Archive for January, 2009
O’Brien, Leno & Fallon – First & Last Show Dates
It has been well publicized that there are late fringe changes coming on NBC. (WMC in Memphis) Conan O’Brien is moving to the Tonight Show replacing Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon is moving to Conan’s spot in Late Night and Leno will begin a new prime show, 5 days a week.
The question was recently asked, “When is Conan O’Brien’s last Late Night show and when is Jimmy Fallon’s first Late Night show?” And the next question, “When is Jay Leno’s last Tonight Show and when is Conan O’Brien’s first Tonight Show?”
Here’s the answer according to this Broadcasting and Cable article:
Conan O’Brien will host his final Late Night show on February 20, 2009. His successor Jimmy Fallon will begin hosting Late Night on March 2, 2009.
Jay Leno will host his final episode of the Tonight Show on May 29, 2009. Conan O’Brien will begin hosting the Tonight Show on June 1, 2009.
NBC has not announced the premiere date of Jay Leno’s new daily prime time show.
Tags: Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Late Fringe, Late Night, NBC, The Tonight Show, wmc
Ursula Madden Replaces Donna Davis as WMC Anchor
Ursula Madden will join Joe Birch at the WMC Channel 5 anchor desk in Memphis, replacing Donna Davis. Davis was laid off with 14 co-workers last month. The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports, “Madden will team with Joe Birch on the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts Monday through Friday, WMC general manager Lee Meredith said today. She and Birch will debut after the Super Bowl Sunday, then move into the regular schedule. Madden, 37, has been with WMC for 10 years.”
Tags: Channel 5, Donna Davis, Joe Birch, media, Memphis, Ursula Madden, WMC-TV
Super Bowl Facts & Figures
The 2009 Super Bowl 43 between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals will be held in Tampa, FL on February 1, 2009. The television broadcast is on NBC at 6pm ET/5pm CT.
Here’s a previous GP News & Notes post about why the Super Bowl is great for advertisers.
With Super Bowl Sunday just around the corner, Media Life Magazine has put together great information on what a media buyer needs to know about advertising in the Super Bowl. From the Media Life Magazine story “Your Primer on Sunday’s Super Bowl“:
“According to various reports, the average 30-second spot for the game is a record $3 million, or 11 percent more than last year’s $2.7 million on Fox.”
“Some advertisers, including (Memphis based) FedEx and General Motors, have pulled out of the game, fearing in part that spending scads of money on a one-off Super Bowl stunt will send the wrong message at a time when thousands are being laid off.” Here is FedEx information previously posted on this site.
“The Super Bowl audience is an attentive one. Carat says audience retention during Super Bowl commercials is a remarkable 99.2 percent, making it by far the top sports event of the year in terms of ad views.”
“Dozens of sites now offer replays of the game’s ads. Last year Pepsi’s much-touted Justin Timberlake commercial drew an additional 1.3 million views on YouTube in the two days after the game, according to Nielsen, with Pepsi’s Naomi Campbell Sobe ad drawing 399,000 more views, ranking first and second overall.”
“There’s always much talk about Super Bowl viewership, which over the past five years has ranged from a record of 97.5 million last year to a low of 86.1 million in 2005, according to Nielsen.”
“For the past five years, overall female viewership for the game has risen, hitting 37.7 million women over the age of 18 last year. About 10.5 million of last year’s Super Bowl viewers were black, while 7.5 million were Hispanics.”
The chart below shows the national Super Bowl television viewership and ratings of the last 21 Super Bowls from 1988 – 2008.
