UPFRONT BRIEFS
NBCUniversal’s Upfront pitch to advertisers can be summed up in three words: brand safety and scale. Advertising chief Linda Yaccarino did not shy away from the term “objectionable content” in a nod to platforms like Google. New anchor Megyn Kelly, veteran Lester Holt were on hand along with the cast of “The Today Show” to tout programs like “This Is Us” and the Winter Olympics.
Fox Networks Group and NBC are enabling Moat’s Video Quality Score across all on-demand viewing environments, and collaborating to bring Moat measurement to linear TV. FNG will guarantee against Moat’s Video Quality Score for the FNG portions of any campaign that implements Moat campaign-wide. Fox dedicated an entire 15 minutes early on to its sports properties during the first half of its presentation.
SOCIAL MEDIA
The arms race that is augmented reality picked up a new armament as Instagram added AR face filters to its offerings. They include eight different filters along with a few different crowns. Now you can look like a koala or a rabbit and depict math equations spinning around your head.
PLATFORMS, APPS + DEVICES
Amazon this week began taking orders for Element TV sets powered by Amazon’s own smart TV operating system. Prices range from $449 for a 43-inch set to $899 for the 65-inch model. The interface of the TV closely resembles that of a Fire TV box or stick.
RESEARCH
The Media Ratings Council just released a draft version of its Digital Audience-Based Measurement Standards for a 60-day public comment period. The MRC is working with the Association of National Advertisers, 4A’s and Interactive Advertising Bureau to establish best practices for the collection and processing of information used in assigning audience characteristics to impression-level data.
The ListenFirst Television Interest (TVI) Rating (TM) is a standardized measurement of the most buzzed-about TV programs on linear TV and streaming services. A complement to ListenFirst’s other syndicated data products (such as the ListenFirstDigital Audience Rating – TV), the metrics included in the rating capture organic actions that are largely unaffected by paid media. Programs that surface on the TVI leaderboards are the most hashtagged on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr, as well as most searched for on Wikipedia (used as a proxy for organic search volume).
All Series (5/9/17 – 5/15/17)
Streaming Series (5/9/17 – 5/15/17)
Source: ListenFirst. The TVI Rating aggregates metrics that measure organically generated activity by fans of the TV show. The metric includes total volume of official hashtag mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr, along with Wikipedia page views (as a proxy for organic search volume) for a show as a percentage of the total volume of the same activities for all shows.
CYNOPSIS RISING STAR AWARDS
The deadline for the 2017 Cynopsis Rising Star Awards is a month away. This is a terrific chance to encourage and award the young members of your team who have demonstrated great initiative and potential over the past year. Register here .
EXECUTIVE MOVES
The blurring of lines between major consultancies and marketing services companies continues with the poaching by Deloitte of Ilicco Elia from DigitasLBi in the U.K. Elia leaves DigitasLBi after about six years to become the head of Deloitte’s mobile solutions across the U.K. and North West Europe.
Lauren Laitman has joined cross-device marketing tech provider Tapad in the newly created role of SVP of People. She most recently was VP of Human Resources at Collibra.
Harris Insights & Analytics has made three big additions to its management ranks. John Gerzema, formerly Chairman/CEO of BAV Consulting, joins as co-CEO, along with Will Johnson, who was President of BAV Consulting. Jonathan Gardner is the company’s new Chief Operating Officer. He most recently was COO of Subject Matter.
TRIVIA
Our Last Trivia Question: This director of the new FOX series The Gifted also brought us The Usual Suspects in 1995. Answer: Bryan Singer.
Kudos to Andy Pittman, TAMU/TX, Louis Lewow, Lewow Media Group/GA, Luke Watson, Roker Labs/NY, Jacob Clark, Mullen Lowe Mediahub/NC, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg, M and S Entertainment/CA, David Westberg, SAG•AFTRA Federal Credit Union/CA, Lorrie Shilling/CA, Tom Moore, Kalt Productions/CA, Aaron Paquette, Screen Engine/ASI/TX.
Today’s question: When Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns to Netflix this week, this star will have appeared in four Broadway musicals. (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)
