Intelligence Briefs

The cord-cutting movement is no longer just about saving money on cable versus streaming. Subscription fees for streaming services continue to rise. At the same time, choices are multiplying. Are cord cutters still saving money?

Global marketing firm WARC has released its latest Global Advertising Trends report, with the subject of "Next Generation TV." The study focuses on where ad dollars flowed in 2020. To little surprise, streaming platforms are siphoning dollars, pounds, euros and more away from linear video opportunities.

To better understand the consumer reaction in Michigan to the launch of sports betting, Cumulus Media and its Westwood One national radio arm commissioned MARU/Matchbox to conduct a study of 700 Michigan adults aged 21 and older. The findings are now being shared.

The FCC’s Online Public Inspection File server for radio and television broadcasters has been “live” for nearly three years. Much has been written about what goes in the OPIF, and when. And, the FCC provides a good summary online. Little attention has been paid, however, to what comes out of the OPIF: the co-equal obligation to remove expired material.

Stonecom Radio owner Larry Stone came to Tennessee in 1997 to build a new radio station group serving the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee from the ground up. Now, he's frustrated and has something to say about the state of the industry. In short, Stone laments, "We are a crisis point in radio." Why? He points to syndication company frustrations of late.

Here's something you may find weird: The time spent watching television increased across 2020. Yet, eMarketer analysis finds, viewership "plummeted" last year. The data suggest television was punished by COVID-19 in very much the same way broadcast Radio was.

The Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio (MIW) Group has just released its 2020 Annual Gender Analysis study. It tracks the career progress of women in radio broadcasting rising to the ranks of management. "Even with the unpredictability of 2020, you will still see glimmers of hope within the findings," they say.

GroupM released a blog post on Friday that shares more details on how it is operationalizing data ethics with a proprietary scoring logic, criteria, and standardization tool. The topic could be of key interest to broadcast TV and radio executives. As such, we are sharing it in its entirety to RBR+TVBR Members.

In this Media Information Bureau column, veteran programming consultant Clark Smidt writes about "Smooth transitions, new styles, new challenges, adjustments, attitude, cooperation and teamwork." It could prove to be a catalyst for positive growth at your radio or TV stations.

The deadline to file the 2020 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is Saturday, January 30, reflecting programming aired during the 2020 calendar year. But, since this date falls on a weekend, you have until the end of day Monday to make your submissions, Scott and Lauren Flick of Pillsbury Law note.

A new report from Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst of Internet and Media Michael Levine notes that, while impressive, the Q4 2020 results Facebook shared pale in comparison to something even more eye-popping. That would be Facebook's first-half revenue projections for 2021.

As summer turned to autumn and fall turned to winter, Americans once again found themselves in front of their screens with few linear options — aside from live news and sports. In contrast, Nathanson says, consumers had access to "an unlimited bouquet of increasingly excellent streaming content choices." Is broadcast TV losing the content war to "SVOD"?

"Linear TV viewing is at a crossroads, given the shift away from scheduled, appointment viewing on TV, but consumers are voracious when it comes to wanting to stay informed," Nielsen says in a new report released for the virtual NATPE Miami conference. "That elevates the opportunity for news programming across local, national and cable."

Four years ago, the AEI played a key role in establishing a policy and regulatory path for an FCC under Republican Party control, led by Chairman Ajit Pai. As AEI visiting scholar Mark Jamison looks back on the Commission's Trump-era actions, he believes Pai will be remembered "as one of the most consequential Federal Communications Commission chairmen in history."

Although headphones were already trending upwards, COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home rules has accelerated the adoption. The rise of remote working, remote schooling and the growth of gaming have all made their positive contributions, too. What’s more, there’s further potential from health and hearing augmentation use cases, this Futuresource analyst says.