|
20-YEAR SUPER BOWL VIEWERSHIP TRACK |
|||||||
| Year | NFC Champion | AFC Champion |
Network |
Households |
Persons 2+ |
||
|
US Rtg% |
Shr |
(000) |
(000) |
||||
|
2008 |
NY Giants |
New England |
FOX |
43.1 |
65 |
48,665 |
97,448 |
|
2007 |
Chicago |
Indianapolis |
CBS |
42.6 |
64 |
47,505 |
93,184 |
|
2006 |
Seattle |
Pittsburgh |
ABC |
41.6 |
62 |
45,867 |
90,745 |
|
2005 |
Philadelphia |
New England |
FOX |
41.1 |
62 |
45,081 |
86,072 |
|
2004 |
Carolina |
New England |
CBS |
41.4 |
63 |
44,908 |
89,795 |
|
2003 |
Tampa Bay |
Oakland |
ABC |
40.7 |
61 |
43,433 |
88,637 |
|
2002 |
St. Louis |
New England |
FOX |
40.4 |
61 |
42,664 |
86,801 |
|
2001 |
NY Giants |
Baltimore |
CBS |
40.4 |
61 |
41,270 |
84,335 |
|
2000 |
St. Louis |
Tennessee |
ABC |
43.3 |
63 |
43,618 |
88,465 |
|
1999 |
Atlanta |
Denver |
FOX |
40.2 |
61 |
39,992 |
83,720 |
|
1998 |
Green Bay |
Denver |
NBC |
44.5 |
67 |
43,630 |
90,000 |
|
1997 |
Green Bay |
New England |
FOX |
43.3 |
65 |
42,000 |
87,870 |
|
1996 |
Dallas |
Pittsburgh |
NBC |
46.0 |
68 |
44,145 |
94,080 |
|
1995 |
San Francisco |
San Diego |
ABC |
41.3 |
62 |
39,400 |
83,420 |
|
1994 |
Dallas |
Buffalo |
NBC |
45.5 |
66 |
42,860 |
90,000 |
|
1993 |
Dallas |
Buffalo |
NBC |
45.1 |
66 |
41,990 |
90,990 |
|
1992 |
Washington |
Buffalo |
CBS |
40.3 |
61 |
37,120 |
79,590 |
|
1991 |
NY Giants |
Buffalo |
ABC |
41.9 |
63 |
39,010 |
79,510 |
|
1990 |
San Francisco |
Denver |
CBS |
39.0 |
63 |
35,920 |
73,852 |
|
1989 |
San Francisco |
Cincinnati |
NBC |
43.5 |
68 |
39,320 |
81,590 |
|
1988 |
Washington |
Denver |
ABC |
41.9 |
62 |
37,120 |
80,140 |
|
Source: Nielsen Media Research |
|||||||
Tags: advertising, audience, FedEx, Justin Timberlake, media, media buying, Memphis, nielsen ratings, Ratings, Super Bowl, viewership
Trust Me: Definitely Worth Watching
Just finished watching the premiere episode of “Trust Me” on TNT. Starring Eric McCormack as Mason McGuire the art director and Tom Cavanagh as Conner the copywriter, Trust Me is a drama series about the business of advertising. Even though it’s billed as a drama, it has some very amusing scenes that many advertising folks can identify with. Mason and Conner are a long time creative team who deal with professional obstacles that become personal. Sound familiar? Let me know what you think about this new show.
Check out the website of the “Trust Me” ad agency Rothman Greene & Mohr. On the RGM website, don’t miss the “Client Extranet” … “Internal RGM employees only” … “Video Resumes”.
“Trust Me” airs on TNT, Monday nights at 10pm ET / 9pm CT.
Tags: advertising, Eric McCormack, media, Television, TNT, Tom Cavanagh, Trust Me
Transition from Analog to All Digital TV Delayed?
The transition from analog to all digital TV looks like it will be delayed until June 12, 2009. It is estimated that 6.5 million households are still not prepared for the transition. Nielsen Media reports that the 6.5 million “is an improvement of more than 1.3 million homes since Nielsen reported readiness status at the end of December.” You can view all of the local metered markets‘ percent of households currently unprepared for digital conversion.
At 8.53%, Memphis is 7th on this list of households completely unready. 18.16% are partially ready and 73.31% are completely ready. In my post on 12/15/08, Memphis was 11.58% completely unready. 3.05% of Mid-Southerners have taken action between 12/21/08 and 1/18/09 to prepare for the DTV transition.
Nationally, this chart shows the breakdown on households completely unready for the digital transition comparing 12/21/08 to 1/18/09.
