Consider these strange bed-fellows: Amazon.com and Bill Maher. Earlier this year, they joined forces to produce "Fish-bowl," a series of online chats moderated by the sharp-tongued comic that integrate just about every media tactic in the book. The endeavor marries the traditional talk show format with the Internet's relentless see-it-buy-it electronic catalog function, sponsorship (United Parcel Service, in this case), marketing gimmicks that rely heavily on a celebrity-obsessed culture, and no commercials.

Nielsen finally embarked on a ratings revolution by adding digital video recorder measurement to its National People Meter sample in January. Early results seem somewhat predictable: minimal changes to viewership for the big network shows and, as always, some Nielsen snafus. Nielsen devised three streams of data: "live," "live plus same-day DVR viewing," and "live plus seven days of DVR viewing." The networks look to the last category to yield the biggest viewer gains -- and hence higher ad revenues. The "live plus seven days" segment was released in mid-January for the first week of included-included measurement, …

In the world of beauty products, the hint of a sea change came in 1997, when L'Oreal asked former "Melrose Place" vixen Heather Locklear to be a spokeswoman for one of its hair color lines. A few years later, actors Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon signed on with Revlon, and Kristin Davis became the face of Maybelline. Recently, 52-year-old Christie Brinkley, a CoverGirl spokesmodel from 1976 to 1996, returned to the company to promote CoverGirl Advanced Radiance, an "age-defying" foundation. French beauty Catherine Deneuve, 62, launched her own limited-edition makeup collection for MAC Cosmetics' Icon line, which leads us …

To begin a commercial on television and have it end online is considered by many to be a form of nonlinear advertising. And, on some level, it probably is. After all, starting in one medium and ending in another is obviously not a linear flow of communication. But on a much deeper level, nonlinear has little to do with breaking up a commercial across media.

Do ads placed within video-on-demand programming actually work? Many marketers have invested in VOD advertising based on little more than trust. Now hard data supports the leap of faith. In its most recent research, Turner Broadcasting found that 61 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to visit a brand's Web site if the address appeared at the end of the VOD spot. Perhaps it's because viewers can hit pause and write down the address. Or maybe they pay more attention when there's only one ad. Turner offers one 30-second spot before a VOD show to create a …

Every year at about this time, the TV networks begin hosting a series of events for advertisers and agencies, ranging from intimate gatherings in the major media outposts to star-studded extravaganzas at New York's most famous concert halls. In all, there will be about four dozen major TV network events competing for Madison Avenue's attention. But one of the hottest upfront tickets last year wasn't for an event in New York, Los Angeles, or any of the other big media meccas. It was an upfront sales presentation that took place in September in Bentonville, Ark., home of retail giant Wal-Mart, …

When pondering nonlinear in terms of online and digital media, think of a lava lamp -- that groovy fixture of 1970s crash pads. Colored water and oil, heated from below, circulated in a dance of fluids that continually changed as they moved and never seemed to take the same shape twice. Nonlinear digital media is similarly very fluid. The more it changes, the more the media industry loses, and consumers gain, control over just how nonlinear online media becomes. Put another way, a nonlinear media campaign "uses predictable parts to create an unpredictable outcome," says Joseph Jaffe, president and …

7:36 a.m....traffic on the L.I.E., as always. Spend half my life on this road, it seems. Wonder whether I should take the Throgs Neck or the Whitestone. Could use some traffic on the eights...[click]

One of my favorite magazines is Vanity Fair. Here's how I read it: I immediately turn to the last page, home of the "Proust Questionnaire," a one-page Q&A with a personality who responds to serious and silly questions with candor and, more often than not, humor. Then I go to the table of contents, which is so long it jumps to another page, and I read it all.