Though no humorist, Ernest Hemingway held that "a man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book." Almost a century later, the same seems true for TV networks, which, following a few stiff years, appear funnier than ever. "Comedy has had its most successful season in a decade," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at Horizon Media. "The popularity of (ABC's) Modern Family has helped a lot ... similar to what The Cosby Show did in 1984 - it set the bar with programmers and viewers." In fact, "when you look at the …

For years, critics have been predicting the demise of TV networks and the bedrock of their ad model, the 30-second spot. But far from being dead, TV nets continue to thrive. And they're learning how to boost the value of the viewers that are watching shows outside live scheduling windows, where audiences are turning to watch in increasing numbers. Networks and agencies, of course, are analyzing those shifts inside and out. Their future success depends on their ability to help advertisers understand and navigate those changing patterns in order to keep their commercial messages in front of target audiences - …

Early this year, Northwestern Mutual signed a sprawling NCAA corporate partnership deal with CBS Sports and Turner running through 2015. There are a lot of parts, going all the way to the local level at the NCAA's 89 championships, though the centerpiece is the relationship with March Madness. To use a metaphor from another sport, Northwestern is throwing deep, hoping to reach busy, upscale males. As CBS and Turner carry the tournament, Northwestern becomes the presenting sponsor of the First Four on truTV and attaches its brand to features in pre-game and halftime coverage. It also will run a lot …

What have we learned so far? Now 12 years later - and after completing the fall part of the 2011-2012 season - it is tougher than ever for reality TV programs to capture viewers' interest. As with all of TV - broadcast in particular - reality is subject to viewer fatigue and erosion, possibly because of an oversupply. Many top reality TV shows tend to suffer declining viewership. Despite this, reality TV continues to grow with a plethora of variations - including singing, dancing, performing, survival and sports competition; straight-head game shows; as well hoarding, celebrity-focused lifestyle, dating, marriage, modeling, …

For years, media execs have predicted the death of the demo, as new devices took bigger and bigger chunks out of smaller and smaller TV viewing audiences. Those pundits, quick to point out that advertisers ought to be just as eager to reach 61-year-old tablet-using skydivers as 33-year-old BlackBerry-wielding accountants, have been a little right and a little wrong. Instead of croaking, the demo - industry slang for demographic, or the age range of a show's key viewing audience - is more like Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Albert of Monaco: It may be only a figurehead, but its symbolic …

Five years ago, the hourlong televised drama was enduring one of its inevitable creative lulls. The networks were falling over themselves to mimic the success of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, which led to a glut of shows featuring sexy professionals (attorneys, accountants, acrobats, etc.) acting all sexy and whatnot, their couplings and uncouplings and recouplings set to the strains of throaty emo ballads. On cable, HBO was wrapping up The Sopranos (darkly and deliberately), FX was winding down The Shield (spectacularly), and AMC hadn't yet thrown its hat into the original-series ring. (Mad Men didn't premiere until July 2007, and the …

It's clear that the way we watch television and the very meaning of the word television have been radically altered over the past decade. After all, who needs to watch a big box at a particular time, in a particular place, when we have YouTube, digital recording devices and Hulu? Consumers' television habits have simply evolved with technology, and it has completely stretched the definition of what television programming actually is. It's the very change in definition that has the business trades publishing goofy stories claiming "television is king" one week and crying "television is dying" the following week. The …

What did you learn from this experience? Adam: No matter what people in agencies say they are going to do, it doesn't mean they are going to do it [laughs]. Seriously, we had hoped more agencies would want to contribute their ideas and screens experiences. I think that the whole collaborative effort is very difficult. It's great in theory. But people are busy and don't necessarily have the time. But I'm very happy with the contributors that we had. It was also fun to just talk to people about this as we were gathering ideas. I think it's the agencies …

Five. That's how many screens are in my life most days. There's my work computer, my most meaningful LCD relationship. And then there's my laptop, which I drag around on errands and often carry from room to room in the house. Then there's my iPad (my preferred vehicle for Netflix, Facebook Scrabble and a fun app for the gym). I've got an Android smartphone and a plain old TV. (Yes, just one. It migrates from the living room during football season to the bedroom for the rest of the year.) Toss in all the screens I pay for (those college …

With so many consumers switching to online video services, cutting the cord and turning their noses up at current TV programming, it's hard to think that advertisers' TV budgets will be left unaffected for much longer. In reality, TV ad revenues are up, live programming is stronger than ever, and the upcoming elections and Olympics are setting TV ad spending up for a strong year. But what of digital? Vincent Ltang, MAGNAGLOBAL's executive vice president and director of global forecasting, recently sat down with MEDIA to talk about the brave new world of TV.