News Hotline

• United Expands Loyalty Program To Businesses
  by Tanya Irwin 70 minutes ago

  United Airlines is launching the MileagePlus Small Business Network, the first U.S. travel loyalty program that enables businesses to earn and redeem miles. Participating businesses earn award miles by purchasing goods and services from more than a dozen of the program's vendor partners, including leading providers of printing, ...

• Yahoo To Buy Tumblr For $1.1 Billion
  by Mark Walsh 3 hours ago

  The Yahoo board has agreed to acquire popular blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, according to reports Sunday. The deal, first reported by tech blog AllThingsD, is expected to be announced as soon as Monday. The acquisition would mark Yahoo's most ambitious move yet to revitalize ...

• Traditional Radio Revs Flat, Digital Revs Up 9%
  by Erik Sass 6 hours ago

  Radio advertising revenues were flat at $3.5 billion in the first quarter of 2013, unchanged from the same period in 2012. Total spot advertising revenue, long the mainstay of the radio business, was down 2% to $3 billion, while digital revenues increased 9% to $179 million and off-air ...

• Original 'Voice' Judges Return
  by David Goetzl May 17, 2013, 5:41 PM

  The original quartet of coaches for "The Voice" will return for the fifth season this fall. Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will be back as the show continues to draw strong ratings and serve as a cornerstone for NBC. ...

• Van Wagner Partners With CineSport For Online Video
  by Erik Sass May 17, 2013, 5:34 PM

  Van Wagner Communications' Sports and Entertainment division is joining forces with CineSport, partly owned by Van Wagner, to create and distribute original sports video content. Over 100 digital publishers lined up for the syndicated service, including newspaper Web sites from the 'New York Post,' 'Los Angeles Times,' 'Boston ...

• Weather.com Develops Real-Time Data Ad Targeting
  by Laurie Sullivan May 17, 2013, 5:12 PM

  Weather.com has begun using audience segmentation data from Lotame to develop real-time ad targeting services based on weather conditions, time and interests for companies like Home Depot, Toyota, Disney and others. The platform relies on the potential of weather data as a powerful predictor of consumer purchase int ...

• Champs Taps Westbrook For Ad Push
  by Karl Greenberg May 17, 2013, 4:52 PM

  The effort features a 30-second television commercial in which a high school basketball player picks up Jordan brand gear at a Champs Sports store and "becomes" Westbrook: when he dons the outers, he looks into a mirror and sees Westbrook looking back. ...

• Strategic Vision: Domestics' Strong Showing In Quality
  by Karl Greenberg May 17, 2013, 4:47 PM

  Chrysler's Town & Country minivan, Dodge Dart, Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and Ford Fusion made the top of their segments in Total Quality. VW has been on top at the corporate level for the past eight years. Audi, its luxury division, tied with Lexus for the best individual ...

• MetroPCS Drops Challenge To Neutrality Rules
  by Wendy Davis May 17, 2013, 4:44 PM

  T-Mobile's newly acquired MetroPCS withdrew its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules on Friday. But Verizon, which also challenged the rules, is continuing with its appeal. ...

• 'Geo-Conquesting' Drives Higher Mobile Click Rates
  by Mark Walsh May 17, 2013, 3:56 PM

  The practice of conquesting -- running advertising for a brand or product near editorial content about a competitor's offerings online or in print -- is nothing new in the world of marketing. A more recent twist is the extension of the tactic to mobile location targeting by advertising ...

• 'Idol' Falls, 'Bang' Leads Thursdays

  The TV broadcast network environment is definitely shifting -- as evidenced by the last major night of the broadcast season, Thursday, where a number of high-profile season and series finales aired. Fox's "American Idol" final episode of the season expectedly took a steep dive -- down 44% to ...

• Cox-Backed, Skyword Raises $6.7 Million To Enhance Content Creation

  Skyword, a Boston-based provider of online social marketing content, has raised $6.7 million in venture capital funding led by existing backer Cox Media Group. The Skyword platform automates critical steps in the content creation and publishing process. It assesses search engine optimization services using a scorecard to ensure ...

• Sapient Revs Up 12%, Optimistic About 2013

  Marketing services company Sapient reported first-quarter revenues of $292.6 million -- up 12% from the same period a year ago -- with net income of $6.6 million, down 26%. The profit slide was partly the result of investments the company is making to expand overseas in markets in ...

• Ford, Jeep, Chevy Top Digital Auto Brands

  On the digital proving track, Detroit is beating out the competition. Ford, Jeep and Chevrolet were the top three auto brands based on an analysis of their Web site, digital marketing, social media and mobile efforts over the last year. ...

• KSE Finalizes Outdoor Channel Buy

  An entity controlled by sports entrepreneur Stan Kroenke has finalized its acquisition of the Outdoor Channel after a lengthy bidding war. The group also owns 50% of the World Fishing Network, offering some potential synergies. ...

• 'Tonight' Still King Of Late-Night TV

  While NBC proceeds to set up its late-night changes for next year, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" continues to grab steady top results -- just ahead of the competition. ...

• Choosing Sides: VivaKi Backs comScore; ABC Throws In With Nielsen

  In a battle to control the future of the ad industry's currency, Nielsen and comScore each added to their sides this week, with comScore tilting more in Madison Avenue's favor -- at least a big chunk of it. On Thursday, one of its biggest buyers of media, Publicis' ...

