At the CultureX Conversations virtual event on Tuesday, March 16, Rich Ferraro, the chief communications officer of GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, will engage in a discussion about LGBTQ characters and storylines on television, a topic the organization has been studying for years and honoring at its GLAAD Media Awards since 1990. Ahead of the event, Ferraro and GLAAD shared some topical questions and answers about the subject for Multichannel News. 

MCN: We have seen a shift over the past several years in the number of LGBTQ stories that have been told on TV. Do you think the growth in LGBTQ stories as a whole accurately reflects the diversity of the community? What stories are still underrepresented on TV? 

Rich Ferraro: Over the past several years, we’ve certainly witnessed an overall growth in LGBTQ representation on television, but it’s no secret that many of those stories have centered on white cisgender gay or lesbian experience. Not until recently have we started to see a larger expansion of LGBTQ stories about people of color, as well as stories that spotlight diverse identities within our own community. Shows like Pose, Veneno, Vida, 9-1-1: Lone Star, Love, Victor and many others have paved the way for more diverse stories about LGBTQ people of color to be told. 

A promising finding from this year’s Where We Are on TV report was that racial diversity of LGBTQ characters is up on every platform, which is something GLAAD has been calling on from the industry for years. However, we’re still seeing underrepresentation of many groups within our own community, including bisexual and transgender people, disabled LGBTQ people and people living with HIV. Specifically, this year’s report found that there are only three characters on television who are living with HIV — all appear on FX’s Pose — which is down from nine characters the year before. Earlier this year, GLAAD announced that it is calling on the industry to erase stigma through authentic storytelling by introducing no less than three new regular or recurring LGBTQ characters living with HIV each year.

MCN: How have LGBTQ stories and characters evolved since you started at GLAAD in 2008? 

RF: When I started, it was a major news story when a gay character was introduced and we often worked with publicity teams to prepare crisis communications plans to anti-LGBTQ backlash. Just a year after I started at GLAAD is when Modern Family premiered on ABC. At the time, it was revolutionary for a gay couple to be depicted in such a positive and multi-dimensional way on broadcast television. Each week, Cam and Mitchell’s relationship appeared on TV screens across the country, most likely introducing many Americans to their first gay parents.

Now those crisis communications plans are not only not needed, but LGBTQ characters are the root of extremely celebratory earned media and social buzz. Series like Pop TV’s Schitt’s Creek, which has a pansexual character as a lead and a gay man as an EP, has been sweeping the biggest award shows in Hollywood. Groundbreaking shows like FX’s Pose and HBO Max’s Veneno have made history for trans representation, both on and off screen, and continue to highlight the importance of spotlighting and amplifying trans voices of color.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize LGBTQ media images that grow acceptance and the first awards I ever took part in had five nominees in Drama and Comedy Series categories, with many of those shows including minor representation. At this year’s Awards, we have 10 nominees in these categories and introduced an Outstanding Children’s Programming category to recognize inclusive stories on shows aimed at young kids, because all families should see themselves reflected on screen. 

The “backlash” now happens when a LGBTQ story is not handled well or when LGBTQ people are kept intentionally invisible. The GLAAD Media Institute consults with networks and content creators on LGBTQ inclusion and we are not hearing if LGBTQ inclusion should happen, but how to do so in responsible, fair, and entertaining ways. 

MCN: The GLAAD Media Awards are coming up on April 8, and you just announced that they will take place virtually for a second year, this time streaming on GLAAD's YouTube and for the first time ever on Hulu. How has the virtual format changed the show, and what can we expect to see this year?

RF: At the GLAAD Media Awards, we work with the world’s biggest notables to send messages of LGBTQ acceptance around the world. Premiering on Hulu will allow these messages, including ones from our host Niecy Nash, to reach an even larger audience. LGBTQ youth are isolated at homes and so many Pride festivals and other LGBTQ safe spaces have been canceled because of the pandemic, so we are excited to bring messages of inspiration to LGBTQ youth. We have 198 nominees this year, more than ever before -- and we use these nominations and awards wins to raise the bar for inclusion. Suddenly if you are a network jockeying for a nomination, you not only need to include LGBTQ people, but to spotlight diverse segments of our community.

