Intelligence Briefs

While there are costs and revenue synergies to be delivered and assets to be divested, Wall Street analyst Michael Nathanson thinks that the structural pressures facing the industry will negatively weigh on ViacomCBS’s basic and premium cable networks as cord cutting and the attendant pressures likely accelerate. With that said, there is one big unresolved issue facing ViacomCBS.

If you're hiring a sales rep to prospect for leads and acquire new accounts, then don't hire this type of person, warns expert sales trainer Barrett Riddleberger. "Unfortunately, they look like a great candidate, so it's really difficult to know from just an interview," he says.

Over the past 50 years and thousands of station visits, Ken Benner has encountered the best and worst among the broadcasting industry. Past columns were focused on the premise that the most professional individual at the top of this list is one willing to share unselfishly his talent and experience with his/her colleagues, he says. "I suspect I have found the individual at the top of this list."

Among the many attendees at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was Brian Wieser, Global President for Business Intelligence at GroupM. In this column, Wieser notes that there was no shortage of new gadgets at CES 2020. But, do any have a potentially positive -- or negative -- impact on broadcast media?

Want your star sales leader to become a better coach for the AE squad? Expert sales trainer Barrett Riddleberger has studied successful sales managers for years. This has empowered him to pen a Media Information Bureau column focused on four effective strategies that could give your reps a little more fuel to fire up their sales efforts.

After years of product development and experimentation, wearable tech has started to gather pace, building an ecosystem of connected devices that is capturing the hearts and wallets of consumers. Futuresource Consulting's continuing series on top CES 2020 topics continues with this column from James Manning Smith on the "rapid acceleration of device uptake" it is seeing, resulting in a global market value of $108 billion by 2023.

On Tuesday, RBR+TVBR offered commentary from Futuresource Consulting's Luke Pearce on how esports is "edging its way into mainstream consciousness." Today, Pearce offers his analysis on the demand for consumer music hardware -- and the rise of smart speakers.

For their Alternative FCC Compliance Inspection tours, hundreds of Radio and TV Public Inspection Files have been prepped, from scratch, by Ken Benner and his wife, Karen —potentially saving millions of dollars in fines and legal expenses for broadcast licensees. In her honor, Ken shares a published newspaper column he wrote back in June of 1988 that contains great advice for 2020.

On Thursday, an editorial co-written by the Mayor of Dayton, Ohio and a former FCC Commissioner appeared in USA TODAY. It slams the Commission for its approval of Cox Media Group's Apollo deal, which requires the Dayton Daily News to reduce its print schedule from daily distribution in order to comply with FCC rules. In a retort, our editor-in-chief says the FCC isn't to blame: the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is.

So, who are the top 10 advertisers of 2019 by ad spend? How much did these companies spend on TV advertising? Ad sales business intelligence firm MediaRadar crunched the numbers, and has revealed the details just in time for New Year's Eve. One interesting takeaway: There were more than 2,000 newcomers to television advertising in 2019, including PostMates.

Consumer attention has increasingly shifted to connected TVs and the streaming content and advertising that goes along with this new living room. What does this mean for broadcast TV's future? Anthony Acquisti, the Senior Director of Client Success, Advanced Media and Analytics at TiVo -- just acquired by Xperi -- offers these thoughts in an encore column for RBR+TVBR. 

“In an odd-numbered year when there are no major sporting events such as a World Cup or Olympic Games, once again sports has proven to be a most capable genre at bringing millions of viewers around the world to watch their TV.” That's the positive assessment from the author of the just-released Yearly Sport Key Facts report.

In a RBR+TVBR Observation, our editor-in-chief shares just a little bit of his bachelor party weekend experience in Key West, Fla. Really? Well ... he's got some things to say about what a carful of guys listened to on a four-hour car ride, both ways, and about Dish Network.

For many years, the legendary Jerry Miller served as Chief Engineer for a Twin Cities AM. Upon his retirement, Miller joined FCC staff across the U.S. and columnist Ken Benner to greatly improve the integrity of the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program. This encore column from Benner could save your media properties cash.

Short :06 ads have now become a regular feature of the digital media landscape. Now, new research conducted by MediaScience for online video portal Vevo suggests there's an even greater potential opportunity associated with such short ads.