Curated by Stuart Fogarty stuart@admaticallycom for AFAO'Meara Advertising, Streamabout The Video Agency and Admatic Ireland.
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Ah look, what can you say. John Lewis just do it better year after year. Or should I say their Agency - Adam&Eve DDB. But also the Client has to be having a role here because you just couldn't get this brilliance year after year otherwise. With an Oasis track too. Can't think we've seen anything better in a long, long time. It's just outstanding. To Absent friends.
Nils Lofgren must be tired everytime he's mentioned as being part of 'The E Street Band' (replacing Steve Van Zandt in 84). He still is with Springsteen, but he's had a superb solo career. He's done a huge lot with Springsteen (Born in the USA, Tunnel of Love to name a few) and indeed with Mr. Young's Crazy Horse (playing piano/guitar on After the Goldrush, Tonights the Night) but should have more recognition in his own right. Born in Chicago (his Dad was Swedish, hence the name) and in 1977 he released this double live Album. "I came to dance" is probably his best known track but 'Keith don't go', a tribute to Keith Richards, is so well regarded and both are here. Add to that, 'Back it up', 'Moon Tears', 'Going Back' and 'Code of the Road', you have an excellent rock album. Hard to get the Album but if you can find it, it's really worth it. As he is. And if he see him playing live, just go! His 'Acoustic live' from 1997 gives a real insight into a virtuoso guitarist and notably there, you'll find a terrific version of 'Keith don't go'. Don't believe us, have a listen (especially from 3 minutes on...)
Facebook does it again. It beat all earnings expectations in Q3. Revenue 4.5 Billion usd, up +41% (staggering). 78% Revenue comes from Mobile. 1.55 Billion monthly active users. Active Daily average, users up +17% (1 billion). But look at online Video numbers... 8 BILLION Video views a day (that's up from 4 Billion in April). See? It's all about Video! 500 million users watch video every single day. 1.5 million small Businesses, posted a Video in September. So their stock is at an all-time high with +25% on mid August prices. Stunning yet again.
Candy Crush game maker, King Digital Entertainment is selling to Activision Blizzard for, wait for it, 5.9 Billion usd. Activision makes Call of Duty (that's the excellent Call of Duty) and the deal pushes them to the top of interactive games. Now they'll have half a billion monthly active users in 126 countries and Candy Crush is big on mobile (60% users are female) representing about a third of King's total revenue. It started on Facebook. Needing approvals, it should go through early 2016 but just shows you how valuable online gaming has become.
'The Sun' UK newspaper has scrapped its paywall. Instead it's offering all of their website content for free following the appointment recently of Rebekah Brooks. It's the biggest selling UK tabloid and has had a paywall since mid-2013 with over 30 million monthly unique visitors. So clearly the view here is that subs aren't as lucrative as Digital Advertising opportunities. By maximising viewers in taking down the paywall, they'll maximise digital advertising as Mail online have done. It's estimated that already it has brought in another 800,000+ viewers a day. Lessons here....
The Republican Presidential Debate of Wednesday, gets lower viewer numbers for CNBC. 14 million viewers on average.....but that's down on the previous Fox debates of 23/24 million. CNN's Democratic Debate got 15 million+. Still, it broke CNBC records. It was their most watched programme ever. They had sold out airtime at 250k usd for 30 seconds. Good value? Absolutely on any cpt basis. Just looking at online activity and notably YouTube views, seems to be pretty low. But there again, it was pretty dull....except for this 'cage match' bit....
