Rick Westhead Investigates Soccer in the Slums of Brazil

TSN Senior Correspondent Rick Westhead Investigates Soccer in the Slums of Brazil for FAVELA UNITED, an Original Feature for the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™

– FAVELA UNITED debuts in the pre-game show for Brazil vs. Spain today (Saturday, June 13) at 4 p.m. ET on TSN –

– TSN launches a new interactive web experience, TSNOriginal.ca, for Westhead’s accompanying long-form essay on street soccer culture in Brazil –

To tweet this release: http://bmpr.ca/1TjCERt

TORONTO (June 13, 2015) – As part of CTV and TSN’s extensive slate of compelling original features from the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™, TSN Senior Correspondent Rick Westhead travels to the favelas of Brazil to investigate the impact of soccer on a brave group of young women. Their story is shared in the TSN Original: FAVELA UNITED, debuting during the pre-game show for Brazil vs. Spain, today (Saturday, June 13) at 4 p.m. ET on TSN.

Complementing FAVELA UNITED is Westhead’s long-form magazine story about street soccer culture in one the most dangerous places in the world – where most young girls grow up under the threat of gang violence and drug trafficking.

Westhead’s accompanying story is featured on TSNOriginal.ca, a brand new web experience that combines atmospheric sound, photos, and videos to bring readers into lives of the girls living in the favelas.

Launching today, TSNOriginal.ca marks the network’s first foray into digital storytelling and serves as its new digital model for long-form, magazine-style sports journalism. 

“The goal of our Original Features is to elevate the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ with strong storytelling, and there’s no better example of that than FAVELA UNITED,” said Ken Volden, Vice-President and Executive Producer, News and Information, TSN. “Rick’s essay presented the perfect opportunity to explore digital storytelling, and we’re very excited by the result, as well as the many future possibilities offered by our new microsite.”

TSN’s new digital model for long-form sports journalism launches today in support of FAVELA UNITED. VISIT: TSNOriginal.ca

<<NOTE TO MEDIA: Click here to watch the trailer for FAVELA UNITED >>

About FAVELA UNITED

FAVELA UNITED investigates the positive impact of street soccer culture upon girls growing up in extreme poverty in the most dangerous neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro, known as favelas. In these urban slums, violent conflict between local police and drug traffickers is a daily occurrence, and children are commonly used as drug runners. Amid the gunfire, girls’ soccer programs offer a glimmer of hope, and an escape from being forced into the drug trade.

FAVELA UNITED is directed by Canadian Screen Award-winning Senior Feature Producer Josh Shiaman, who oversaw the creation of more than 40 features surrounding the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™.

CTV and TSN’s Original Features airing in the pre-game shows of select games explore some of the most compelling stories in women’s soccer.

CTV and TSN’s complete slate of more than 40 Original Features from the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ will be made available across CTV and TSN platforms, airing in SPORTSCENTRE, on CTV affiliates across the country, and on-demand through TSN Digital platforms including TSN GO and TSN.ca/FIFA. 

TSN, CTV, and RDS are official broadcasters of FIFA events from 2015 to 2026, including the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018, 2022, and 2026.

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ on TSN and CTV

Television: CTV, TSN, and RDS’s exclusive live coverage of all 52 matches from the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ continues with four matches today (Saturday, June 13), beginning with France vs. Colombia at 1 p.m. ET on TSN and RDS.

Taking place in six cities across Canada (Edmonton, Moncton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg), the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ culminates with the Final on Sunday, July 5 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV/RDS at BC Place in Vancouver.

Live Streaming: In addition to live television coverage of all 52 games on CTV/TSN, TV subscribers can live stream all games from the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ on the corresponding GO platform – CTV GO or TSN GO. 

Radio: Canadians can tune in to TSN Radio’s live coverage of every Canada match, plus Round of 16, quarter-final, and semifinal matches, and the Final. TSN Radio’s package of games airs nationally on the TSN Radio Network presented by Amway Canada. The following radio stations, listed in order from West to East, will broadcast live coverage of the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™:

·         CFAX 1070 – Victoria

·         TSN 1040/1410 – Vancouver

·         AM 1150 – Kelowna

·         TSN 1260 – Edmonton

·         TSN 1290 – Winnipeg

·         CKOC 1150 – Hamilton

·         TSN 1050 – Toronto

·         TSN 1200 – Ottawa

·         TSN 690 – Montréal

·         Sirius/XM 167

Fans can also listen to live radio coverage on TSN.ca/Radio and on the TSN GO app.

News and Analysis: TSN.ca/FIFA is a one-stop shop for everything surrounding the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™, featuring news, analysis, and original content from the tournament. 

