• First Half Ad Spending Surges, Internet Trails Hispanic, Cable TV Growth by Joe Mandese

    Ad spending in the media tracked by Nielsen Monitor-Plus shot up 5.7 percent during the first half of 2005, a faster rate of growth than some forecasters had been predicting. And the fastest rising medium was not the Internet, but Spanish-language TV, followed by cable TV. While Internet ad spending turned in a healthy 12.6 percent growth over the first half of 2004, that rate is much lower than what has been tracked by trade groups like the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and a number online ad forecasters. ...Read the whole story

  • Paper: Aegis, Havas In Media Buying Talks by Joe Mandese

    U.K.-based Aegis Group and French agency holding company Havas reportedly are in talks about forming a joint venture that would combine their media services operations, making an even bigger global media buying shop that would compete with giants like Omnicom, WPP and Publicis. Citing unnamed sources, British newspaper the Daily Telegraph Tuesday morning reported that the talks, which would combine Aegis' Carat and Vizeum media buying networks with Havas' Media Planning Group, predate Vincent Bollore's recent acquisition in Aegis earlier this month. ...Read the whole story

  • Interactive TV Approaches Tipping Point, Over Half Of U.S. Will Be Interactive By '09 by Wayne Friedman

    After years of fits and false-starts, interactive TV is finally approaching the kind of critical mass that should garner the attention of national advertisers. At least that's what the TV technology trackers at Kagan Research figure. ...Read the whole story

  • Marketers Embrace Ad-ID, Hundreds Agree To Use Digital Ad Codes by adam.m >, <Author: Michael Deibert

    The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) announced on Monday that, after a long uphill battle for acceptance, some 300 marketers had decided to begin using a universal ad coding model known as Ad-ID. ...Read the whole story

  • When It Rains It Pours Ratings, Weather Channel Gains Momentum With Katrina by Wayne Friedman

    Hurricane Katrina packed winds of more than 150 miles per hour--and also blew wind into The Weather Channel's viewership. The storm, especially in Southern states, helped the cable network's ratings soar almost fivefold--some 470 percent. ...Read the whole story

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