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News Hotline

• ESPN Trumps All Cable Fees, CPMs
  by David Goetzl 4 hours ago

  ESPN has the highest affiliate fees in cable, but its CPMs also outpace the other cable networks by a wide margin. ESPN's average CPM is $15.63, above second place Golf Channel's $11.56. ...

• Broadcasters Slam Time Warner Cable Over Retrans Fees
  by David Goetzl 4 hours ago

  The National Association of Broadcasters before Congress has insinuated that Time Warner Cable is using retrans payments to stations as an excuse for raising customer prices. Over-the-air antennas may solve the problem of getting broadcast channels, only to open the floodgates of legal arguments. ...

• Capitol Seeks Order Banning ReDigi From Selling 'Used' Tracks
  by Wendy Davis 5 hours ago

  EMI's Capitol Records has escalated its legal battle with the start-up ReDigi by asking a federal judge in New York to order the company to stop selling "used" digital songs. ...

• Top Story:
  Report: Google No Threat To Agencies
  by Gavin O'Malley 6 hours ago

  From IPG to WPP, agency holding companies need not worry about Google getting in their way. Ad agencies are the primary beneficiaries of the rise of digital, as increasing fragmentation of consumer media choices significantly expands ways marketers can allocate budgets, notes Pivotal. ...

• Calling All Lovebirds: Tiffany Corrals User Photos
  by Sarah Mahoney 6 hours ago

  As the nation's jewelers gear up for Valentine's Day, Tiffany is encouraging even lovers with empty pockets to join the action, expanding its What Makes Love True website to include a new photo gallery. ...

• Tablets Dominate Mobile Purchases
  by Mark Walsh 6 hours ago

  The more e-commerce-friendly nature of tablets combined with their proliferation is a welcome trend for retailers focused on the mobile channel. Data shows customers tended to spend 20% to 30% more on tablets than other devices. ...

• Top Story:
  OMD's Gunn Orchestrates Levi's Global Digital Shift
  by Steve McClellan 6 hours ago

  At a time when the client is shifting its consumer-marketing strategy from a regional to a global approach, OMD has tapped Patrick Gunn to manage Levi's global digital activities. He replaces Cari Weisberger, who left the agency in December. ...

• Good-bye & Good Luck, 'Chuck'
  by Phyllis Fine 6 hours ago

  If you're a fan of the NBC comedy-spy show "Chuck," you'll know that it ends its five-season run tonight with a finale of two back-to-back episodes. Feeling sentimental? Then check out this TV Guide piece that interviews many of the show's principals during final filming, complete with ...

• From 'Top Chef' To 'Jimmy Fallon," NBCU Promotes The Heck Out Of Super Bowl
  by Phyllis Fine 6 hours ago

  Are you ready for (more than) some football? Next week NBC Universal will feature 18-plus hours of programming supporting the Feb. 5 big game. Broadcast and cable entities on the Super Bowl team  include the Golf Channel, the Weather Channel, NBC's "Access Hollywood" and Bravo's "Top Chef" (popular ...

• Who's Threatening To Steal Ad Agency Business?
  by Phyllis Fine 6 hours ago

  Google's efforts to grab a share of the ad agency pie -- online, of course, but also TV ad inventory -- needn't threaten agency giants, according to a report just released by Pivotal Research Group. A bigger threat to ad agencies: publishers and "IT services firms along the ...

• Bloomberg Launches Lux Lifestyle Pub

  Bloomberg Pursuits, a luxury lifestyle pub sent free to Bloomberg terminal subscribers,  will debut next month with a 76-page issue that include three pieces on subscriber's pricey pursuits -- from collecting Ferraris to building a racing yacht. Another edition of the mag, a spin-off of monthly Bloomberg Markets,  ...

• Hulu Debuts Fashion Contest Web Series

  Hulu takes another shot at exclusive content with "The Fashion Fund," a six-part series launched yesterday featuring 10 fashion designers competing to win the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award. Is this Vogue's version of "Project Runway"? Editor Anna Wintour will be one of the judges, and we assume she'll be ...