About CTV

CTV is Canada's #1 private broadcaster. Featuring a wide range of quality news, sports, information, and entertainment programming, CTV has been Canada’s most-watched television network for the past 14 years in a row. CTV is a division of Bell Media, Canada’s premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, digital, and Out-of-Home. Bell Media is owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. More information about CTV can be found on the network’s website at CTV.ca.

About TSN

TSN is Canada's Sports Leader and #1 specialty network. With a broad portfolio of multimedia sports assets, TSN delivers world-class content across its industry-leading platforms including five national television feeds, TSN.ca, TSN GO, and TSN Radio stations across the country. With more championship events than any broadcaster in the country, TSN’s roster of live sports programming includes the Grey Cup, IIHF World Junior Championship, FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™, CFL, NFL, NBA, MLS, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Season of Champions Curling, UEFA Euro 2016, MLB, Barclays Premier League, Golf’s Majors, NASCAR, F1, Grand Slam Tennis, NCAA March Madness, and Skate Canada and Rugby Canada events. TSN is a division of Bell Media, which is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company.

- TSN -

For More Information:

Greg McIsaac, (w) 416.384.5180, (c) 416.458.3591, greg.mcisaac@bellmedia.ca

Renee Rouse, (w) 416.384.7599, (c) 416.428.4807, renee.rouse@bellmedia.ca

Rob Duffy, (w) 416.384.5717, (c) 416.802.3319, rob.duffy@bellmedia.ca

Twitter: @CTV_PR, @TSN_PR

Radio’s new pitch line may be how its ads fit with everything else / More than half of all audio usage is in-home

Radio’s new pitch line may be how its ads fit with everything else. Like a restaurant goer overwhelmed by too many items on the salad bar to make a well-balanced plate of ingredients that go well together, marketers are facing the same problem when it comes to their media diet. The third annual Cross-Channel Marketing Report, published by Econsultancy in association with Oracle Marketing Cloud, finds just two-in-five (43%) feel they understand their customers’ journey throughout their media day and that they’re putting campaign components together in the right way to reach them. That’s despite the fact that two-thirds say it’s a priority for all marketing to be integrated into a cohesive plan. The most common reason for missing that target is advertisers and ad agencies just don’t have the resources to achieve that goal. “Clearly, marketers can and should be doing more to drive precise orchestration of their marketing strategies,” Oracle’s Simon Robinson says. For radio, the survey suggests there’s a sizable opening for sales reps in their pitch to show how radio advertising will fit with other marketing activities. “Keeping the customer ‘switched on’ to your brand message is more challenging than ever before,” Robinson says. “Almost a quarter of companies (21%) surveyed believe that the customer journey is the singular most important factor for a successful campaign.” To that end, a majority (51%) of companies now say they “focus on the customer, not the campaign.” The survey of 956 marketers also shows what other reports have found: interest in digital ads is only growing.

More than half of all audio usage is in-home. The car and the workplace have emerged as the two listening locations most frequently targeted by radio programmers. But new research suggests a significant listening opportunity still exists in the home. When Edison Research looked at the totality of the audio space – including owned music, streamed audio, podcasts, TV music channels like Music Choice, and YouTube for music among other things – it found that more than half of all listening is done in the home. In-car accounted for a healthy 30%. The research firm says its Share of Ear study tracks all audio usage, both music and speech-based content, using a fully representative national sample reflecting the entire population.

Millennials’ sharing behaviour good for brands: report

Canadian millennials are more active in sharing on social networks, and engage more with content shared on their networks than the average population, according to research by Olive Media.

The Canadian Millennial Research Study showed that sharing activity reflects an engagement with brands, and a direct connection to purchase activity. The study tracked online data from 6.7 million IP addresses, or 95% of 18-to-34 year-old’s in Canada.

Canadians millennials are three times more likely to share content with their social networks than the average, and they are more influenced by their peers since they are two times more likely to click back on content shared by others in their network, according to the study.

Millennial sharing is also more diverse across platforms, with Facebook comprising 62%, Twitter 23% and Reddit 4%. That’s compared with the general population, where sharing largely takes place on on Facebook (81%). Millennials also share much more on-the-go, using their smartphones 46% of the time when they share.

Through Olive Media’s partnership with a 3rd party database, ShareThis was able to collect purchase data from 33 leading retailers and 250 brands. The company tracked and matched online social behaviour by connecting their database information and store loyalty programs to ShareThis unique IDs. The report was able to track 1.2 million offline purchases. Based on this data, millennials who share content about electronics are 2.4 times more likely to make electronic purchases, and those who share about food and drink and 2.1 times more likely to act on their sharing.

