CCTV1, CCTV5 and CCTV News realised good figures (all three channels combined) with 22.2 million viewers and a 49 per cent market share. It is the proof that the previous Olympics created a keen interest.

    The data used is from multiple sources to capture the viewership of the various countries. These are: Eurodata TV Worldwide; Médiamétrie (France); Nielsen (USA); Auditel (Italy); BARB (UK); AGF,GfK Fernsehforschung (Germany); CSM Media Research (China); Kantar Media (Spain).

    The women’s football competition started with a big match between two favourites for the gold medal: France and the USA. This game, the remake of the 2011 FIFA World Cup semi-final, achieved great audience in France with 1 million viewers and a 8.8 per cent market share on France 4, compared to a 2.2 per cent channel average market share over the first semester of 2012.

    In the UK, BBC1 gathered 1.8 million viewers and a 18.3 per cent market share for the game between Great Britain and New Zealand. These results demonstrate the increasing support for women’s football, as it commands increasingly impressive TV audiences.

    Men’s basketball started with big expectations on Sunday. The new US Dream Team was up against France, one of the strongest challengers. On France 3, the game was followed by 3.9 million viewers and a market share of 33.3 per cent. The match was a huge success both for the spectacular game and the impressive TV audience figures taking into account the usual little regular exposure of basketball.

    Road cycling, one of the most popular competitions, took place on 28 Saturday. Reason: Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France in July, his appearance at the Opening Ceremony once again, stoking British enthusiasm for the sport.

    In the UK, BBC3 averaged 788,100 viewers with a 7.7 per cent market share for the race and peaked at 2 million viewers (18.5 per cent market share) just before the last hope for a British medal disappeared in this race.

    Eurodata TV Worldwide vice-president Jacques Braun said, “The United Kingdom is known worldwide as a country of sports tradition, so this event could be seen as a symbolic return to their roots. Furthermore, the Euro 2012, the NBA Finals, the Tour de France and Wimbledon were great boosters for this amazing sports summer with the performances of Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray. The performance of cycling in this Olympics demonstrates again the ingredients of TV ratings success: a whole country or city getting behind their hero with medals at stake.”

  • US ad spend sees modest rebound in Q1: Kantar Media

    MUMBAI: Total ad expenditures in the first quarter of 2012 in the US increased by 2.6 per cent from a year ago and finished the period at $32.9 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media, a provider of strategic advertising and marketing information.

    The gain represents a modest rebound compared to flat spending in the second half of 2011.

    Kantar Media US chief research officer Jon Swallen said, “After a sluggish start in January, the pace of measured ad spending quickly accelerated and grew at an average rate of more than four per cent during February and March, the best performance in more than a year. Early figures from the second quarter indicate continued modest growth with improvement trickling down to media that have been lagging the overall advertising market.”

    Measured ad spending by media

    Ad expenditures increased across every television media type in the first quarter of 2012. Sports programming was the engine behind year-over-year gains of 7.4 per cent in cable TV and seven per cent in Network TV spending. More than two-thirds of this dollar volume growth came from sporting events, led by the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and NFL post-season games.

    Comparisons were helped by a calendar timing shift that moved ad money for the NCAA Final Four games out of April and into the very last day of the first quarter.

    Syndication TV budgets rose by 15.7 per cent and were aided by more hours of programming as well as audience ratings gains. Spot TV, benefitting from a biennial business cycle tied to political
    advertising and Olympics in even-number years, saw spending increase 2.5 per cent versus a year ago.

    Spanish Language TV expenditures were up 20.7 per cent, reflecting higher automotive spending and larger allocations from a broad range of consumer packaged goods marketers.

    Other Spanish Language media types also posted gains, albeit from much smaller bases. Year-over-year spending in Spanish language magazines surged by 26.5 per cent and Spanish language newspapers increased by 4.7 per cent.

    Outside the Hispanic market, print media continued to lose ground. Expenditures in consumer magazines dropped 4.2 per cent from a year ago and budgets in Sunday magazines were off 4.6 per cent due to cutbacks from auto manufacturers, food companies and prescription drug marketers.

    Local newspaper ad spending fell 3.9 per cent and national newspapers declined by 7.7 per cent, each hurt by substantial reductions from the financial service, travel and telecom categories.

