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News Hotline

• GroupM: Search Good For What Ails Pharma Brands
  by Laurie Sullivan 2 hours ago

  Pharmaceutical companies spent more than $4 trillion in advertising last year, but search only accounted for 2.6%. New research from GroupM shows that 42% of consumers filling new prescriptions use paid search when making a decision related to the purchase. ...

• Mitsubishi Meets Floods, Blizzards, Ice, Sleet
  by Karl Greenberg 5 hours ago

  The Brea, Calif.-based U.S. sales and marketing arm of the Japanese automaker has launched a new marketing campaign that aims to increase consideration of its vehicles by making them stars of cinema verit-style real-world testing. ...

• Study: Retailers Flock To Online Marketing
  by Sarah Mahoney 5 hours ago

  E-commerce is increasingly emerging as the primary language for most retailers, reports a new study from the National Retail Federation, with big investments in IT, websites and online marketing in store for the year ahead. ...

• Purina Tells Owners Pets Are 'Great'
  by Aaron Baar 5 hours ago

  Every dog owner knows their pet is "good." Purina Pro Plan, with a new marketing campaign, is giving them a chance to make their dogs "great." ...

• Testing: Industry Wants Cross-Platform Metrics For Video
  by Steve McClellan 5 hours ago

  A new cross-platform video identification system is being readied for testing at the start of the 2012 fall season. The industry is having difficulty accurately measuring video content as it migrates across a growing array of devices and channels including TV, online, tablets, smart phones and video-on-demand syst ...

• Apple Promises To Crack Down On Privacy Violations
  by Wendy Davis 5 hours ago

  Faced with reports that app developers are scooping up iPhone users' address books without their permission, Apple said it intends to put a stop to the practice. Apple's statement came the same day it was grilled by congressmen on privacy issues. ...

• Homes Transformed Into OOH Billboards
  by Erik Sass 6 hours ago

  The newest thing in out-of-home advertising might be on-the-home advertising. Homeowners worried about making their mortgage payments can now tap a new source of income by turning their homes into ad platforms. ...

• CBS' Ad Base Holds Steady, Retrans Sees Uptick
  by Wayne Friedman 6 hours ago

  Looking at overall entertainment revenue for the CBS Televison Network, its studios, distribution, CBS Films and its interactive business, the company had a 1% gain to $7.5 billion for 2011. Cable and outdoor revs rose in the fourth quarter. ...

• Timeline Apps Drive Traffic For Facebook Partners
  by Mark Walsh 7 hours ago

  A month after releasing 60 new Timeline apps, Facebook touted initial results showing big increases in sign-ups and traffic for sites including Pinterest, Foodspotting and Fab.com. The lifestyle apps that went live last month followed Facebook's launch of Timeline in September. The Open Graph platform allows developers and ...

• Blekko Begins Testing Search Ads
  by Laurie Sullivan 7 hours ago

  Blekko has begun to test search ads on its site through feeds from Google and Bing. It works with brands through ad networks, but doesn't yet have direct ad relationships. ...

• Who Broke The News Of Whitney's Death?

  Here's an interesting post about journalists using Twitter tweets as an accurate source of news, centered around the timely issue of just who broke the story of Whitney Houston's death. Steve Myers contends that it was not really a Twitter user, after all. Analyzing the tweet said to ...

• NBCU Taps comScore, Google To Measure Olympics Audience

  In its third pass toward developing a single-source metrics system, NBC Universal will task both comScore and Google to create new ways of measuring viewership of this summer's London Olympics across a variety of platforms. Google will be working with special algorithyms, a 3,000-consumer panel and a meter-based ...

• Game Is On Between 'T' And 'WSJ' Mags

  The Wall Street Journal's luxury glossy, WSJ, is gaining momentum, with an increase in ad pages and frequency, heating up the competititon between this pub and The New York Times' T, which is having its own growing pains (a change in editor, some flat-lining in ad pages). John ...

