TOTAL AUDIENCE CHARADE:  Nielsen continues to dribble out data from its Q2 Total Audience Study.  The latest research shows consumers’ time spent aligning into three primary buckets, as referenced in the graph below – TV (reds), AM/FM Radio (green), and Online (blue/web and oranges/in-app).  Nielsen makes this as confusing as possible by not including streaming audio in the Radio bucket and by slicing web and mobile time spent when they’re both really online.  If you correctly regroup the data you’ll see online at 2:50 in daily time spent, surpassing Radio’s 1:52.  Nielsen’s slight of hand is understandable since most of their revenue comes from TV and Radio – which means they’re getting paid to make the broadcasters look as good as possible.  Fair and balanced research, eh?  But those smoke and mirrors can’t undo the reality that consumers’ time spent with media is more fragmented than ever, and online is growing at the expense of traditional media.  http://rainnews.com/mobile-keeps-growing-in-nielsen-q2-total-audience-report/

STREAMING PLAYOLA:  Deezer is taking an novel approach to revenue generation by offering artists a pay-for-play.  Yes, charging artists.  So how does it work?  Deezer is partnering with an online music promoter called Feature.fm, which touts the ability to “guarantee your songs get played and heard on streaming radio stations to a targeted audience”.  Deezer is now one of those streamers who’s distributing Feature’s paid content.  I see two problems with this setup.  First, Feature’s business model stinks like the old Playola schemes did back in the early days of radio . . . sure I’ll play your music, just palm me a $20.  And second, the insertion of paid Feature music into Deezer’s algorithm for song selection means listeners will hear artists who have artificially prioritized themselves up on the platform.  So it won’t be the best music for individual listeners, just music which is paying the most to be heard.  http://www.insideradio.com/free/deezer-will-now-play-an-artist-s-music-for-a/article_0aa96666-8ac6-11e6-b842-43d7214a6613.html

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM?:  Warning . . . be prepared to have your mind blown on this last one.  The following infographic has been making the rounds on FB and LinkedIn, and I thought it was worth sharing.  It visualizes the top 10 Food & Beverage companies and all the brands each owns.  It’s pretty much every F&B item you could consume, all owned by a handful of parent companies.  The article below also ranks them by annual global revenue.  If you cover one of these parents/brands this is a useful sheet to keep handy.  I know the visual below is a bit of an eye chart – a larger version is available on the link.  (One note – you might be wondering where P&G is on this list.  OxFam created this infographic for food-based companies.  And since P&G is more of a non-food CPG they weren’t included.)  http://www.businessinsider.com/10-companies-control-the-food-industry-2016-9/#general-mills-3

Have a great Thursday guys!