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Media leaders dispel myths with data

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Mar 25, 2024
Four women sitting in chairs in front of a screen that reads "The State of the Media Industry: Navigating Disruption"

(L to R) National CineMedia CMO Amy Tunick, VideoAmp CMO Jenny Wall, DailyMail.com CRO Linda Villani and Axios reporter Kerry Flynn onstage. Photo: Courtesy of Sammy Jordan

Media organizations that hone in on their strengths can overcome the ongoing disruption of audience fragmentation.

Why it matters: Convincing, data-supported narratives are increasingly crucial as digital platforms acquire a greater share of ad dollars.

What they're saying: "The movies are always dead — the invention of TV, the invention of the VCR and then streaming came. ... How do you dispel the myth? The data," National CineMedia CMO Amy Tunick said at a panel Kerry moderated for Kite Hill PR's Women in Media series last week.

  • "73% of adults ages 18 to 49 are going to the movies this year. The numbers are just massive," Tunick said.

Zoom in: National CineMedia, an ad network for movie theater screens, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August. Tunick's pitch for ad buyers is audience attention, which was validated last year in a Lumen study.

  • "Attention metrics ... in a fragmented world has become a really valuable currency," Tunick said Thursday.
  • Reasons include the size of ads on theater screens and a proper mindset to be entertained and engaged after having paid for a ticket, said Tunick.

Meanwhile, DailyMail.com embraces social platforms for audience growth while luring people back to its own ad-supported website by keeping the majority of its content there.

  • The news outlet publishes 60 articles a day on Snapchat. But it posts more than 1,500 articles, 10,000 pictures and 2,500 videos every day, DailyMail.com CRO Linda Villani said.
  • The company has experimented with building and growing topic-specific audiences on TikTok with accounts for pop culture, sports and gaming. It has more than 10.4 million followers.
  • "We test things, and when they work, we really keep a focus on it," Villani said.

Nielsen competitor VideoAmp has started to gain market share in media measurement. CMO Jenny Wall touted a 1400% year-over-year growth in measurement and currency solutions, transacting $1.3 billion in ad sales.

  • "We're not saying we're going to take over Nielsen, but at least little by little it's a multi-currency world and we want to keep it that way," Wall said.
  • One reason for success, Wall said, is VideoAmp's focus on Big Data products, which allows ad buyers to view results sooner than panels. "We're a tech-first company versus a research-first company," she said, referring to VideoAmp versus Nielsen.

The bottom line: Strong media businesses are good storytellers.

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