    The losses in newspaper spending were consistent with reductions in the amount of space sold.

    Within the universe of 2,811 Internet sites that Kantar Media measured for at least a full year, display expenditures fell by 4.1 per cent during the first quarter. The overall spending reduction was primarily attributable to fewer display ads appearing on the average web page, with some offset from higher average CPMs. There was also a sharp split between popular, high-traffic sites, where spending was close to flat year-over-year, and the many small, long-tail sites, which saw an aggregate percentage decline in the mid-teens.

    Outdoor advertising investments rose 4.6 per cent, the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases. Higher spending from core categories including Local Serices, Retail and Restaurants were a prime catalyst.

    Measured ad spending by advertiser

    Spending among the ten largest advertisers in the opening quarter of 2012 was $3,922.3 million, a 5.5 per cent decline compared to a year ago period. Among the Top 100 marketers, a diversified group accounting for more than two-fifths of all measured ad expenditures, budgets climbed by 3.4 per cent.

    Procter And Gamble was the top-ranked advertiser with spending of $685.0 million, down 4.7 per cent. The decline comes against the backdrop of a Q1 announcement by P&G that it plans to tighten the reins on marketing budgets and shift more money out of traditional media.

    Comcast was the second largest spender during the period with outlays of $482.7 million, an increase of 4.3 per cent that was propelled by the ongoing rollout of its Xfinity service. In contrast, media expenditures at rival telecom companies fell sharply. AT&T slashed its spending by 31.6 per cent, to $388.9 million, as the company deferred budgets to support an upcoming marketing push timed to the Summer Olympics.

    Verizon Communications trimmed its expenditures by 9.2 per cent to $358.6 million.

    Only two automotive advertisers landed in the Top Ten. General Motors reduced spending by 17.8 per cent to $403.3 million, the seventh consecutive quarterly decline for the automaker. Toyota Motor spent $327.8 million, an increase of 8.6 per cent.

    News Corp registered the largest per cent gain among the Top Ten as budgets jumped 24.9 per cent to $357.5 million. Time Warner also had a healthy gain as its quarterly spending reached $301.5 million, up by nine per cent. Results for both companies were shaped by their movie studio divisions.

    Measured ad spending by category

    Expenditures for the ten largest categories grew by 3.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 to $20.73 billion. Automotive was the top category with $3,528.9 million of spending, down 1.5 per cent. Manufacturer budgets contracted by 6.9 per cent primarily because there were fewer marketing launches in 2012 to provide impetus for higher budget levels. Dealer spending remained
    robust with a gain of 8.7 per cent amidst a strong retail sales climate.

    Retail was the second largest category by dollar volume with media investments of $3,373.5 million, up by 8.6 per cent. The department store segment was especially strong, spurred by a significant repositioning campaign from JC Penney which in turn prompted most rival brands to increase their own budgets.

    Financial services posted the highest rate of growth among the Top Ten categories, a 10.1 per cent increase to $2,120.6 million. Fierce competition among credit card issuers, revitalised marketing programs for retirement planning services and higher budgets from tax preparation firms were the growth drivers.

    Expenditures for personal care products rose by 4.8 per cent to $1,476.6 million and the Restaurant category boosted its spending by 3.7 per cent to $1,523.0 million.

    Telecom advertising remained soft during the quarter and finished 2.8 per cent lower at $2,102.6 million. Sharp budget reductions from wireless carriers were only partially offset by increases from TV service providers and mobile device manufacturers.

  • Ad spends on cable grow at cost of networks: Kantar Media

    Ad spends on cable grow at cost of networks: Kantar Media

    MUMBAI: Broadcast networks in the US continued to stumble despite humble gains in advertising spends on television as a whole.


    During the first half of 2011, advertising sales at the broadcast networks reduced by 7.6 per cent to $10.8 billion.
    According to a report issued by Kantar Media, several factors contributed to this reduction.


    The broadcast of BCS bowl games on ESPN instead of Fox generated a major one-time shift in spending to cable. The shift of March Madness from CBS to Turner Sports benefited cables further at the cost of networks.



