Author Archives: Susan Cregan

I love TV!

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I do love television. I love watching it, I love talking about it, and I love reading recaps of the shows I just watched the night before. It works out well that I am in media so I can pretend that all the tv I watch is necessary research for my job. That excuse worked on my husband for a couple of years until he realized I didn’t spend as much time “researching” other media vehicles at home. But how can I recommend “Housewives of New Jersey” if I haven’t seen all the episodes? It just can’t be done.

With the announcements of the 2009 – 2010 Fall schedules, it is now up to media buyers to start thinking about fourth quarter before the summer even starts. The challenge is to project the popularity of new and returning shows with only snippets to guide us in our estimates. Will Ugly Betty continue to lose her audience on Fridays? How will Scrubs do with a semi-new cast and new focus?

While we use a myriad of research tools at our disposal, past performance does not guarantee future success. . Buyers spend countless hours trying to predict what viewers will enjoy 4 months from now and then wait on pins and needles to see if they were correct. If you have a media department or even know a media person, take some time to pick their brain and get some insight into the process. It is an interesting mix of math and psychology

It’s not always easy, but it is always interesting. See the new fall schedule here- and start making your own predictions.

Stop! My ears are bleeding

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Ad Age reported on March 16th that a California state rep introduced has H.R. 6209. It is also pleasantly known as the “Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act”. What do they want? Softer commercials. When do they want it? During their favorite television shows.

While I get the concept that louder commercials will cut through the clutter and viewers will pay attention, I don’t know that I believe it. If people need to keep their remotes at the ready in order to lower commercial volumes, that can’t be good for anybody. Once that remote is itching in the hand it is so much easier to start clicking around. We all lose then. The advertiser, the station and the viewer who might not make it back.

What do you think? Is being loud a necessary evil to get people’s attention or is it more important to potentially keep that remote on the couch?

— Susan Cregan

Tivos, DVRs and Timeshifted viewing – Oh my!

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So, the audience watching timeshifted tv has increased by 36% from the previous year. Locally, 26% of Rochesterarians have DVRs. That means more and more people are able to fast forward through your commercials that were so lovingly created. How can we be sure that people are actually seeing the commercials and not flying through them?

It is important to look at your media buy and see where you may lose the eyeballs. Are you running in highly DVRd shows such as Lost, The Office or Heroes? On average more that 20% of their viewers are watching it on their DVR. If you are buying a lot of news and sports, your commercials are pretty safe. Look at purchasing the first spot in or last spot out of break, or you may consider buying spots online before news stories to support your campaign. Yes, it’s annoying to sit through a commercial online, but I’ll take forced viewership over fast forwarded viewership any day. Now is the time for media people to show their creativity.

Of course as media people, we all complain about the DVRs and Hulu.com taking away our “Must See TV” but I’ll tell you a secret…I don’t know any person in media that doesn’t use their DVR. Obsessively. I don’t think I have watched a show at the programmed time in 6 years. Buffy, how I miss you.