What’s that sound? It can’t be… Yes it is: that’s me applauding Fox! What the hell is going on here?
Nothing short of the clouds parting in media land…
Fox TV has a long history of upsetting the status quo. At its launch, it gave the finger to the mainstream (as defined by the other networks) and introduced edgier shows such as “The Simpsons,” “In Living Color” and “Married With Children.” Sure, this meant smaller overall audiences than its rivals, but it scored highly with the ever desirable youth market, whom advertisers love.
Now it’s raised eyebrows in the ad world again, this time by insisting on selling fewer ads during select primetime broadcasts (namely, JJ Abrams’ “Fringe” and Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse”). From my perspective as both an ad guy and TV viewer, it’s overdue brilliance.
For advertisers: This reduces the clutter, so that their ads stand out more and generate more recall (the number of viewers who can remember seeing the ad). Ideally, it also means fewer viewers flipping away or skipping commercials on TiVo.
For viewers: This means more actual show (approximately 50 minutes per hour, as opposed to the current 42), fewer interruptions and overall less advertising. Since advertisers will have to pay more per spot, it will also hopefully inspire the agencies to produce better ads. Why blow all that media-buying money on weak creative?
It’s a move many of my colleagues in advertising have been recommending for years — ad clutter benefits no one. But for this to happen, it took viewer migration to the Internet, TiVo teaching people how to skip commercials, and Fox’s ad sales president being assaulted by commercials while watching a workout-room TV. (Don’t you wish more TV executives would actually watch TV?)
My only question: Why stop there? As a football fan, I’d love to see the same reduction applied to games, where it seems a commercial is inserted between every other play. Seriously, do we need commercial breaks before and after kickoffs?
If you lust after automobiles like I do, then the one writer you need - yes, NEED - to read is Dan Neil of the L.A. Times.
Now, if you’re more of the century 21.0 “printed words scare me” generation, there’s always the video option:
But the place to savor Neil at his red-line, high-octane best is in print. After all, how many other car critics do you know have a master’s degree in English lit and, more significantly, a Pulitzer Prize?
The liberal blog Daily Kos just unleashed a scathing and hilarious spoof of the “uproar” around Barack Obama’s supposed “elitism.” It perfectly captures the pathetic state of American journalism, where “freedom of the press” has become “freedom to act like squirrel monkeys.”
“… While the internet is new and exciting for creative people, it hasn’t matured as a distribution mechanism… It will be a few years before digital distribution of media on the Internet can be monetized to an extent that necessitates content producers to forgo their fair value in more traditional media…” - Kyle, South Park
I know, I shouldn’t be quoting cartoon characters as proof of anything, but sometimes the greatest truth is found in satire. And the April 2 episode of South Park, “Canada on Strike,” is satire at its best, skewering everyone from the Writers Guild of America to Denmark to the stars of YouTube… Read more »
According to the New York Times, three prominent bloggers suffered serious heart attacks in the past five months — Russell Shaw, Marc Orchant, and Om Malik — with Shaw and Orchant going to that big blogosphere in the sky. (May you have infinite comments and pingbacks for all eternity.)
Video site Stage6 got the deep-six and called it quits. This comes on the heels of the fire sale at Revver, which ultimately sold for $5 million — less than half of the original investment that was pumped into it. But these weren’t the first signs of an industry decimation…
Just thought I’d dash off a quick note to put a few recent media-business items in perspective. The first one you’ve heard about extensively; you might find these others somewhat amusing…
Microsoft’s offer for Yahoo!: $44.6 billion
Oil company Exxon’s profit for just the 4th quarter of 2007:$11.7 billion
State of California’s budget deficit: $14.6 billion
Purchase price of HotOrNot, the online dating & rating service, as reported by TechCrunch: $20 million
HotOrNot’s annual revenue: $5 million
Budget for the movie “Cloverfield”: $25 million
“Cloverfield” box office gross for just its first four weeks: $76 million
Total investment received by video site Revver.com: $12.7 million
Debt currently owed by Revver.com: $1 million
Asking price to purchase all of Revver.com (and to assume its debt): $300,000-$500,000
And you thought the real estate market was irrational?
Freddy J. Nager is the Founder & Fusion Director of the creative strategy agency Atomic Tango. For Cool Rules Pronto, he draws on insights attained from two decades of experience in advertising and entertainment, including over a dozen years in new media. He’s created marketing campaigns and projects for Saatchi & Saatchi, Toyota, National Lampoon, Nissan & Infiniti, MCA Records, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the NFL on Fox and numerous start-ups. Freddy holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from USC (go Trojans!), and currently teaches marketing through the University of Wales/Robert Kennedy College. He also wrote the satirical book, Claw Your Way To The Top: Ten Things I Learned About Business From My Cat, which he’ll get around to marketing someday.
“… While the internet is new and exciting for creative people, it hasn’t matured as a distribution mechanism… It will be a few years before digital distribution of media on the Internet can be monetized to an extent that necessitates content producers to forgo their fair value in more traditional media…” - Kyle, South Park
Video site Stage6 got the deep-six and called it quits
