Archive for February, 2008
Memphis vs Tennessee Made ESPN History
The University of Memphis loss to the University of Tennessee on 2/23/08 was not only watched by the 18,389 fans at the FedEx Forum, but also approximately 5.28 million viewers tuned to ESPN breaking previous basketball viewing records.
According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal,
“Saturday’s game set a record as the most-viewed college basketball game in ESPN’s history. The broadcast was seen by an estimated 5.28 million viewers.”
Oscars Postmortem
Sunday night, ABC broadcasted the 80th Annual Academy Awards. It won the night’s viewers, but had a poor showing in comparison with last year’s Oscars.
According to Nielsen in the Ad Age article, 32.01 million viewers tuned in, which is the lowest audience in 30 years. In 2007, the Oscars had 40.2 million viewers.
In 2008, a :30 spot cost about $1.82 million, in 2007 it was about $1.7 million.
Compare the 08 Super Bowl to the 08 Oscars:
08 Super Bowl 08 Oscars
08 Cost for :30 ad $2,700,000 $1,800,000
The cost of a spot in the Oscars was 34% less than the cost of a spot in the Super Bowl broadcast.
08 Total Audience 97,500,000 32,010,000
The 08 Oscar audience was 1/3 of the Super Bowl audience.
Cost per Thousand $27.69 $56.23
The Oscar CPM is more than double the Super Bowl CPM.
#1 Memphis vs #2 Tennessee – Best Bet on TV
According to Media Life Magazine, the ESPN broadcast of the #1 University of Memphis Tigers vs. the #2 University of Tennessee Volunteers basketball game was selected as the “Top Sporting Event” to watch on Saturday 2/23. ESPN will televise the game from the FedEx Forum in Memphis at 8pm CST.. Memphis folks are pumped for this game. Even Graceland is showing support by changing over 150 spotlights to illuminate the mansion in Tiger Blue. Priscilla Presley will be at Graceland with EPE, Inc. CEO Jack Soden, U of M Athletic Director R.C. Johnson and Pouncer to flip the switch tonight at 7pm. FYI…Priscilla’s newest gig is ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, which begins broadcasting Monday March 17th.
ESPN Screwed Up!
Saturday night 2/16/08 at 9:17pm, ESPN published the above article on their website about the University of Memphis Tigers being defeated by UAB. Actually, the Memphis Tigers won the game with Chris Douglas-Roberts making the game winning points during the final seconds. OOOPS!
Memphis #1 vs Tennessee #2
Saturday, February 23, the #1 ranked University of Memphis Tigers will host the #2 ranked University of Tennessee Volunteers at the FedEx Forum at 8pm cst. There’s a buzz around the state because most fans consider this to be a “final four” level basketball game. Even ESPN has singled out this game by broadcasting ESPN GameDay live from the FedEx Forum in Memphis. You can still buy tickets to this sold out game on ebay and the numerous ticket resale sites. It won’t be cheap, but it will be fun. Make your predictions, Tigers? Vols? Who will get bragging rights?
Digital TV Transition in 1 Year
According to the Nielsen Company, more than 13 million households with television sets that can only receive analog broadcasts are currently unprepared for the transition to all digital broadcasting that is scheduled for February 18, 2009. One year from now, all stations will transition to digital only.
The change to all-digital broadcasting is the most significant change in the history of television, because unlike other advances such as color, older television sets will no longer be able to receive television signals without a converter.
If the transition was today, 10.1% of all households would have no access to television signals.
New York is the most ready local tv market with 3.5% unready tv sets.
In Memphis, about 15% of all households in the city are unprepared for the transition, ranking 40th of the 56 cities surveyed.
Check here to see more cities.
CSTV = CBS College Sports
In March, CBS will rebrand CSTV to CBS College Sports Network just in time for March Madness. Multichannel News explains how CBS will meld the cable, broadcast and online activities of CSTV into its brand. CSTV broadcasts 9 Memphis Tiger basketball games this season, including tonight’s Houston game at the FedEx Forum.
Super Bowl Ads
What makes the Super Bowl so attractive for advertisers?
1. The Huge Audience. This year the Giants and Patriots gave us an exciting game to the very end, rewarding the football fans and advertisers. 2008 broke all Super Bowl records with an average audience of 97.5 million viewers, making it the 2nd most watched TV program in history, behind the “M*A*S*H” finale on CBS with 106 million viewers. According to FOX, about 107.5 million viewers watched the final 30 minutes of the game.
In the Memphis DMA, WHBQ-TV “FOX 13″ scored 793,000 viewers. (47.8 rtg/62 sh).
2. Appointment TV. Many TV programs fall into this category and the Super Bowl is no exception. What separates the Super Bowl from other programs is the desire of the audience to watch the commercials.
3. Pre-Game / Post-Game Hype. The so-called experts begin speculating about the content, popularity and effectiveness of the Super Bowl advertising weeks prior to the game. After the game the media loves reporting on the polls and lists including the favorites, most effective, funniest, women’s favorites….it’s endless. And now, people are going to websites in record numbers to view the advertising again. This is more exposure for the companies advertising in the Super Bowl.
4. History of Success. History tells us that the Super Bowls will be the top rated TV program of the year or close to it. And in 2008…one of the top programs in the history of television.
5. It’s expensive, or is it? According to FOX, a :30 spot cost about $2,700,000. The average audience was 97,500,000 viewers. That breaks out to $27.69 per thousand people reached. Or just under 2.8 cents per person. You make the call!
Storm Watchers
Last night, severe storms and tornados rolled through the Mid-South in 2 waves. Mid-Southerners watched storm coverage on the local TV stations beginning about 4:30pm until late night. WMC-TV had the largest number of viewers with an average of a 20.5 household rating. Or 139,215 homes. The following is how the Memphis market stacked up according to Nielsen Media Research:
WMC-TV 20.47 avg. HH rating 139,215 homes
WREG 17.51 avg. HH rating 118,910 homes
WHBQ-TV 14.65 avg. HH rating 99,488 homes
WPTY 4.29 avg. HH rating 29,133 homes
WLMT 3.04 avg. HH rating 20,645 homes
(1 rating point = 6,791 homes)
The highest rating for the day came at 5:15pm on WMC-TV. The rating at that time was 31.6 which represented 38.26% of all TVs on at that time. That is a total of 214,596 homes.
All of the TV stations worked overtime last night to make sure the Mid-Southerners were up-to-date and informed about the severe weather and storm damage.
Super Tuesday Billboards
According to the Memphis Business Journal, on Super Tuesday, February 5, Clear Channel Outdoor in Memphis, Albuquerque, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles will receive an automated feed from NBC News and MSNBC.com. On approximately 53 digital LED billboards (5 in Memphis) digital real-time content of primary election results will be updated and displayed throughout the day.