Percentage of Households that Are Completely Unready
For the Digital Transition
|
Preparedness |
Overall |
White |
African- |
Hispanic |
Asian |
Under |
Over |
| Jan. 18, 2009 |
5.7 |
4.6 |
9.9 |
9.7 |
6.9 |
8.8 |
4.0 |
| Dec. 21, 2008 |
6.8 |
5.6 |
10.8 |
11.5 |
8.1 |
9.9 |
5.2 |
Source: The Nielsen Company
A Fox News story says, “Senate Democrats late Thursday reached a deal with skeptical Republicans on a bill to push the digital transition to June 12 — setting the stage for a vote early this week. The House is likely to move quickly after the Senate acts.” The Wall Street Journal just posted this story confirming, “The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a bill that would delay until June the date when television stations must broadcast in an all-digital format.”
Associated Press says, “The Obama administration has sought the delay because the government program to provide coupons for converter boxes needs more money. The boxes are needed for people without cable or satellite TV to continue receiving TV signals after the conversion date.” Also in this story is the reaction PBS has to the probable delay.
This delay could be costly for TV stations that have invested valuable air time and resources to educate their viewers. And Nielsen has postponed the February sweep to March due to the transition.
Tags: 2/17/09, 6/12/09, advertising, analog TV transition, digital TV, DTV, media, Memphis, Nielsen, Television
2009 Oscar Nominations with Memphis Ties
The Commercial Appeal in Memphis reports that three of the Academy Awards Oscar nominations have ties to Memphis.
The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject. Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles is the focus of the short film that “chronicles the final hours in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as remembered by Kyles who was on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel when King was slain on April 4, 1968.” Memphian Margaret Hyde produced the film. According to the CA, “In addition to Kyles, such significant Memphians as Maxine Smith, Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks and Taylor Rogers, who was a sanitation worker in 1968, appear in the film, which had its premiere in a private screening April 4 at the National Civil Rights Museum.” HBO will begin airing on February 18, 2009.
The CA writes about the 2nd film, “Also nominated for an Oscar was Memphis-born Courtney Hunt, a resident of upstate New York whose parents met on a blind date at what was then called Memphis State University. Hunt, 45, received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for her debut feature film as a writer-director, “Frozen River. The film also captured a Best Actress nomination for Melissa Leo, who portrays a working-class mother who becomes involved in smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S. from Canada.”
The 3rd film with Memphis ties is “Trouble the Water“, nominated for Best Documentary Feature. The CA says, ”The Hurricane Katrina-inspired film focuses on a Ninth Ward family that spends time in Memphis after fleeing new Orleans.”
Complete list of the 2009 Nominees for the 81st Academy Awards
The Academy Awards presentation will air live on Sunday, February 22, 2009, on ABC, locally on WPTY.
Tags: abc, Academy Awards, Civil Rights Museum, Frozen River, HBO, Memphis, Oscar nomination, Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Trouble the Water, WPTY
Memphis Ad Fed 09 Silver Medal Recipient
photo by Dave Darnell/The Commercial Appeal
Memphis Advertising Federation awarded the Silver Medal, their highest honor, to Art Gilliam, president and CEO of WLOK-AM 1340, yesterday. The Commercial Appeal story says, “Gilliam, who was just 16 when he enrolled at Yale to pursue a degree in economics, made local history in 1977 when he bought WLOK. In so doing, Gilliam became the first African-American to own a Memphis radio station and made WLOK the city’s first locally owned station.”
Tags: Ad Fed, advertising, Art Gilliam, MAF, media, Memphis, Silver Medal, WLOK
Barack Obama Inauguration TV Ratings, Viewers & Word Cloud
The image above is the President Barack Obama Inauguration Speech Word Cloud. It is a weighted list of words in a visual design. The word sizes are based on the number of times a word is used. This particular cloud was created by Wordle. Check out the Bush, Clinton, Reagan and Lincoln inauguration speech word clouds.