MCN: Last year, GLAAD and P&G released the first-ever ‘LGBTQ Inclusion in Advertising & Media’ study, which found that consumers are extremely comfortable with LGBTQ images in media and look favorably on brands who include LGBTQ people in their ads. How does this research shape the focus of GLAAD’s work to improve LGBTQ inclusion with networks and advertisers moving forward?

RF: The findings of this study send a clear and powerful message to brands that including LGBTQ people in ads, TV and films is good for business and good for the world, and should act as a catalyst for greater inclusion across industries. Nearly 70% of non-LGBTQ people who saw us in film, TV or ads said they favored a brand that included us.

In advertising, we know that significant work still needs to be done given the absence of LGBTQ representation. GLAAD will soon begin work with P&G and the Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing to develop a set of best-in-class practices and standards for brands and companies to follow when approaching LGBTQ inclusion in advertising, specifically focused on prioritizing impact and ensuring accurate and authentic representation. λ

For more information about the CultureX Conversations event, go to CultureXevents.com.

There is little that the COVID-19 pandemic has left unaffected, and television advertising is no exception. Trends toward automation and addressability, which were already being felt under the surface, are only accelerating, and there is a renewed focus on updating how TV advertising is bought and sold to limit the impact of the ongoing pandemic on broadcaster revenues.

The onset of the coronavirus at the beginning of the year saw two key changes to viewing and content production. TV consumption increased, combined with a greater demand for streaming services (and therefore OTT ad targeting). A host of data points showed TV consumption continuing to evolve towards OTT/on-demand channels, reflected by broadcast VOD viewing in the United Kingdom being up 45% year-on-year.

But as the world went into lockdown (where it is once again headed), and watched more TV, the production teams, actors and sports teams that generate the content were also placed on pause. This has had secondary effects on the release dates on many anticipated TV shows and movies with additional restrictions on how they will be produced. Many sports have been unable to move forward with their normal cadence (the Olympics in particular), which has further impacted inventory availability. 

Adapting to an Altered Reality

The new reality forced broadcasters to adapt production, programming and advertising schedules fast. Live sporting events and new programming were put on hold in favor of older, higher-performing inventory. This meant that the advertisers who were relying on and investing in the canceled events now had to redirect their advertising budgets elsewhere, while also changing their creative messaging to be more culturally and socially appropriate for the times. This opportunity cost sits with the broadcaster. 

Moreover, these delays continued down the production supply chain (as well as pushing back this year's upfronts), meaning many of next year’s anticipated programs will not be ready, putting further future advertising at risk.

Both sides acknowledge the impact that the pandemic has had: the traditionally TV-heavy advertisers are asking for more flexibility on performance and spend while utilizing new tools and tactics to reach their audiences, while broadcasters need to replace the postponed ad campaigns on the fly and at lower price points. These reactions to the current climate have created a need to be flexible and act fast which has boosted the scattered buys.

The scattered buys that were considered lower quality by many are now an attractive market for advertisers who wouldn’t generally spend on TV. Both linear and addressable remnant inventory has historically had problems delivering reach at scale. However, without upfront reservations constraining supply, a
lack of inventory is no longer an issue. Scattered buys present an opportunity for broadcasters to quickly fill airtime while maintaining the incoming revenue, albeit at lower rates. 

Because the time-to-campaign-launch is critical, broadcasters also need to find a way to speed up the process of negotiating, contracting, planning and scheduling that usually take a significant number of weeks. This is where innovations in platform automation and coordination become essential. 

Ad sales, ad operations, programmers and media planners on the broadcaster side now have to synchronize activities to ensure fast-to-air campaign launches, while also managing costs and ensuring the inventory isn’t undersold. One solution to this rather complex problem is to use a unified supply and demand management platform. By monitoring the inventory that is available for selling versus inventory that is already booked, broadcasters can analyze and control the prices based on the delivery and demand for a specific program in real time, driving greater yield. 

Automation of the campaign booking process on the demand side could also solve allocation issues with remnant and guaranteed delivery by providing an overview of the best available rates for the interested programming and audience. Sitting on top of existing systems, easing the ad sales and ad ops workload, automation technology can create a more holistic view of the overall available inventory and open up a new demand channel for the first-time TV buyers that are looking to increase their reach in digital and are used to a simplified buying process. 

