Media Info Bureau

"Don't get fooled by another sales candidate," says expert sales trainer Barrett Riddleberger. "Uncover the truth about their capacity to perform." This Media Information Bureau installment gives you the answer to what you're missing in your hiring process, he promises.

Traditional media channels will get more than half of QSRs’ spend in 2019, new research from BIA Advisory Services notes. However, most of the growth in local ad spend will come from digital media channels. Where does that leave broadcast radio and television?

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?

What are the major investment themes for the Internet, Media & Communications sectors investors should be aware of across 2020? Jeffrey Wlodarczak, Principal and Entertainment/Interactive Subscription Services Analyst at Wall Street firm Pivotal Research Group, has highlighted where he sees the best long and short opportunities based on these themes.

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.

A top creator of scalable video commerce technology has launched a comprehensive shoppable video experience via new partnerships with smart TV pioneer LG Electronics and such media companies as WarnerMedia, A+E Networks, Crown Media Family Networks, and NBC Universal.

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.

As the world rang in the new year, the U.S. Census Bureau projected the nation's population total. As of January 1, 2020, the total number of people living in the United States rose by 0.61% from exactly one year ago. Since Census Day 2010, the population has grown by 7%.

The linear television market, on a two-year compound average growth rate (CAGR) basis, was down 1.5% for the whole of the 2018-19 season on an average weekly ad spend metric. Standard Media Index calls this a moderate decline in advertiser demand, and it fails to keep pace with "much larger supply losses" — a.k.a. TV viewing. When combined, advertiser CPMs are up.