News Hotline

• Google Enhanced Campaigns Increase Cost Per Click
  by Laurie Sullivan 29 minutes ago

  Search advertisers will need to learn how to compensate for rising costs per click as Google gains profits from the migration to AdWords Enhanced Campaigns. CPCs on the search engine rose more than 6% during the last three months alone. ...

• Publicis Groupe's VivaKi Influences Mass Relevance Social Road Map
  by Laurie Sullivan 3 hours ago

  VivaKi Ventures has gained input into Mass Relevance's product road map to influence features and functions through a deal that could integrate the company's social technology into all Publicis Groupe agency platforms. ...

• Facebook: Sponsored Stories Settlement Gives Users 'Windfall'
  by Wendy Davis 6 hours ago

  Facebook is asking a federal judge to grant final approval to a $20 million deal that would resolve litigation about "sponsored stories" ads. The deal calls for Facebook to pay users up to $10 if they were featured in a "sponsored stories" ad. Attorneys would receive $7.5 million ...

• Scripps Launches TV Everywhere With TWC
  by David Goetzl 6 hours ago

  Scripps Networks has a TV Everywhere deal with Time Warner Cable, allowing viewers access to on-demand programming. Content from five networks will be available to the cable operator's subscribers on an authenticated basis. ...

• Cannes Lions, Gates Foundation Partner For Global Initiative
  by Steve McClellan 6 hours ago

  The Cannes Lions organization, which puts on the annual advertising awards festival, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are serious about doing something to help ease the plight of the world's poor. Cannes Chimera Initiative is designed to tackle global problems. The Cannes Chimera Initiative will award ...

• Digital Businesses Address Need For Mobile Ops, Sites
  by Mark Walsh 7 hours ago

  Almost a third (32%) of digital businesses will spend $1 million or more on mobile operations this year compared to 24% in 2012. With most working with budgets under $1 million, 38% of 145 executives surveyed in the first quarter feel they don't have enough to fund their ...

• After TV, Sports Fans Up Coverage On Mobile, Social Nets
  by Wayne Friedman 8 hours ago

  While TV remains the No. 1 platform for sports fans, the second-screen TVs of sports -- including connected and smart TV sets -- are still lagging behind. Over a third of sports fans use smartphones to access sports content. ...

• Fandango Adds To Video Lineup
  by Mark Walsh 8 hours ago

  Fandango has launched a new series called "Summer of Action" previewing new blockbuster releases during the peak moviegoing season. ...

• Marriott Modifies Marketing Message
  by Aaron Baar 8 hours ago

  With a new marketing campaign, the hotel chain -- a division of Marriott International -- is looking to show how it can cater to both business and leisure travelers who are sometimes one and the same at the same time. ...

• Public Trust In Newspapers Dips Again
  by Erik Sass 10 hours ago

  In addition to their well-publicized financial woes, newspapers have a credibility problem, as Americans' confidence in them continues to decline. ...

• Speculation About TWC, Charter Merger Continues

  Strong speculation on Friday about a possible merger between Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications -- the second- and fourth-largest cable operators in the U.S. -- quieted a bit on Monday. ...

• WPP Adds Funding To Fullscreen, Ups Digital Expansion

  WPP is participating in a round of funding for startup digital content firm Fullscreen. Per the agency, Fullscreen's global network now generates over 2.5 billion monthly video views and reaches over 150 million subscribers. ...

• DeMoulin: Booming Licensing Show = Booming Business

  While entertainment properties -- movies, TV, games -- are the major source of licensed merchandise as well as a destination for brands to get integrated into movies and games, other sectors are catching up fast. Fashion is the fastest-growing segment. ...

• Kia Back To Rock At Vans

  At the tour, which hits 39 U.S. cities, the brand gets both main stages (Kia Soul Stage and Kia Forte Stage), has its Soul Lounge on site, and its own show theme, "Rock and Roll. Punk and Soul." People can escape the mosh pit if they have a ...

• 'Atlantic' Joins 'Esquire' In Launching Weekly Mini-Mags For Devices

  Magazines are trying to re-imagine their content and test new models on devices. Within weeks of one another, two legendary print brands have used the tablet platform to test smaller, weekly versions of themselves for snack-sized consumption. ...

• Yahoo Launches Lead Gen Biz

  Yahoo Small Business on Monday will launch Yahoo Localworks to help companies generate leads and become more visible through search query results, directories and map applications such as Mapquest and Bing Maps. ...

• Second-Screening Posts Modest Results In Sports

  Second-screening remains slow out of the gate for sports viewers, according to new research. Results show that in the past two years only 4% have begun following an event on an Internet-connected device while watching on TV. ...

