Category: coronavirus

Sports Broadcasting Services and their Providers; What happens?

On By David SonIn Brand, Cable, Comcast, Consumer behavior, coronavirus, coverage, Distribution, Media Covergence, Partnerships & Copyright, Sports, TelevisionLeave a comment

One would think because of the Coronavirus pandemic, people would more likely be inside spending time watching T.V.  Although this seems logical, because many of these people are becoming unemployed, they are more likely to cut cable to save extra money.  The FCC has already issued warnings to distributors and local T.V. stations about renewed contracts. 

As this crisis ensues, cable operators and programmers have called a temporary truce to set aside questions regarding refunds on undelivered programming, such as the NBA, NHL, Olympics, and many other big television marketing programs.

Distributors agreed to pay programmers a certain amount of money based on the shows the are supposed to deliver.  Many sports media channels are the reason consumers pay big bucks too, so a resolution must be brought up.

“CBS is not going to pay for this season and have no financial recourse at all,” Pilson said. “The networks are not paying for games that aren’t delivered. They may have a formula where certain monies change hands and eventually they’ll get credit for that.”

AS the NCAA basketball tournament has been cancelled, the effect chain goes further than professional sports.  The colleges that had a contract with programmers that are now diminished as well with the fees. 

Professional sports on the other hand, may have a more difficult time with the contracts they had with distributors.  Professional sports like, NBA and MLB don’t have clear provisions on how to demand refunds in case of a unavoidable cause.  While there are mentions of natural causes such as tornados, hurricanes, or what have you, there is no specifications for pandemics. 

NFL is working on renewing TV rights with their partnerships, like ViacomCBS, NBCUniversal, Disney and Fox.  While they are most likely to stick with these distributors until 2022, there are programmers who are on the fringe of stealing a partnership.  Companies such as Apple, Google, and Amazon are likely competitors.    

These distributors payed a lot of money for these games to be broadcasted.  NFL and MLB hold a lot of weight, in being able to not refund the broadcasters fully for what they have paid.  Streaming service DAZN has informed leagues that it will not pay rights fees for any games that have been suspended.  CBS, ESPN, and NBC all have not demanded refunds or threatened to withhold payment for games yet. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/01/coronavirus-sports-cancellations-set-up-media-fights-over-refunds.html

How Antigua and Barbuda Plan To Both Encourage and Capitalize Off Of Americans During The Covid-19 Pandemic

On By Kirsten BeachIn Brand, coronavirus, Environment, Instagram, Marketing, Social Issue(s), Social Media, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It seems as though the Covid-19 pandemic will be our reality for the next few months now, and other countries (or should I say islands) are well aware of this too. So, as an effort to make Americans and other people around the world feel a little bit more secure and happy during these unprecedented times, Antigua and Barbuda created a social media campaign called, ‘Message in the Sand’.

As bored, lonely tourists in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis imagine where they’d like to be or where they might go once the green flags fly again, a pair of Caribbean destinations are using social media to send an S.O.S. to the world.

Antigua and Barbuda are islands in the West Indies that rely specifically on tourism to drive their economies–in saying that they have decided to launch this social media campaign to not only spread kindness and encourage people in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic to keep their heads up but to also encourage travelers to keep Antigua and Barbuda in mind for future trips when the pandemic subsides.

For their first post, they took to Instagram to write the message, “Be well” in the sand, followed by this caption:

𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦. .

𝘉𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 365 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮. .

𝘉𝘦 S𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦 W𝘦𝘭𝘭. .

#𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 #𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘢 #stayhome #staysafe

You can view each message across all of Antigua’s social media channels and interact with them as well! In my opinion, this is an incredible marketing strategy that I am interested to see whether or not it will increase tourism activity in the respective locations when people are allowed to travel freely again.

 

 

Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnscottlewinski/2020/04/05/antigua-and-barbuda-kicking-sand-on-social-media-during-covid-19/#5c1b7eec3b2d

 

 

Zoom Sued for Sharing Personal Data with Facebook

On By David SonIn Censorship, Consumer behavior, coronavirus, Data, Distribution, facebook, Online SafetyLeave a comment

Zoom Video Communications is under serious scrutiny as they have been caught giving personal data of users to outside companies such as Facebook. The popular web-camming company that has gained popularity due to the Coronavirus outbreak is under serious legal troubles.

