National Is the New Local for TV Station Revenues

All four CEOs present inside the Javitsamp160Center claimed business from local advertisers is as healthy as everamp160 quotWe39ve had more roofers and lawyers buy commercial time than we39ve had in our livesquot declared Hearst Television President Jordan Wertliebamp160 quotNational spot is holding us backquotWhat39s restricting a surge of national advertising from local stations has more to do with measurement and research and less to do with digitaldriven upstarts such as Google and Facebook says Sinclair Broadcast Group President and CEO Chris Ripley who oversees the largest television station group in the nationamp160 quotDigital is a calltoaction mediumquot he saidamp160 quotTelevision is a branding exercisequotFor its part Sinclair started a network sales group specifically designed to handle national spot sales pitching TV schedules as an audiencebased transactionamp160 The consensus was that TV stations must develop the ability to make advertising transactions based on audience selling commercial time and targeted audiences together on a costperthousand CPM basisCurrent measurement technology has to reach another level to give TV station salespeople that ability which can then be used to drive more spot sales from current and future national sponsorsamp160 quotWe39ve got a technically complex system to work out with different players and different motivationsquot Ripley explainedamp160 quotI like to be optimisticamp160 That39s why I believe a groundswell of interest to get this thing licked will happenquotTegnaamp8217s President and Chief Executive Dave Lougee agreedamp160 quotYou have to look at this national advertising marketplace more holisticallyquot he saidamp160 quotIt39s time to take the friction out the system at both endsquotThe sooner the better added Valari Staab President of NBCUniversal39s Owned Television Stations groupamp160 quotIt39s just really hard to come up with a simple system that works with all stations and all advertisersamp160 We39re always evaluating what39s out thereamp160 We should get more credit for viewing that exists for us anywherequotWhen all is said and done about this issue the current power players in TV audience measurement may not be the ones behind a better solution Ripley continued acknowledging his company39s decision rumored in the trade press for several months to adopt comScore as its audience data sourcequotBoth systems have their flaws pick your poisonquot Ripley declaredamp160 quotAt the end they will be replaced by a device or measurement system tied to the adoption of ATSC 30quotamp160 That39s the Advanced Transmission Standards Committee now under review for adoption by the Federal Communications Commission supported by Sinclair Broadcast Group and other TV station groupsStation and station group sales representatives should emphasize circulation when pitching national clients Wertlieb suggested quotWe have 100 percent distribution in every market where cable and broadband donamp8217tquot he saidamp160 quotIt39s a great differentiatorquotamp8220Believe itamp8221 added Lougeeamp160 quotWe39re the belle of the ball when it comes to distributionquotWhen ATSC 30 Advanced Transmission Standards Committee now under review for adoption by the Federal Communications Commission supported by Sinclair Broadcast Group and other TV station groups passes FCC muster and becomes the starting point for a number of initiatives stations can simultaneously handle including delivering content to smart TV sets TVconnected devices and smartphones or launching new multicast networks it will alter the national spot landscape permanently Ripley assertedamp160 quotThe forthcoming opportunity of this industry is to have the best of both worlds broad reach and targeted inventoryquot he saidTegna Fox and other station groups are taking their quest for more national advertising dollars in another direction program development as in launching multiweek trial runs of original series one year within their groups that they can selfdistribute nationally the nextamp160 For example after testing last summer in select markets Fox rolled out two series nationally last month includingamp160Page Six TV based on the famousamp160New York Postamp160newspaper feature which has so far produced a solid audienceamp160 Of three programs being rolled out by Tegna among its stations two are live Sister Circle a weekday morning hour simulcast with cable network TV Oneamp160and Daily Blast LIVEamp160 quotLive matters herequot explained Lougeeamp160 quotWe think the way consumer habits are evolving shows need to be more live and relevantamp160 As an industry we have to innovate on the content sidequotAlthough the process of testing out multiple series is risky Staab believes more station groups should follow the lead of Fox and Tegnaamp160 amp8220We need a better model of syndicationquot she saidamp160 quotPeople don39t appreciate reruns anymoreamp160 I39m all for thisamp8221Sinclair and Hearst illustrate that point as both have drawn substantial audiences for their originalsamp160Full Measureamp160andamp160Matter of Factamp160respectively In factamp160Matteramp160presented a live primetime special on most Hearst stations last month dealing with the opioid epidemicamp160 One or more additional primetime specials are also under considerationA retransmission consent revenue stream that expands next year and beyond will lead to more experimentation with local programming formats Ripley addedamp160 Utimately via ATSC 30 implementation these formats could be personalizedamp160 quotThe more we make on retrans the better local programming we put outquot he notedamp160 quotWe also can address the platform preferences of viewersamp160 I believe viewing will increasingly migrate to personal devices including smart TVsamp160 This migration is going to get strongerquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and 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National Is the New Local for TV Station Revenues

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Simon Applebaum

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National Is the New Local for TV Station Revenues

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