There's a super documentary going about, showing the making of Tubular Bells in 1973. Well worth a watch and you'll see it an the end of this (BBC). A shy 19 year old, Mike Oldfield, created and played (pretty much) the whole Album (which has no vocals except Viv Stanshall announcing the instruments) around basically, one tune. The instruments were layered over an 16 track (!) in a place called 'The Manor' which Richard Branson used as a "hot bed" for musicians. John Cale, The Stranglers recorded there and indeed, Van's 'Wavelength' but it has been closed since and now a country home. The Fender Telecaster using by Oldfield, had belonged to Marc Bolan and in fact, the Tubular Bells he used, had been left over from a John Cale recording session. Betcha' didn't know that! Of course too, what made the Album infamous, was that it was the first big break by Richard Branson's new Virgin Records (catalogues as V2001) although the documentary makes clear, our Richard wasn't exactly a big music head, just a businessman. It was infamous too, that snippets (the piano solo) of the Album were used in The Exorcist Movie. Oldfield performed it at the UK 2012 Opening ceremony for The Olympics but he was never a big live performer even when the Album came out. Now 62, he still comes across both as a nice bloke and hugely talented. The "Fame thing" got to him and he never really duplicated the success but then, how could you. The Album nearly went into obscurity. It was released for a year and becoming forgotten before Sales started to take off and sell it did. Massively. Really nice addition to any record collection and great music in an Office, or anywhere. That's not to denigrate it one jot - it is a gem. Streamabout people loved it anyway....the opening just sends you off.
And here's the doc. If you've time, you'll enjoy it....
Not that it will come as any great surprise, but according to Business Insider, Digital Advertising is to continue its march - and change the face of Advertising/Media. Mobile will show fastest growth +25%, Video Advertising will overtake Search (Yipee!) +22%, Social Media will grow +14% and of course Programmatic Buying will rise. BUT, wait for it...... Traditional Media will remain flat until 2020. And that makes perfect sense because Digital delivers guaranteed Results, Traditional is 'hit and miss'. There can be little doubt that Traditional Media is dying. And the practitioners of it, notably those who've been rubbishing Digital, will go with it. A Sea Change. At last. Streamabout creates video and places it. Just a by the way......
Interesting to see that Politics is becoming good business for the TV networks... CNBC has seemingly sold out its airtime for today's Republican Presidential Debate. 250k usd for 30 seconds, 5 times the usual rate and +25% more than the last debate. They bring in about 25 million viewers although the Hilary Democratic debates only get about 14 million. Of course, there's one big factor for the Republicans. Trump.
'After the Goldrush' (1970) has already got a spot in what "we're listening to" and now Neil gets a second time. 'Harvest' is from 1972 and features The London Symphony Orchestra (honest guv) and was the best selling Album that year. No surprise because 'Heart of Gold' became every new guitar player's first lesson. The harmonica opening is just iconic. That's James Taylor too, doing backing vocals. 'Needle and the damage done' is actually recorded live and listen closely, you'll hear the audience clap at the start. 'A man needs a maid' is a cracking track as is 'Old Man' (for Young's old caretaker buddy). The older you get, the more cracking it becomes. This Album is Folk but it's Country. Mellow and charming. People in Streamabout have seen him live three times and not impressed, although he has a good reputation for gigs. Funny that. CSN are on there too but by this time they'd fallen out really since 1970 but go back together in '74. Young is Canadian by the way and 70. A really prolific songwriter and a leader. And Harvest is so well worth a look. It fits beautifully with 'After The Goldrush' as must haves, in any self-respecting record collection. Heart of Gold, hear you go. 1971 (and look at the views. 47m+....)
There's very little argument out there, about what is the definitive Led Zeppelin Album. It's Led Zep IV (4). Now you might not like the Band as such, or like heavier rock, but this is worth a listen and we loved it in Streamabout for a change. Of course, what made it famous was 'Stairway to Heaven' the iconic song of the 70's probably but 'Battle of Evermore', 'Rock and Roll', 'Going to California' are terrific too. It was the Band's 4th album (obviously) from 1971 but you've probably never noted, it has no title and not on the cover which was hotly contested at the time between Page and the Record Company. Not only that, the Album sleeve has no notes or printing of any kind. So it just became known as Led Zep 4 only because it was their fourth whilst in fact, it's an Album without a name (actually, there's a song in that about a horse....). See? lots of interesting stuff here! The 19th century painting on the front cover was bought in a local shop by vocalist Robert Plant and photographed on a derelict building wall to contract the old and the new. Produced by legendary guitarist Jimmy Page (nearly as good as Ritchie Blackmore but pipped at the post we'd say), it's still one of the biggest selling Albums of all time. Page, Plant, Bassist John Paul Jones (real name John Baldwin I kid you not) and Drummer John Bonham (who died at 32 in 1980 having taken a lot of alcohol and choked) were the Band. And this is their best moment. Hard to listen to the Album and not be invigorated. We are all a bit tired of 'Stairway to Heaven', and you'll know it well, but it does sum up the record. So what we have here is another version which is deadly cool from Rodrigo and Gabriela (which in turn helped make them famous). Have a listen you'll love it!
