Volume 12, Issue 5
Dear Reader,
My block is preparing for spring.
How do I know?
The scaffolding above the Library For the Blind is coming down. One banged up bar at a time is being removed by a couple of guys wearing neon green t-shirts. This means that people in the buildings across the street will be able to see the sunlight without feeling like they’re in a jail.
Unfortunately, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, aged 47, will never see beyond his jail cell. He died last week of unknown causes in one of Russia’s toughest penal colonies located in the Arctic Circle. The authorities haven’t released his body to his family to perform an autopsy and burial.
While this newsletter isn’t political in its focus, Navalny’s politically motivated death in an extreme jail should give Americans and others around the world reason to follow his wife Yulia’s bravery to oppose all dictators.
► Media Choices Continue To Expand
In 2024, the media landscape will continue to evolve and expand based on survey results of US digital media professionals by Integral Ad Science and YouGov in September 2023.
- 47% believe social media faces serious challenges;
- 38% think digital video including connected TV will have difficulties; and
- 24% view linear television or traditional TV as having trouble.
Despite the challenges social media and digital video face, media professionals still choose them as their top media choices.

Surprisingly, the biggest change is:
The television screen is no longer a channel-specific programming device. Beyond being the most used device for media engagement, the TV screen is a pipeline for all types of content.
Actionable Marketing Tips
- Assess your target audience and update your marketing personas to ensure that you’re placing your marketing messages where your desired audience will see them.
- Make your marketing objective to maximize reach across screens. Now television is part of that mix.
► Cross-Platform Audiences
The biggest change:
TV screens are the most used device for media engagement. Further, they’re a way to access all types of content. (Source: NPR 2024)
- Over 80% of US households who access TV content via the internet watched some form of linear programming in 2023.
- Over 70% of US homes now have at least one smart TV.
► Television: Still A Viable Marketing Option?
Just under 97% of US households or about 315.3 million people have at least one TV.
- Roughly 92% of TV households, regardless of classification, watched some form of linear programming between October 2022 and October 2023.
- More than 18% of US TV households have at least one TV set to receive free, broadcast programming. (Source: Nielsen)
Across US TV and streaming ad spend, linear TV in 2024 will still account for about two-thirds of the total spend despite increased cord-cutting. In 2023, linear TV CPMs were projected to decline 2.7%. (Source: InsiderIntelligence – November 2023).
Jon Stewart Returns To The Daily Show
As the GOAT (aka: Greatest Of All Time) of late night satire, Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show although he will only host the Monday evening show.
While Late Night Television ratings have declined, Stewart’s core young audience have shifted to TikTok and YouTube.
Despite this, Stewart’s first “Daily Show” in almost a decade garnered 1.85 million total viewers across Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, Pop and TV Land including an encore airing on Comedy Central, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures. By contrast, former Daily Show host, Treavor Noah attracted an average television audience of 385,000 viewers in 2022.
On social media, Stewart’s first show drew 11.1 million views across social platforms. It ranked in the top spot for most social cable program among late night shows. (Source: The Wrap)
In part, Stewart’s strong return to television as well as other video platforms can be seen as an extension of the strength of his community. His fans missed his unique brand of satire and liked his show as a way of getting the news.
Actionable Marketing Tip
- Know what your brand stands for across platforms. This is an important marketing question. Many businesses don’t fully think out when they’re in startup mode. For example, while many viewers use “The Daily Show” as a means of getting the day’s news, it is still “fake” news.
► What Politics Means For The Marketing/Advertising Landscape
As I’ve said before, politics has a lot in common with marketing. Instead of making decisions with money for products and services, people exercise their electoral power by voting in local, state and federal elections for their governmental representatives.
In the US, electoral campaigns involve a variety of marketing types from knocking on doors and talking to voters and placing signs on people’s front lawns to television and social media activity.
From a historical perspective,
- Franklin D.Roosevelt change presidential campaigns by using radio talks;
- John F. Kennedy shifted campaigning tothe use of television. This was most notable in the televised 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates where Kennedy’s performance excelled.
- Barack Obama reached a new and younger voting segment with social media.
2024 Political Election ad spend will go to various forms of television. Purchased by campaigns and PACs, most of these ads appear on television and internet news sites.
2024 Political Election ad spend break out:
- Total ad spend across platforms will reach $7.06 billion.
- Digital ad spend will hit $3.46 billion, 45.0% of this will go to connected TV (or CTV). (Source: InsiderIntelligence-February 2024)
Actionable Marketing Tips
- Monitor advertising for television and online since it may increase closer to Election Day. Bear in mind that political advertising includes every level of government as well as special interest groups.
- Watch out for political misinformation and AI deep fakes and other related problems.
- Protect your brand with regard to high profile social and cultural topics. Determine what matters to your offering, business, and customers.
► US TikTok Use
Social video app TikTok had about 102 million US users in 2023. The app is projected to have 107.8 million US users in 2024, a 5+% increase percent year-over-year. One-third of U.S. adults use the site and a growing share get news there.
