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Halls are filled at big media trade shows with happy people networking their hearts out, particularly with the Great Recession a distant memory. Sellers of things and services out number participants, many of whom seeking new career opportunities. “Never is heard a discouraging word,” as that old song renders.
And so it was at the recently concluded RadioDays Europe show in Milan. Attendance has been estimated at more than 1,200, the most in its six-year history. The big “take-aways” were consistent with the radio biz zeitgeist; Apple, figuratively, is coming to get your (a) listeners (b) advertisers and (c) talent. The solution is (a) be quicker (b) more creative and (c) more like Apple, figuratively of course. Lasting memories of these words of wisdom can be purchased online.
Behind the scenes - or curtain, if you will - there were occasional nudges at the future. Big broadcasting companies aren’t very patient. It seems, reported Rzecpospolita (March 18), Polish broadcaster Eurozet, principally owned by Lagardère Active, and group program director Rafal Olejniczak parted ways “by mutual agreement” as RadioDays in Milan got under way. Flagship national channel Radio Zet has dropped abruptly in recent RadioTrack audience estimates, trounced by market leader RMF FM, owned by Bauer Media. (See more about media in Poland here)
Mr. Olejniczak had been associated with Radio Zet for nearly 20 years, off and on, and had been group program director since 2011. His termination was due to a lack of “consensus on strategy” with Lagardère Active executives, said Rzecpospolita. Last autumn the company severed its relationship with sales director Jaromir Sroga.
In 2016 RadioDays Europe moves to Paris.
It seems like only yesterday when China was the preferred expansion destination for Western media and technology enterprises. Just over a year ago 21st Century Fox gave up its remaining 47% stake in Star China TV acquired in 1993 for $1 billion. Foreign investment in China’s media sector, subject to certain pressures, approaches zero.
The tech sector has been a bit more open, just bring cash and don’t flinch at censorship. Yahoo, indeed, was an early investor in e-commerce platform Alibaba. So it was almost a surprise when Yahoo announced it was closing its Beijing research and development center to “consolidate certain functions into fewer offices,” said the official statement, quoted by South China Morning Post (March 19). "We currently do not offer local product experiences in Beijing.”
Yahoo shareholders keep pushing CEO Marissa Mayer for more cost cutting. The Alibaba stake is next to go, benefit estimated at $32 billion. “Yahoo doesn’t have significance in China,” said China Market Research managing director Shaun Rein to Bloomberg (March 19). “Yahoo can’t really recruit top people and Chinese firms are not going to advertise on Yahoo.” (See more about media in China here)
Maybe Chinese advertisers will spend with Russian search portal Yandex, which just announced opening a Shanghai office. “There are a lot of major companies like Alibaba or (smartphone maker) Xiaomi that may wish to become better known in our country,” said media buyer Dentsu Aegia Network Russia managing director Maxim Osipov,” quoted by lenizdat.ru (March 19). “Due to the fall of the ruble many people in Russia are replacing expensive Western brands with cheaper Chinese. Chinese online shopping can become new advertisers on Yandex.”
That big data begets big money only a light scan of financial reports from Google, Amazon, and Facebook shows. Challenging these big technology companies for their prowess in programmatic advertising comes now a new alliance announced this week, the Pangaea Alliance, comprised of UK-based general interest publisher the Guardian, UK-based business news publisher Financial Times, CNN International and Thomson Reuters. Data collected from online users, about 110 million worldwide, will flow to media buyers programmed for high quality spending.
“As the world becomes more complex and networked, Pangaea will give advertisers one single programmatic solution for driving influence at scale, allowing them to get cut-through in an increasingly fragmented market using the latest ad serving technology,” said Guardian revenue director Tim Gentry in a statement, quoted by AdAge (March 18). The buy and sell technology is provided by Rubicon Project, a California ad tech company that focuses on quality reach over quantity, so says the company website. In addition to the Pangaea Alliance, Rubicon is active in France, Denmark and the Czech Republic as well as, obviously, the US, where it ranks 3rd among automated ad sellers, according to comscore (January 15), after Google AdEx and OpenX.