Facebook are really pushing Video. And to be fair, they're very much at the forefront of Video developments. With 4 Billion Video views a day (from their earnings call in April 2015) they're now getting close to YouTube (Google). Although Facebook deliver Video better than YouTube because of the relevance of placing video in defined News feeds on Facebook. It's better than searching and advertisers get what they need. They're now experimenting with 'Suggested Video' as a feature where users watch one video and then get offered similar videos that might be of interest - and therefore, growing video views, growing video revenue. They're also looking at better ways to display video like 'floating' in news feeds. Streamabout make and place, Video. We know the market and we do know that the video explosion is in no small way thanks to Facebook. Good on them.
Watching 'The Martian' in 3D (by the way, if it has Ridley Scott written on it, it's always good) and up comes Bowie's 'Starman' on the soundtrack. Which makes you want to put on Bowie and so we did. Actually, he's David Jones in fact and changed it because he was confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees. And you won't know that Bowie was a session man and did the backing vocals on Lou Reed's 'Transformer' (take a walk on the wild side...). I know people talk about great records like 'PinUps', 'Ziggy Stardust', 'Heroes', 'Aladdin Sane', 'Diamond Dogs' and 'Hunky Dory' as classics but we keep going back to David 'Live'. Two reasons really....one an overwhelming need to play 'Rebel Rebel' loud, which is superb here as is a great salsa version of 'Jean Genie'. Mind you, there's an almost equally cracking version of 'Rebel Rebel' that opens the 'Reality' Album (2003). Well worth checking that out and he hasn't done a live gig since 2006. Another reason to give 'David Live' the vote is that they're all here - '1984', 'Changes', 'Suffragette City', 'Aladdin Sane', 'Space Oditty', 'Diamond Dogs' and 'Jean Genie' - so it's a great overall intro to Bowie. From a 1974 gig in Philadelphia (he didn't really breakthrough until 'Fame' in 1975), this marking the end of his 'Ziggy' time and problems with Coke. The Album didn't do very well critically but was strong enough commercially. It came out as a double Album and we think it's much better now, looking back. Really better. In fact, sometimes it's worth buying an Album for one track alone and if that's the case, 'Rebel Rebel' is worth it as you'll hear on the link below (track 2 in the first part). It's also good to be reminded of genius and that, he was. No question. The heart of British rock and roll.
There's some irony in here around Ivan Morrison. Firstly, one of our Streamabout crew is a lifelong fan; Secondly another of the crew's daughter is in the same school class as Van's son; Thirdly he lives near Streamabout's offices (5 minutes away) so we see him out and about and lastly he's just turned 70. Add to that, the whole Van collection just went up this week on Imusic. We mentioned 'Moondance' in our blog before, but thought we'd put on another gem, a classic - "It's too late to stop now". A live double album from 1974 (so Van was only 29, extraordinary in itself). Uniquely too, it was the first live album not to have over-dubs which means it's an exact copy of the live show with nothing added afterwards. Hence a recording of 'Moondance' was not included because it just wasn't perfect live. Recorded at LA's 'Troubadour' and London's 'Rainbow', you can hear Van as the band leader which he always was, conducting everything. But this is probably his tightest, best band ever - Jef Labes on Piano, "Brother" Jack Schroer on Sax, John Platania on Guitar, David Hayes on Bass - backed by a superb string section (Nancy Olson/Ellis on Viola) and a class horn section. 'Into the mystic' of course is here from Moondance as is a superb version of 'Caravan'. (In fact, if you want to hear the band and Van at his incredible best, listen to 'Caravan'. You can hear him direct the sound - "turn it up!") 'Wild children' tells you his age ("We were the wild children, born 1945, when all the soldiers can marching home from war..."), 'Gloria' (as in Patti Smith), 'Cyprus Avenue' (A Belfast street), and a lovely 'St. Dominic's Preview'. But it's all magical. Mystical. It came after 'Moondance', 'Hard nose the highway', 'Tupelo Honey', 'Astral Weeks' (aged 23 btw) and so on - so it's right in that really creative Van time. You won't do better than this. You just won't. It's one of the all time great live Albums at the very, very least. And here's the real deal.....
