Week of October 20, 2008

The Power Of Oprah

Friday, October 24, 2008

We all know of Oprah Winfrey's inspiring and powerful voice in uplifting others, and we've seen how she has brought to bear that power on books and the publishing world. Well, now we are about to see how much she can influence the tech world, as Oprah Winfrey today called the Amazon Kindle ebook reader her favorite gadget. Not only that, but fans of Oprah can use the code "oprahwinfrey" and get $50 off the retail price of the Kindle.

It is this kind of mass media/tech world partnership that Pollack Media Group specializes in, and when it happens on this scale, there can be no doubt that amazing things will happen. So keep an eye out on Kindle sales figures heading into the holiday and, what the heck, use Oprah's code and get yourself one!

Radio Come To Blackberry

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Move over iPhone, the Blackberry is also getting radio. FlyCast, which streams over 1000 radio stations, has created an app for the Blackberry, which will be available for download on November 1st onto the Curve, Bold and Storm models. So far, Pandora, CBS's last.fm and Clear Channel's iheart radio are only available on the iPhone, but it's clear that more services will be looking to expand onto other mobile platforms as the handset manufacturers look to expand capability, telecoms look to expand usage and radio and music providers look to expand their reach.

Facebook Loves Music. The Labels? Not So Much.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Numerous online rumors came to a head this week with a story in the New York Post about Facebook and its ambitions in becoming a music destination. Interestingly, Facebook has the money and clout to launch a music site quickly but appears reticent to do so. Why? Well, the essence of it is that Facebook doesn't want to deal with the major record labels, who have a reputation as being unreasonable in their online deal-making.

Facebook could do what MySpace did and offer equity for music licensing, but it appears the company has no interest in this route. Currently, word is that Facebook is looking at bypassing the label hassles entirely by negotiating with existing sites like Rhapsody or Lala. The trouble here is that Facebook also wants to integrate music into its site, rather than create a subsite like MySpace Music. That path is more complicated with a partner than if they were doing it themselves, as revenue sharing would become more difficult to peg to the music service and not the Facebook page itself.

Music continues to be a powerful driver on the Internet. Despite that, Facebook appears willing to walk away due to the hassles of dealing with music licensing. Depending on your point-of-view, that attitude is either an indictment of major label greed and bureaucracy or Facebook arrogance.

Is NBC's Next Star Named TAMi?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

TAMi is NBC's new research initiative, Total Audience Measurement Index. This is the new metric that NBC has designed which aggregates viewers across all platforms, combining Nielsen data with online streams, VOD and mobile viewing. NBC, in last place among the big networks, announced this initiative shortly after the Olympics. It's an attempt to get advertisers more interested in cross-platform buys, as well as to boost the overall picture for NBC's programming.

Through the first two weeks of the season, the show with the biggest boost from the non-traditional platforms was The Office. The comedy picked up 52,000 downloads, 48,000 mobile streams and several million streams through the NBC website. Interestingly, NBC initial data shows that viewership on non-traditional platforms was much higher in premier week than in week 2.

Ratings Effects of DVRs

Monday, October 20, 2008

TV ratings have taken on a new twist with Nielsen's new "Live + 7" ratings methodology. "Live + 7" refers to ratings that take into account live viewership, as well as those who watch a program on a delayed basis within 7 days of its original broadcast. During premier week (Sept 22-28) ABC's Grey's Anatomy gained the most viewers when DVRs were factored in. The medical drama's numbers increased by 15%, from 18.5 million live + same day to 21.2 with live + 7.

Grey's Anatomy, with its boost of 2.7 million viewers gained the most of any show, but CBS gained more than any other network. 6 CBS shows showed gains of at least 1 million viewers when comparing live + same day with live + 7 numbers. Overall, CBS averaged a boost og 677,000 viewers per night once the live + 7 numbers were revealed.