Digital Strategies for Broadcast, by BIA/Kelsey
We just attended a Webinar on Digital Strategies for Broadcast by BIA/Kelsey. While it almost goes without saying that transformational changes are in the works for both TV and radio, as well as every other news and advertising medium, the BIA/Kelsey speakers emphasized that broadcast stations probably cannot make it on their own, nor can advertisers choose a one-medium ad campaign.
“There’s no such thing as a single media campaign in our view,” said Neal Polachek, BIA/Kelsey president. “Advertisers are looking for much more engagement with their audience, and you can only do that with campaigns that cross media programs. Local broadcasters can embrace these changes by extending their business models and looking for partners. Going it alone is going to be difficult. Very few can succeed this way.”
Mark Fratrich, VP of research for the firm, said that there is a growing trend, particularly among the young, to opt out of television cable services in favor of over-the-top video services such as Hulu, Netflix, and Veoh. He said that this, along with the default of major brands, near halt of major mergers and acquisitions, and the elimination or reduction of TV station news delivery, all paint a not-very-bright traditional television picture.
The radio prediction by BIA/Kelsey for the next five years is for a 1 percent increase in traditional ad spend in 2010, followed by 2-3.5 percent increases nationally that will barely go beyond inflation changes. They predict stronger online growth in the industry, however.
For TV, the five-year outlook for the traditional is a little more bullish, due to political primaries and some hotly-contested local races. The recent Supreme Court deicsion on corporate political contributions will positively impact TV ad revenues though the analysts were not prepared to say how much. As with radio, the TV online growth is expected to be stronger yet.
The best news is in the public sector, with public radio and TV revenue increases far exceeding that of their for-profit industry brethren.
Where broadcasters must go from here, said Rick Ducey, chief strategy officer and program director of the new BIA/Kelsey Digital Strategies for Broadcast division, is hiring digital specialists, creating new workflows, new and expanded partnerships, refining business models to focus more stringently on interactive, working more creatively, and using market intelligence and competitive assessments.
WebVisible buys Adapt
WebVisible, which provides tools to manage ad campaigns for local businesses, has acquired search marketer Adapt Technologies. The deal was announced at the Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media 2008 conference yesterday. Terms were not disclosed.
WebVisible has technology that manages a business’s ad order management, creative development, campaign deployment and optimization. The company isn’t hurting for cash: it raised $17 million over the past three years and another $12 million in a second round after that in March.
The purchase of Adapt is intended to integrate its cost-per-action tracking system into WebVisible’s technology. The current Adapt Web site will remain active and current customers will continue to access the application as usual.
Here’s the press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/081120/0454399.html
Print plunge improving consortium’s fortunes?
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (at the BIA Kelsey Interactive Local Media conference): In a fairly candid but clearly promotional conversation, Mike Silver, the new executive director of the Newspaper Consortium (and its only employee), and Lem Lloyd, VP of Yahoo for the consortium, said the 800 daily and weekly papers participating in the group are making significant sales — and they’ve just scratched the surface of the opportunity.
(If you read our CIR overview two weeks ago, you’d know that already; if not, shame on you! Quit freeloading and become a client already!)
Silver started with the consortium just three months ago (after 22 years with Tribune and a well-deserved rest). For now, he said, the consortium is focusing on roll-outs of the Yahoo advertising platform, and growth in general. “My attitude is, Yahoo first. This is a big, whopping opportunity for newspapers,” he answered in response to a question from BIA Kelsey Group analyst Peter Krasilovsky. “There’s no lack of things for us to do right now with this relationship we have. While we’re focusing on Yahoo, we are looking for other opportunities. Yahoo can’t do everything. They don’t want to do everything. … Now that we have this new type of geotargeting or behavioral targeting, there are other things we can do.”
Plummeting print revenues are actually helping convince newspapers to sell Yahoo’s services, Silver said. “Because of some of the difficulties in print right now, I can’t think of a time when publishers were more receptive to making changes in what they do. Online is not just an add-on any more; in fact, it’s the future.”