One of the great quotes in here was when we were talking about The Beatles, one genuinely said, that they preferred them "when they were Wings". Right, understood.....
But Paul McCartney's 5th Album post Beatles (left 1970), was with Wings and 'Band on the Run' - it is their seminal Album. The Album cover featuring well known celebs of the time in 1973 (not unlike Sgt. Peppers?) was very talked about too - convicts in a prison spotlight. James Coburn, Christopher Lee, Michael Parkinson (really) and Clement Freud are all there.
"Jet" and of course, "Band on the run" got huge airplay making this McCartney's most commercially successful record to date. It was actually recorded in Nigeria (betcha' didn't know that) where Paul and Linda were robbed at knife point during the making.
It also marked the end of Henry McCullough with the Band, who rowed with Paul in rehearsals and quit leaving Denny Laine (ex Moody Blues) to take up the slack.
"Bluebird", "Let me roll it" and "Helen Wheels" (only on some versions btw) are standout tracks too. But it's really pretty great all round whether you like McCartney or not. We don't and we did if you get our meaning.
Have a listen to 'Band on the Run' and the opening bars were so recognisable to a generation - in a 'Parklife' or 'London Calling' way. Magic.
'Oyster', often called 'The Netflix of books' is to close its doors. Which surprised all of us! Started in 2013, the concept was to have unlimited access to books for a monthly fee of 9.95 usd. Just seemed like a great idea...however, its demise is blamed both on a lack of publishers (so a lack of availability of some books) and competition from Amazon Kindle through their own "unlimited" subscription model. Scribd is still going strong. To be fair too, Oyster seems to be winding down with promises of subscription returns on so on. Really such a pity for such a great little idea.
You have to forget 'Do you think I'm sexy' when you think Rod Stewart. Atlantic Crossing is one of the great Albums and he's had a few early on. It was his 6th from 1975. Of course his old 'Faces' pal and Stones legend Ronnie Wood is not here and the Album is very mellow, very soulful. In fact following this record he quit The Faces for a solo career. Stewart sings like an angel. Deep, smoky vocal with Booker T on the Hammond Organ. Real deep south. 'This old heart of mine' is the stealer track, but 'I don't want to talk about it', 'it's not the spotlight' and 'Still love you' are gems too. 'Sailing' is here as well and you can, well, take it or leave it. But ignore Rod Stewart at your peril. His early days were just stunning and this album is one of those key moments. Trust us....
YouTube have a problem....with Video. Although they've always said they don't want to be a 'programmer' in the Netflix vein, their problem is that they've lots of content but it's hard to find and possibly not as "entertaining". Lots of video about rather mundane things but.... you need to know what you're looking for. 300 hours of video uploaded every minute (!) and there's over a billion videos on the platform all lacking categorisation. It doesn't have a 'series' to push like 'Narcos' or 'House of Cards'. Their Channel strategy was in itself, an attempt to collate videos in one place, to be easy to find. But it's been slow. Added to that, video competition from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo,Snapchat has in some ways, diminished the YouTube effect. But because video is hard to find, advertisers are having a job spending money too. So YouTube is re-organising. Developing Apps to highlight popular sections (like gaming), 360 degree video and a subscription 'Ad free' service which is probably an attempt to deal with Ad Blocking software too. They realise that they need to be better programmers as it turns out. They are planning some bespoke content and possibly re-broadcasting TV content with what seems, an emphasis on kids content. Interesting that the king of video now has a problem with it.....
The Washington Post has started to block the ad blockers. So if you have an Ad blocker installed, you won't get access to their articles. Whilst it reduces traffic, the point is, that there's no future in having traffic unless it's watching the Ads. Basically, you get a pop-up when you log onto the Post and they ask you to disable the Ad blocker on your browser if you want access (people who do, will be tiny). But they say it's "a test". However, if Ad blocking continues at the extraordinarily high rate it is (circa 198 million users), especially in that lucrative younger demographic, online newspapers simply won't exist. Subscriptions alone, won't cover it. Already, Ad revenue losses to Ad blockers is estimated at 22 Billion usd - don't worry about the actual number because all you need to know is that it's high. Very high and getting very higher! Ads slow down websites and so Ad blockers improve the browsing experience. Furthermore too, people do not like being cookie tracked by advertisers so that's driving the Ad blocking. And it's hard to see how it will halt and therefore, it's hard to see online publishers dealing with it. Therefore, they need to move to other formats - such as native content and video - which is impossible to block. Fighting the Ad blockers is frankly, like standing on the beach trying to push out the tide.
