Don’t try this at home...

…unless you’re thinking about creating a Super Bowl commercial. It never ceases to amaze me how important copy is… or, in this particular situation, the story. Dog knocks off the neighbor's cat. Male dog owner catches dog burying the evidence. Dog bribes owner with a bag of Doritos, then has to increase the bribe when dog owner’s wife gets suspicious. Classic Mickey Spillane, right?

Besides being one of the most memorable and highly rated (in USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter) commercials in last night’s Super Bowl, it was written by an outsider, someone who entered this year’s Dorito commercial contest. Amazing how this commercial stood out while surrounded by big budget, big special effects, big name, and in some cases – big "skin" productions. Sometimes all of that “bigness” gets in the way of the message. In fact, too often these days, the bigger the production, the smaller the message …or worse, no message at all – not even a mention why anyone would want to buy the product in the first place. Doritos big message? They taste so good, a dog can get a man to keep “their” secret from his wife. Meow.

In case you want to watch it again, here's the link.

Learning from the NFL's Success with Viewers

From CJ&N President John Altenbern:

Did you know that all 10 of this television season’s top-rated shows have been NFL games?   As everyone makes plans for the Super Bowl, I’ve been thinking.  What is it about NFL football that commands such viewer attention?

Sure, it’s a great spectator sport if you’re home on the couch, but it’s more than an excuse for inviting friends over for a beer.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.  There are three things that NFL football has that the audience finds enticing. 

There’s Passion.   It’s obvious among the players and fans. 

People.  Football is a game of skill and toughness, but also personalities.  Think Tom Brady, or Tim Tebow or Clay Matthews.  Viewers find them – and their personal stories – fascinating.

Unpredictability.   You simply never know the outcome of the games.  Anything is possible.  It’s a live spectacle you simply have to see.  (Drew Brees actually tried to drop-kick a field goal?  Really?)

So what’s the lesson for us?  When I watch local television news around the country, it is amazing to me how few of these three traits show up.  We wonder where viewers have gone – but I think we often just send them away because of our lack of passion and risk-taking.  The owners don’t take risks, the coaches don’t and the players don’t.  Many newscasts are wonderful shades of beige.  They may be very competent, but there’s not much passion!  And research shows our “fans” don’t see it either.   Many news viewers tell us if they miss a newscast it is no big deal.  They can catch one later, find the same story on a competing station or simply look for information online.  Ho hum.

Then there’s that “people” thing.  Would you put up with a talented anchor who shows a flash of Tom Brady’s temper?   Would you ask the Packers' Clay Matthews to cut his hair?  How about someone on-air who wore her faith on her sleeve a la Tebow?  As Bruce Northcott has noted in this space before, the “characters” have been slowly squeezed out of local news.   Our talent ranks often have the star power of an offensive guard.  

And talk about predictable.  Newscasts are so highly produced and scripted down to the second that spontaneity has nearly vanished.  Technology is part of it.  Viewers know exactly what to expect from the opening animation until the last “good night.”   Even live shots are predictable.  What’s fascinating about that?

Enjoy the Super Bowl this Sunday. You, along with millions of others, are promised some good storylines, interesting players to watch, and the outcome is anybody’s guess.   And as February begins, I hope our local television teams can learn a thing or two from the NFL’s success with viewers. 

 

Follow-up: CBS This Morning 2 Weeks Later

From Mark Antonitis, a principal with CJ&N:

You mean it’s already been two weeks? When I was about to watch CBS This Morning this morning for this follow-up (which I promised in my last blog) I had that little pang of dread.  You know, that feeling you get before you have to tackle an unpleasant job.  Like firing somebody you like. Or when you hear the gate agent announce, “For those of you awaiting the arrival of flight… “ You know that feeling? But what I found is that in the past two weeks they have come a long way toward delivering on that promise of covering real news.

It still doesn’t start well. I wasn’t surprised that the “Eye Opener” was still at the top of the show. No one (or possibly just someone) at CBS has yet come to the quite obvious conclusion that you don’t start a fresh morning newscast with a 90-second music compilation of yesterday’s coverage of yesterday’s news. It’s got to be somebody’s baby.  And no one important enough has called it ugly.  Yet.

Once they got to the news it was better. Certainly better than the last time I watched two weeks ago when it still had the brand spanking new, overproduced, important-people-are-watching dreadful content.  Absent were the bleary-eyed CBS News veterans forced to wake up early and trying their best to sound interested and relevant, yet roundly failing to do so.

