Suburu Uses Branded Content To Its Advantage

Armed with research on who buys its cars and where they are likely to reside, Suburu found a nice fit with IFC's quirky cable show Portlandia.  And while running ads along side the program is nice, integrating into the show is better.  So as Portlandia premieres its 5th season, Suburu cars will be featured inside the series.  Along with other marketing tactics, this branded content approach assure that viewers will see Suburu product placement as they enjoy the show.  And the benefit to Suburu seems well worth it.

For one, consumers won't be able to fast forward through it, the car is tied into the fabric of the content. Two, with the show based in the Northwest, it reaches a strong segment of the market that purchase Suburus. Third, the Suburu brand continues to be seen, post the initial run of the show, with repeats, on demand, and future syndication and streaming.  And fourth, it receives great press coverage including a full article in today's New York Times. 

Of course the biggest challenge to branded content or any content that is pre-taped and run months or years later, is when the unexpected occurs.  A negative news story, a recall perhaps, or possible indiscretions that turn a once popular program into a problem.  I speak most recently of two incidents, Stephen Collins and Bill Cosby, and the effect on their older shows, 7th Heaven and The Cosby Show.  Their negative publicity extends to the shows they appear on.  Unlike an ad that can be removed, when branded content is woven into the fabric of the show, it is there forever, through the good press and the bad.

But for now, the use of branded content by Suburu and others is a smart decision.  While its core message may not get presented, its brand awareness and engagement by the viewer can drive future interest and hopefully sales for the auto company. And the resurgence of branded content is a great means to fight ad skipping and the rise of streaming. 

Hey TV, Netflix Is Your Frenemy

What do you do with an entrant in your business that spends millions of dollars for your content but also is taking viewers away from your channels?  That is certainly the question poised in today's New York Times on the Netflix Effect on television. 

Consumers are watching television differently.  The cost of cable television has skyrocketed while society has become more mobile. Linear television makes us wait while on demand and streaming lets us control when, where, and how we watch our shows.  And while advertising pays for programs to be made, subscriptions can as well while eliminating the interruptions of commercial breaks.  As a result, Netflix has disrupted the traditional model.  Truth is that linear TV will not go away.  When we don't know what to watch, we can still graze across all the choices and find a show to watch.  And live events force us to wait to watch at the appointed hour.  Netflix and other streaming services simply provides us with more choice as well as more flexibility. And advertising free is a nice benefit.

Television has been slow to change their current model.  It took years for content companies and cable operators to invest in on demand.  And their authenticated TV Everywhere model still lags as a competitive solution.  Netfix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has offered a possible idea for cable operators to pursue.  "Rather than debate what is driving that change, established television companies should change their business models, Mr. Sarandos said. As an example, he said that cable operators should invest in new technologies that would allow people to watch TV episodes weeks after they have been broadcast, but allow advertisers to insert up-to-date commercials."  My one change to that idea, not weeks later but the next day and to keep it accessible for a month or longer.  And lastly, enable authenticated devices outside the cable box to access the content. 

Ultimately, Netflix will be seen by the consumer as a complement to cable TV, not as a direct threat.   Consumers will seek the platform that serves the content they want to watch.  TV viewership may continue to migrate to streaming until a new balance is found.  But cable operators can pursue a more robust authenticated TV Everywhere model that delivers a great platform of easy to find, easy to view, and easy to monetize content that will serve future generations. 

Will FCC Approve Cable Mergers?

The FCC is back on the clock but no decisions will happen in 2014 regarding the two mergers on the docket, Comcast acquiring Time Warner Cable, and AT&T acquiring DirecTv.  Per Business Week, it is unlikely that any such approval or disapproval will happen till March at the earliest. 

Consolidation offers great cost efficiencies but it can also hurt competition and lower prices.  Given the high barriers of entry in the industry and limited competition due to franchise approvals in every community, consumers have already experienced limited choice for cable or satellite.  These two mergers do little to worsen the already limited playing field.

The FCC may be less concerned with cable and more concerned with broadband access.  Still, there is limited competition with buyer and seller in this market as well.  DirecTv doesn't even offer a broadband business and Comcast and Time Warner do not compete against each other.  Comcast would control a vast majority of the US market seeking to access cable and broadband.  But I don't believe it will stop these mergers from occurring.  Opening spectrum, encouraging new entrants to enter the space, and supporting investment in new wireless and broadband technologies to improve connectivity and speed are what consumers really want. 

Microsoft Misses With Nook

The partnership between Barnes and Noble and Microsoft is officially over although its hard to say that it ever really started.  Despite a $300 million dollar investment back in 2012, nothing particularly visible to the consumer ever occurred and Microsoft leaves with a loss.  So much potential, so little execution.

Truthfully, when the Nook partnered with Samsung on its tablets, it was apparent that Microsoft was no longer a part of the conversation.  But that may have been decided when Microsoft's new CEO, Satya Nadella took over.  Per CNET, "Since taking the helm in February, Nadella has said that he wants to focus Microsoft's business on the core elements of its operation, including the cloud and mobile."  And now B&N can begin to separate its Nook business from its bookstore business. 