Actually, one of the Streamabout crew's great claim to fame is that they were in Chicago in 2000 in a music store on Michigan Avenue (because they were at BBDO) when this Album was launched live by the then, largely unknown, Ryan Adams. It was his debut solo album, he had just left his 'Whiskeytown' Band (very Gram Parsons) and was known for his work with 'The Cardinals'. The Album title 'Heartbreaker', was something he saw on a Mariah Carey T-shirt they say....but Ryan would be too cool for that, we think. Nice story though. In a way this is country folk but with heart by a grumpy singer. 'My winding wheel', 'Amy', 'Oh my sweet Carolina', 'Damn Sam', 'Call me on your way back home' are all simply cracking tracks. But 'Come Pick me up' is a song that just won't leave you. This is Ryan Adams at his best although the follow-up 'Gold' Album did very well (with the 'New York, New York' track) but his 2015 'Live at Carnegie Hall' just doesn't make it. But when Ryan Adams is at his best, it's something to behold. Emotional, raw, sensitive and sung with troubled feeling, it makes you think. There was hardly a songwriter at the time as good. And it's all here on 'Heartbreaker'. Give it a go but start with 'Come Pick me up' and you'll know if it's for you. It's that typical winter night record.
AstonishingFacebook numbers. 31 Million businesses have a Facebook Fan page with 20 million optimised for mobile. 400 million people are using Facebook through mobile (!) and 80 million are using the network every day. When they're on Facebook, they're on for 40 minutes and sending 13 Billion messages every single day. It's this level of activity that's generating the 3 Billion usd spent on Facebook advertising a month (and rightly so) although most of it is North America. Video is huge on Facebook - 4 Billion views a day. And what's Facebook worth? 85 Billion. Astonishing indeed.
We fully understand....it's a 'greatest hits' album rather than 'Moonflower', 'Abraxus' (which got most people hooked on Santana), or 'Love Devotion Surrender' and we empathise. But. If you want an introduction to Santana, this is the best Alum to get and certainly in an office, it has everything. 'Evil Ways', 'Black Magic Woman', 'Oye Como Va', 'Samba Pa Ti', 'She's not there' and possibly the best of them all, 'Let the children play'. It's from 2013 and seems to have a few different covers but it's the Double Album you want, featuring songs from 'Supernatural' and not the 2002 release. Santana wasn't really a band, just guitarist Carlos Santana and a huge number of people who played with him. I'll guess there were 50 Band members on Albums. They started in 1967 but their breakthrough came at 'Woodstock' in 1969. Their 'Abraxas' Album of 1970 with the single 'Black Magic Woman' then propelled the Band going to number one. Actually, Black Magic Woman was written by Peter Green original founder of 'Fleetwood Mac' and not by Santana as is often assumed. Like reggae, this does take listening but a Latin groove that easily infects and is very up-lifting. They're still about (a Streamabout staffer saw them live in Amsterdam) and there's lots of music to discover if you like this. For us, it was well, a little bit magical.... I was just amazed to come across this 'Evil Ways' from that Woodstock gig in 1969. A really young Carlos Santana...and there's talk of re-creating this line-up this year to do some concerts.
Is your name in The Ashley Madison hack? (Another data dump today by the way, bigger than last weeks). Or the other data breaches of Adobe, Snapchat, Adult Friend Finder, Domino's, Forbes and many, many others? https://haveibeenpwned.com/ ....is the place to check we are reliably told (nope, not a site that has anything to do with us). Cut and Paste it into your browser. You'll have to verify your email first so that it's not someone else trying to find out. And no harm to, because if you have, you can change passwords, stop credit cards and take some action. Just because we've been asked! (And no, we're not there!). Hope it helps.