Instead, there was actual news. Something I was hoping for the first time I watched.  The interesting thing about it was that it was mostly new material, albeit, of stories I had seen last night.  

Here’s an example: Big story yesterday was the hostage rescue in Somalia.  Great story!  I watched the evening news coverage last night on CBS and NBC. NBC, as they are inclined to do for such events, used animation to depict the raid.  This animation made the point, but it was ludicrously unrealistic.

On the Today show this morning, same story, same package, same ludicrous animation.  Typical. Now comes CBS’s first break.  The story they ran on the raid this morning was updated with new information, a new package, no hokey animation, and solid analysis by a CBS guy and an expert.

This wasn’t an isolated event. Each story that ran on last night’s CBS net news was not just recut, but redone. It was actually new and completely different.  There was also a solid interview with Senator Rubio of Florida.  It even had a funny moment when Erica Hill asked Rubio a leading question that would have required him to essentially endorse one of the Republican presidential candidates.  A broad smile crossed Rubio’s face, “Good try.” he said and everyone laughed.  It would have been perfect, but Charlie Rose made one of those well-intentioned, but cringe-worthy comments while everyone was still laughing.

For the record, the outfits the female anchors wore today got a lot of notice and comments (outlandish, distracting, and just plain bad, were some of the remarks sent to me). Got a lot of notice, that is, except for me. I didn’t notice. Of course I generally don’t notice women’s shoes either. 

Overall, there was nothing exceptionally compelling or memorable, but there wasn’t anything really awful.  That’s progress! What stood out was the content.  They are beginning to do what they said they would do – cover serious news in a way that is different from the competition. I like the coverage.

Suggestion:  Some person in charge should call a quick staff meeting of everyone involved with the show.  They should drag out the folks involved with “Eye Opener.”  Effusively thank all for their creativity, foresight, and I don’t know, their service to the entire organization.  You know, brief, but corporately sincere. Don’t give people enough time to figure out you’ve called the meeting to kill the thing, and just kill the thing.

Otherwise, you’re on the right track. Stay on it.  Oh, and Gayle King was better too.

Tornadoes? There's an app for that.

From CJ&N President John Altenbern:

Local television has long been the place to turn first when severe weather threatens.  Now, that supremacy is being challenged by digital competitors.  There's no reason you can't maintain that edge.   If you're smart, your station is waging a  war for weather supremacy in your market not just on-air but online and especially on mobile devices. 

Here's a report from the front:  At 4 o'clock this morning when tornadoes struck Birmingham, ABC 33/40 wisely posted the image above of their severe weather app online and on Facebook. (If you know anything about tornadoes, this image strikes fear in your heart.)  Imagine if you are huddled in your bathtub or in a storm shelter, holding your iPhone and seeing this on the screen.  With a smartphone, everyone has a live radar image available in their pocket.  You absolutely want to have that image coming from your station.  Three people are reported killed and over a hundred injured in this storm alone. 

Another station, WRCB in Chattanooga, dealt with severe storms in the last few days too.  Their weather app screen grabs made it to Facebook, where users thanked the station for the information, like this comment: "Thanks WRCB! When I woke up at 7 this morning, I looked and knew immediately we had a tornado watch with the icon at the top!" And a discussion ensued among users on how to use some of  the app's features. WRCB has already had more than 100,000 weather app downloads, and I'd bet they are about to have more. 

Mobile is a powerful platform for your information - convenient, always available and becoming nearly universal.  It's a critical part of your weather strategy as well as breaking news.   In 2012, what are you doing to make mobile your first thought, and not an after-thought? 

Are Your Local News Anchors Losing Their Appeal?

From CJ&N Vice President of Research Dr. Mary Beth Marks:

If the research on your anchors is trending downward, don't panic. There may be a reason that has nothing to do with them.

While talent research provides vital guidance to your talent decisions, we're seeing trends that make the interpretation of that research vital. You can easily be misled by traditional research results. 

On-air talent is trending down in viewers’ evaluations. It’s a trend we’ve been seeing for some time now. You may have seen it in your market, for your newscasts. Does it really mean that your on-air people are truly losing their luster? Or, is it an artifact of measurement?

 Some types of questions might lead to the conclusion that your on-air talent are a lesser part of the mix, and losing their influence on your ratings. 

Au contraire: It may be the question(s) – not the people – that are past their prime! There is little doubt news viewers continue to make choices based on the on-air people when we approach talent evaluations from different angles within a project. To be sure, viewers still tell us they watch – or avoid watching a newscast – because of particular people. Getting those answers is in the asking.  Like anything else, research questions need to be monitored for effectiveness against changing times.

