• Katz Launches Westwood One Division, Disney Dumps Radio by Erik Sass

  Katz Radio Group has announced that it is launching a new division, Westwood One National Sales, to serve stations owned by Cumulus, which acquired Westwood One last year. However, Disney announced that it is getting out of the radio business altogether. ...Read the whole story

• Facebook Engagement Steady, Snapchat Continues Growth by Mark Walsh

  Facebook still dominates time spent among the top social media platforms, but Snapchat is growing fast off a smaller base. The social network's share of mobile minutes (smartphones only) in the U.S. was stable last month, while those of other social sites -- specifically, Facebook-owned properties Instagram and WhatsApp, along with Twitter and Snapchat -- decreased to 4.7% from 5.1%. ...Read the whole story

• Teen Facebook Users Seek To Revive Lawsuit Over Social Ads by Wendy Davis

  A group of teens is urging a federal appellate court to revive a lawsuit accusing Facebook of violating minors' rights by using their names and images in social ads. ...Read the whole story

• Local, National Ad Media Spending Trends Relate To Businesses, Not Consumers by Laurie Sullivan

  The shift in ad spend continues to move from local to national media, based on the size of businesses and the number of employees. Although it has become difficult to tie directly to growth trends, Pivotal Research finds business demographics, rather than consumers, should play a more important role. ...Read the whole story

• Vantage Media Launches Private Marketplace Tech by Tyler Loechner

  Vantage Media, a supply-side platform (SSP) and ad exchange operator, has announced it now supports the creation of private marketplaces for programmatic ad trading. CampusExplorer.com is the first named publisher to be using the new offering. ...Read the whole story

• Icahn Buys 6.6% Of Gannett by Wayne Friedman

  Gannett's stock shot up 5% after Thursday's trading on news that activist investor Carl Icahn had taken a sizable position in the company. Gannett Co. has probably pursued much of Icahn's usual intention -- breaking up the company's TV/digital and newspaper/print business. ...Read the whole story

• Cable Cos. Up Broadband, Internet Subscribers by Wayne Friedman

  Traditional cable operators that have steadily expanded their new media/digital business have finally achieved a new eye-opening benchmark: more broadband customers and video customers. In the second quarter of this year, top U.S. cable companies now have a collective 50.7 million broadband subscribers versus 49.9 million video subscribers. ...Read the whole story

• A Second Major Investor Takes Stake In IPG by Steve McClellan

  Chicago-based Harris Associates has taken a nearly 3% stake in the holding company. Harris said it bought up the shares in the second quarter, around the time Elliott Management was also buying shares, which it confirmed last month added up to a 6.7% ownership interest. ...Read the whole story

• 62% Of Local Publishers Using Programmatic by Tyler Loechner
• Radio Revs Dial Down by Erik Sass
• 'Tis The Season For Some Madden by Aaron Baar
• Google Wins Bid Against Vringo To Overturn Multimillion-Dollar Patent-Infringement Verdict by Laurie Sullivan
• Horizon Media, DDB NY, Quinn Work To Save Elephants by Larissa Faw

We at Smackeroo.com are all about authenticity. Authenticity and heroin. We are the disruptive serial entrepreneurs to first reach market with artisanal opiates (think: methadone on steroids, with a hint of fennel) merchandised through an empowered ...More

• Are Consumers Getting Used To All That Online Advertising? by P.J. Bednarski

  FreeWheel's Q2 Video Monetization Report notes that about a quarter of the monetization in the second quarter was derived from ad views on those type devices. The biggest increase, percentage-wise, was in OTT ad views, which ...More