Yes indeed, we're not Bob Dylan fans either.....but there's one or two Albums that do stand out ('Street Legal' and 'At The Budokan' we're thinking). This is the one. 'Desire' from 1976 was his 15th record (it followed 'Blood on the tracks') but made infamous from the opening track, 'Hurricane' which is the story of black boxer Rubin Carter. His conviction was overturned in 1985 btw, but in no small order from the attention that the song brought. 'Joey' another standout track, is about Mafia gangster, Crazy Joe Gallo ("king of the streets") who was shot in 'Umberto's' Clam House in Little Italy NYC (by 4 Colombo family gunmen including Philip Gambino). But Frank Sheeran claimed later to be the sole gunman in Gallo's shooting (we recommend the book 'I heard you paint houses') and that he also shot Jimmy Hoffa. 'I heard you paint houses' is mafia-speak for 'So you're a hitman?'. Was rumoured that Gallo was the shooter of legendary Mafiosa, Joe Colombo and separately, Albert Anastasia, so his killing was revenge. His brother was known as 'Kid Blast' and referenced in the song. Dylan was criticised for glorifying, romanticising mob violence - but it's still a great track. 'Sara' is all about his relationship with his then wife whom divorced a year later in 1977. One that hurt him so much, he never played 'Sara' live but he also wrote the classic, 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' for her. For us, this is the winner. 'Mozambique' and 'One more cup of coffee' are also up there but generally it's an Album of classic storytelling. The track 'Isis' is also often quoted but not sure it's as good as. You should get it. Got the Streamabout 'hard to please, thumbs up' in here for sure. Here's Sara for our Sarah....
Video is becoming the dominant Ad display notably for mobiles. According to a new Business Insider Report, US digital Video Advertising revenue will top 5 Billion usd this year. That's growth of +22% every year for the last 5. It's replacing desktop static Advertising Display (currently 26%) forecasted to 40% by 2020. Video Ads produced higher click-thru rates (CTR) than normal display ads. 18% higher. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter have joined most media in offering new video display opportunities. And viewability issues are being replaced by guaranteed video views. So Video Ads march on. You need to be involved in space with your campaign. And yes, we create them and yes, we place them.
Some talk this morning, notably by the company, that the "infidelity site", AshleyMadison.com hack dump of data yesterday, is fake. On the surface, it looks very real.
Firstly, it has been leaked 30 days after the hack as promised so that's significant. Secondly, the amount of data in the 35 GB file (compressed) of 33 million users, is in itself, more real. It's too much to make up and a fake release would tend to be smaller pots of data posted over time. Thirdly, the level of data including profile information, credit transactional detail, email addresses and so on, is unusual to say the least, if it was false. But more critically that perhaps of all that, the data dump included employee records, charts, contracts, sales data on the company, which really could only have come from the hack. It looks more like a full scale compromise. Finally, those online who do know their stuff are generally looking at it and saying it is real. Not unlike a company to raise the doubt to protect their (and their members) reputations but as people acknowledge (and many have this morning) that it is their genuine data, then company doubts will quickly evaporate. Interesting though, that the data shows 14% were female and claims "a lot of fake female profiles"....hmmmm. One thing for sure, it's going to cause a lot of hurt. And that's not nice.
Okay, this is not for everyone.....but although it's more electronic, it still has a coolness that's great. Their second album from 1973 (the band formed in 1971, ended 1982), it was their last with Brian Eno (he of producer fame and recognised as a bit of a genius). Forget more poppy singles later such as 'Avalon' and 'Dance Away', this is the band before they made it.....so it has more of what they wanted to do. Ferry wrote the songs and put his then girlfriend on the cover shot. Well you would, wouldn't you. 'Every dream home', 'Editions of you' are terrific but 'Do the Strand' is an absolute gem. In one way it was glam and punk/new wave, with Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay doing their costume bit 'bowie-esque' which in itself, created a stir at the time. Ferry's vocals are of course, smooth as silk (an English working class miner's son) but he dominated the band and therefore caused problems (in particular, the departure of Brian Eno). It does take listening - but like all good albums should and then, it'll be worth it. You can see them here from The Whistle Test at the time and get a sense of the glam with 'Do the strand' ("there's a new sensation, a fabulous creation...");
Another Irish Advertising Legend, Frank O'Hare, has passed away. Formerly of 'Arks', 'Arrow' and his own, 'The Creative Department', was a bit of a creative genius. His wife Joan, passed away many years ago suddenly too so now they're together. One of the old school who "just got it" and both a demon and a pleasure to have worked with. Sad day Adland.