Now, this doesn't mean an anchor change may not be needed. This isn't an automatic excuse to NOT make a change. Sometimes anchors really aren't very well liked, and you need to ask the right questions to determine that, too. You want to be sure you’re getting more than a superficial look at viewers’ responses – from the way the issues are approached, questions asked and the context (both within and outside of your market) placed upon interpretation. Talent decisions are way too important to make decisions based on a single, outdated question.

CJ&N Clients:  Watch your email box!  Coming soon -  A CJ&N Hot Topic advisory with more information about researching talent, CJ&N's approach, and why it provides a better measure of your on-air talent.

Thoughts on The CBS Morning News – Day 2

From CJ&N's Mark Antonitis:

I thought it unfair to pass judgment on day one, so I watched Tuesday.

What did I see?  An uncomfortable group of newbies talking to sleepy and disconnected established CBS “stars” stumbling over material they know by heart.   New and breaking news, which should be a priority, took a backseat to prepackaged formulaic summaries from yesterday.  Forced package segments replaced real news and, this was the real zinger, too much fluff!  Eighteen feet of snow in Alaska was interesting the first three times I saw it. And they teased more for tomorrow. Oh boy!

 And that was just the first 20 minutes.

It looked like everyone was trying too hard, including the people producing the show.  Why would you start a morning newscast with a quick-cut 90-second compilation of yesterday’s coverage of yesterday’s news?  I guess it’s because someone near the top of the decision making food chain thought if set to music it would be hip, cool, or I don’t know, maybe groovy.

What happened on CBS This Morning Tuesday is what happens when you have too long to think about something. They dragged in a few names viewers would know, got cute, and lost sight of their goals. In short they produced a newscast rather than covered the news.  These are typical mistakes of a new program long in the making.  Ironically, once the initial suit-scrutiny has passed they’ll begin to produce the newscast they wanted to all along.  I just hope the audience and management give them time. 

What I saw today on the air was nothing like what they advertised this show to be. 

I was expecting to see a morning version of what Scott Pelley is doing on the CBS Evening News.  Now that (whatever that is) I would have enjoyed.  I’m a news junky with a DVR.  I record and watch two network newscasts each evening (I would record all three, but my wife draws the line at two and I like her and I want her to continue to like me).  I used to record NBC and ABC, but a few months back switched from ABC to CBS. I think it was around the time ABC showed me for the twelfth time that only one item in somebody’s home had been made in America. I think it was a vase.  Maybe a lamp. I don’t remember.

So I gave “serious journalism” on CBS another shot.  Right away I thought Scott Pelley was the anti-BriWi – dull, simmering self-importance, cold, humorless, and the news they covered was, well, serious. In short, I loved it! Finally a newscast that just covered the news.  Don’t get me wrong, I still like NBC and Brian Williams. What CBS has tapped into, though, is the obvious opening – people who can’t stand the "Making a Difference" segment on NBC (I hate that thing – makes me feel inadequate, lazy and glad those people make a difference so I don’t have to) and people who buy Chinese lamps at WalMart. That’s not everyone, but it’s still a lot of people. These days with a low ratings bar, and even lower viewer expectations, what CBS is doing in the evening makes sense. 

 And it sounded as if that was the plan for the morning.

I think it still is.  So here is the unsolicited advice blogs like this always contain.  Please, CBS, execute the plan you promoted. Give us thoughtful, intelligent coverage of stuff that’s happening now, not yesterday.  If you cut out the fluff and packaged segments that producers love to produce, I won’t care if Gayle King is Oprah’s best friend, Charlie Rose is insufferable, and that I can’t remember the name of the woman you held over from the Early Show.

That can’t possibly take more than a week. So, I’ll watch again next Tuesday. But if you don’t get it straightened out by then, I won’t see you again for six months.  We’re a fickle and impatient lot, we average viewers.  Especially when we don’t see what we were expecting.

 

National News Viewers Turning to Network News

We've been hearing it for years. The cable news shows are drawing all of the national news viewers.  People are no longer interested in "regular" news, but instead will watch only national newscasts that play to their politically left or right leanings.  According to a recent Adweek article, during 2011 both NBC and ABC's network evening newscasts were UP over a year ago. In fact, NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams had its biggest year since 2006.  

And here's the really interesting part. NBC's newscast averaged almost 9 million viewers a night during 2011.  The average audience for ABC World News Tonight  was just over 7 million. And "lowly" CBS trailed with a little over five-and-a-half million.  Compare that to the average nightly audiences for Fox News (1.84 million), MSNBC (766,000), and CNN (685,000).   So yes, last place CBS still out-drew CNN by a ratio of about 8 to 1.