• Apple Keeps Top Spot In Media Value

  Apple reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the top 20 global brands for media value thanks to buzz about the iPhone 4S release and Steve Jobs' death, according to a report released Friday. The company generated $301,007 value in news media; $309,190 in social media; and $289,765 in ...

• Pantene Signs 11 Well-tressed Olympians

  In the U.S., TV and print ads will rely heavily on swimmer Natalie Coughlin, an 11-time Olympic medalist. P&G says she is the first American female athlete to win six medals in one Olympic Games. ...

• When Rank Becomes Less Of An SEO Metric

  Raven's Jon Henshaw sat down with Eric Covino for a little one-on-one to talk about search marketing trends like rankings, analytics and social signals. Hewshaw believes ranking should become a less important metric, and the focus should turn toward organic referrals because it's the most reliable number marketers ...

• Forget Search Privacy: Beware Of Data Breaches

  Josh Bernoff points to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' five stages of grief when analyzing how Google will tap into user search and service data. But aside from trying to reconcile that searchers will have little or no privacy online, Bernoff briefly touches on an even more important point that the ...

• What To Put in A Paid-Search Checklist

  After a full day of training and working through time management issues, Kayla Kurtz shares several best practices learned from the group. Breaking up tasks into bite-size pieces will likely become one of the most productive tips she shares. Aside from being able to gain a better sense ...

• Digging Into Google+ Opportunities

  Ruben Sanchez explains the opportunity marketers gained after Google connected Google+ business pages to company Web sites, as well as AdWords campaigns. He explains how this can help marketers more accurately assess the aggregate return on investment social media generates across a company's online marketing efforts. The key ...

• Top Story: Local Mobile Advertising To Reach $24 Billion In 2016

  Local and mobile have always been linked as a natural pairing, but the promise of that alliance has often outstripped actual ad spending. In a keynote presentation at MediaPost's Mobile Summit Friday, local media guru Gordon Borrell said local mobile advertising was set for steep growth as dollars ...

• 'Big Bang' Tops 'Idol,' NBC Trails

  For the second consecutive week, Fox's "American Idol" on Thursday was bested by CBS' strong sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" in key viewer demographics -- total viewers and 18-49 viewers -- in the common half-hour the shows compete. "Bang" notched a Nielsen preliminary 5.4 rating/15 share versus "Idol" ...

• Global Mobile Entertainment To Hit $54B By '16

  Global mobile entertainment revenues will grow by one-third in four years. Vancouver-based IE Market Research Corp. expects mobile entertainment revenues to climb to $53.9 billion by 2016 from $39.6 billion in 2011, which is a compounded annual yearly growth rate of 6.3%. ...

• FTC Concerned About Bogus Online Reviews

  Taking its cue from federal regulators, The New York Times investigates the murky world of online reviews. Already, regulators have cracked down on a few firms for what NYT terms “deceitful hyping,” while it suspects that these are far from isolated instances. “Advertising disguised as editorial is an ...

• Warner To Widen Netflix Renter Wait?

  Making life a little harder for Netflix, Warner Bros. has reportedly decided to make subscribers wait 28 days after DVDs go on sale before they can rent them. Company Town says the move is obviously part of Warner's “continuing effort to boost its DVD, Blu-ray, and video-on-demand business.” ...

• J.D. Power: What Drives Auto Avoidance

  "For some brands, namely those that have created marked improvements in their quality and reliability in recent years, it's even more vital to tell their improvement story, rather than just waiting for perceptions to change over time." ...

• Ball Park: Men 'Easier Fed Than Understood'

  The campaign spans TV, print, digital, social media, in-store activations and public relations. The brand's site and Facebook page (which currently has about 138,000 "likes") have also been relaunched. ...

• Top Story: Google Positions Ads As Search Answers

  Query a search on an engine and find a list of informative ads at the top of the results page. The concept might be closer than most think. In what some might consider a contradiction in Google's business practices, the company explains in its most recent United States ...