• Athenos Unleashes 'Cooking With Yiayia' Campaign

  The campaign is the latest creative evolution for Yiayia, who has amassed quite a fan base -- and helped drive substantial sales lifts for the brand's hummus and feta products -- since Athenos and agency Droga5 unleashed her on the world in early 2011. ...

• U.S. Open Going Cable-Only, Moves To ESPN

  After decades on the network that saw stars from Ashe to Navratilova to Federer win, the U.S. Open is leaving CBS. As part of an 11-year deal effective in 2015, ESPN will become the exclusive TV outlet for the tournament. ...

• Gen Y's Favorites: JCPenney, Target, Walmart, Kohl's

  For all of Gen Y's ballyhooed love of techno-shopping, it turns out that retailers have little to fear: Detailed research from the Urban Land Institute reveals that Millennials are crazy about shopping in real live stores. ...

• Hanes Aims Destruction Videos At Gen Y

  In an effort to encourage Millennial men to slip into its new ComfortBlend socks, tee shirts and undies, Hanes is introducing a new video campaign, leaving a trail of smashed cuckoo clocks, Ming vases, cantaloupes, and baby violins in its wake. ...

• FirstBank Expands Ad Campaign

  FirstBank is extending its TV advertising for the first time outside of its home state of Colorado. A shift in emphasis from "less stressful" to "faster" marks the latest iterations of the financial services provider's ongoing "Mortgages Made Easy" advertising. ...

• USA Looks To Make Comedy King In The New Season

  While USA has been the top-rated cable network for seven straight years, "we're not standing still," says Linda Yaccarino, NBCU president of ad sales. "We're looking for new ways to engage audiences." A major development this year is the network's focus on building comedy shows, anchored by the ...

• Yahoo Adds Tweets To News Feed

  Yahoo will incorporate selected tweets into the newsfeed on its redesigned home page through a new partnership between the Web portal and the microblogging service. ...

• Mozilla Puts Cookie-Blocking On Hold

  Mozilla is putting the brakes on plans to block third-party cookies by default in the upcoming Firefox 22 browser. The company, which released Firefox 22 in beta on Thursday, said in a developer forum that it has postponed the controversial cookie-barring plan in order "to collect and analyze ...

• Comedy Central Goes Dark To Simulcast New Radio Channel

  For the first time since its tribute to Johnny Carson 20 years ago, Comedy Central will go dark Sunday, although not quiet. The network will simulcast its new SiriusXM channel on-air at midnight. Virgin Mobile and Monster DNA, the headphone marketer, will sponsor the initial minute of "Comedy ...

• MGM Doubles Revs, 'Hobbit' Helps

  A big positive swing for MGM Holdings was seen in its first-quarter earning results, thanks to James Bond and Bilbo Baggins. Revenues more than doubled to $481.7 million from $179.5 million due to theatrical and home entertainment business from "Skyfall" and "The Hobbit." Net income also doubled -- ...

• Mobile Ad Results In Line With Rich Media

  Mobile display ads perform roughly on par with rich media ads in terms of click-through and time spent, but not as well as video in-stream ads on the desktop. Mobile ads had a click-through rate of .14% compared to .10% for standard banner ads, .15 for rich media ...

• IPG's Campbell Mithun Launches In-House RTB Trading Desk

  After 18 months of piloting, the Compass Point Media unit of Interpublic's Campbell Mithun has launch its own trading desk, dubbed OdinRTB, for its retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) clients. Chris Wexler, the company's director of media strategy and interactive, and Casey McGovern, associate director, interactive media ...

• Google Plans To Transition Brands Into Content-Driven Advertising

  Google wants technology to "step out of the way" as developers integrate it into everyday life. That means major changes in online advertising for agencies and those developing apps and utilities. Technologies like Google Glass and Google Now, as well as apps like Google Maps, will transition the ...

• Activists Crowdsource Tribune Bid To Prevent Koch, Murdoch Buy

  The Tribune Co. auction took an interesting turn with a liberal activist group's initiative to crowdsource a bid for the newspaper publisher in order to keep it out of the hands of people it describes as untrustworthy plutocrats. The Other 98% has launched a crowdsourced fundraising effort on ...

• Mag Bag: Atlantic To Launch 'Defense One,' 'National Journal' Redesigns Hotline Site

  The pace of new product launches and re-launches at Atlantic Media is verging on frenetic. Atlantic will launch Defense One, a new media brand serving the defense and national security community, while Atlantic property 'National Journal' revealed a redesigned Hotline.com. ...

• Google Revamps AdMob Network

  Google on Thursday began rolling out a revamped version of its AdMob mobile ad network aimed at helping developers better promote and monetize their apps. Unveiled at the company's I/O developer's conference, the upgraded AdMob in part incorporates technology from Google's other key ad platforms, such as AdSense ...

• CW's Strategy: Year-Round Originals, Digital Reach

  CW President Mark Pedowitz outlined the TV network's strategy for the coming season. The strategy boils down to a few components, Pedowitz said, including more year-round original programming. Taking a cue from popular young adult fiction, the network will continue to utilize as much "high concept" programming with ...

• Jennie-O Partners With 'Recipe Rehab'

  "Recipe Rehab," created by Everyday Health Media, is the first YouTube show to become a network TV series. In each 30-minute episode, airing on Saturday mornings, two noted chefs create a lower-calorie, healthier version of a "decadent" family recipe submitted by audience members. ...