An Automated Future

Post-pandemic, the TV advertising ecosystem will come back with new content. It will also return with new automated systems, such as predictive inventory pricing that enables weighted campaign allocation across channels, content packages analysis and ad placement optimization that optimize both yield and ad spend, as well as competitive and search intelligence integrations to help drive monetization efficiencies. While it does not look like the upfront and the scatter buying models are going to disappear, how they are used by both major advertisers as well as brands that are new to TV will need to be reassessed. 

Maria Mryasova is director of advanced TV solutions at IPONWEB, leading a team focused on enterprise advertising technology solutions for cross-channel audience buying and selling in connected TV, linear and digital.

The following is an excerpt from “Political Advertising 101: A Refresher Course for Very Busy People” by Wiley partner John M. Burgett.

Stations must sell time to federal candidates throughout their campaign and cannot set any predetermined limits on the spot inventory made available to federal candidates. The only exception is that stations can exclude federal candidate spots from news programs.

Stations cannot censor or edit a candidate’s ad, except to provide the required sponsorship identification information (discussed above).  

Unless the spot is obscene or otherwise violates a felony statute or another Federal Communications Commission rule, a station must broadcast a candidate’s ad uncensored — no matter how offensive, distasteful or defamatory the ad may be. Because stations cannot censor candidate ads, broadcasters are immune from civil liability for the content of such ads.  

Keep in mind, however, that the FCC’s rules only apply to “legally qualified candidates” who have fulfilled all of the requirements to run for a particular office. Whether a candidate is legally qualified is usually pretty obvious; however, if you’re not sure, it’s OK to ask for proof. It is up to the candidate, not the station, to demonstrate that he or she meets the candidate requirements under applicable federal, state or local law.

Third-Party Risks

On the other hand, the “no censorship” rule (and, hence, the station’s shield against potential liability) does not apply to third-party ads, so stations may refuse to air such ads or demand edits if they’re uncomfortable with the ad’s content.

The “no censorship” rule and a station’s immunity from civil liability do not extend to third-party ads. Accordingly, before airing third-party ads, station management should be sure that it is comfortable with the content (and it can demand that changes be made to the content as a condition to airing the spot), since the station is not immune from defamation suits or copyright infringement claims arising out of the content of such ads.

A situation that occurs with increasing frequency — and intensity — as Election Day nears is this: A station runs a third-party ad that attacks a candidate, and then the candidate tells the station that the ad is a pack of lies and threatens to sue the station if it doesn’t stop running the ad. So what is a station to do? First, if the station doesn’t already have it, you should immediately request that the sponsor of the spot provide you with documentation of its claims.  Second, we strongly recommend contacting your attorneys to assess the risk of continuing to the run the ad while you investigate the matter and also to help you determine if the documentation provided is sufficient to support the claims made in the ad.

Keeping in mind that a broadcaster is always free to decline running a third-party ad if it is uncomfortable with it, we note that most political ads — while they may be replete with nasty political hardball — generally do not rise to the level of defamation. More often than not, the alleged defamatory content proves essentially to be a matter of interpretation, rather than an outright falsehood. Moreover, although the target of an attack ad often will argue that the station is responsible for the truth or falsity of all material aired on the station — which is technically true — the FCC has been disinclined to saddle stations with the burden of examining and verifying the merits of every political claim.  However, when a third-party ad veers from political issues into attacks on a candidate’s personal character or integrity — e.g., accuses him or her of having an affair, committing a crime, etc. — stations should be extra cautious.

We strongly recommend that all station staff handling political buys and/or maintaining the [FCC] political file brush up on the key rules governing political broadcasting. 

Wiley partner John M. Burgett represents broadcasters, including TV and radio group owners, before the FCC on a host of matters including political advertising.

Lyndsay Keith has been tapped to co-host Spicer & Co., the new Newsmax series hosted by former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

The show, which airs at 6 p.m. weekdays, launched this week.

Keith is a former brand strategist at Google and was also deputy communications director of the Republican National Committee and an adviser to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign. Spicer called her a friend and colleague.

“Lyndsay brings the winning combination of a strong camera presence and experience at the RNC and on political campaigns to Newsmax,” said Newsmax chief content officer Elliot Jacobson.