• Coupons Remain Popular, Digital Searches Up

  Amid continuing economic uncertainty, the total value of savings associated with coupon redemptions increased 12.2% to $4.6 billion in 2011. Digital coupons are one of the fastest-growing categories, with 64% of consumers saying they regularly search the Internet for coupon savings on CPG products in 2011 ...

• Ford, No Naps At The Wheel

  Forbes columnist Joann Muller offers a tonic for somnolence in this piece on why Ford had better stay awake at the wheel. She says that while on the surface Ford is going strong, there are potential problems. The Fiesta, Ford's smallest car, "had a decent first year, but ...

• But We Can Put This To Bed

  In his column, Bryan Laviolette reviews the whole Chevy Volt faux problem, and what GM has done about it, including CEO Dan Akerson's statement before a U.S. House panel that the company didn't design the Volt to be a "political punching bag." ...

• Netflix On Amazon

  Netflix said it expects Amazon.com Inc. to brand Amazon's video streaming offering as a standalone service. Netflix also said it expects Amazon's standalone service to be priced below its own service. ...

• QSR's Cater To Night Owls

  Quick serve restaurants are staying up for the Edward Hopper set. According to Harriet Presser, author of the book The Economy Never Sleeps, one-fifth of all employed Americans work mostly in the evening, at night or on a regularly rotating schedule. So more and more, QSRs are staying ...

• Why Edward Cullen Drives A Volvo

  Here's Audi's spot for the Super Bowl, which is actually very funny, touting Audi's herpetomorphic headlights as vampire slayers. But the comments are even better! "Looks like somebody finally found that brief they wrote when True Blood was still cool," writes DDB account manager Tom Hord. ...

• Top Story: Wieser Goes From Ad Industry's Chief Economist To Its Chief Cheerleader, Touts Madison Avenue's 'Durability'

  A highly respected securities analyst has just initiated coverage of three of Madison Avenue's biggest holding companies - WPP, Interpublic and Omnicom - and he gave strong ratings for the first two and an overwhelming endorsement for the overall agency business, calling its "durability under- appreciated." That analyst ...

• NASCAR Races To Integrate Mobile

  NASCAR revved up the audience by integrating mobile into its programming and marketing. It provides the opportunity to reach fans wherever they are, but also serves as a complement to TV broadcasts. ...

• Top Story: Ad Industry Media Options Explode: From 8 In The 1970s To 100+ Today

  KEY LARGO, FL - One of the greatest challenges confronting the ad industry over the past several decades has been media fragmentation, but most agencies and advertisers typically think of it in terms of how it affects consumers - and their ability to reach them. On Thursday, during ...

• Poll Reveals Most Consumers Like Their Bank

  Contrary to the widely held belief that banks have hit an all-time low in their approval ratings, more than half of consumers surveyed by TD Bank say they are committed to their bank. ...

• Netflix Shares Surge With Subscriber Growth

  After posting better-than-expected subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, Netflix shares surged Thursday -- up 22%, closing at their highest point since October. Still, the $116 closing price is less than half its 52-week-high of just over $300. ...

• Media General Revenues Dip 12%

  Media General, which owns newspapers and broadcast TV stations in a number of states, reported that total revenues decreased 11.7% to $168 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. One bright spot was local online revenues, which grew 15%. ...

• Hispanics Hit By Economic Woes, Ad Impact

  As Spanish-language networks proliferate and tout the buying power of Hispanics, new data shows weak economic indicators among the group versus the general public. At the same time, consumer confidence may be higher. ...

• Mag Bag: Gender Is Key Factor In Purchasing

  In order to keep marketers up to date, two big magazine publishers have released data from new studies focused on male and female consumers. They discovered that gender is central to purchasing; women feel responsible for helping friends and family make smart decisions. ...

• Millennial Launches App Retargeting Program

  In its updated mobile ad forecast released Wednesday, eMarketer ranked Millennial Media third behind only Google and Apple, with a 17.7% share of ad dollars last year. Aiming to gain more ground on its rivals, the mobile ad network has rolled out a new service allowing brands to ...