• 'Sunset' Has New EIC

  Time Inc.'s Sunset, one of the country's biggest regional pubs, tapped Kitty Morgan as its new editor in chief. Morgan was previously executive editor of Better Homes and Gardens. She replaces interim editor Charla Lawhon, who took over after Katie Tamony was fired after 10 years in the ...

• Despite Q4 Slips, Comcast, NBC Revs Up For 2011

  For the year, Comcast revenue rose 47.2% to $55.8 billion, in part because of the NBCU equity transaction. NBC Universal's cable networks continue to do the heavy lifting -- up 5.3% in revenue to $2.2 billion for the fourth quarter and 10.6% higher for the year overall to ...

• Craft Brewer Presents 'Least Interesting Man'

  Craft beer brewer Breckenridge Brewery of Colorado is extending its low-budget "Truth in Beervertising" TV campaign with two new spots parodying big-brand beer advertising. ...

• Mobile Malware Attacks Up 155% In 2011

  A new report from Juniper Networks underscores the downside of the Android Market's hands-off approach to approving apps. In its annual Mobile Threats Report, it reported a record number of mobile malware attacks, especially to the Android platform. While there was a 155% rise in mobile malware across ...

• Toyota Leads In Tight Durability Race

  When it comes to vehicle dependability, Toyota's back on top, but with little time for laurel resting: so is everyone else, it seems, and the domestic manufacturers -- General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler LLC -- are improving the fastest. ...

• Oscar Advertisers Include Movie Studios, MetLife

  At least seven companies that spent heavily to advertise in the Super Bowl will also air pricey spots in the Academy Awards later this month. Included on the list are two movie marketers and a beer company promoting a more niche brand. ...

• 4 SEO Trends Enterprises Should Know

  Search engine optimization within enterprise organizations will become more important this year as companies realize the power behind optimizing for social signals in search engine results. But there is other content that marketers should consider. For instance, Google has increased its focus on rich snippets such as author ...

• How To Use AdWords For Keyword Research

  Rand Fishkin shows us that the numbers and the queries in Google's AdWords data may not always match what is actually happening on Google's search engine. He warns against running discovery-focused searches in AdWords., which may not show all the high-volume keyword phrases connected to a word and ...

• BtoB Releases Search Study

  About 95% of marketers have optimized Web sites and landing pages to serve up results near the top of the search page, but the use of paid-search ads is much less pervasive, according to a new study released by B2B. In fact, only 35% of respondents have had ...

• Gliding Through Google Analytics

  Planning, customer segmentation, goal and event tracking, and page categories. These are some of the topics that Sarah Carling outlines in her guide on what to track through Google Analytics. For instance, she explains why some of the customer segmentations for an ecommerce site should include new visitors ...

• TV Retrans Fees Soar 27%

  Average monthly retransmission fees that TV stations get from cable, satellite, and telco video services continue to climb. Now the average monthly fee is about 33 cents per subscriber per month, as of the third quarter 2011, up 27%. ...

• Travel Channel To Debut 3 New Series

  The Travel Channel is making a bid to land a hit in the flourishing auction genre. Following the successful "Auction Hunters" on Spike and "Storage Wars" on A&E, the network will debut "Baggage Battles" April 11. Another upcoming show stays in the popular search-and-discover genre. "Toy Hunters" follows ...

• The To-Do App That Rocked The World

  Not since Angry Birds, has there been so much excitement around a mobile app. Even more remarkable, it’s a to-do list that has everyone talking. TheNextWeb puts Clear -- released this week on iTunes App Store -- in that category of apps “that make you re-think the way ...

• HTC Planning Music Service?

  You go, HTC. The struggling smartphone maker is reportedly working on several new products, including a music streaming service. HTC, which recently acquired a substantial stake in Beats Audio, is developing a streaming service that will be offered as a default music client on HTC phones and tablets, ...

