ChasNote

The broadcasts networks are considering canceling the star-clad “upfront” events in favor of block-and-tackle sales calls with top advertisers, according to the NY Times:

“with the writers’ strike now looking as if it may extend into the new year, threatening the normal timetable for developing prime-time series, every major network is pondering the elimination of the big, garish upfront shows — which cost $3 million to $5 million a year.

“Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC Universal, is the most vocal, willing to say publicly that his network is contemplating junking its upfront event. For NBC in recent years, that has consisted of unveiling the new lineup before a packed crowd in Radio City Music Hall, and a canape-and-drinks party in and around the skating rink in Rockefeller Plaza.

“‘In light of the changing business environment, we are looking very seriously at not doing the extravaganza part of the upfront process,’ said Mr. Zucker, who acknowledged that he has been thinking for some time that the upfront shows have outlived their usefulness and cost-effectiveness. ‘Once we make it, it is not a one-year decision,’ Mr. Zucker said. ‘We do not make it lightly, and obviously we are going to consult with our advertising partners.’

“Mr. Zucker emphasized that NBC would still take part in the actual selling part of the upfront, where deals are made with advertisers to pay set prices for time on network shows. He said that the process remained ‘the best mechanism’ to do business for new network schedules.

“Those deals — the networks took in more than $9 billion in last year’s upfront — would simply be made after much smaller presentations in much smaller settings for much smaller groups of ad buyers. It would become, Mr. Zucker said, more like ‘a personal call’ on advertisers, much more the way most cable networks have sold in the upfront: small concentrated sales efforts.”

I bet that’s a relief for programming execs like Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, who has had to dance with stars at previous upfronts.

Big news out of NBC, as reported at WSJ:

“NBC Universal is taking the unusual step of giving advertisers cash back for primetime ratings shortfalls from last season. The move is a departure for NBC, which like other broadcast networks typically gives advertisers additional TV spots, called make goods, when ratings fall short of expectations. The unusual move shows the network’s particular vulnerability both to the Hollywood writers’ strike and to a new commercial ratings system being used this year for the first time.”

Forget about who you know in this fabulous video. Today I had lunch with the dude who sings the bass line in it. Tom Shields of the Woodside Fund and now Yieldex. Tom, you’re my hero.

From TechCrunch:

“See the list of TV networks featured on iTunes at right? NBC used to be right after National Geographic. Its absence leaves a very noticeable hole, and is a marked reminder of how Apple is not able to dominate digital video to the same extent that it has digital music.”

I’m surprised to see the relatively small audiences Nielsen Online reports for the Big Four TV networks. From PaidContent:

“Nielsen Online counts ABC in first place with 10.6 million unique visitors in October, followed by NBC with 8.1 million uniques, CBS (NYSE: CBS) with 6.1 million and Fox with 3.4 million.”

Even if you assume there’s no duplication of audience (unlikely), the four networks combined are reaching only 28.2 million monthly uniques online. FM doesn’t yet subscribe to Nielsen, but Comscore reports the 125 independent sites that made up FM in September 2007 (it’s closer to 140 now) reach nearly 42 million monthly uniques. More evidence that as audiences migrate from offline to online media, they aren’t necessarily loyal to their former offline brands.

Here’s a video review of Boing Boing TV courtesy of CNN.

Mindshare is out with a survey that says the Writers’ Guild strike, which is putting more re-runs on TV, may drive viewers back to books, magazines and newspapers.

One finding, according to Ad Age:

“Respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 — a prized demographic among advertisers — said they were most likely to read a book, magazine or newspaper (19%); watch DVDs (11%); go to the internet (10%); or listen to music or the radio (7%). Selection of the internet was greatest among younger consumers and declined among older respondents, with only 4% of respondents 55 and up saying they would check out the web.”

Really?? Are these the same prized 18-to-34-year-olds who spend all their time on Facebook and don’t realize that Scrable was once played with wooden tiles on a cardboard grid?

Brand advertising is coming to Facebook apps. Sprint’s “Addicted to Heroes” app tie-in campaign to their sponsorship of NBC’s Heroes (the TV show) is one example.

FM’s John Schneider, Bernie Albers, Stephanie Loleng and Liam Boylan — as well as Kevin and Wayne at Watercooler, the makers of the “Addicted to” apps — helped put this together.

I was on a panel this morning with Mary Hodder of Dabble and Susan Bratton of Personal Life Media, discussing revenue models for online video and audio. Stat from Mary: Each day 300,000 new video files are uploaded to the web. Stat from Ask A Ninja’s Kent Nichols: In August 07, there were 9.7 billion searches and 9.1 billion video views. Wow, that’s something to think about. Someone asked me how much money we’re all talking about; I said we should start by taking that $5 billion (3% of $162 billion in US TV spend) that Nielsen just announced is wasted because no one is watching. After that, we should take a look at the other $157 billion. Hey, maybe Nielsen is being generous to the networks.

From Ad Age:

“Initial commercial-ratings data, released for the first time by Nielsen Media Research today, reveal total viewership for commercial breaks on the five broadcast networks is on average 3% lower than it is for live viewing of programs those ads support.”

Call it $162 billion invested in US TV advertising each year. That’s $4,860,000,000 spent on viewers who didn’t see your ad. Oops.