There is an audience right now for national news, and there is an electorate out there looking to the traditional sources for information.  Despite all the attention given to the cable noise-makers, and a lot of attention given to some of the cool online gadgetry, when it comes down to the actual business of drawing eyes, there's a clear winner - and it's on your air.

Happy New Year!

For everyone in the local television business, 2012 is one of those years that begins with great anticipation.  Elections, Olympics, auto spending - there's some wind at our backs!  But if recent years are any indication, there are a few surprises hidden in the months ahead.   For all of us at CJ&N who study local media and work to help our clients succeed, we're also looking ahead with some excitement.  New services, new research ideas and yes - some new faces - are in our plans for 2012.  

The speed of change in local media shows no sign of letting up.  A friend recently shared this online chart from go-gulf.com about what happens in 60 seconds on the web, which is mind-boggling.  Even though there's not a lot any of us can control or predict, it is a fascinating time.  And as we work to understand what it all means to local media companies, and how to best  serve audiences who are rapidly changing habits, we are buoyed by the fact that more people are counting on local television, local websites and mobile video than ever before.  Being relevant on all those platforms is essential.

While other firms are broadening their research and consumer focus, at CJ&N we've made the decision to intensify ours.  We all love the local news and information business and we want to help our clients succeed in a fast-changing environment.  So bring it on, 2012!  We'll be sharing some news with you about our new efforts in the weeks ahead.

-John Altenbern

Is Your Station Ready for the Ball?

Did you see the end of Game 6 of the World Series? An amazing game that ended when David Freese of the Cardinals hit a bottom-of-the-11th game-winning homer. The Cardinals weren't the only winners that night. That homerun ball ended up in the hands of Cardinals fan David Huyette. Huyette dove onto the ball after it landed in the grassy "batter's eye" behind Busch Stadium's centerfield. A story on Yahoo.com told of how Huyette and his friend, Jeremy Reiland (a Cubs fan, incidentally), explained that the two fans had a plan. Every time a batter came up to bat with the opportunity to win the game, they got into position, ready to sprint. As planned, when the ball landed not far from them, they were the first to spring to it. And, as planned, Hoyette dove onto the ball, curling up around the ball to keep it away from other fans desperate for the valuable prize. There was no fight for the ball, because he then tucked it into his pants, making it "disappear." Then Reiland insured the success by sliding onto the ground behind his friend, further protecting his friend and the ball.

Despite the long odds it would be needed, the two fans had a plan, and when the opportunity came, it was the execution of the plan that made them succeed. In the competitive world of local TV news, opportunities of different kinds happen constantly. The station that's most ready to jump on that ball is the one most likely to be noticed by viewers. Are you ready for the game-winner?

- Mike Anderson

The Invention that Changed Television

Right after the news of Steve Jobs’ passing, someone sent me a Facebook posting asking where Steve should rank among the likes of Marconi, Sarnoff and others who created great milestones in communications history.  It’s a great question and one that will be debated for a long time. But that question reminded me of a huge communication milestone that came and went with little fanfare or recognition. Its invention has changed the way we communicate at every level, and it’s hard to picture life without it – the invention of the color liquid crystal display (LCD).

Just stop and think about how many different color liquid crystal displays you look at on a single day. From your phone, to your computer, to your tablet or reader, to your car’s GPS, to the cash register at Starbuck’s, to the gas pump, the list goes on and on. And that’s not to mention all the television screens you see in a single day, at home, at work, at the gym, at bars and restaurants, at the doctor’s office, in grocery stores, while standing in line at the bank or DMV, or at the gas pump (again). For us working in television broadcasting, it’s important to realize that the color LCD has allowed the fruits of our labor to be viewed virtually everywhere. It’s truly mindboggling.

So who do you have to thank for all of this? Like with so many of the other milestones in broadcast technology (AM radio, FM radio, B&W television, color TV, the TV remote control, satellite broadcasting, etc.)  the modern day color LCD has several fathers starting as far back as 1888 when Fredrick Reinitzer discovered the strange behavior of liquid crystals when playing around with carrots. Then there's George Heilmeier and James Fergason are credited with inventing the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) in 1968 and T. Peter Brody who invented the Active Matrix LCD, the technology behind today’s color LCD.

It’s hard to imagine life without the visionary influence of Steve Jobs. It’s also hard to imagine life without the ubiquitous color LCD.

- Dave Tressel