Sharing is caring. The four Pangaea Alliance founders are committing 10% of online inventory. The Financial Times is sharing online inventory of The Economist, which it shares ownership with the Rothschild family. The founders share several traits; all primarily publish/produce in English, all have or aspire to a global footprint, all compete with various outlets owned by the Murdoch family.
Broadcasters have always looked carefully at the personal dynamics of television viewing. Sociologists, economists, politicians and unnamed others have also tried to uncover the secrets. One aspect, universally agreed, is that disagreements erupt in households over TV programs.
Swiss-based streaming TV provider Zattoo commissioned market researcher Forsa to examine aspects of these disputes in Swiss and German households. And, yes, 83% of Swiss and 88% of German multi-person households report some level of discord over the glowing box, reported kleinreport.ch (March 16) and tvdigital.de (March 13), respectively. Control over the remote control is contentious “always or almost always” in 24% of Swiss households and 26% of German households. Discord rises with the number of persons in the household, assumed to be children, to 34% in Switzerland and 38% in Germany.
In both countries it’s sports programs causing disagreement, followed in Switzerland by reality TV shows and in German science fiction shows. For Zattoo, the answer is simple; streaming video to alternative devices and recording for later viewing.
Age is another factor is household TV viewing disputes. Older couples “find a way to agree,” observed Zattoo chief content officer Jörg Meyer.
The suspense is over, finally, for media investors and others watching Poland’s big TV broadcaster TVN. ITI Group and Canal+ (Vivendi) reached an agreement with Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI) to sell their 52.7% stake in publicly traded TVN Group for €584 million plus assumption of €840 million in debts. The deal is, of course, subject to the usual regulatory approvals.
ITI Group and Vivendi opened bids for the TVN Group stake last October after Vivendi passed on a put option to acquire the outstanding shares. Several big league buyers were said to have looked over the opportunity, including Time Warner through Central European Media Enterprises (CME), Discovery Communications, 21st Century Fox, Bauer Media and Axel Springer. RTL Group expressed no interest. SNI had not been considered a frontrunner. TVN Group is Poland’s biggest privately-owned TV operator by market share and revenue. (See more about media in Poland here)
SNI operates several lifestyle TV channels - the Food Channel, the DIY Network and others - distributed in North and South America, Europe and beyond. In 2011 SNI acquired Virgin Media’s 50% stake in UK pay-TV operator UKTV. SNI was formed in 2008 when US publisher and broadcaster E.W. Scripps separated local newspapers and TV channels from the cable channels. The Scripps family maintains control over both publicly traded companies.
“We liked what we learned about Poland,” said SNI Chief Development Officer Joseph Necastro to Bloomberg (March 16). “It has a stable economy, business-friendly environment, highly educated growing middle class and is an aspirational marketplace and that’s what our programming appeals to.” A decision whether or not to delist TVN Group will be made before an expected third quarter closing, he added. Because it will hold a stake greater than 33%, Polish law requires SNI to make an offer for all outstanding shares.
Music radio programmers have long suffered to get the playlists right. Fitting tunes with target audience has become less subjective, some say less interesting, as broadcasters adopted a variety of research techniques to spot hits or, more likely, avoid stiffs. Reaching younger listeners, arguably harder to get to know, is a challenge.
Russian radio broadcaster PMBC, part of Gazprom Media, has launched Like FM in Moscow, reports sostav.ru (March 16), with the branding campaign “Listen to what I like.” The station’s playlist is “influenced” by an online function similar to popular streaming music websites. The target audience for Like FM is 12 to 19 year olds. (See more about media in Russia here)
Like FM replaces City FM, a mostly news and talk station that PMBC “tried to save,” said company president Yuri Kostin, quoted by vedomosti.ru (March 16). The Moscow radio market is crowded, to say the least. City FM “ceased to be a unique product” amidst “unreal competition from information stations, 13 including our Ekho Moskvy.” If all goes well, PMBC could roll-out the format in other Russian cities.
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