Multi-screen viewing is a buzzy topic for marketers and in an attempt to quantify its impacts, Time Warner Medialab conducted a series of studies on this multitasking behavior. In almost any case, owners of combinations of TVs, smartphones and computers are likely to multitask while using them, incorporating social media into their viewing experience. Digital natives have been shown to switch platforms almost 30 times per hour, and this multitasking behavior has been shown to increase emotional engagement and favorability of the advertiser. The full report is certainly worth a look for marketers interested in second screen viewing and its implications.
Tag: advertising
FX Announces FXX and FXNow to Target Millennials
FX Networks is aiming to compete with large broadcast networks for ad buys by splitting their audiences and offering competitive CPMs. The newest network, FXX, aimed at the valuable 18-34 demographic, will launch September 2 and become the new home for such favorites as “The League” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” This announcement follows the launch of FXM, which airs movies, and will soon be home to original miniseries much like competitor HBO. The company also intends to launch FXNow this fall, offering on-demand streaming aimed to reduce DVR usage. The service will include FX original series as well as a rotating set of movies. Now that FX has clearly set its sights on such varied competitors as ABC, NBC, HBO, and Netflix, will other networks follow suit and diversify?
A Urinal Gaming System
Putting the “P” in Performance
Forget Apple, What About An Amazon TV?
Until the iWatch was rumored the continued need for people to talk about Apple, was a conversation fueled by rumors of a Apple TV.
For me this felt like another chance for Apple to redesign something that people didn’t realize was terrible until Apple showed us the way. Generally the seem to put up with bad design and then coin Apple as a genius for what amounts to quite obvious simplification. In fact, I’m amazed at how much bad design people put up with, every single remote in my apartment is a ugly and functions terribly, my microwave has 32 buttons, of which I use 4.
All the conversations thus far have spun around how Apple would change the way we navigate content. They would likely bring in this world of easily searchable pipes where we’d not focus on the content provider ( Fox) or channel ( Fox Soccer ) or means of providing content ( Cable TV), but instead focus on a content theme like “Soccer” and then show us all manner of “Soccer” content from live games, to video on demand, to youtube to Bluray discs you could buy. It seems like a natural way to change the game, but one fraught with political battles that only someone like the mighty Apple could win.
A question I was asked to Answer on Quora got me thinking, it was asking why T-Commerce ( the idea of buying goods and services directly from TV Ads or TV shows) has not taken off.
I quickly replied how many brands don’t have ( or want to have) the fulfillment systems required to make that attractive, so while P&G are big enough to have a online shop, they aren’t too keen to sell you a bottle of Dawn for home delivery when they’d rather you went to store. I jokingly suggested the only people who’d ever be able to make the model work would be Amazon. It got me thinking.
An Amazon TV would be much like a Kindle HD. It would be sold at cost price, hardwired to buy “content” or in this case “Goods” from Amazon. Amazon would gain market share of these TV by undercutting the competition. As an Amazon customer, you would have your address and Credit card on file. I’d expect it to have a built in camera for monitoring user behavior, but also for Skype calls and gesture control. So as a consumer your experience would be this.
You could see any Amazon content on your TV with no set top box, so you could play TV, Music and Videos via your Amazon account ( and price based on how many people viewing). I’d expect Amazon to have amazing search and recommendation engines based on your demographic and behavioral data and what your friends and influencers watch. This content would be served by agreements with Cable and other TV companies, again, only Amazon has the might to be able to do this with the required weight.
It would be gesture controlled, and be linked up to Amazon Voice to allow you to make video calls over the internet. Amazon would then sell the ability to buy items seen in TV shows, Films, Games and Advertisement breaks to Brands, but with the deals fulfilled by Amazon – so you may be watching Skyfall and buy MacCallan Whisky or Heineken, or be watching A teen drama and decide to buy the outfit worn by the main character, or most likely be watching a TV ad and decide to add a product to your shopping basket.
Amazon then start to get even more customer data, it showcases the effectiveness of ads, records which creative works, when they work, you could even serve banner ads in real time based on promotions that may be going on, so long as the customer finds them valuable,
It seems to be the perfect combo, brands selling more to people, to target more precisely being able to monitor ad effectiveness and producing a solution that works well for typical heavy Amazon users.
Spotify Runs TV Ads
Spotify is finally ready to enter the world of mainstream advertising, airing ads during NBC’s The Voice in an effort to expand on its 6 million paying subscribers. These 6 million put Spotify handily ahead of competitors like Rdio and MOG, but the future of the streaming model supporting these services is far from perfect, and music industry criticism of the financial repercussions of a subscription model could result in more than just grumbling in coming years. The old rumor that Spotify aims to become an all-in-one destination for all forms of media online – one to compete with Netflix and Hulu – has gained new breath in light of this ad push. Could Spotify be gearing up to take new ground, and potentially silence its most vocal critics by balancing its financial woes in the process?
What Does Facebook’s Redesign Mean For Advertisers?