The Ad blocking story goes on. A story in today's independent.ie shows 18% of Irish users (676,000) blocking ads online and if that's Ireland....it's pretty extensive. The UK is a massive 20% and Germany 25%. So that's a lot of people not seeing your banners or Ads placed in content. Pure video is of course, not part of it because they're not 'Ad blocked' as such. The report compiled by Adobe in conjunction with PageFair, estimates the cost to Irish online publishers alone, at 100 million usd a year. Apple too are more and more allowing ad blocking extensions, as does Google Chrome, in their software (notably IOS9) and there are now 198 million (USA 45m) users globally, using ad blocking. Up +41% in a year. Gaming is the most blocked category (27%) and of course it's more common in that 18-24 year old demographic. Mobile blocking is low but surely that will change we would think? In fact if ever you wanted to block an ad, it's on mobile mostly. The problem here is for publishers obviously. Users gain through higher download speeds and less intrusion but publishers lose revenue. And in this day of traditional media owners trying to replace traditional advertising falls with increases from their digital properties, it's a big issue. They're suffering already. The solution? Native advertising, where promotions appear not as Ads, but as content. Sponsorship another of news pages or of reports or sections. But the Banner Ad as a format, was well passed its sell-by date anyway and this will only accelerate that demise. You can read it all here; http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/irish-publishers-set-to-miss-100m-as-adblocking-continues-to-soar-31447140.html
Following on from our blog of August 6th, about the decline in TV viewing as the audience moves to digital and the consequent shift in Ad budgets, it's now being reflected in TV companies stock. Last week, 37 Billion usd was wiped from shares in Viacom, Time Warner, Fox, Walt Disney and 5 other major broadcasters. Viacom fell -8% on Wednesday and -14% Thursday being the worst hit. Lower than expected quarterly earnings was one reason but underscoring it all, is the disruption being caused by YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix (63 million subscribers) and others, as they erode traditional TV subscriptions. It's now a structural issue in the ongoing shift away from live TV as well as, a shift to lower subscriptions online. Of course, some large media organisations (such as RTE in Ireland) are immune from these market shifts as they receive state support (probably 200 million euro a year for RTE). One questions why and how long that will last? In the same week, The New York Times reported lower than expected quarterly revenue too including a fall in print advertising sales. Again, the switch to digital platforms is the key here as their traditional revenue fell -12.8% but their digital revenue was up +14.2%. Up, but not by enough to compensate. Still, they brought in 148 million usd. So the market is starting to question the future role of traditional media companies in the digital age. The corollary of that, is that you're likely to see a rise in the stock of digital media companies filling the gap. But definitively, for traditional TV specially, the game is up.
We know, we know, you're saying, 'what? a compilation?' rather than 'Exodus', 'Catch a fire', 'Babylon by Bus' or 'Burnin' and we hear you....sort of. But if you want to hear what's best of Bob Marley, it's all on 'Legend'. Released in 1984 (after he died in Miami in 1981), it is the best selling reggae album of all time. It still sells up to 5,000 copies a week. 'Stir it up', 'Buffalo Soldier', 'One love', 'I shot the sheriff' (which was written by Marley but Clapton made famous), 'Could you be loved', 'Jamming', of course 'No Woman No cry' (live), 'Get up stand up'....there all here but....without any doubt, the real outstanding Marley track is 'Waiting in vain'. None better. It's over 30 years old but what Marley did was bring reggae into the mainstream and 11 children. It still sounds fresh, different and summertime. The joy in his music stems from his religious beliefs (which ultimately cost him his life in declining treatments). They all loved it in Streamabout anyway. Ye man. Here's 'Waiting in Vain'. Stunner.