A lawsuit filed Monday stated that Zoom’s software would give information about the user such as the device the person is using, device’s model and the device’s advertising identifier.

“The unique advertising identifier allows companies to target the user with advertisements,” the lawsuit states. “This information is sent to Facebook by Zoom regardless of whether the user has an account with Facebook.”

Zoom officials have said they have changed the practices after they were caught.

After a news report by Vice Media, CEO of Zoom, Eric Yuan, said the data sharing began after a user signed up for Zoom through facebook. He says, “Our customer’s privacy is incredibly important to us, and therefore we decided to remove Facebook SDK (Software Development Kit) in our client and have reconfigured the feature so that users will still be able to login with Facebook via their browser.”

The lawsuit goes further, claiming Zoom was being paid to share data. Court documents won’t disclose how much money Zoom allegedly received.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking Zoom to provide details on how they will change their practices to ensure user privacy. Zoom may have a hard time transitioning privacy practices because of the already intact data sharing system.

As Zoom is becoming more popular due to the work from home lifestyle everyone is adapting to, more hackers are using it as a medium to spread hate messages. Also as stocks have been hit hard, Zoom’s stock has soared 46%.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zoom-app-personal-data-selling-facebook-lawsuit-alleges/

New Research Shows Belief of Pandemic’s Origin May Depend on What News Source You Watch

On By Mónica G. RodríguezIn coronavirus, UncategorizedLeave a comment
The research was conducted by the Pew Research Center as part of their Election News Pathways Project.

According to a poll research by the Pew Research Center, American viewers who watch MSNBC are more likely to believe the coronavirus developed naturally in Wuhan, China, while Fox News viewers are more likely to go the conspiracy theory route.

Virologists and researchers have stated that the deadly virus’s origin came from local wildlife, debunking quite a few of Fox News claims. The survey’s data listed that about 66% of the respondents who watch MSNBC believe COVID-19 occurred naturally. Meanwhile, approximately 37% of Fox News viewers think the same.

Back in February, during the early stages of this pandemic arriving in the United States, a Fox correspondent and analyst from Fox Asia, Gordon Chang, stated on the cable television network that the coronavirus may have originated from the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. This is an incorrect possibility, fact-checked by scientists.

Along these lines, President Trump has often referred to the virus as the “China virus” or the “Chinese virus”. However, he mentioned in a recent interview with Fox News that he will stop using that phrase in spite of his claims that China has attributed the COVID-19’s origin to American soldiers in Wuhan. Whether or not this is true (in my opinion, it’s probably not true, considering the President has lied numerous times before), it has been labeled as “race-baiting” by critics. Others believe Trump’s attempt at pushing the blame towards China is a strategy to improve his declining approval rating. What do you think?

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/04/01/where-did-covid-19-originate-your-answer-may-depend-on-whether-you-watch-fox-news-or-msnbc/#50e0acb57519

The Hottest Parties In The Country Are Now At Your Fingertips And Here’s Why

On By Kirsten BeachIn Consumer behavior, coronavirus, Instagram, Media Covergence, News Media, Online Safety, Social Issue(s), Social Media, UncategorizedLeave a comment

With the spread of the coronavirus causing quarantine to be in full effect, all social gatherings of any and all sorts have been put to a halt. With this, many night-life seeking individuals have felt deprived of fun, entertainment, and a means to socialize, but on Friday, March 21st, this problem found a solution.

On Friday night, the world mourning the loss of loved ones, freedom, and access to the world due to the coronavirus were able to let loose, unwind, and partake in the biggest social gathering around the world without the fear of spreading or contracting the virus.

According to the NY Times,

Over 4,000 people were in attendance, including headliners like Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Naomi Campbell, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled, T.I., Queen Latifah and Tracee Ellis Ross.

There was no charge at the door, no security, no drink minimum and you could attend in your pajamas from the comfort of your own home.

This party, (you guessed it) was online and available to anyone who had access to an Instagram account. The party was called ‘Homeschoolin’ and could be found on DJ Nice’s Instagram live–where he held hour-long jam sessions from his home in Los Angeles (playing all of the hits, new and old, but you never heard the same song twice with his mixes.)

