• Twitter Ups Its Super Bowl Game
    Twitter will be more visible than ever on Super Bowl day, with half of all ads during the game including Twitter hashtags. "That's up from just a handful of hash tags in Super Bowl ads last year, and from just one hash tag in Super Bowl ads 2 years ago," writes Julie Boorstin. In fact, "the Super Bowl will be a cash cow for Twitter," with the social network offering advertisers "promoted tweets... around the game to ensure that people watching and talking about the game are also seeing [advertisers]' message[s] on the second screen."
  • 'Atlantic' Issues New Rules For Native Ads
    In the wake of its Scientology advertorial controversy, The Atlantic has issued three major guidelines for native advertising to run on its site. Among the rules: native ads must be reviewed by a team made up of the pub's president, "as well as people from sales, marketing, PR, legal and product...to make sure it doesn’t run afoul of the Atlantic’s brand," writes Lucia Moses. There should also be "a more prominent 'sponsored content' label and clearly visible disclaimer." Adds Moses, "This exercise surely won’t be the last of its kind, as other publishers navigate the uncertainty that comes …
  • Viacom: Overall Earnings Up, Ad Revenue Down
    Viacom's first-quarter earnings "more than doubled" overall, compared to the "year-earlier period that was bogged down by charges associated with a huge legal settlement," writes Saabira Chaudhuri. But there was a sharp 6% decline in "domestic and worldwide advertising revenue," with the domestic decrease "driven by lower ratings" at "big Viacom networks like MTV and Nickelodeon."
  • Inside Story: How 'Smash' Crashed Last Season
    Next Tuesday will mark the second season premiere of "Smash," the show that was supposed to save the flailing NBC and instead became one that many critics and recappers loved to hate. Kate Arthur's piece, filled with quotes from anonymous sources who worked on the show, tells the inside story: "How does a lovingly looked-after show with such high stakes for all involved become a joke? Smash is a case study: in how megalomania and television can clash unproductively; in how high expectations can crash immediately; and in how intense network and studio oversight can result in a paranoid show …
  • 'How I Met Your Mother' Renewed For Ninth, Final Season
    After much dithering by its creators, "How I Met Your Mother" has been renewed for a last season, its ninth, and chances are good that impatient viewers will finally get to meet the mother before the series finale and have "most or all of a ninth season to get to know her," writes Alan Sepinwall.
  • Favorite TV Doc Set To Close Hearst Magazine Deal
    Cardiologist and host of his own high-rated afternoon talk show Dr. Mehmet Oz is reportedly 90% ready to make a deal with Hearst for "an eponymously named magazine that would launch in the second half of the year," writes Keith Kelly.
  • Sadly, New Apple TV Even Smaller Than Current Version
    "Apple is getting ready to launch the next generation Apple TV — and it’s still just a box... with a slightly smaller casing," writes Janko Roettgers. Disappointing news for those hoping "for a full-blown Apple TV set, for which we have seen many rumors but little evidence over the last few years."
  • Time Inc. To Lay Off About 480 Staffers
    Those rumored staff cuts at Time Inc. have begun, acording to a company memo by CEO Laura Lang posted by Bill Mickey. The important number: roughly 6% of 8,000 employees are out (did the math, duh, and that's 480 pink-slipped folks), who "come from all areas of Time Inc. across our locations - both domestic and international," says Lang in her memo.
  • 'NY Times' Seeks Tech Startups For Testing Project
    The New York Times is looking for three to five media tech startups "to work at the Times building and develop their products with the help of Times staffers," writes Mallary Jean Tenore. Applicants for the timeSpace project are welcome through Feb. 19. The paper will not fund the startups -- and while it may become a client of the companies it's working with,  "this is not the purpose of timeSpace,” according to the application site.
  • Why The 'New Republic''s Success Can Make Some Folks Sad
    "The New Republic is back in a big way," with a new website and print design, and a cover interview with President Obama, writes Chris O'Shea. "But if the hype has you thinking 'Hey, maybe my magazine will work after all!' FishbowlNY is here to tell you that it won’t," he writes. Why? Mainly because, unlike New Republic, "your magazine is not owned by a rich person with connections" -- in this case, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.
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