Below are the Memphis overnight household ratings of the Barack Obama swearing in and inauguration address televised from 11-11:30am cst. These numbers do not include the viewership on cable, only the broadcast stations.
| 1/20/09: 11-11:30am | Memphis DMA | ||
| HH rtg | Share | households | |
| WMC 5 | 10.6 | 19.3 | 71,420 |
| WREG 3 | 8.6 | 15.6 | 57,944 |
| WHBQ 13 | 9.1 | 16.4 | 61,313 |
| WPTY 24 | 3.3 | 5.9 | 22,234 |
| TOTAL | 31.6 | 212,911 | |
| All numbers listed are estimates | |||
| Based on Nielsen 1.20.09 overnight | |||
| Estimated Memphis DMA Total Households: 673,770 | |||
It’s estimated that 1.8 – 2 million people attended the Obama inauguration in Washington, DC.
According to an Adweek and Reuters story, “Nielsen Media Research said the Obama swearing-in ceremony, parade and other events on Tuesday were the second most-watched presidential inauguration after that of Ronald Reagan in 1981, which drew 41.8 million TV viewers. The 37.79 million-member Obama audience included homes that recorded the proceedings but not those who watched streaming Internet coverage of the event.” Nielsen estimates a ”25.5 household rating and a rating of 13.2 for Persons 2+. This reflects viewing across 17 broadcast and cable networks between 10am and 5pm ET.”
NBC wins with the most viewers…FOX is not available at this time.
12-1pm ET/11am-12pm CT
Total Viewers / A25-54 demo
NBC 12,210,000 / 5,178,000
ABC 11,746,000 / 4,517,000
CBS 8,245,000 / 3,211,000
12-1230ppm ET/11-1130am CT
CNN 8,496,504 / 3,459,024
FNC 5,487,901 / 1,721,854
MSNBC 3,075,589 / 1,112,969
As a comparison for the national numbers, 2008 Super Bowl had 94.5 million viewers (most in history) and the 2008 Obama wins election night in November had a total of 71.5 million viewers.
If you are interested in reading the complete text of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, click here. Or if you prefer, you can watch it here…
Tags: abc, audience, Barack Obama, CBS, CNN, FNC, inaugural address, inauguration, media, Memphis, msnbc, NBC, Nielsen, president, Ratings, tv viewers, viewers, WHBQ, wmc, word cloud, wordle, WPTY, WREG
American Idol taps Memphis’ Lil Rounds for Hollywood
As American Idol season 8 begins, Lil (Lillian) Rounds from Memphis has been selected from the Kansas City auditions to advance to Hollywood. According to information from WHBQ FOX13 in Memphis, “Lil Rounds lives with her husband and kids in the Hickory Hill area and lost their home to the tornado last year.”
A quote on WHBQ’s website about the American Idol auditions says, “Lil Rounds, was “absolutely fantastic” and a “singer’s singer”, who sang a little Stevie Wonder and won the judges over big time.”
In Memphis, WHBQ FOX13, a FOX owned and operated station, carried the local telecast of American Idol with an impressive performance on 1/14/09. They reported a 23.6 household rating /31 share, which represents approximately 399,000 total viewers.
The Memphis advertisers in American Idol are going to see great ratings on WHBQ FOX13. It’s rumored that Lil Rounds does very well in the later Hollywood rounds and gets a standing ovation from the judges. Good luck to Lil…we’ll be watching!
Tags: American Idol, FOX, Hollywood, Lil Rounds, Lillian Rounds, media, Memphis, Ratings, Television, WHBQ
Watch Obama Inauguration at Local Movie Theater
If you can’t make the trip to Washington, DC, MSNBC and Screenvision have teamed up to put the Barack Obama Presidential Inauguration coverage on the big screen in 27 theaters nationwide. In Memphis, you can watch the Obama Inauguration at the Malco Paradiso. Go to www.MSNBCEvents.com to get your free ticket. The inauguration and parade will be shown from 10am to 2:30pm cst.
According to this Hollywood Reporter story, “Free tickets are being handed out via MSNBC.com to see the inauguration and parade …. That means that Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and other MSNBC and NBC personalities will play the big movie screen…”
Tags: Barack Obama, inauguration, Malco Paradiso, media, Memphis, movie theater, msnbc, Screenvision