Welcome to the thirty-third edition of State of the Screens.
1. In New NFL Deal, Verizon Trades Mobile Exclusivity for Rights on Yahoo
Verizon agreed to pay $2.25B over 5 years to expand its ability to live stream NFL games beyond Verizon mobile phones.
What games can Verizon live stream?
1) In-market
2) National (non-prime time)
3) Pre-season
4) Playoff (including Super Bowl)
DirecTV (NFL Sunday Ticket) still holds the rights to out of market games through the end of the 2022–23 season.
Which properties can Verizon live stream on?
1) Yahoo
2) Yahoo Sports
3) Go90
4) NFL Mobile app
Digital is growing, but still only accounts for 7% of the $7B+ in annual sports rights that the NFL rakes in.
Advertising = goal? Verizon’s previous deal appeared to focus on increasing cell phone subscribers. This deal appears much more focused on selling ads and primarily addressable ads using Verizon’s treasure trove of data.
Small audience = high CPM? We previously attempted to estimate what Amazon would have to charge advertisers to break even on its $50m investment in streaming rights for ThursdayNight Football.
Keep in mind. The average CPM for NFL football on TV is ≈ $40.
Flashback. Amazon’s NFL audience beat Twitter’s — but is still much smaller than TV
Streaming viewership for first NFL Thursday night game (% of total viewership):
1) 2016 (Twitter): 243K (2.5%)
2) 2017 (Amazon): 372K (1.6%)
2. Midterms To Set Ad Spending Record, New Guerrilla Tactics Too
Borrell Associates recently released updated projections for political spend in 2018.
Top platforms for $8.5B local spend (% of total):
1) Broadcast TV: $3.4B (40%)
2) Digital: $1.9B (22%)
3) Cable TV: $994M (12%)
4) Radio: $564M (7%)
5) Newspapers: $553M (7%)
6) Telemarketing: $481M (6%)
7) Out-of-home: $317M (3%)
TV vs. Digital only (% of total):
1) Broadcast/Cable TV: $4.4B (70%)
2) Digital: $1.9B (30%)
NOTE: The digital number includes all costs (fundraising, list building, etc.) beyond just digital video.
Digital spend in politics has grown 135X since 2010!
More. Kantar: Stations To See $2.4B Political In ‘18
3. Hulu Live passes 440 stations, leads vMVPD local arms race
Hulu recently added 30+ additional local affiliates to it’s streaming service.
Strategy. Hulu is leading the affiliate race with 440 stations covering 189 markets (2.3 stations/market). YouTube is only available in 84 markets and they are attempting to only service markets where they can offer the major broadcast stations (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox).
Flashback:
1) vMVPD affiliate deals easier to execute, no less costly
2) CBS Sets Digital MVPD Distribution Pact With Affiliates
4. How Much Each Broadcast Net’s TV Ratings Are Down From Last Year — So Far
Change in average ratings for adults 18–49 (2017 vs. 2017):
1) NBC: 2.4, -8%
2) CBS: 1.8, -14%
3) Fox: 1.9, -17%
4) ABC: 1.6, -16%
5) The CW: 0.6, -14%
Change in average ratings for all viewers (2017 vs. 2017):
1) CBS: 9.9m, -6%
2) NBC: 9.0m, -3%
3) ABC: 6.6m, -9%
4) Fox: 6.2m, -14%
5) The CW: 1.8m million, -4%
More. Where TV Ratings Go From Here
Less than 9% of TV households watch one of the 4 major networks on average.
Flashback. Media Use: Smartphones Up, TV Down — With TV Viewers Growing More Selective
% of viewers reached through one primetime spot on each of the big 3 networks:
1) 35 years ago: ≈ 100%
2) Today: 5%
An advertiser would have to buy ads on 135 different TV networks today to equal the reach from major networks 35 years ago!
Buy deep. The audience on TV is massive and it still accounts for 85% of the video spend. Reaching the highest possible % of your audience is going to require a drastically more complex media plan than a few years ago.
5. The 10 Most Watched Ads on YouTube in 2017
YouTube breaks down the 10 most watched ads of 2017.
Title (length — views):
1) Samsung India Service (SVC) — We’ll take care of you, wherever you are. #SamsungService (4m — 150m)
2) Clash Royale: The Last Second (Official Commercial) (49s — 111m)
3) Ping Pong Trick Shots 3 | Dude Perfect (sponsored by Oreo) (7m 16s — 91m)
4) Miss Dior — The new Eau de Parfum (45s — 43m)
5) Budweiser 2017 Super Bowl Commercial | “Born The Hard Way” (1m — 29m)
6) 2017 Kia Niro | “Hero’s Journey” Starring Melissa McCarthy (1m 12s — 26m)
7) adidas Originals | ORIGINAL is never finished (1m 30s — 25m)
8) iPhone 7 — The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day — Apple (3m 35s — 25m)
9) Levi’s “Circles” Commercial l Full (1m 30s — 22m)
10) Mr. Clean | 2017 Super Bowl Ad | Cleaner of Your Dreams (30s — 18m)
7 out of 10 (70%) of these ads would not be able to run on television due to length.
Flashback:
1) The 25 Best Ads of 2017 (So Far)
2) Pre-Mature Decoration: Brands Deck the Halls, But Are Viewers Paying Attention?
