Industry News

The NAB Show and SCTE are teaming up for a joint forum that will link the SCTE·ISBE Cable-Tec Expo in Atlanta with NAB Show’s Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology (BEIT) Conference in Las Vegas.

The joint forum on October 12, 2021 will be the first live, bi-coastal collaboration between SCTE, a subsidiary of CableLabs, and the NAB.

SCTE and NAB have previously partnered to provide content for their respective events.

Joint sessions will include live, interconnected presentations and audience questions originating from both Cable-Tec Expo in Atlanta and the BEIT Conference in Las Vegas, with hosts at each location to field questions and moderate the conversation. The dual-site event will also feature live panels and interactive discussions that explore timely topics, such as dynamic ad insertion, NextGen TV and more.

NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny and Chris Bastian, SCTE’s CTO, will open the event with a fireside chat on leadership over a link between the two venues. This  conferencing approach will offer a unique educational opportunity for technology professionals, and create dialog between broadcast and telecommunications professionals, the NAB says.

“We are excited to offer this groundbreaking feature during the 75th BEIT Conference at NAB Show,” Matheny said. “We are thankful to SCTE for this collaboration and to be able to provide attendees at our respective events a truly innovative experience with expanded programming.”

Bastian added, “Our concurrent events present a unique opportunity to collaborate on this session which we believe will bring great value to both audiences. After the success of our virtual Cable-Tec Expo show in 2020, we know this type of interactive, virtual session has great potential to bring together new audiences and ideas.”

The dual-site event will be held at 10:00 a.m.–1:15 p.m. PT (1:00–4:15 p.m. ET) on October 12, 2021. The session takes place during the BEIT Conference in Las Vegas, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary at NAB Show, October 9–13, 2021, and SCTE·ISBE Cable-Tec Expo, October 11–14, 2021 in Atlanta. The program will conclude with networking receptions in both Atlanta and Las Vegas.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising remains a vital part of building brand awareness and plays an increasingly important role in advancing the consumer journey. That’s why Comscore has joined the DPAA and the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA).

The new alliances with two of the leading industry organizations come as Comscore accelerates its efforts to add OOH measurement to its cross-platform product suite.

The goal, Comscore says, is to help marketers drive market share and profitability through superior audience insights.

More than $9 billion is projected for OOH ad spend in the coming years. Comscore’s vision is to measure outdoor advertising platforms, cinema, and place-based distribution such as retail spaces, stadiums, office buildings and transportation hubs and make it available through traditional buyside planning and buying tools.

“The addition of out-of-home measurement is a natural extension of Comscore’s impressions-based currency that the media ecosystem relies on to drive better business outcomes,” Comscore CEO Bill Livek said. “With rapid changes in consumer consumption and the need to drive maximum return on investment for every ad dollar, marketers need a complete and unduplicated view of where their target audience is seeing content. This is why Comscore has an advantage in the market. We are the trusted source for superior audience insights across linear TV, OTT, desktop, mobile, and cinema and are now bringing the same measurement acumen to bear on outdoor and digital out-of-home at a time when America is starting to go out of home again.”

Andy Sriubas, Chief Commercial Officer at OUTFRONT Media, welcomed the move by Comscore. “Their data flows through the internal planning and buying platforms at major holding companies, independent agencies and leading third-party processors. It is time for out-of-home to take its rightful place beside digital, mobile, TV and OTT on the agency desk, through cross-media comparative value measurements.”

Comscore’s OOH efforts are being spearheaded by EVP Gary Warech, who most recently led the company’s Brand Direct, Brand Tracking, Pharma and Branded Content businesses.

Good Parts Media, an AdLarge company, has entered into a deal with Bonneville’s Denver stations for use of Prep Country, a member of the Good Parts Media portfolio.

Good Parts Media offers a family of prep products for multiple formats that content hosts use to connect with their listeners.

The Good Parts Media suite of show prep services includes Mr. Prep, The Hook Up, Locker Room, Mr. Laughs, Juicy Prep, and the aforementioned Prep Country.

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) has selected who will deliver the opening keynote at its newly created NATPE Virtual: News Television event scheduled for April 20.

It’s Council of Foreign Relations President Richard Haass.

NATPE Virtual: News Television sees ABC News Transportation Correspondent Gio Benitez 

Attendees can expect keynotes, fireside chats, and panel discussions covering news franchises, streaming, sponsorship sales, and different concentrations including “sensationalized breaking news,” politics, crime, health, financial, entertainment, sports, weather, special interests, and much more.

Notable companies participating in a variety of ways include AccuWeather, Axios, CNN, Newsmax, PBS and Tubi, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Also planned for the event will be the inaugural NATPE News Awards, honoring excellence in TV news reporting. Being recognized for excellence as an anchor is Greg Kelly. PBS Newshour is being honored for excellence as a news program.

