DIGITAL KILLED THE TELEVISION STAR:  You’ve been hearing whispers about it for years . . . and now the days is here . . . Digital Ad Spending in the US is surpassing TV Ad spending.  Hello!!!  What’s even more amazing than that simple fact is eMarketer’s forecast moving forward.  On the current trend line by just 2020 there will be 43% more spending on Digital than on TV.  Of course, TV execs will tell you a good portion of Digital growth is from Digital Video, and that’s just an extension of their product.  That’s partly true.  However, we can safely say the age of King Television controlling ad budgets from the comfy couch of America’s living room has officially come to an end!  http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/View/Article/US-Digital-Ad-Spending-Surpass-TV-this-Year/1014469

AUDIO’S SHARE OF BRAIN GROWING:  Each quarter Strata surveys 1,000+ agencies to gage interest in various sectors of the media landscape.  As you’ll see in the following Inside Radio link, consideration towards all-things Audio is up.  This is mostly driven by an interest in Digital Audio – with a full 55% of agencies saying they expect to spend more on the streaming side in the upcoming year then they previously have.  This jives with the “Golden Age of Audio” narrative we’ve been espousing for a while now.  As streaming proliferates listeners will consume more overall audio, and this increasing time spent will command more attention (and budget) from clients and agencies alike.  Keep in mind this is just a survey of agency opinions, not hard fact.  But at least Audio is growing it’s prominence inside the minds of the buying community.  http://www.insideradio.com/audio-industry-growth-attracts-more-ad-agency-interest/article_9dc262d8-7b1a-11e6-bd0e-1b96d75d333e.html

TIDAL’S FUZZY MATH:  More news on Tidal in the trades this morning.  This time it’s Tidal’s financials from 2015.  For the whole year Tidal lost $28M USD, on the weight of $35M USD in content costs.  Perhaps the most interesting # in the report is Tidal’s worldwide subs – at just 3M.  (That’s about 1/12^th Spotify’s total if you’re keeping score.)  What’s crazy is that Tidal’s total top line revenue is just $47M – so a little more than $15 per listener per year.  Consider that Tidal’s subscriptions cost $10-20/month (so $120-240 per year), and you’ve got a major disconnect in the numbers.  Either they’ve given away a ton of subs and very few listeners are paying full rate, or listeners only subscribe for a month or two and then drop off.  Regardless of the cause, there’s some sketch in these financials.  http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tidal-lost-around-2m-a-month-last-year-while-seeking-extra-financing/

Have a great Thursday guys!