Neil Hughes from 56 Up
This week saw the latest instalment of The Up Series. Originally commissioned by Granada television in 1965, Up is a documentary series that has followed the lives of 14 people from the age of 7, returning to each of them every seven years to see how they and their lives have changed (or not).
I was interested in Arif Durrani’s blog on how shows like the X Factor has brought the whole family back together on the sofa providing what he terms ‘Saturday night social glue’. Whilst TV advertising around popular programming could be seen as expensive, these media platforms offer many opportunities for media agencies to deliver cost effective ways to engage audiences.
In the age of connectivity, TV advertising can be used to create timely, relevant and short-lived engagement that creates long term value for brands. These tactical ‘i was there’ moments support one of the dynamics of change we identified at Total Media: Big Head vs. Long Tail; brands are using expensive mass media – the Big Head – to create intensive engagement in the brand narrative but which lives on in social media long after the spot has run – the Long Tail. Read more »
One of the things that struck me in BSkyB’s results last week was how well Sky’s ad revenue has performed. Overall revenues at Sky climbed 16% year-on-year to £6.6bn in the year to 30 June 2011 but revenues from advertising soared by 35% to £458m.
If you look back through Sky’s results over the last two years you can calculate that it generated £213m in ad revenue in the first six months of 2011, up 31.5% from the £162m in ad revenue generated in the six months to 30 June 2010. Read more »
At the end of February Nestlé coffee brand Dolce Gusto made history by becoming the first brand to be featured on a UK-produced TV programme in a paid product placement deal on ITV1′s ‘This Morning’. This relaxing of the rules around product placement on UK TV presents brands with a new and exciting channel within an existing media, and I’m fascinated to see how this moves forward. Read more »
Whether there will be a flourish of product placement when Ofcom opens the regulation floodgates on Monday (28 February) is anyone’s guess, but from the agency buyers I’ve been talking to they are not going to bet their expense accounts on there behind a sudden flood.
The truth is, from the chats I’ve had this week with some pretty senior “gorillas with calculators” (TV buyers to the uninitiated) the response has varied from indifference, “its small beer, mate” to questioning, “why are you hacks so interested?” and back to indifference “can’t we talk about something sensible?” Read more »
Jeff Bewkes, the chief executive of US media group Time Warner has said that ITV’s advertising revenues will bounce back but has warned the broadcaster against putting up a paywall. Read more »
It seemed Edinburgh couldn’t get enough of Peter Fincham yesterday as his controller session, and his 1am performance with his band No Expectations at The George hotel, were both packed out.
Desmond Strategy iconic for successful trad media investment via acquisition: a) rock bottom in-price; b) iamthelastownersogeneratecash.
ITV share price:
a) no change – Time Warner FIVE
b) no change – Desmond FIVE; OKTV
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