NATPE President/CEO JP Bommel said, “News is at the core of the television experience, and we are thrilled to bring together such great minds as we dig into how the space is changing as the industry evolves.”

NATPE Virtual News Television is the next of a string of events being produced through NATPE VIRTUAL. To register, go to https://www.natpe.com/news/attend/

Larry Blumhagen has been named vice president/market manager of Cumulus San Francisco. He comes to Cumulus from Audacy, the former Entercom.

“Beginning Monday, May 3, Blumhagen will lead Cumulus Media’s Bay Area radio stations KSAN(FM) (classic rock), KGO(AM) (news/talk), KNBR(FM)/AM (sports), and KSFO(AM) (news/talk),” the company announced.

[Read: Pollnow Moves to Cumulus Montgomery]

Blumhagen succeeds Doug Harvill, who is retiring.

At Entercom and predecessor CBS Radio, Blumhagen was vice president, director of sales for Los Angeles. He held prior GSM positions for CBS in San Francisco and Portland, Ore.

He started as an account executive for Henry Broadcasting/American Radio Systems.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

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A trio of experienced local broadcast TV station leaders have been selected to oversee Nexstar Media Group‘s respective stations in Knoxville; Roanoke-Lynchburg; and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

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He’s been a fixture at a group of stations in Los Angeles owned and operated by Audacy, the company formerly known as Entercom Communications. He stayed with the stations, which include “93.1 Jack FM,” “K-Earth 101,” KNX, “94-7 The Wave,” “97.1 Amp,” and KROQ, through Entercom’s tax-free merger with CBS Radio.

Now, this sales leader is heading north. He’s just been appointed VP/Market Manager of Cumulus Media‘s San Francisco-Oakland station group.

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Taking the post previously held by the retired Doug Harvill is Larry Blumhagen.

He’ll start his new role on May 3, putting him in command of Classic Rock KSAN-FM (107.7 The Bone), News/Talk KGO-AM, Sports Talker KNBR-AM & FM and Talker KSFO-AM.

In L.A., he was VP/Director of Sales at Audacy, prior to its corporate name change. He’d been with the stations for six years.

But, before that, he was CBS Radio’s GSM for San Francisco, and held the role from 2006-2015.

For nine years before that, he was GSM for the former CBS Radio (and Infinity) stations in Portland, Ore.

A 29-year radio broadcasting veteran, Blumhagen started his career as Account Executive for Henry Broadcasting/American Radio Systems.

“Larry brings a strategic mind focused on building successful sales organizations and positive cultures,” says Cumulus EVP/Operations Dave Milner. “Aligning his exceptional leadership abilities and deep knowledge of the San Francisco market with our talented team and strong brands is a winning combination.”

Blumhagen added, “I’m beyond thrilled to return to San Francisco and to join the
exceptional team at Cumulus Media. Leading these great brands forward while meeting the needs of both our listeners and advertisers will be an exciting journey. I’m fortunate to be stepping into Doug Harvill’s shoes, as I know first-hand that he is a man of deep integrity and immense passion for the industry.”

In Q4 2016, Viacom agreed to purchase Telefe, a major Argentine TV operation, for $345 million.

Now, the company that is today ViacomCBS is crossing the Andes to purchase a WarnerMedia asset.

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HC2 Station Group is committed to owning and operating television stations. It simply seeks to have fewer properties in its stable, and has been paring down assets in the broadcasting sector as part of a large capital-raising campaign led by Wayne Barr Jr.

In the latest divestment move from HC2, it is shedding a trio of LPTV permits under the HC2 Station Group licensee name and another three LPTV permits from HC2-held DTV America Corp.

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Broadcast radio still “owns the car.”

That’s one of the takeaways for Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer at Cumulus Media/Westwood One, from the most recent edition of Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” study of how people consume audio.

He writes regularly about findings that he feels can help with radio’s advertising “pitch.”

Writing on the Westwood One blog Bouvard said that AM/FM radio’s in-car share of ad-supported audio, while down a bit, still has hovered around a 90% share for six years:

He also described as “stunning” a finding that for the first time, audience shares for podcasting surpassed the combined audiences of ad-supported Pandora and ad-supported Spotify.

“Podcasting achieved a 12% share compared to Pandora and Spotify’s combined 11% share of ad-supported audio among persons 18+,” he wrote.

“This is notable as ad-supported audio audiences are of great importance to brands and their media agencies. Podcasting also beat Pandora and Spotify handily among the persons 18–34 and persons 25–54 ad-supported audiences.”

Bouvard highlighted the finding that AM/FM radio remains the dominant ad-supported audio platform with a 74% share of ad-supported audio, “11 times bigger than Pandora’s and 19 times larger than Spotify’s.”

Read his post: “Podcasting Eats Spotify/Pandora and AM/FM Radio Remains the Dominant Ad-Supported Audio Platform”

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