With the tragedy of the coronavirus negatively impacting our world and changing the ways in which we navigate our lives, partying on social media apps–that are designed to allow people to spend time together without having to see one another in person, has both eliminated the risk of spreading the virus and brought an abundance of joy to those who have not been able to leave their homes amongst the pandemic.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/arts/d-nice-instagram.html?auth=login-facebook&searchResultPosition=4

Accessibility of Online Learning

On By Aidan PlunkettIn coronavirus, Distribution, Diversity, Education, Media Covergence, News Media, Political, Regulation, Social Issue(s)Leave a comment

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there have been major shutdowns across the country and around the world at large for many businesses, schools and universities. These shutdowns have let to demand and necessity for online learning resources. Many upper-level education institutes and organizations have made the decision to move to online learning indefinitely. As a student at Temple University, we moved to online learning for the rest of the semester in mid-March. My mother is a math teacher at a high school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and they have made the decision to move to online learning indefinitely.

This makes me begin to think about many things…

A decade ago, switching to online learning or mandating that students learn via online resources would not have been possible. Technological advancement and globalization have led to an increase in technological capabilities and increase in the number of people who have access to technology and the internet. That same globalization is what has enabled the spread of the COVID-19 virus around the world. 

The spread of this virus has therefore created a demand and necessity for online learning resources and accessibility. The media has portrayed the COVID-19 virus as extremely bad, yet last year the flu had 350 Million cases and over 20 thousand deaths in the United States alone. Has the over-scaring tactic of the media facilitated the demand for online learning? Obviously we need to be cautious, and I understand the idea of ‘flattening the curve’, but I can’t help but wonder who’s profiting most while many people suffer.

I wrote this article because I recently learned about Community Learning Center, an adult literacy nonprofit organization in Philadelphia that provides low-income adults with free education classes and services. While large institutions like Temple can provide the technology or resources for students to participate in online learning, smaller, nonprofit organizations like CLC don’t have the funding or resources to equip all of their students with the necessary technology to participate adequately in online learning, if at all. However, the potential of online learning capabilities being accessible to everyone poses benefits for many people across many levels of education.

What happens in the wake of sports death?

On By Aidan PlunkettIn ads, Commercials, Consumer behavior, coronavirus, coverage, SportsLeave a comment

An article from AdAge.com discusses how the NBA postponing their season and the NCAA canceling much of their season and tournaments, including all of March Madness, much of the network advertisements are seeing declines on sports channels that are now mainly showing re-runs or older sports highlights.

The ads seeing the highest impressions are from airs during cable dramas such as ‘Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’ and ‘NCIS’ delivered over a billion ad impressions, across over 18 hours of advertising over the weekend. This is the first time that has happened in nearly two decades. Broadcast-network delivery of ad impressions went from 15 percent down to 11 percent. Big money still went to sports though, and while basketball reruns on sports networks didn’t draw the most eyeballs, they did still result in more estimated TV ad spend than anything else on TV over the weekend. 

College basketball topped the list in terms of estimated spend at $26.1 million. Food shows such as “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” had over 300 minutes of ads and delivered almost 465 million TV ad impressions. Airlines and cruise lines pulled their ads off the air amidst travel bans, online booking sites continued to spend, and health insurance companies are switching to creative coronavirus-awareness campaigns. While the big networks are bringing in the higher ad spends, it’s the cable news and lifestyle networks, such as HGTV, and family-friendly networks, like Nickelodeon, that are delivering more reach for the dollar right now.

The disruption of live sports is having a huge impact on brands that depend on college sports programming for massive reach. These are the marketer categories and brands that heavily bankrolled NCAA broadcasts last year: Vehicles: Automakers (est. $155 million), Insurance: Auto & General (est. $99.1 million), Electronics & Communications: Wireless (est. $78.1 million), Restaurants: Quick Serve (est. $58.3 million), Electronics & Communications (est. $49.2 million), AT&T Wireless (est. $68 million), Buick (est. $42.5 million), Geico (est. $36.4 million), Capital One Credit Card (est. $31.6 million), Progressive (est. $27.9 million). 

https://adage.com/article/media/what-does-tv-viewing-look-advertisers-weekend-march-no-live-sports/2245041

An entire community under one roof? Coronavirus?

On By Aidan PlunkettIn coronavirus, Distribution, Social Issue(s), TechnologyLeave a comment

An article from NPR brings up Whitter, Alaska, an extremely small town on the west side of the Prince William Sound. Positioned in an aesthetically pleasing location in the valley of two mountains. However, there are no tiny houses huddled together or lining the streets, but rather a 14-story tall building that looks like a mediocrely maintained hotel called Begich Towers.