    To make things worse, ad spends on prescription drug, financial services, and consumer package goods categories were shifted to cables as well. From 1 June till 30 June, the budget allocations on cable networks were further augmented by 11.8 per cent, reaching a total of $10.8 billion.


    Television on the whole rose by a meagre 1.8 per cent, as the total amount of monies spent in the medium touched $32.9 billion. TV accounted for approximately half (46 per cent) of the total advertising expenditures.


    Overall, ad growth lost pace in the second quarter, as spending increased 2.8 per cent versus the year-ago period. In Q2 2010, the dollars increased 5.1 per cent.
    Kantar Media North America executive vice president of research Jon Swallen said, “Advertising grew at a slower rate in the second quarter, contributing to speculation about the durability of an advertising recovery that is into its second year. Key ad spend indicators are painting a mixed picture.


    On the one hand, a majority of media types actually improved their performance from Q1 to Q2. On the other, spending growth for the Top 100 advertisers stalled in Q2, and the ad market became more dependent on the comparatively smaller budgets of mid-sized advertisers.”



    In the first half, top 10 TV advertisers reduced their spending by 1.7 per cent to $5.17 billion. Six out of the major spenders slashed their ad spends to some extent.


    AT&T remained the largest TV spender, buying $789.4 million in air time, down 3.7 per cent as compared to the same period a year-ago.


    Other significant advertisers on television: Procter & Gamble ($762.7 million, down 11.3 per cent); General Motors ($570.3 million, down 7.7 per cent); Verizon ($478.1 million, down 22 per cent); Johnson & Johnson ($431.7 million, down 15.2 per cent) Ford Motor Co. (up 0.8 per cent to $410.8 million); Pfizer ($397.4 million, down 8.2 per cent) and McDonald‘s (up 7.3 per cent to $375.1 million).

  • US ad spend up 6.5% to $131.1 bn in 2010: Kantar Media

    US ad spend up 6.5% to $131.1 bn in 2010: Kantar Media

    MUMBAI: Total ad expenditure increased 6.5 per cent in 2010 and finished at $131.1 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media which provides strategic advertising and marketing information.

    Ad spending during the fourth quarter of 2010 was up by seven per cent versus last year, propelled by the long-tail of small advertisers outside the Top 1000.

    Kantar Media US senior VP research Jon Swallen said, “The feel good headline is the ad economy grew by 6.5 per cent in 2010. The more comprehensive assessment is that increased spending has not benefitted all sectors equally. While television media have recouped their losses from the 2009 advertising downturn, several other large segments are still 15 to 20 per cent below their 2008 peaks.”

    Measured Ad Spending By Media : TV ad spending remained robust as spot TV expenditure jumped by 24.2 per cent in 2010 due to the biennial surge in political advertising, a revived automotive category and a pronounced budget allocation shift among retail bank advertisers.

    Spanish language TV spending rose 10.7 per cent, assisted by the World Cup event. Higher sell out levels helped lift cable TV expenditure by 9.8 per cent and healthy demand from CPG marketers and credit card companies pushed Network TV spending ahead by 5.3 per cent.

    Internet display advertising increased 9.9 per cent compared to the prior year, the second largest growth rate among media sectors. Outdoor advertising was close behind with a gain of 9.6 per cent.

    Improvements in radio advertising were tilted towards local markets. National spot radio brought in 18.6 per cent more ad dollars versus 2009 and local radio achieved a 4.9 per cent increase. For each of these, higher spending was driven by the financial service, media and auto dealer categories.

    Growth rates for print media trailed the overall ad market. Expenditure in consumer magazines were up a modest 3.3 per cent while national newspapers rose 2.7 per cent, primarily due to publishing expansion at the Wall Street Journal. Ad spending in local newspapers sank 4.6 per cent versus a year ago despite a small uptick in the volume of space sold. Local newspaper spending has now declined for 21 consecutive quarters.

    Measured Ad Spending By Advertiser: Spending among the ten largest advertisers in 2010 reached $16,345.8 million, a 3.7 per cent increase compared to last year. Among the Top 100 marketers, a diversified group accounted for close to one-half of all measured ad expenditures, and investments climbed 8.8 per cent.

    For the eighth consecutive year, Procter & Gamble was the top advertiser with spending of $3,123.9 million, up 17.7 per cent compared to a year-ago period.