Like many other social media sites, the top 25% of US adult TikTok users produce 98% of all publicly accessible videos. US users who post put up six public videos for which they receive an average of 149 “likes” in return. Important to reach first time and young voters, 56% of all US adults ages 18 to 34 use TikTok.
About half of US users between 18-34 have never posted. Additionally 70% of all US users haven’t added information to the bio section of their accounts. Looking deeper, 49% of users have never received a “like” and the average adult is followed by 36 accounts. (Source: Pew Research 2023)
Actionable Marketing Tip
- Use digital video. At a minimum, test the impact of TikTok.
► Biden-Harris Political Campaign turns to TikTok
The Biden-Harris Campaign debuted their TikTok account, @bidenhq” during the Super Bowl to tap into the social media platform used by 3/4s of the 18-24 year old population. (Source: InsiderIntelligence February 2024)
Late Night Host Jimmy Fallon spoofed President Biden’s TikTok account by playing the President. Fallon began the segment by telling the audience, “Well guys, the Biden campaign has been looking to attract younger voters. And I don’t know if you know this, but this week President Biden joined TikTok.” (Source: The Wrap February 2024)
Actionable Marketing Tip
- Test new platforms to reach your full potential audience in today’s highly fragmented media world.
► Writing: Learn The Craft From Experts
As I continue to work on writing my fiction, I attended two inspiring writing events this week.
Going to live writing-related events is critical for writing experts and newbies since writing is a lonely process where the writer must glue her tush to the chair and put words on the computer screen.
On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, Housing Works Bookstore celebrated Lucinda Halperin’s new Amazon bestselling book, Get Signed: Find an Agent, Land a Book Deal, and Become a Published Author.
Caption: Chris Guillebeau’s Instagram video of the new book event for Get Signed.
The speakers included:
- New York Times bestselling author Chris Guillebeau. Chris Guillebeau’s take-aways included have a great book outline and don’t expect an agent or publisher to fix your manuscript for you.
- Senior Editor at Crown and Currency Leah Trouwborst. Her advice not surprisingly was to be prepared to work closely with the publisher’s editor.
- Lucinda Halpern is a literary agent and a first time author.
Actionable Book Marketing Take-Away
Don’t overlook the power of self-publishing via Amazon or other self-publish platforms.
Many authors have used traditional publishers before successfully self-publishing. In fact many of them earn more revenue in the process including my friend and colleague, Mark W. Schaefer.
Actionable Book Marketing Tips
- Build your online presence across platforms.
- Market your own book regardless of how it’s published. You’re on your own in the marketing and PR department.
On Saturday, my husband and I saw “All The Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented The Villain”, an off-Broadway play at the DR2 Theatre east of Union Square. Written and created by Patrick Page, the play examines Shakespeare’s body of work to show how he created the modern villain by:
- Making his characters three-dimensional with a past history before they enter the play.
- Using the plots of existing plays. As Picasso and Austin Kleon say, “Steal like an artist”.
- Involving different types of people based on background, race, religion and other factors.
Adding to the treat, we got to see President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton and their family. (As New Yorkers, we took these discreet photos from our seats before the show started. So they’re not as professional looking as our other photos!)
Actionable Book Marketing Tip
- Know the complete background for all of your book’s characters from the moment they’re born until they enter your book. BTW, Lisa Cron also makes this point in her book, “Story Genius”.
Mark Your Calendar
The next three months offer a plethora of exciting marketing events across various focuses. Here are some of the top events to consider:
► Active Campaign’s Leap Day Extravaganza — February 28 – March 1
The ActiveCampaign Leap Day Extravaganza! is a virtual event for marketers and entrepreneurs looking to leverage technology, strategy, and process improvements. (BTW–Did I mention that it’s FREE!)
► renAIssance Salon SF! — February 29 at 8:00pm in San Francisco, CA
An exclusive event for investors, founders, advisors, media, and executives to connect over drinks and explore new opportunities in AI.
► AI for Writers Summit — March 6th, 2024, Free Virtual Event
Discover the current state of AI writing technologies and learn how AI can make writers and content teams more efficient and creative. Produced by Marketing AI Institute.
► SXSW — March 8th – 16th in Austin, Texas
A vibrant mix of sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities covering technology, creativity, and the future of culture. Expect insights on marketing tech, data-driven strategies, and innovative approaches to reaching audiences.
► B2B Small Business Expo — March 14th in Miami, Florida.
The Small Business Expo is America’s #1 Trade Show and Networking Event For B2B Businesses. And it’s Free!
► Content Entrepreneur Expo — May 5th – 7th in Cleveland, Ohio
Join bloggers, podcasters, authors, newsletter writers, speakers, coaches and consultants, freelancers, and YouTubers at THE learning and networking event for content entrepreneurs. Read our interview with Joe Pulizzi, Content, Inc. – Revised Edition
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Happy Marketing,
Heidi
P.S.: Want Heidi Cohen to contribute a quote or other commentary to your next article, presentation, video, research, or book? Then hit reply to this email and ask.
P.P.S: Did you miss our last AMG Newsletter?
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