The Jacobs Media Blog

The ratings have come out for the broadcast season, and thanks in no small part to "Desperate Housewives," ABC has moved up nicely for the year.  And the final episode of "Desperate Housewives" was a record breaker for the show – better than 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the soap opera set on […]

Big news in public broadcasting as the Ford Foundation has announced grant recipients: PBS, NPR, and other related entities.  PBS has started a new fund, called the PBS Foundation, that’s been set up to capture wealthy philanthropists who wish to support them. Know why they did this?  Because when Joan Kroc (McDonald’s) decided to start […]

It seems like every time you turn on the TV, just about every product and brand is using a Rock song as their soundtracks.  Sometimes you actually rediscover a song you’ve forgotten about – or certainly don’t hear very often on the radio.  For me, it’s the Yardbirds’ “Over Under Sideways Down,” which just rocks […]

The Media Audit completed a survey that confirms another finding from the Jacobs Media Technology Web Poll – if you’re going to have angst about new media, satellite radio is the least of your worries.  They sampled over 117,000 respondents and only 571 turned out to be XM or Sirius cumers (less than 1%).  Our […]

A couple of weekends ago, my wife’s nephew – a sophomore at Indiana University – spent a couple of days with us.  During his two-day visit, he didn’t pick up a newspaper nor did he watch TV.  However, I noticed he spent considerable time on a video on-demand web site, www.abcnews.go.com. If you’ve never spent […]

As most of us have discovered, milestone ages can either be times to celebrate or they can be occasions to reflect – or maybe a little of both.  This month, Bob Seger turned 60, and it stopped me for a second. I have debated about the wisdom of broadcasting these advanced birthday factoids on Classic […]

  Back in 1996, George Lucas did something interesting.  He hired the nation’s biggest Star Wars fan as Director of Content Management in Lucasfilm’s marketing division. Steve Sansweet, who claims to own the world’s largest collection of Star Wars collectibles, was a former Wall Street Journal editor/reporter before getting the offer from Lucas. Why hire […]

Recently, a coalition supported by three of the big four television broadcast networks (Disney opted out) and others – called TV Watch – pointed out the obvious.  Citing a new 1,000-person nationwide poll study by Peter D. Hart Research Associated and the Luntz Research Companies (CLICK HERE FOR A PDF), TV Watch noted that by […]

With the kind of year Apple has had, you might excuse them if they kicked back at bit to let the iPod phenomenon grow organically.  But they have a variety of issues to address, not the least of which is to figure out where the next challenge is coming from. Now that iPods have been […]

It’s one of the oldest marketing ploys in the book – and that’s why it always works.  Lets your listeners tell your story.  Who do listeners believe – claims by a disembodied announcer or real people singing your praises? Ben McConnell of “Evangelism Marketing” fame has been a long-time proponent of “peopletizing.”  And of course, […]

As reported by Paul Heine in Billboard Monitor, the “cell phone only” issue isn’t just confined to radio.  Just last weekend in Miami, the American Association for Public Opinion Research discussed this issue.  These researchers are discovering that the number of people who have canceled their land lines in favor of cell phones has doubled […]

Since our Technology Web Poll was released, we’ve been asked many questions about the validity and accuracy of this type of research.  Recently, Bruce Paul, VP International Research for AC Nielsen, wrote an article about online surveys that provides some answers. Of course, the downsides are well known:  inability to double-check the identity of survey […]

OK, I’ll admit it.  I’ve been slow to come around to the text messaging phenomenon.  But Jacobs Media’s Technology Web Poll is a reason to rethink this technology.  Yes, texting is the domain of the young, but like so many other media habits, it eventually becomes widespread.  Think about IMing.  Just a few years ago, […]

So the Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, and other cable TV networks are pulling down respectable young male numbers at night. Where’s the opportunity for radio? Think about your next TV campaign and how your media buyer selects the shows for your buy. If your buying strategy simply goes through the motions of considering the same […]

Rock Radio has conceded night-time listening for years.  Now perhaps there’s an opportunity to get some listening back.    To save money on a daypart that is apparently not very important, broadcasters have opted for banal voicetracking.  No wonder listening is down at night.  Who wants to listen to an automated-sounding DJ going through the […]

Remember 15-odd months ago, when the TV networks were complaining about all those lost men in the ratings?  Turned out, they were “found” on late night cable.  Programming blocks like the Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” or Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart are sucking up young guys at a rapid rate.  In many […]

Think whatever you will of Howard Dean, but as you’ll recall from his ill-fated campaign, the highlight was the incredible way he used the Internet to accrue a strong, active database that raised millions of dollars.  His old organization, Democracy For America, is at it again, creating a grassroots campaign that should ring familiar to […]

Late last week, Arbitron provided an update of how it’s approaching the “cell phone only” issue.  As you know, this issue reached a head at the recent Arbitron Advisory Council meeting where findings from Jacobs Media’s Technology Web Poll were presented.  Since then, Arbitron has hosted a webinar on the topic, as well as this […]