    L’Oreal posted the largest rate of increase among the Top Ten with expenditures soaring 30.6 per cent to $1,112.4 million. The company boosted marketing support broadly across its portfolio of mass market and prestige cosmetics brands.

    Among auto manufacturers, Ford Motor upped its total ad budgets by 11.1 per cent to $1,132.2 million. Rival General Motors reduced spending slightly, down 1.3 per cent to $2,130.7 million. For both companies, exceptionally high levels of ad support in Q4 2009 timed to the leading edge of the auto sales rebound made for difficult comparisons in Q4 2010 and pulled down the full year growth rates.

    AT&T raised expenditures by 12.1 per cent to $2,092.8 million as it continued to expand marketing efforts for its residential and mobile TV services. Verizon Communications trimmed ad spending 15.2 per cent to $1,823.2 million.
    Significant reductions were seen in the ad budgets of Pfizer (down 11.7 per cent to $1,228.7 million) and Johnson & Johnson (down 7.5 per cent to $1,139.7 million).

    2010 vs. 2009

    Rank Company 2010 ($Millions) 2009 ($Millions)% Change

    1 Procter & Gamble Co $3,123.9 $2,653.8 17.7%

    2 General Motors Corp $2,130.7 $2,157.9 -1.3%

    3 AT&T Inc $2,092.8 $1,867.0 12.1%

    4 Verizon Communications $1,823.2 $2,149.7 -15.2%

    5 News Corp $1,368.4 $1,238.8 10.5%

    6 Pfizer $1,228.7 $1,391.5 -11.7%

    7 Time Warner Inc $1,193.6 $1,200.0 -0.5%

    8 Johnson & Johnson $1,139.7 $1,232.6 -7.5%

    9 Ford Motor Co $1,132.2 $1,019.0 11.1%

    10 L’Oreal Sa $1,112.4 $852.0 30.6%

    TOTAL $16,345.8 $15,762.3 3.7%

    Measured Ad Spending By Category: Expenditures for the ten largest advertising categories increased by 6.5 per cent and totaled $74 billion. Automotive was the leading category in both dollar volume and growth rate, finishing 2010 at $13 billion, up 19.8 per cent. Category spending grew almost twice as fast as new vehicle sales (19.8 per cent versus 11.1 per cent), reflecting a fiercely competitive marketing environment for manufacturers and dealers.

    Telecom was the second largest category with 2010 budgets rising a modest foir per cent to $8,751.5 million. Lower spending by wireless carriers and satellite TV companies was offset by higher outlays from cable TV service providers.

    Package goods advertising remained active at year end as a broad range of manufacturers sought to defend market share against value-priced store brands and generics. Expenditures for Personal Care products were up 11.7 per cent to $6,161.0 million and the Food and Candy category rose 7.1 per cent to $6,672.3 million.

    Ad spending for Financial Services increased six per cent to $7 billion. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, marketing activity has picked up noticeably for products related to debt (credit cards, consumer loans) while advertising budgets for savings related segments have lagged (investments, retail banking).

    Only two of the Top Ten categories experienced year-over-year declines. Direct Response budgets fell by 5.8 per cent to $6 billion. Pharmaceutical expenditures dropped 8.2 per cent to $4 billion, the lowest dollar amount for this category since 2003.

    Branded Entertainment: Kantar Media continuously monitors Branded Entertainment within network prime time and late night programming. The tracking identifies brand appearances and measures their duration and attributes. Given the short length of many brand appearances, duration is a more relevant metric than a count of occurrences for quantifying and comparing the gross amount of brand activity that viewers are potentially exposed to in the programme versus the commercial breaks.

    In the fourth quarter of 2010, an average hour of monitored prime time network programming contained six minutes, fifty seven seconds (6:57) of in-show brand appearances and 14:50 of network commercial messages. The combined total of 21:47 of marketing content represents 36 percent of a prime-time hour.

    Unscripted reality programming had an average of 14:19 per hour of brand appearances as compared to just 4:50 per hour for scripted programmes such as sitcoms and dramas. Late night network talk shows had an average of 10:31 per hour. The combined load of brand appearances and network ad messages in these late night shows was 25:22 per hour, or 42 per cent of total content time.