Monthly Archives: August 2013

August 22, 2013 · 10:51 am

Fading To Black?

Over the last couple of years I’ve written about cord-cutting and today I have another update of sorts.  As you know, this refers to people disconnecting from a “traditional” video provider such as a cable or satellite service and using only content delivered to the via “over-the-top” services – things that sit on top of a broadband connection.  These are services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, and others.

Here is what caught my eye:

Thirteen of largest multichannel video providers in the U.S. — about 94% of the market (94.6 million subscribers) — lost about 345,000 net additional video subscribers in 2Q 2013 — down 0.4%, according to the Durham, N.H.-based Leichtman Research Group…The top nine cable companies lost about 555,000 video subscribers in second-quarter 2013, compared to a loss of about 540,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2012…Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, stated: “The multichannel video industry has leveled off, with major providers losing about 0.1% of all subscribers over the past year.”

OK, so not exactly a massive disconnect.  On the other hand, the trend is accelerating by most accounts, especially among younger people.  Now let’s think about the ongoing battle between Time Warner Cable and CBS.  No matter which side you’re on, it gives people the opportunity to seek alternatives, at least with respect to CBS and Showtime programming.  Once they figure out that much of the content is available elsewhere, cutting the cord becomes more viable.

Another anecdote.  This past weekend, I wanted to watch the Solheim Cup golf matches.  The place in which we were staying didn’t get the network carrying the matches and the live streaming via YouTube was not available in the US.  Solution?  I watched on a proxy server in Europe.  Not some sort of illegal torrent – simply a proxy server so they thought I was in France.  For those of us who are a bit more technically minded (and I think anyone under 30 fits the bill), this is a form of cord cutting behavior and negates the need for anything more that a high-speed connection to watch what I want on my own schedule.

Finally, some more research from STRATA shows that none of this is going unnoticed by the marketing community:

Focus on television advertising has hit a three-year low as the gap between TV and digital narrowed to its closest point ever, according to the most recent quarterly survey compiled by STRATA…TV advertising still remains the top advertising medium with 44% of survey respondents saying they are more interested in advertising on TV (spot TV/cable) than any other medium. While TV is still number one, this represents the lowest level of broadcast advertising interest seen in the STRATA quarterly survey in nearly three years. Gaining steadily on TV, digital is the second most popular medium at 35%…28% feel they will have a greater spend in Digital than Traditional in 1-3 years. 27% say they don’t ever anticipate a greater spend in Digital (down 45% and the lowest percentage ever).

Ad spending is a big part of the fuel that drives these businesses (and the Time Warner/CBS dispute points out the relatively new other piece – transmission fees).  If that piece shrinks, along with viewers and subscribers, the industry is in big trouble.  As the Chinese say, “interesting times”.

Your take?

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August 21, 2013 · 8:34 am

Kids And Cards

Once in a while I spot something that elicits an “Aw come ON” from me as I read it. Let’s see if you agree. Bowl-BlackBackgroundThe piece was in yesterday’s USAToday and was a front page article in the sports section on the topic of high school football all-stars.  You can click-through the previous link to read it if you care to.  In a nutshell, participants in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl are asked to sign a couple of hundred trading cards each.  The kids aren’t told what the cards are for nor are they made to participate.  It’s “an opportunity, not a requirement.”  The cards are sold and in some cases they become quite valuable.  No money goes to the kids.

While I have some qualms about that, what caused the aforementioned response is the attitudes displayed by the adults involved:

“The answer is, ‘Well, you don’t have to.’ But for many of these players, this will be the only time in their athletic careers they are on a trading card. To be singled out at that point in time for their athletic achievement is not a bad thing.”  Leaf CEO Brian Gray says there is no pressure put on the high school players and they have the option to decline. “But really,” he says, “If you don’t want to be on the card, there’s something wrong with you.”

Seriously?  Anyone care to name an athlete who knowingly permits their name, likeness, and autograph to be used for purely commercial purposes without any compensation?  I’ll wait.  Didn’t think so.   Most of the kids think the cards are being used for non-commercial purposes – donations to soldiers, for example.  They are never told, and when they find out they don’t really understand how much some of them are worth.  Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck (a Stanford grad and by all accounts a smart man) objected to the card being issued, saying he had never approved it.  The company’s response:

Leaf responded by suing him, saying it had a First Amendment right to do so, claiming that the game operators had granted Leaf the license to player likenesses. The 2008 game was before Leaf began issuing sets of trading cards from the game, but it has issued alumni cards – such as the 2008 Luck card.

Now, I’m in my third decade working in sports and I’ve NEVER heard anyone claim they can issue merchandise as part of the First Amendment.  There’s a multi-billion dollar business called licensing that would disappear if that’s the truth.  Rationalization aside, why not just tell the kids clearly upfront what’s going on?  Hiding something?

One of my favorite Saturday Night Live characters is Dan Aykroyd playing a smarmy guy named Irwin Mainway who, among other things, sells “Bag O’Glass” and caters a school breakfast program with coffee and cigarettes.  His take is that “it’s a bottomless cup of coffee” makes it all just fine.  No, it really doesn’t and the trading card company’s isn’t OK either.  You agree?

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August 20, 2013 · 9:06 am

Being Faster

One question I get asked from time to time by clients is about how they can be better at social media. Given social’s influence particularly among younger people, it is an excellent question. The answer is usually give is to “be faster.” For most companies, that’s much easier said than done and let me explain why.

English: Aircraft carrier in Portsmouth Harbour

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I spent most of my professional life in the corporate world.  On a good day, they make decisions slowly in that world.  Not only is it like turning an aircraft carrier in that it takes a long time but you often have a hard time finding anyone who will admit to having a hand on the wheel or to get them to turn it.  For many decisions, that’s fine.  For those wanting to be good at social, it’s fatal.

Part of the problem is no one is quite sure who controls the social sphere and it varies from org chart to org chart.  PR, marketing, customer service, and other functional areas often have their fingers in (it’s not hard to find companies with multiple Twitter accounts).  Sometimes they have different agendas.  More importantly, they’re often staffed lightly and/or by interns performing the social monitoring and updating.  Memes last hours in the social sphere.  If you respond in a week, you’ve missed the peak.  Look at all the (lame) Harlem Shake videos that are still popping up.

Being faster means having a clear set of guidelines, finding professionals to implement them, and trusting them to do so without running every tweet up the corporate flagpole.  Most of the really embarrassing social faux pas have been made by clueless staff.  Sure, there is the occasional well-intentioned failure when a campaign gets hijacked but most are the result of just being lame and not paying attention.

We can count the number of corporately-created things that have “gone viral” on one hand.  Social media seem to have a pretty good nose for a company that’s trying too hard to create that social media hit and the backlash is often brutal (and funny).  Being faster has to recognize that hasty and fast aren’t the same.  But for any company to succeed the usual decision-tree needs to be pruned or uprooted completely.

Do you agree?

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