As many of you know, Facebook’s big news feed announcement was yesterday, and its key new feature was the “mobile-inspired interface” with bigger photos and a unified design for, “a more immersive [experience].” Yes, there was also the new organization of the feeds, the new prominence placed on visual content, and the black sidebar, but the new redesign really does mean a whole new advertisement approach to the social network. Facebook’s streamlined UI means more space for bigger featured photos, which means businesses can buy ad space that will, almost literally, take up the entire screen – this feature could mean that luxury brands that are used to larger ad spaces in magazines could easily turn these campaigns into digital projects. Image-based advertising for the social media platform instantly became richer, more visible, and much more accessible to the average user. As well, promoted links will have larger blurbs of text to read, allowing advertisers more space to legitimately sell each click, rather than just hoping for sometimes gimmicky click estimates.
In addition, Facebook’s new content-specific feeds can be a boon to advertisers, or conversely hurt them depending on how often a given user frequents specific feeds. But, the biggest plus for advertisers is that the Pages feed, now called “Following,” is much more prominent and gives users regular updates. People who want stories now have a much easier way of finding them, and in turn, clicking on the ads that they want to see. Then again, the Friends-only feed is ostensibly a no-go zone for advertisers, so trying to break into the users who tune ads out entirely by just following friends will be more challenging.
The moral of the story is that Facebook now puts much more control into the users hands; if advertisers play their cards right, however, they will be able to interact with users in a much more pronounced and nuanced fashion. There will be many more daily opportunities for advertisers, so long as they exploit these new opportunities with intent and purpose.
Twitter Launches New Ad Buying Tool
Twitter, the king of social TV, geared up recently to capitalize on the second-screen advertising field by introducing an ad API. Now, in conjunction with partner TBG Digital, Twitter has launched a tool that lets marketers bid on ads on Twitter in a similar manner to programming a DVR. Brands simply select television shows along a timeline, and specify demographics or trends they wish to target. This comes in the wake of Oreo’s ground-shaking #blackout tweet during the Super Bowl, which has caused quite a stir in the ensuing months over the future of real-time second-screen advertising via social networks.
HitBliss Pays Consumers To Watch Ads
HitBliss, a new service that’s now in Beta, is an advertising tool and content provider that aims to revolutionize the way consumers deal with ads. The HitBliss system features a two-pronged approach: HitBliss Store and HitBliss Earn. The Store is just like any other content platform that sells movies and TV shows, but it has no advertisements. Instead, a separate but affiliated service, HitBiss Earn – dubbed the “Pandora of Advertising” – allows users to earn real credits towards purchasing shows and movies in the Store by watching a series of targeted ads.
HitBliss Earn has several levels of functionality. It permits users to opt into an advertising profile that would allow advertisers to target the user based on gender, name, and location, as well as Internet history to deliver Google-like precision ads. The user can pick and choose the level of targeting, though of course the more data you give, the greater and quicker the credit rewards come your way.
The startup, however, has anticipated the privacy backlash their policies could unleash. They’ve made it very clear that at every step, the consumer is entirely in control of the information they choose to divulge. Users can reveal no information at all and just accrue credits through watching random ads, but they’ll earn credits much slower. As well, any data the user might choose to share is never transmitted to an advertiser or permanently stored; it is exclusively used for that individual HitBliss Earn session.
Once a user opts-in to receive targeted messages, says HitBliss co-founder and VP Sharon Peyer, “the HitBliss app retains the user’s profile information. Then the user’s profile information looks at the advertiser’s criteria… The matching happens locally, within the app.” The only thing advertisers see is whether the user was a match, and if the user clicks through the coupons or offers, they’ll receive more credit. And to ensure that the user stays focused on the ads and doesn’t walk away, they utilize a countdown clock that, once expired, will delete all credit previously earned with the program. It’s like an online focus group: if you’ve opted in, you have to participate to reap the rewards.
Of yet, HitBliss is only available for Mac, PC, Android, and iOS devices, but as the program is only in Beta testing, that’s not entirely surprising. But it’s one of the first apps that makes clear a fundamental advertising premise: Eyes, ears, and especially personal data are worth money; HitBliss gives you that money in the form of TV Shows, Movies, and Games.
Audrey Hepburn Stars in New Chocolate Ad
If the hologram of Tupac Shakur at last year’s Coachella Music Festival wasn’t enough to convince you that digital resurrection is on the rise, take a look at Galaxy Chocolate’s latest TV spot, starring Audrey Hepburn. Production company Framestore’s meticulous CGI model of the actress, built from images and film from throughout her career, was so convincing it trumped the use of a human double. It’s certain that this isn’t the last we’ll see of celebrities long-passed being used to represent brands with the drive and capital to spend on such involved campaigns. It is also certain that this technology has only begun to grow into its useful stage, so these representations must only continue to improve.
Tumblr Turns To Advertising
Tumblr, the blogging network that boasts over 170 million monthly visitors, began to run ads last year for the first time – a decision that ran against the stated ethos of CEO David Karp, who once said that “[the company is] pretty opposed to advertising. It really turns our stomachs.” It now appears, however, that he has reconsidered, and Karp now maintains that creative, well-structured advertising can work with Tumblr. An example is the recent Ford Lincoln campaign that featured vintage cars and cinematography. Other potential reasons have surfaced, such as the rumored $13 million in revenues that Tumblr earns annually from advertising. With Tumblr shifting increasingly towards mobile, how they choose to advertise will be an important subject of debate, with 170 million pairs of eyes per month at stake.