It is a missed opportunity for Microsoft and B&N, but perhaps a win for Samsung, Apple or others.  Going forward, I believe that B&N should work with a device maker on a tablet that is specifically designed for students, ideally college and high school.  All textbooks should be digitized for this new device as well as designed for note taking on the pages and a means to capture and organize the  writing for test taking and report writing.  This new device is not meant for games or non academic purposes; rather, a unique featured device to support school curriculum.  I see it as a niche device not as general purpose as the current Nook, Galaxy, or iPad.  By engineering it with a writing instrument that can translate writing into digital, it will enable students to better organize classroom work with connected textbooks.  For B&N, its future and its growth is in the education market and it needs to embrace the industry quickly.

For Microsoft, the opportunity to seize on this market ends with this partnership.  Given their new direction, it is clearly the right move for Microsoft to terminate this agreement.  But it is the right move for someone else. 

NY Times Losing More Reporters

Pogue, Carter, and now ad columnist Stuart Elliott join the exodus of those leaving The New York Times.  Like Bill Carter, Elliott chose the buyout offered to him and others before layoffs were to be imposed.  And while the bottom line is that everyone is replaceable, their uniqueness can not.  But it certainly changes the value of the content for the NY Times.

Of course the only constant in this world is change and whatever comes next for the writing in the NY Times could be better or worse than what we are getting now.  The future is uncertain.  But like a good baseball team, we don't know who is in the NY Time farm system to rise from the ranks to replace these reporters.  Nor do we know if they plan to "trade" for them from another notable publication.  For now, all we do know is that an ever larger hole is opening that the Times will need to fill if they plan to stay a relevant media outlet.

Traditional TV Viewing Drops 4%

First and foremost, television is not dead.  It may have matured quite a bit, but opportunities still abound for those companies that see growth.  Still, the news out of Nielsen, from today's Wall Street Journal, is that "traditional television dropped nearly 4% last quarter, as online video streaming jumped 60%, according to a new report from Nielsen, crystallizing a trend for TV-channel owners amid ratings declines."  Expect that percentage to continue to drop. 

The simple truth is that there is only 24 hours in a day and the rise of new media means that old media must lose some usage as users aggregate to the new trends.  Print is feeling that effect from digital, radio felt it from broadcast and broadcast from cable.  Online viewing will simply take from those platforms.  But television, and the people that control them, can still drive success and growth. 

The notion of authenticated TV Everywhere with the cable operator bridging the gap of the cable box in the home with online access anywhere and everywhere still makes sense.  It enables customization, personalization, recommendation, and ultimately owns and tracks the viewer regardless of the device used to view the media on.  That consolidation and convergence creates an advanced advertising approach and data collection so valuable these days.  But until cable operators fully envelop the consumer in this bubble, consumers will find entertainment outside the cable box with other content and other OTT platforms. 

A 4% drop in traditional TV viewing is not the death of traditional TV.  Hopefully, it is a real wake up call to once again purse a TV Everywhere strategy.  Slingbox offers the technological tools to do it.  TiVo may as well.  Cable operators need to push it further and market the TV Everywhere value that they can one day deliver.

Bill Carter Leaves NY Times

If there was anyone with his finger on the pulse of television, especially late night television, it is Bill Carter.  As both a reporter for the NY Times and an author of books like The Late Shift, Carter is a recognizable name in the world of media.  But the financial issues of newspapers and the NY Times in particular have taken their toll and the result is a loss of talent.  Offered a buyout package with considerable weight, Carter chose to take the buyout and leave his NY Times post. 

The NY Times loss may just be someone else's gain.  Just as David Pogue left the Times for Yahoo, Carter might find open arms on the digital side of the world.  And for those of us seeking another book, he now has time to work on one.  Unfortunately for The New York Times, losing recognizable content creators like Bill Carter makes it harder for them to deliver best in class writing.  It only provides more impetus to also unsubscribe from the Times for online content. 

Fox Blacked Out On FIOS In RI Over Thanksgiving ... Heartless

While CBS and Dish agreed to an extension so as to not ruin their Thanksgiving break, Verizon FIOS and their Rhode Island Fox affiliate could not.  The result, the station " went dark to the telco’s customers at 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving after the parties failed to reach a renewal accord. That meant that some 400,000 FiOS customers missed the Dallas Cowboys’ Turkey Day turkey against the Philadelphia Eagles and may be without Fox’s NFL lineup on Sunday. "  And while we all know that eventually the two sides will sign a contract, causing license fees to rise and ultimately, customer subscription fees as well, current subscribers are simply on the lose-lose side of the negotiation and the outcome.

According to Cynopsis, "Fox led all Thanksgiving NFL telecasts with 32.0 million viewers for Eagles-Cowboys in the late afternoon window, marking it the network’s best regular-season telecast of any kind since 1998".   Given that 400,000 households couldn't watch the game, that number could have potentially been higher.  

According to reports, it was the Fox station owner, Cox Media Group, that chose to black out the signal to FIOS, a move that does little to help their negotiation, especially when done over a national holiday.  That neither side could find any sense of humanity to delay such a move, especially when no work would be done over this particular long weekend, should cause outrage across Rhode Island, if not nationally.  In fact, it was a heartless move.  For CBS and Dish, they may still move ahead to a blackout to push their negotiation stance, but at least they put the holiday and their viewers ahead of commerce.  

CBS And Dish Agree Not To Fight Over Thanksgiving

Dish subscribers take not, the Grinch has not come to take your CBS network off the air...just yet.  With Thanksgiving a day away, the two parties have agreed to an extension into next week.  That means that the lawyers for both parties would rather be home over the long vacation break then squabbling over contract terms.  That can wait till Monday.  And so Dish customers and Dish employees can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy their football and other CBS programming this Thanksgiving weekend.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!