Curated by Stuart Fogarty stuart@admaticallycom for AFAO'Meara Advertising, Streamabout The Video Agency and Admatic Ireland.
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Now this is a gem that cheers you up! From 1975 it features the bands best known tracks 'Good lovin' gone bad' and 'Feel like makin' love' but every song is terrific. 'Weep no more', the classic 'Shooting Star' (story of a rock star who dies early seemingly about Hendrix) 'Call on me' and the beautiful 'Anna' all make it a great Album. Paul Rodgers the lead singer had left 'Free' with Simon Kirke who both formed Bad Company ("All right now") and Rodgers vocals are superb (he later toured with Queen post Freddie Mercury). It was their second album in a classic 'hard rock' vein with their first Album being a great success. So they were very much in the groove. Paul Kossoff (Koss) also a former 'Free' member was always on the fringes of Bad Company and expected to tour until his sudden death in 1976 (aged 26) on an airplane of all places, from heroin problems. He has to be considered as one of the greatest guitarists of all time and his headstone epitaph reads, 'All right now'. His father David, a well known actor, spent his life as an anti-drug campaigner after Paul's David. They were a very British band and very much of the era, but the Album is timeless. It's ballady and rocky but really interesting stuff that gets you going. Don't get put off either by the 'heavy rock' label, it's much more than that with great melodies. One you can always put on when sitting at home. Or in the office as we did. A real gem to have. Have a listen and you'll get a sense...
The growing crisis in TV Ad slump of ratings, continues. A Report today in The Irish independent, "TV ads slump as viewers move to Netflix", showed a -25% slump in viewership from TAM (Nielsen) data in Ireland. Particularly acute amongst 15-34's and Housekeepers with children between 2013 and 2015. Comreg also reported that 9% of Irish households have Netflix but a huge 18% of homes in Dublin have ad-free Netflix (which is the real market), spending a whopping 7 hours viewing a week. 14% of those subscribers now no longer watch live traditional TV. Therefore the traditional TV universe (the potential for an Irish audience to see Ads) has slumped. We did of course know that, but it flies in the face of PR being put out by broadcasters claiming TV viewing remains static or growing. It isn't. Just search 'TV' in the top left Search bar of this blog and you'll see many stories over many years, saying just that. Today too, 'Ad Age' reports "No end in sight for TV ratings freefall..." again using Nielsen data to show that only 3 US shows year-on-year show ratings gain. NFL Football (live sports) being one of the three. The average ratings decline, similar to Ireland, is -25%. Of course, the story here is the switch to online digital video, growth that Streamabout only knows too well. And the Ad dollars will follow albeit at a slower pace. Indeed Facebook now reporting over 8 billion video views a day! In essence, they're broadcasting a Superbowl every day! But what it does mean is that traditional TV broadcasters are going to have Ad sales difficulties unless they're state supported (RTE for example, receive circa 180 million euro from the Irish Government we believe). Clients need to take cognisance too that TV is no longer the mainstay medium for brands - online video is. We can build brands, deliver more effective results and do it for less. The TV game is up.
Sorry, we just loved this. RTE Reporter (teresa mannion whom we know) reports from a watery stormy town. And here's the remix.....by 'Super Ceili'. Well done boys and girls, lovely bit of editing....
