The Mavericks of Media Reveal the Big Opportunities of the Future

With a changing and transforming media landscape, the tried and true approach to business issues no longer works. What are the Mavericks of Media doing to meet the demand and harness the opportunities that this new media ecosystem presents?

“We are survivors, not just of Covid. We have adapted, adjusted and multi-tasked our way to 2021,” noted Audra Priluck, Vice President, Business Development, Media & Entertainment at Maru/Matchbox, and host of the annual Mavericks of Media event.  The past year has shifted the way we do business with effects that can impact years ahead. What are the trends and opportunities?

The Biggest Drivers

Evan Shapiro, Founder of eshap.tv, warned that while we may have our eye on the usual big media players such as Disney and WarnerMedia, there are “trillion dollar death stars” at the edge of the media universe such as Facebook and Apple, who are poised to overturn the business model. There will also be increased tension between the advertising and single unit sale business model to the recurring revenue subscription business model. And a dramatic shift from a Boomer and Gen X dominated world to Gen Z Gen Y. We will see this in not only, “The way media is consumed, the devices on which it is consumed,” but also the artists and content that, “reflect this complex, digital first and the two most diverse generations in western culture’s history,” he stated.

The Importance of Diversity

Tiffany Smith-Anoa'I, Executive Vice President, Entertainment Diversity & Inclusion, ViacomCBS and Kay Hill, Vice President, Brand Research, WarnerMedia, shared their insights regarding diversity in media. For Hill, “2020 really highlighted this subject and put it at the forefront because people were at home and were paying more attention to news.” For Smith-Anoa'I, “The narrative hasn’t changed. We want to have greater representation in front of and behind the camera.” Essentially we need to rethink how we are doing business, who we are and who we are not doing business with.

Hill explained that when conducting diversity research, “You ask, What does this audience want? What are they looking for? What do they enjoy? The answer always comes back – they want to see some form of diversity and representation on the screen in front of them.” Smith-Anoa'I noted, “Education is paramount. Equality doesn’t mean extra or more. It means equal - The same opportunity to fail and succeed,” and added that it had to be authentic and not mere tokenism.

Post Pandemic Predictions

Jack Myers, Media Ecologist and Founder of MediaVillage, shared his industry predictions for 2021. “The upfront will see record CPM increases, growth over last year’s upfront revenues in the double-digits and overall 2021 ad revenue for the national TV business will be up an estimated 8%, enough to return it to the 2019 levels,” he shared.

Myers predicted that radical industry transformations occur every 30 years and we are now at the threshold of the next 30 year cycle. “Marketers may be facing shifts in consumer communications patterns for which there is no precedents and for which they are ill prepared,” he predicted 30 years ago. We see it happening again today with the end of the great internet upheaval.  “The pandemic has accelerated the trends already in place and 2021 represents the first year of a new 30 year cycle that requires accelerated shifts in revenue strategies for the television industry,” he stated. This requires a reorienting of priorities and ways of doing business. Going forward, growth will occur through education and diversity.

Guilty Pleasure Programming

Maybe because of the pandemic, viewers are seeking out comforting and nostalgic programming. The trend towards guilty pleasure viewing has, as Jeremy Lejeune, Vice President Content & Consumer Insights, NBCU, noted, “A sense of indulgence in it. It satisfies a need. The benefit is escapism and the need for escapism is higher than ever,” with the pandemic. For Suzanne Persechino, Senior Vice President, Head of Insights Group, A+E Networks, “We can all relate to the great amount of anxiety and tension in our day-to-day lives through a pandemic. We have found that there has never been a more ripe time for content that has a clear and satisfying ending.” The big takeaway is that guilty pleasure content transcends boundaries – it can be scripted or unscripted, comedy or drama. But it must be of high quality with compelling, complex and well-crafted storytelling.

The Next Big Opportunity

Guilty pleasure programming is only one content type that has been successful this year. Other formats such as news also are highly popular and are expected to remain so, post-pandemic. For Eliza Jacobs, Director, Consumer Insights & Analysis, PBS, her company is committed to building out their brand by focusing on digital to grow their audience and expand their base. “We have a digital approach going forward on our own platforms as well as partnerships and building out a PBS News brand on a digital platform,” she revealed.

With a distribution source of 110 newsrooms nationally, Sean Fassett, Vice President, Research & Insights, WGN America & Antenna TV, sees his company as able to leverage strengths in both linear and digital. “News is a guilty pleasure,” he explained, “but it is also a necessity. There is still a need for news to know what is going on and how to keep their families safe. We focus on niche stories that give voice to the voiceless.”