• Top Story: Ron Paul Loses Round Against YouTube User

  A federal judge has rejected a request by presidential candidate Ron Paul to immediately unmask the creator of a video clip that Paul says defamed him. ...

• Coke Integrates Live-Stream, Social For Bowl

  The big news is that the bears will be reacting to the game's events (and the commercials) in real time via a live-stream running throughout the game, and simultaneously interacting with game-watchers on Facebook and Twitter. ...

• Time Warner Reports Solid Q4

  With its Q4 2011 numbers, Time Warner "easily beat analyst estimates on practically every front," writes Mike Farrell. Net income grew 44%, with cash flow up 9%, and a 4% increase in revenue. The loss of 129,000 basic video customers in the period, however, was in line with ...

• And Who's The Biggest Cable News Channel Online?

  It's CNN, claims -- surprise! -- CNN. According to its data, last year's total for average monthly unique visitors  -- 73 million -- for CNN Digital "beat 'MSNBC by 38%, Fox News by 187%, ABC News Digital by 217% and CBS Interactive by 260%." The company tracked 2.3 ...

• Kahlua Enlists DailyCandy, Thrillist For Site Promotion

  Lifestyle publishers frequently build sponsored online city-guides. Playing with the formula, Thrillist has partnered with its fairer equivalent DailyCandy to launch a Kahlua-sponsored dining directory, thanks to Vizeum. The agency was building a campaign around the Kahlua brand. ...

• Mirror, Mirror.. Who's The Biggest Online Paper Of Them All?

  According to comScore, that's British tabloid The Daily Mail, beating out presumptive leader The New York Times with a December user score of 45.3 million people to 44.8 million, respectively. But the Times claims the Mail total unfairly added in  a personal financial site. "The Daily Mail is ...

• Callaway Golf Goes To Las Vegas

  Ads to air during CBS' coverage of the Farmer's Insurance Open promote the company's line with stunts in Las Vegas meant to spotlight the power, accuracy and innovation of the new product line. ...

• ESPN Deems Mobile 'First Screen'

  Rather than view mobile as the oft-described "third screen," sports powerhouse ESPN refers to it as the "first screen," with mobile as the starting point for much of its programming. Mobile is the network's fastest-growing audience. ...

• Hallmark Replaces Martha (Stewart) With Marie (Osmond)

  From domestic diva to a sweet song-and-dance lady! Hallmark Channel is close to a deal with ATI for the production company's talk show "Marie," starring Marie Osmond, which would replace the canceled "The Martha Stewart Show," the flagship of Martha Stewart Living Omnmedia. The fate of other shows ...

• GM: Chevy, Caddy Drive To Super Bowl

  The mileage it gets from the game-day juggernaut comprising ads before the game, four ads in the game, and two after may well come from how the ads are integrated with GM's digital and social-media programs prior to, on, and after Feb 5. ...

• Millennials Trust People, Not Brands, When Buying

  Marketers that are trying to connect with Millennials ages 18 to 34 to promote products and services related to love and Valentine's Day might want to consider tapping social influencers who produce user-generated content. This generation trusts people, rather brands, and value the opinions of like- minded strangers, ...

• Apple 4S Campaign Streamed 36M TImes

  Which brands are best at getting people to share their messages? Well, despite consumer clamoring for the iPhone 5, Apple's introduction of the 4S was the most-watched video spot during the fourth quarter of 2011. Overall, the campaign was streamed nearly 36 million times -- becoming the brand's ...

• Survey: 100% Bought CE Device At Holiday

  "I was floored," Janet Eden-Harris, chief marketing officer at Market Force Information, which conducted the survey in January 2012, tells "Marketing Daily." "It was a representative mix of consumers. ...

• Mobile Media Spending To Hit $55B In 2012

  Fueled by new technologies and rapid device adoption, total U.S. spending on mobile media is expected to grow 30% this year to $55 billion. That estimate from market research firm PQ Media combines mobile revenue generated both from providing content and access and marketing and advertising. ...