• Apple Takes Top Smartphone Seller Crown

  Surpassing Samsung, Apple became the world’s biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new data from Gartner. “Almost a quarter of smartphones sold were iPhones as Apple’s market share rose to 23.8 percent from 15.8 percent a year earlier,” Bloomberg notes, citing Gartner. All ...

• Omnicom Group Takes Resolution Global To Optimize Data, Search

  In a bid to maximize the benefits of its global search operations, Omnicom Media Group is re-branding search agencies it uses in 40 countries under the Resolution Media banner, which it acquired in 2005 and had previously just operated in the U.S. The rollout, which represents roughly $2 ...

• Digital Viewing Of Traditional TV Rises

  Video plays on tablets, mobile devices and connected TVs nearly doubled in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the third quarter. At the same time, video plays on Google TV grew 91% in fourth-quarter 2011 over previous periods. That's good news for new video and TV-related businesses. ...

• Asian Brands Need To Be Ethical

  Eighty-four percent of Chinese and three-quarters of Indian consumers believe it is the responsibility of companies rather than governments to solve social and environmental issues, according to Havas Media's ASPAC Meaningful Brands survey. But just two-thirds of respondents in China feel that they can make a difference in ...

• Safeway Marketing Chief Guardedly Optimistic

  Safeway is recognizing "a little bit of a re-emergence of optimism among shoppers" as some come back to pre-recession behavior, Michael Minasi, the retailer's president of marketing, said during a panel discussion at the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference in Orlando. ...

• Eddie Bauer CEO To Take Hike

  Eddie Bauer chief Neil Fiske, who joined the retailer in 2007 and led it through bankruptcy, will leave his post effective March 2. No word on why he's leaving. Fiske will step aside for David Chamberlain, the company's executive chairman, who will serve as interim CEO until a ...

• Mercedes-Benz Keys Also Unlock Ads

  Mercedes-Benz has found a new way of showing off all the space inside its vans: by allowing consumers to open the vehicle's doors in its ads using their car keys. ...

• Starbucks Valentines App Still Live

  Cads: it's not too late to give a virtual Valentine's Day gift. Starbuck's app stays live until Thursday. It's part of the Starbucks Cup Magic App program developed last year for the holidays to allow its customers to share augmented reality experiences. The short-term program has Valentine's Day-themed ...

• Mazda Seeks Dance Partner

  Mazda is in a serious bind. The maker is forecasting a $1.3 billion loss for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31. And it is struggling to reverse a sales slide that saw it drop to 1.25 million units, a 2% dip, in calendar 2011. Mazda may ...

• Top Story: Digital Radio Overcomes Major Ad Hurdle, Pandora Fails To Get Out Of Black Box

  In a move that will make it easier for agencies to plan, buy, and perhaps most importantly, process new and emerging digital radio advertising platforms, Madison Avenue now has a standard format for coding HD and streaming radio stations it its media-buying systems. The breakthrough, which is being ...

• To Win Some Hearts, Agency Makes A Play For The Sole (Two At A Time)

  Most agencies try to create campaigns that move people to act not just with their minds, but also with their feet. A new one breaking today from the cementbloc hopes to do that literally - by appealing to people's hearts via their soles. The campaign for non-profit Coore ...

• SI Swimsuit Apps Also Peep At Magazine Watermarks

  As part of this year's Swimsuit Issue extravaganza, Sports Illustrated launches a special viewer app that detects watermarks in the special issue to trigger special videos of the models. ...

• Apple's Tim Cook: Tablet Sales Will Surpass PC

  At a Goldman Sachs keynote, Apple CEO Tim Cook argued that "off the charts" iPad sales indicated tablet sales will surpass PC sales in coming years. Addressing the Amazon challenge directly, Cook claims the iPad is aimed at a different type of consumer from the Kindle Fire. ...

