MORE EARNINGS CALL PAIN FOR RADIO:  I’ll kick off Friday the way I started Monday, with another reminder of the challenges facing Broadcast Radio.  This time it’s coming from Emmis Media, who reported a -6.6% drop in revenue compared to Q1’16.  The pain was mostly felt in larger markets like LA and NY, whose 2016 revenue was being artificially propped up by Political dollars.  Emmis’s financial situation has become so dire that it was forced to sell it’s only LA station KPWR-FM (Power 106) just to pay down other debt.  This is the radio equivalent of being stranded on a desert island and deciding to eat your own arm to avoid starving to death.  Yes it might be a short-term fix, but eventually you’ll have nothing left to eat.  As Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan framed things on their Earnings Call, radio is a challenged industry.  I’d say that’s an understatement Mr. Smulyan.

MACY’S GOING DOWNTOWN:  In another sign that the End of Days is coming for Retail, perennial premium department store brand Macy’s is starting to downscale itself to compete with the likes of TJ Maxx, Kohl’s, etc..  In the attached Business Insider link, the Macy’s CFO outlines two strategies to get more lean and mean, in order to become more price competitive.  The first plan is to reduce staffing by rolling out more self-service kiosks.  This test will begin in the shoe department, and if effective work its way through the store.  This is significant because traditional department stores were built on the customer service concept.  It’s already hard to find a human employee in stores these days, and self-service will take shopping for yourself to a whole new level.  The other cost-saving move is to begin testing off mall locations.  Traditionally Macy’s used a mall anchor strategy for store placement, and this real estate costs more per square foot than free-standing/strip mall locations.  As mall traffic continues to dwindle Macy’s is hoping to cost save with off mall locations, which will allow it to become more aggressive on price.  Should be interesting to see how these two initiatives impact Macy’s overall brand perception, shopping experience, and bottom line.

TV DECONSTRUCTION EXPLAINED THROUGH THE EYES OF THE “HINGE GENERATION”:  Of all the ways to describe what’s happening to TV right now, the attached video clip might just have the best summation.  In it, the CMO of Magisto (video creative firm), puts forth the concept of the “Hinge Generation” who are viewers of a certain age that were raised in front of the living room TV, but are now OLV video consumers.  So how did this group affect TV’s transition from the traditional set top to digital?  There are three reasons.  First is a dismantling of the one-to-many broadcast paradigm in which viewers understood the trade-off of consuming ads in return for content.  Comparatively, today’s OLV environment is a more personalized one-to-one experience, in which ads are more optional and avoidable than ever  before.  The second transformation comes from scalable production.  Since anyone with a phone can now create and post digital content, the traditional model of big studio production is no longer a barrier of entry.  This phenomenon of scale-reduction has created the third transformation related to video advertising.  Running a standard piece of creative across a handful of networks in a rating points buy is so yesterday.  Instead custom audience segments and even specific viewers can be served ads via device ID, creating more efficient and more accountable video campaigns than ever before.  The combined effect of these factors has created a video environment that looks nothing like the family rooms of yesteryear, where Hingers (like yours truly) used to watch hour and hour of TV.

Have a great Friday (and weekend) everyone!