The former army barracks are where the majority of the 200 Whitter residents call home. 

Walking along the hallways of the entrance, the building gives a high-school-esque feeling with colorful bulletin boards on top of yellow-painted cinder blocks. 

In a remote area of Alaska, Whitter sees some of the most brutal weather with winds that often top 60 mph. This is why the residents of Begich Towers have everything they need under one roof. There’s a laundromat, convenience store, health clinic, school, and even a church in the basement. 

I found this article extremely interesting as Whitter is obviously an extremely small town with not much more than 200 residents, but also how people are comfortable living their entire lives essentially in one building. 

I decided to write about this article now because, amidst the coronavirus pandemic that we’re now in, we have ways to socially distance ourselves. In the greater Philadelphia area, we have access to some of the best medical professionals on earth- but what would happen to the residents of Begich Towers if the COVID-19 reached their remote town? What about all the Americans- all the people in the world without access to the medicine we have, or even funds to be able to stock-up during potential quarantining. Let us use this article as a reminder to be thankful for what we have. 

https://www.npr.org/2015/01/18/378162264/welcome-to-whittier-alaska-a-community-under-one-roof

NBA Season Cancellation Spells Trouble for Networks

On By Jared RohlfingIn Commercials, coronavirus, TelevisionLeave a comment

In his article for ‘CNN Business’, Frank Pallotta covers the recent announcement that the NBA will be suspending games this season due to the coronavirus outbreak.  The news comes after an unnamed player tested positive for the virus ultimately resulting in the leagues temporary hiatus.  Pallotta in his analysis makes evident the huge blow this will result in regarding television partners and networks who heavily rely on sports ratings for advertising revenue.  NBA viewership is especially crucial for many networks as the league still manages to bring in solid ratings across the board.  With audiences jumping ship from cable to streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, this news will be an especially hard pill to swallow for television networks.  Another factor in this debacle is what will happen to advertising revenue that has already been booked? Will the networks be required to give the money back?  Some analysts have placed the estimates of lost advertising revenue for individual networks to be in the ballpark of 75 to 100 million dollars.  The NBA is not the only league who has suspended their season; with the NHL and Major League Soccer also cancelling games as a result of the pandemic. 

This article for me put into perspective how far reaching and impactful the coronavirus has been globally.  No avenue of business or entertainment will remain unaffected by the virus quarantine currently underway; the likes of which have not been seen in modern times.  In regard to this article and the implications of the NBA season being cancelled; it will be interesting if the playoff games in April will commence and potentially help alleviate some of the lost revenue woes networks are currently dealing with. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/media/nba-coronavirus-espn-tnt/index.html

Coronavirus Anxiety Causes Grocery Frenzy And Empty Shelves

On By Kirsten BeachIn Brand, Consumer behavior, coronavirus, Marketing, Media Covergence, National coverage, News Media, UncategorizedLeave a comment

With the number of coronavirus cases growing by the day, anxieties have risen to new heights–causing people to take drastic measures.

As President Trump declared a national emergency last Friday, hordes of shoppers rushed to various grocery stores across the country–filling their carts completely and emptying shelves to prepare for the unknowns surrounding the coronavirus.

For many stores (such as Target and Walmart), hand soap, sanitizer, toilet paper, and other necessities like tampons and cold and flu medicine were completely sold out. People flooded stores trying to obtain some of these items only to find that they were completely cleared from shelves by other anxious shoppers around the country. Stores were not only being cleared of their resources, but they were also overwhelmed with long lines of stressed customers waiting to check out their large quantities of groceries.

“Soon after the 9 a.m. opening on Friday of the Trader Joe’s in Hoboken, N.J., a line of nervous customers stretched along the block in the rain, waiting to pick through the mostly bare shelves inside. There was no chicken available, nor garbanzo beans, coffee or chips. The store was restocking regularly, but many of its registers were unstaffed” (NY Times).

Unfortunately, this grocery store frenzy has gotten so bad to the point where stores are beginning to ration products and put limits on how much a customer may buy. Even online grocery shopping resources have been affected by the coronavirus panic–making it that much harder to obtain groceries in a timely manner if using those grocery shopping sites.

I wonder how much longer this panic will last, and if we will ever be able to buy more toilet paper.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/nyregion/coronavirus-panic-buying.html