Media Info Bureau

The penetration of Internet-connected TVs among U.S. broadband households has grown from 50% in 2013 to 74% at the end of 2016

Barrett Riddleberger is a sales trainer who has invested the last two decades of his life helping salespeople and sales leaders become more successful. In this Media Information Bureau column, Riddleberger offers a little "spring reading," with the 10 books that he recommends the most to people seeking new inspiration in their sales career. Only one of these books is about sales.

As noted by the IAB, digital advertising is the No. 1 advertising medium in the U.S. According to eMarketer, TV advertising came in at $71.3 billion. Recon Analytics cannot underestimate the significance of this event, and in this Media Information Bureau intelligence brief, notes that advertisers demanding efficiency and effectiveness measurements "have voted with their wallets to make digital advertising the biggest spend category." What does this mean for you?

On Saturday, June 10, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stopped by a Wyoming Broadcasters meeting and said, in part, “Last month, the FCC launched a comprehensive review of our media regulations. Our goal is clear: We want to figure out how to update our rules to match the realities of today’s media marketplace." In the view of Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner, this isn't the first time such FCC efforts have been attempted, only to be destroyed with the well-funded lobbying of Members of Congress.

That's the attention-grabbing headline plastered on the promotional announcement for the release of the latest Quarterly TV Attention Report from TVision Insights. The TVision report seeks to tell advertisers which demographics truly engage with television, which TV shows hold viewer interest, and which brands combine engaging content with effective media planning in order to garner the most attention. The Q2 2017 report yielded three key conclusions.

A RBR+TVBR reader reached out to featured Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner, recalling how he inspected nearly all of Alaska's broadcast radio and TV stations as an independent Alternative FCC Compliance Certification Inspector. "It was clear from the start of our conversation that my best interests were not intended by this person," Benner says. But, he listened, as this reader inquired how Benner could "certify" a station that was recently the recipient of a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture from the FCC. Here's what Benner had to say.

In this column, Barrett Riddleberger, CEO of xPotential Selling, reveals two critical pieces of information about an underperforming sales rep. If the manager had access to this information during the hiring process, they would not have hired this sales rep. Instead, they would have kept looking for a better sales candidate.

Consumers experienced greater employment and steady, or slightly increased, income in 2017. However, they're less optimistic about the economy in 2018. That's the big takeaway from the fifth annual ThinkNow Pulse Total Market Consumer Sentiment Report, just released from ThinkNow Research. There's more: ThinkNow found striking contrasts on consumer expectations across a representative sample of multicultural consumers and non-Hispanic whites in the U.S.

If you have a sales rep (or sales team) that is not hitting their quota, this Media Information Bureau column from regular contributor Barrett Riddleberger is just for you. Anytime you have an underperforming sales rep, there is always a reason. The goal of the C-Suite? Find the source of the problem and remedy it, even if it involves the top executives.

AM and FM station owners are giddy over the opportunities that smart speakers bring for increased listening in the home. Now, data from Edison Research's just-released "The Infinite Dial: Heavy Radio Listeners" finds that one in five of broadcast radio's biggest users already own such a device.

"Your sales reps can differentiate themselves by asking great questions," says featured Media Information Bureau columnist Barrett Riddleberger. "However, the art of the follow-up question can really set them apart." With that, Riddleberger offers the following advice, meant for C-Suiters to share with their reps as a guide for improved sales performance.

"Have you ever wondered how radio, television and other media outlets decide what shows to broadcast or to cancel?" That's the opening pitch in a letter randomly received last week at a Florida household from Nielsen. Here's the scoop on how the nation's dominant audience measurement company seeks PPM panelists.

On September 6, Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner offered readers details of his conversation with a regional Commission engineer who agreed to provide an outline of what, in his view, are the most significant items he looks for when visiting a station during a random inspection. It turns out the FCC engineer had more to share. Here's more from Benner that could help your stations avoid costly forfeitures or U.S Treasury consent decree payments.

Forget about Election Day. The holiday shopping season has already started, and retailers are anticipating a banner year for sales. According to newly released data from eMarketer, low unemployment, strong income growth and high consumer confidence will combine to make the 2018 Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa shopping season an exceptionally strong one for retailers. Both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers are poised to benefit.

It’s 2019, and to mark the new year featured columnist Ken Benner has pledged to de-clutter his 60+ years of collected broadcast industry documents. He's in his second month of shredding, and just uncovered an item he challenges anyone "to find anything so pathetically and disgustingly over-complicated in the massive historical files of FCC regulations."