Lloyd said a smallish newspaper in the United States had a one-week sales blitz on Yahoo products recently and generated $500,000 in revenue, mostly in contracts of $30,000 to $50,000. He said that while Yahoo can sell advertising nationally, newspapers can sell on a “tier two” and “tier three” level, giving as examples regional auto dealer networks (tier two) and individual auto dealers (tier three).
“There’s a great percentage of local intent” in the billions of searches and among the 150 million unique users globally a month on Yahoo, Lloyd said. “The trouble that Yahoo has had is that we don’t always monetize those pages, those views of local intent, in a meaningful way.” He said the consortium allowed Yahoo to capitalize on the 15,000 sales reps at its 800 participating newspapers to sell Yahoo and related inventory.
Strong turnout for Kelsey conference
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Talk about a “wow.” Attendance at the BIA Kelsey Group “Interactive Local Media” conference in the heart of Silicon Valley this year is about 450 — or roughly the same as it was two years ago. That’s a remarkable accomplishment in this economy.
The number of attendees is down from last year, when Kelsey had a relationship with a Search Engine Strategies. But there are 26 sponsoring / exhibiting companies, and the general sessions are drawing 200 to 250 people.
Kelsey was recently acquired by BIA Financial Network, but at least at this conference many of the faces are still the same: Matt Booth, Peter Krasilovsky, Neal Polachek, Bobbi Loy-Luster and more. Tom Buono, CEO of BIA (and Kelsey’s “new boss,” as he put it), is also here with a contingent of BIA folks.
Given the state of the economy, it’s great to see how many people, especially those in the yellow pages industry and the companies that serve that industry, felt it would be worthwhile to be here. Tough timing, but Kelsey’s pulled it off.
Interactive Local Media: ‘The next set of winners’
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — At the BIA Kelsey Group “Interactive Local Media” conference, Kelsey’s Matt Booth said “Uncertainty is the fertile ground of the next set of winners.”
In local advertising and small and medium businesses, what are those prospective winners?
Booth’s answers:
- Advertising will have to have immediacy, with no latency and full transparency on return on investment.
- Lead tracking that’s simple and easy to understand. (He said most lead-tracking is still difficult and largely unused.) “That’s why e-mail and direct mail are so popular,” because the advertiser spends money and immediately sees and can measure results, he said.
- “Pulsed advertising” that can be turned on and off by season. Clearly, that bodes ill for the traditional print yellow-page book, published once a year.
- A “conversation and reputation management tool,” incorporating a dialog between small and medium businesses and their customers, and also between and among small and medium businesses.
- A blend of content and advertising that works together. Booth said the traditional walls between editorial and advertising will die, and advertorial, community content and context, and comments and recommendations will be a key to winners in the future.
The Kelsey Group acquired by BIA Financial
The Kelsey Group announced today it is now a division of BIA Advisory Services LLC, a newly formed subsidiary of BIA Financial Network (BIAfn).
Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
TKG provides research and consulting services to directory companies and local media, and also hosts several conferences yearly.
Neal Polachek continues on as CEO of The Kelsey Group and EVP of BIA Advisory services, reporting to BIAfn’s COO Mark Giannini and CEO Tom Buono.
“Like many transactions, this one has been in the works for some time and as a result, I have been able to get to know the leadership team at BIAfn and appreciate the remarkable similarities with The Kelsey Group,” Polachek said.
John Kelsey, who founded The Kelsey Group in 1986 with his wife Pam, will oversee conference planning and execution while continuing his role in client relations and business. BIA Advisory Services will retain The Kelsey Group’s current offices and personnel across the country.
“We were looking for a way to increase the value for our clients,” Kelsey said. “BIAfn has been a market leader in analyzing, interpreting and delivering superior insight into the local advertising arena. Importantly, their areas of expertise complement The Kelsey Group’s strength in directional media.”
Founded in the 1980s, BIA Financial Network privides appraisal and valuation information and M&A advice to media companies.
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