• That's Entertainment: Screen Size Doesn't Matter

  Consumers are using their tablets and smartphones to stream video programming at an increasing rate, and they're doing it in their homes, where televisions are available. That's according to a new study conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey. ...

• Top Story: Far East Deal Goes South For Yahoo, Investors Ask, 'What Now?'

  In the latest chapter of the digital ad industry's favorite soap opera, the plot has once again thickened for Yahoo. Specifically, a lucrative deal to sell off its Asian assets in a $17 billion swap with China's Alibaba Group appears to have faltered, causing investors to rethink prospects ...

• Publishers Look To Capitalize On Consolidated Services

  Publishers have been stepping up marketing services in hopes that brands and agencies will consolidate their list of publishing partners and invest ad dollars in fewer coffers. The move has begun to affect the profitability of ad exchanges paying attention. ...

• AP Says News Aggregator Infringes Copyright

  The Associated Press on Tuesday took aim at Meltwater, a company that offers a paid clipping service to clients including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ...

• Top Story: Arbitron To Measure Radio Streaming, Regain MRC Accreditation

  Arbitron COO Sean Creamer said Tuesday the company has developed a "high-level framework" for its product measuring digital radio streaming, though getting the industry to accept it remains a challenge. ...

• Poor Attribution Models Waste Billions Of Ad Dollars

  Collective has developed a model to determine online ad attribution and plans to release a study Wednesday pointing to flaws in methods marketers use today, such as click-through rates, post clicks, and impressions. The strategy -- causal attribution -- aims to support ROI from display and video advertising ...

• Zynga Reports Loss, But Mobile Games Strong

  In its first quarterly report since going public in December, social games powerhouse Zynga posted a net loss for the fourth quarter, but beat analyst estimates for its adjusted earnings. The company had a net loss of $435 million, or $1.22 a share. ...

• OTT TV Numbers RIsing

  A new report suggests TV watching via broadband is on the rise, while devices facilitating over-the-top viewing are gaining more traction. Parks Associates found that 31% of homes with broadband regularly watch TV online. ...

• Improvements, Pricing, Promos Drive Pizza Growth

  Improvements including menu innovations and ordering technology, combined with flat pricing and marketing/promotion pushes by leading pizza brands, are resulting in modest but improving growth for the industry amid the challenging economy. ...

• Aereo's Promise Of 'Live TV, No Cable Required' Invites Legal Action From Broadcasters

  Aereo, a new startup backed by Barry Diller’s IAC and other investors, plans to launch a service providing New York City over-the-air broadcast stations -- and DVR service -- to mobile devices for $12 a month. You can expect possible legal action from broadcasters, reports Todd Spangler, the ...

• AP Sues Meltwater News For Newspaper Piracy

  Following in the footsteps of the film and recording industries, the newspaper industry is going on the attack against piracy, reports Lucas Shaw.  Specifically, the Associated Press has sued electronic clipping service Meltwater News, charging it with “illegally taking and profiting from its content.”  Shaw notes that the ...

• NBC's 'Voice,' 'Smash' Beat CBS

  NBC. It won another Monday night, topping perennial Monday night champ CBS, thanks to "Smash" and "The Voice" -- which retained solid ratings, although down from the previous week. ...

• Hotels.com Goes Global With New Effort

  The company says new changes to the global branding platform will continue throughout the year, with most countries seeing the largest part of the change effective in the second quarter this year. ...

• Hearst Tablet Editions Will Feature Shoppable Edit

  Echoing what it does on its website, Hearst will be adding a shoppable element to its Kindle Fire editions by linking products to Amazon. The publisher will get a cut of sales. Hearst general manager John Loughlin addresses "church and state issues," as one analyst puts it in ...

• Akoo Acquires Theater For DOOH Network

  Akoo, which operates AkooTV, a digital out-of-home video network delivering entertainment content and advertising, is adding to its capabilities to create original entertainment content through a new partnership with the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, IL. ...