Media Info Bureau

With the FCC today launching an NPRM that would strip net neutrality regulations, South Dakota Republican John Thune has a suggestion. "My preference would be to begin bipartisan work on such legislation without any further delay." The Chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee made the comment on the floor of the Senate today. Here's what else Sen. Thune had to say on what he believes is the restoration of an open internet.

Better and more transparent audience measurement is a demand advertisers are delivering to Facebook, which has a bug in its system. According to The Wall Street Journal, some clients are getting refunds after this bug led the social media giant to overstate clicks on marketers' websites when accessed via a mobile device. Facebook says it's a minor glitch. What do radio and TV executives have to say, and will they use the bug as part of their own "repellent plan"?

In a continuing series from expert sales coach Barrett Riddleberger, a group of sales candidates who you might hire, but fail to meet expectations, are identified. These candidates all have one thing on common: they interview well. "You struggle to hire good salespeople but experience frustration when they fail to achieve their sales goals," Riddleberger says. Here is another example of a type of sales candidate you’ll want to avoid.

How are automation and data revolutionizing local TV ad buying? Atlanta-based Videa has some thoughts on the subject. "We offer order stewardship services, and avails are delivered to the buyer in seconds," Videa explains to first-timers seeking to learn more about its client solutions. Now, the Cox Media Group-owned programmatic TV marketplace has released a White Paper that suggests the shift to computerized client solutions is the new norm for any TV sales executive.

This week saw the NewFronts, the digital media version of the Upfronts. One of the presenters, Trusted Media Brands, announced seven new video series aligned with its Taste of Home, Reader's Digest and The Family Handyman / Haven Home Media properties. Thus, it stands to benefit from the success of digital media. It could explain why it has drafted a study suggesting that short-form pre-roll is set to grow in a big way. Is it "fake news," or is this something radio and TV broadcasters need to be concerned about?

The digital denizens have been actively pushing OTT for several months. The chatter over "cord-cutting" won't cease, and it's crippling big, established players such as ESPN. But, is "OTT" really an acronym for "Overblown Technology Tweet"? The latest data from Hub Entertainment Research begs the suggestion, says RBR+TVBR's Editor-in-Chief in this Intelligence Brief.

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?

An increasingly competitive commercial environment, with intense competition for audiences and advertising revenue from other media companies, has led to the end of broadcasting license fees and datacasting charges. Furthermore, there's been a repeal of the "two out of three" and 75% audience reach media ownership rules. G'day, readers: This is what's happening in Australia.

Slower automotive sales may be leading the way to softening ad revenue in radio, but the radio industry still has significant revenue opportunities in automotive. That's the key takeaway from a new report from The Media Audit. Noting that TV will attract one-third of all ad dollars in 2017, now is the time for radio to act. Learn how you can bounce back from new ways to attract local and regional dollars. We've also chimed in with an RBR + TVBR Observation on radio's automotive spots.

Now that Pandora has its long-awaited subscription-based on-demand platform, can it help the streaming audio company grow? What about iHeartRadio, or Spotify, or Tidal, or ... You get it, the market is crowded. Yet, Glenn Peoples, Pandora Media's Music Insights and Analytics chief, is convinced big growth is set to happen between now and 2021. Is he crazy, or is he right on the money?

Quite some time ago, Erwin Krasnow, partner at Washington, D.C. law firm Garvey Schubert Barer, wrote a poem. The subject: deregulation. Given the push by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly to rid broadcasters of what they perceive is unnecessary rules and restrictions, Krasnow revisited his poem.

In a blog post appearing at Medium and distributed by Pandora, the company's Music Insights and Analytics chief, Glenn Peoples, notes that with the streaming audio company's long-awaited rollout of its on-demand, subscription-based Pandora Premium, there are three tiers and, thus, three ways for artists and labels to connect with listeners and earn royalties. There are also a few different ways royalties get to artists and labels, and Peoples explains just how Sirius XM and AM and FM radio differ from Pandora.

The mid-week news regarding ESPN was bleak: Some 100 layoffs were seen for the sports brand across TV and radio. Yet, one top Wall Street financial analyst says sports programming hasn't lost its importance to traditional TV networks. "As a genre, it represents an outsized source of costs, revenues and strategic leverage between networks and distributors," says this analyst. Learn more about why sports' Power Ratio hasn't ebbed for TV in this Media Information Bureau report.

What does FCC Chairman Ajit Pai have to say about the future of internet regulation? Bret Swanson, a Visiting Fellow at AEI's Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy and president of Entropy Economics LLC, a strategic research firm specializing in technology, may offer a perfect glimpse into Pai's pro-commerce thoughts on "net neutrality," with this Media Information Bureau column.

Featured Media Information Bureau columnist Barrett Riddleberger has made a living out of identifying sales candidates who, when hired, fail to meet expectations. In this latest installment on the topic, Riddleberger offers more insight into why so many bad hires have this one thing in common: The job candidate rocked the job interview.