• United Donates Miles To Make-A-Wish

  United Airlines is donating one million MileagePlus miles to Make-A-Wish. The donation, which is being made for the second year in a row, will help children with life-threatening illnesses reach their wish destinations. The airline donated the miles as part of the annual Make-A-Wish "Mileathon" held last w ...

• Barbasol Writes The Book On Manliness

  Barbasol is offering a decidedly old-school twist on masculinity, launching its new Field Guide to Manhood on Amazon. Priced at $19.19 (the year the shaving cream company was founded), the manual is an effort to shore up the brand's macho cred, as well as raise money for the ...

• Schick Hydro, Three Guys, And New Zealand

  The series also reprises last year's program in which the guys were in Hawaii skydiving, mountain biking and surfing the big waves. Fuel says last year's show was the top-rated late fringe program, with over 85,000 hours streamed across Yahoo since its debut. ...

• Weber Departs AT&T Role Overseeing U-Verse Content

  Jeff Weber, president of content and advertising sales at AT&T, has left the position. Weber oversaw program negotiations for the U-verse TV service as well as the AdWorks operations. ...

• Apple Revamps iOS 7, App Changes Benefit Marketers

  What Apple CEO Tim Cook called the biggest overhaul of iOS since the iPhone's launch, a revamped mobile platform, also included other updates that will affect how developers and brands market their apps on iPhones and iPads. ...

• Univision Expects 15% Upfront Gain, Could See $2.1B

  Univision is on pace to gain 15% in upfront dollar volume this year, according to media executives, who say that the network has completed 75% of its targeted upfront deals so far. The Spanish-language net would pull in $2.1 billion. ...

• LinkedIn Seeks Dismissal Of Data-Breach Lawsuit

  Social networking service LinkedIn is asking a judge to slam the courthouse door on a user who is trying to bring a class-action lawsuit against the company for failing to prevent a data breach. ...

• Omnicom, Salesforce Partnership Builds Cloud Services, Data Infrastructure

  Omnicom Media Group will tie together online services and build out physical data hubs with support from Salesforce and its marketing cloud technology. Annalect, Omnicom's analytics division, will aid the effort in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, London and Singapore to support clients served by OMD Worldwide, Resolution ...

• BrightRoll, Google Battle For Video Ad Supremacy

  The video ad marketplace continues to resemble the story of David and Goliath, with BrightRoll and Google battling it out for the most impressions served. ...

• Bauer To Launch 3 New Titles In Fall

  Bauer Publishing, the German company behind "In Touch Weekly," is apparently unfazed, as it unveiled plans to launch not one but three new magazines: 'Closer,' a celebrity weekly, 'Girls World' and 'Celebrations.' ...

• S&F Appeals WPP Suit, Sues NDTV

  The law firm Sabharwal & Finkel, which last month lost its libel suit against WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, has appealed the decision in a New York Court. Separately, S&F has sued its former client New Delhi Television for $1.7 million in back fees related to an unsuccessful suit ...

• Post-Scandal, Verizon's Reputation Takes Hit

  "Lots of consumers had heard about [the story] and perceived it as negative for Verizon," Ted Marzilli, CEO and founder of YouGov BrandIndex, tells Marketing Daily. "When you see the reaction, it's clear the story is associated with Verizon." ...

• SodaStream Backs Cause, Gets Political

  Home carbonation system SodaStream may not have gotten the spot it wanted on the Super Bowl, but it is getting a lot of attention in the U.S. and elsewhere for contentious creative that calls out plastic bottles, politicians, recycling, and Big Soda. ...

• Adform: Mobile RTB Spend In Europe Up 275%

  Mobile real-time bidding (RTB) spend in Europe increased 275% during the first quarter this year, while March alone saw a 66% jump in total RTB spend. The figures come from Adform's RTB Trend Report Europe Q1 2013. Mobile still only accounts for less than 3% of total RTB ...

• Ad Spend Forecast Glum: Trad Media Down, Cable, Digital Up

  Growth prospects for U.S. ad spending this year haven't been all that bright, with most forecasters predicting increases in the low single-digit range on a percentage basis. One report suggests there won't be any growth at all. Advertisers will continue to shift dollars away from local media. ...

• NBA Finals Ratings Hold Steady

  ABC's game four of the "NBA Finals" between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs posted nearly identical ratings to the fourth game of the series a year ago. ...

• Worldwide Pay TV Enjoys 5% Growth

  Worldwide pay TV homes continue to see steady growth -- rising 5% by the end of this year. Global pay TV homes will get to 814 million households by the end of the year, up from 772 million in 2012. China will be the top country. ...

• Kraft Foods Forms Two New Business Groups

  Kraft Foods Group has announced plans to create two new stand-alone business units: Meals and Desserts, and Enhancers and Snack Nuts. Creating the new units will enable Kraft Foods to "place even greater focus on brand-building, while reducing the complexity of managing a portfolio with many distinct brands ...