Mary Collins

Recent research shows news outperforms all other categories in the FAST ecosystem, yet another reason for local broadcasters to leverage their content there and on as many CTV platforms as they can.

The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation is doing critical work to help media find and preserve the treasure in their vast archives.

The Hollywood strike negotiations and the carriage dispute issues currently roiling the media industry are clearly intertwined. How the studios and networks negotiate through both will determine the future of news and entertainment.

Between one-third to one-half of new CEOs fail within the first 18 months, and CNN’s debacle with recently ousted chief Chris Licht is only media’s most recent dramatic example. Here’s a guide to the most common C-suite pitfalls and how to avoid them.

While AI has been a powerful tool for media across multiple functions, generative AI poses numerous threats that should give all companies pause as they assess its potential upsides.

There’s a missed opportunity in local markets for TV stations to capitalize on: Super serve smaller communities within DMAs where competition is scant.

Free ad-supported television channels offer media companies a new potential source of revenue, a streaming destination for reclaimed library content and a relatively frictionless pathway to execution.

It’s becoming abundantly clear that conventional ways of reporting won’t hook younger viewers, who consume their news in dramatically different ways than their parents. Stations need younger, less tradition-bound journalists to help them connect.

ChatGPT may be grabbing attention and lots of experimental early use, but the technology’s limitations are already widely evident. Media ought to take stock of the caveats, especially as chatbots are destined to play a larger role in the business.

Prognostications for media businesses in 2023 look rough, but that doesn’t mean managers can’t control their teams’ performance. Here are some proactive tips to do so.

How media companies go into a recession can give them business opportunities once they come out. Research shows a progressive combination of offensive and defensive moves is most effective.

The rich digital and onsite resources of the Library of American Broadcasting are an indispensable repository of the industry’s history. Its upcoming Giants of Broadcasting and the Electronic Arts Award Luncheon on Nov. 15 is the most direct way to support its efforts.

Looking ahead to a downturn in 2023, TV stations have more to fret about than a standard-variety recession. Most ad categories are cutting spending; competition from all sides, including streaming, is fiercer than ever; and TV’s lack of reliable measurement is tying a hand behind its back.

In recently quarterly earnings, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery revealed markedly different paths for executing on their commercial-free and ad-supported streaming tiers ahead. One of them signals trouble.

Regional sports networks are venturing into launching their first OTT channels to tap into the cord-cutting market. It’s an important move, but one that needs to be followed up with wider streaming distribution agreements to reach as broad an audience as possible.

Given consumers’ numerous viewing device options, Nielsen’s stumbles in keeping pace with the proliferation and numerous metrics competitors jumping into the vacuum, the stage is set for a metrics war that won’t make anything easier for account executives or video advertisers.

Media companies can survive and thrive in a fragmented marketplace only by making alliances and adding scale. Smart network leaders should follow the lesson and use stakeholder insights to plan strategies to defend and grow their businesses.

U.S. media businesses, already a prime target for cyber criminals, face heightened danger from Russian hackers and those sympathetic to their cause, especially as pressures from sanctions and the cost of the Ukraine invasion mount.

There’s nothing simple in adopting ATSC 3.0, where a reasonable, breakeven deployment remains cloudy. But failing to get an early seat on a lighthouse may also prove disastrous later.

Sports betting will continue its meteoric rise in spot TV, Nielsen’s measurement footing will remain shaky and NextGen TV may finally deliver on new revenue streams for broadcasters in another challenging year ahead.

Want to hold on to your people as the wave of resignations continues to wash over the employment landscape? Make sure you’re engaging them and giving them clear pathways to development.

There’s a surfeit of content in the TV ecosystem. Media companies now need to ensure it’s everywhere viewers want it, along with giving them all the help they need finding it.

As local newspapers shutter, it has a chilling effect on citizens’ likelihood to vote and remain politically informed, along with fostering conditions for government inefficiency and corruption. Broadcasters can play a proactive role in stemming the problem.

As we learned at Media Financial Management’s Media Tax Summit earlier this year, those who act as tax leaders within their media companies have a tougher row to hoe than ever. As new challenges such as Big Tech taking local ad dollars away from print, broadcast and other media, tax leaders will need to step up in new ways to watch out for their companies.

Between confusing copyright laws and the ability to easily lift and use video, audio and photographs for their own purposes, many companies in the media industry either don’t understand or don’t take seriously enough the risks of repurposing creative materials. Here are the top copyright pitfalls you should make sure your company understands, and avoids.

Slow-paying advertising agencies continue to be an issue for collection teams —  an issue that seemed to worsen with the pandemic. Fortunately, a three-part plan from an industry expert who’s been in the media collections business for 50 years offers a solid structure, sound advice, and actionable insights for the best bet in collecting what’s due.

There is much discussion in the broadcasting world around digital ad sales, as evidenced by panel sessions at MFM’s annual conference, Media Finance Focus 2021. While one school of thought is that digital sales is still taking a back seat to traditional ad sales, one very astute ad sales leader is all in on digital ad sales. Here are some of its challenges and opportunities.

In just a few shorts years, esports has exploded onto the scene, attracting massive viewership and generating revenue in quite distinct ways. Will its exponential growth continue, or are there unknown risks in its uncharted territory?

What happens when companies try to maintain — or even rebuild — their culture during and after a crisis? Is culture something that becomes so ingrained in a company’s DNA that for good or bad, it cannot be changed? Or can and will companies adapt their cultures for a reemergence after a crisis, or even a seismic event such as a merger?

Facebook and Google lead the media industry as companies being most heavily targeted by the FTC, Congress and even the Biden Administration. The central question at the heart of scores of lawsuits files in the past year:  Have companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft become too powerful, and do they exercise anticompetitive practices?

Adding employees while you are working remotely, and hiring for remote-work positions are something of two sides of the same coin: as the hiring manager, you need to virtually present your company as a great place to work, either to prospective employees who may soon return to the office, or to new hires who may work remotely. Here are some tips for both situations.

The Media Financial Management Association’s Media Financial Focus annual conference is just around the corner. There are some strong advantages to its being held virtually again this year. If you’ve not registered yet, today’s the last day to do so before rates increase.

Diversity and inclusion within the media industry were moving ahead at a respectable clip. Then the pandemic happened. How should organizations get back on track with their hard-fought efforts?

COVID-19 knocked nearly the entire media industry for a loop. How do credit and collection teams cut clients a break, but still collect what’s due their companies?

As the lines continue to blur between traditional and digital media, players scramble for a piece of the new and very appetizing pie.

Leaders and employees need to focus on self-care to avoid pandemic-related burnout. Staying healthy, and personally balanced is crucial as we continue to face an uncertain future. Here are some ways to work toward that goal.

The media and entertainment industry has disproportionate influence over society’s attitudes, feelings and behaviors. When we take time to embrace and mentor people of color in our business, as the late Jeana Stanley of Hearst did, good things happen — we foster advancement while combatting stereotypes. Here’s to the time in our country when everyone can clearly see what they can be.

Companies need to be aware of online compliance regulations that could trip up media businesses looking to build online revenues.

Companies must find ways to improve communications between the two departments. That will pay big dividends as you select and upgrade financial management technology. Additionally, this sharing of information should not be limited to managers; it needs to be encouraged among all members of both teams.

The disruption that defines 2020 seems to extend into every corner of our professional and personal lives. It’s even affecting the tax calculations and reporting responsibilities for media businesses’ accounting and financial professionals.