Conclusion

The pandemic has changed the paradigm for our business in a myriad of ways. In some cases, it has accelerated an already predicted transformation and expanded the role of certain business models. In other ways it strengthened certain programming types and clearly defined the need for diversity. What the Mavericks of Media all have in common is their thirst for knowledge that will help the media industry not only survive but thrive. 

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

 

 

Finding the Secret Sauce for a New News Service. An Interview with WGN’s Sean Fassett.

How can an enterprising company like Nexstar find a core distinctive market position in a crowded field such as news? Sean Fassett, VP Research and Insights, WGN America & Antenna TV, has been applying his research skills at finding the answer. 

Nexstar has just announced the launch of News Nation which is carving out the middle of the road for primetime news coverage. Fassett explained that this is an, “alternative to the news talk show choices on cable TV today utilizing the 110 local Nexstar Newsrooms across the US, with over 5500 Reporters in the field.” The service is headquartered in Chicago with additional reporters in Miami, NY, Dallas, LA and DC.

Charlene Weisler: What research did you conduct on News Nation?

Sean Fassett:  We have conducted four custom Research studies pre-launch to gauge the marketplace, develop an awareness of what people felt was missing in their primetime news, test taglines, determine genres of stories important to viewers in a post COVID world and understand the overlap of digital and linear news usage.

Weisler: Can you share some of the takeaways?

Fassett: The promise of an “Unbiased Newscast, No Opinions” and a “Facts Only Newscast” drew the support of nearly 75% of respondents across all demos and ages. More than 6 in 10 viewers want national news reporting that does not give indications of a networks political affiliation. They don’t want a news broadcast to tell me what to think or have a host tell his opinions. They want the facts to make their own decision.

Weisler: Were there any surprises?

Fassett: What we found interesting is that most of the respondents know that the cable news they are watching on TV are politically left or right driven, but they don’t have any other choices on TV.  While conducting internal research across two different Research firms, we correlated those results with research from syndicated services to show that the majority of the U.S. citizens are politically middle of the road, or politically agnostic. This presents us with a large opportunity to deliver news reporting that is politically agnostic.

For example, one tagline tested was “Your News Matters”. We found that respondents felt we were telling them we are presenting news we felt mattered to them. “Your News, Your Nation” was ultimately decided on as respondents this tagline spoke more to our brand promise: we are presenting your news across their nation - Our ability to present both sides and present stories that are important to them.

Weisler: How has the research been used so far?

Fassett: The research has been used to gauge the marketplace, show that people embrace our positioning, track our awareness, intent to view, and assist our marketing department on the rollout of their national promotion effect which hit the streets on 8/17.

Weisler:  Is there any further research planned?

Fassett: Post launch we plan on continued monitoring of social media, ongoing weekly awareness and intent to view, and evaluation of Nielsen ratings. We also will be conducting focus groups, online panels, and will be tapping into Research that allows our Programming team to see what stories are resonating across all the Nexstar stations locally. Some stories that may not be top of mind or carried by other networks allow us to give voices to the voiceless locally but at a national level. In addition to our custom research, we will be utilizing syndicated services from social, digital services and Nielsen ratings.

Weisler: What are the most important metrics to use?

Fassett: Metrics of success will always be evolving. Right now our most important metrics are program and network awareness and intent to view. After launch we will need to tap into sentiment, perceptions and delivering on our unwavering promise of middle of the road, non-biased news. While ratings always become a networks typically “gauge of success”, we are planning the network for the long term, and following stories of importance rather than just ratings. We are not chasing stories to drive ratings. Our ratings will be driven by our viewers embracing our stories both on air and on digital. We will also be working with rhetoricians who will be analyzing our anchors and wording to make sure we continue to deliver on that promise

Weisler: What do you see as the competitive set?

Fassett: We are competing in a very wide category, both on TV and digital. While most will bucket us going up against the other cable news nets as our competition (CNN, MSNBC, FNC), they also are not. We will not be doing what they are doing. We will not be delivering politically driven talk shows in primetime.  

Weisler: What are the biggest challenges in launching and tracking this new service?

Fassett: One of the biggest challenges is offering news programing on a network not known for news programming. We are going against networks like CNN, now 40 years on TV, MSNBC and FNC are coming up on 25 years.

Weisler: What are the opportunities?

Fassett: The opportunities are to serve the community with those stories which are important nationally but sometimes don’t make it out of the local markets. Utilizing the 1000’s of hours of news produced across the 196 Nexstar stations allows us the opportunity to make that happen.

Weisler: Where do you expect to see the service a year from now and what research are you planning to monitor its success?

Fassett: We hope to continue to listen to our viewers and provide them with a service that meets their needs. We hope to grow with them, and embrace new technologies and stories that help them every day.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com