The switch from traditional media, especially TV, to Digital is well underway as we know. Common sense.....because rather than be told differently, we all know that we are spending more time online. Whether that's web browsing, youtube or Social Media, we see it all around us and especially if you've young kids where their 'devices' are all that matters, rather than say, traditional TV. How many of us now, get our news online for free rather than physically buying a newspaper? How many of us watch Ad-free Netflix or Amazon more than before? If traditional media is not being consumed as much, less people are watching the Ads. In the case of TV, less people are watching the Ad breaks and when they are, they're watching via fast forward on record or, with their laptop open (second screen). So the Ads are getting less and less attention not just, less and less viewers. So we know it's happening. A really interesting piece from Social Week Blog, now supports that with numbers. Flurry (owned by Yahoo!) show mobile is watched in the US (and that'll be no different to other countries with high mobile penetration) for 2 hours, 57 minutes. Traditional TV is behind at 2 hours, 48 minutes. 18-24's according to Nielsen, watch 18 hours a week of TV. Only. A decline of nearly 4 hours viewing in a year. Yet 41% of them are active on Snapchat and undoubtedly, Facebook (with 4 Billion video views a day). And these are a key demographic for brands. As Social Week points out, it has momentum in the switch away notably, from TV. And if that audience is moving to online (and it is), then that's where the Ad money will go. Although the Ad budgets are shifting, far more slowly than the audience is moving. The fact is that advertisers need to sit up and take notice and be conscious of the advice of their Agency who may, through a lack of skill sets in this changing world, want to maintain the status quo. It's easier to keep doing what you've always done. "Beliefs are hard to change" says the Social week blog and they are.....but the growth in online digital video (Video Ads) which Streamabout alone have experienced, illustrates that change is coming. Quickly. But perhaps, not at the pace it deserves. You can read the Social Week Blog here; http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/08/the-end-of-advertising/
Let us introduce you to someone you've probably never heard of - StephenFretwell (and neither had we, until someone here played it this week). But always good to hear something new. And this is stunning. From Scunthorpe in England (someone has to be), he released his debut 'Magpie' in 2004 (recorded at Abbey Road) and since then, seems to have supported everyone on tour (notably 'Elbow') as well as a couple of more Albums. But this is one of those singer/songwriters who just doesn't seem to have broken through - yet should have, with an Album like this. Not unlike Ed Sheeran in some ways, but deeper (if ye know what we mean - less 'poppy'). The track 'Emily' seems to have got him most notice, but 'Play' is undoubtedly one of the best songs we've heard. Ever. Followed by 'Brother' and 'New York'. Worth getting the Album for those 4 tracks alone. Try 'Play' here - you'll love it, trust us.
Facebook just announced its Q2 numbers. And like Twitter, its stock is down circa -4%.... Revenue of 4.04 Billion usd is +39% year on year! 968 million DAILY actives users and that's up +17% year on year! Only about 17% of those users are USA/Canada so Facebook's reach is more global. About 65% of Facebook active monthly users are now daily users so it's being used more often. And daily users are using it on average, for 46 minutes a day. Facebook generates 1.5 Billion searches a day. And users are sharing +40% more video than they were. Margin has dropped from 48% to 31% but that's on the back of increased costs through investment which to be fair, Facebook warned it was doing. They have 2 million advertisers. Video too, is driving their Ad growth said Sandberg because it's now more targeted. So overall, that's a pretty great performance no matter what way you look at it. Huge increases in Revenue, Daily active users, better global spread, longer dwell times, video drivers, new investment, more advertisers....and the stock is what? Down? Explain that because it's making no sense. At all.
Bit of a revival in the Twittersphere with better than expected numbers this week. Q2 Revenue of 502 million usd was +4% better than expected. Active monthly users at 316 million was up from 302 million and up from 288 million end last year. That's growth in the face of what was considered a "flat" curve. So no, more people are actively using Twitter. 80% active on mobile giving 88% of the revenue (398 million usd). It has cash of 3.6 Billion usd and shares gained +5% on the day with of course, Jack Dorsey doing all the talking (and straight talking by all accounts). But what this does it raise expectations for Q3 and in particular, growth in users as well as, revenues. The shares have fallen back now somewhat. So it's a bit of good news that has to be sustained and therein, lies the difficulty. Hung by your own success. (Postscript Wednesday - after hours trading in shares showed at nearly -13% decline in prices at one stage. So there was an offload......which seems to be about comments made about the slow user growth - Monthly active Users MAU's).
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