The study also revealed that millennials use different social networks for different topics. For instance, they are more 4.8 times more likely to have a conversation about consumer electronics on Reddit than the general population. They use Facebook and Pinterest more commonly to share about food.

Rogers offering gives brands presence on magazine covers

Content group's new initiative will partner with advertisers on editorial content

Chris Powell June 01, 2015

Rogers Media’s publishing unit has introduced a content marketing offering that will include the names of advertisers on the cover and table of contents of both its English and French titles.

Unilever Canada and Lexus/Toyota are among the program’s first advertisers, the latter partnering with Maclean’s, L’actualité, Sportsnet Magazine and Canadian Business on an editorial series that is still in development.

Unilever, meanwhile, is partnering with Chatelaine on a program promoting the Hellmann’s “Real food movement” that will appear in the magazine’s July issue. Several other deals are currently “on the one-yard line” said Christopher Loudon, director of content solutions with the publishing unit.

Loudon told Marketing that advertisers’ cover presence is restricted to text attached to a headline. There are no plans to incorporate advertiser-related imagery.

The initiative opens up an editorial environment historically off-limits to advertisers. The package can include additional pages of adjacent advertising. Loudon did not disclose specifics on rates.

The new offering features all of the hallmarks of sponsored content, with content developed by Rogers’ editorial teams with advertisers’ objectives in mind. The plan is to have content be labelled as “presented in partnership with” and to be written and edited with no advertiser input.

Rogers began developing the program in February, with the first client presentation occurring in April. In that time, the company’s senior executives met with publishers and editors to determine what Loudon described as “the rules of engagement” for the program.

“For them this is quite a step forward… and the [100%] agreement around the table was that this is not only an essential evolution, but an important revolution,” he said. “They’re used to doing co-branded and advertorial content, and they understand that this is a logical amplification that is not only breakthrough, but essential.”

Steve Maich, senior vice-president and general manager, publishing for Rogers Media (which owns Marketing), said it is important for publishers to be proactive as print advertising revenues continue to fall.

In its most recent ad spend forecast, global media services firm ZenithOptimedia noted that erosion of Canadian print magazine advertising “accelerated” in 2014, falling 15.5% to $483 million following moderate declines in the previous three years. The report called for further erosion of 10% per year through 2017, when magazine spending will stand at $350 million.

Maich said it is imperative for publishers to tackle the problem head-on. “Given the rapidly changing media landscape, and [the] impact it’s had on the advertising business model, I would have grave misgivings about sitting back and doing nothing as print readership continues to decline and print ad budgets wither.

“I think it’s my job to keep looking for ways to work with advertisers so that our brands thrive financially, remain competitive, and can continue to produce great stories and vital journalism that serve the needs of our readers. If I wasn’t doing that, I wouldn’t be doing my job.”

Falling ad revenues have made publishers more receptive to advertising that pushes the traditional boundaries of church and state. U.S. publisher Time Inc. introduced cover ads last year, permitting small ads near the mailing label on titles including Time and Sports Illustrated.

While Maich said being on the cover and table of contents can provide “immeasurable value” for advertisers, he said the program’s true value is in advertisers’ ability to work collaboratively with Rogers editors to develop content that aligns with the publisher’s major editorial pillars.

The program appears to contravene some of Magazines Canada’s Advertising-Editorial Guidelines, as currently written.

The section relating to covers in the “Advertisers” section reads: “No advertisement may be promoted on cover of the magazine or included in the editorial table of contents, unless it involves an editorially directed contest, promotion or sponsored one-off editorial extra.”

A separate section, relating to special advertising sections, reads: “No special advertising section may be promoted on the publication’s cover or included in the editorial table of contents.”

Maich said those guidelines were developed for what made sense for the publishing industry at the time, and need to be updated to reflect the evolution of the publishing landscape.

“We know that maintaining the trust of our readers is paramount, and to me that means full transparency and honesty with readers on our relationships with advertisers, which we’re committed to doing,” he said. “Once a media brand adheres to this, you can then continue to innovate with clients to deliver effective messages that both meet their business objectives and deliver compelling stories to audiences.”

Loudon, meanwhile, predicted that directed content would eventually eclipse standard ROP advertising as advertisers move away from an advertising model that has favoured proximity to compelling content to being part of the content itself.

As the country’s largest magazine publisher, Loudon acknowledged that Rogers could potentially be ushering in a new era for print advertising.

“Obviously the industry is going to take notice and either react in kind or come up with its own version of content,” said Loudon. “It will be an interesting growth period.”