According to an announcement made last night by the law firm of Stull, Stull & Brody, a class action lawsuit against DoubleClick, Inc., some of its officers and underwriters was filed yesterday in New York on behalf of purchasers of the company’s common stock. The complaint alleges, among other things, that after DoubleClick commenced a secondary public offering (SPO) of 2.5 million shares at $34.4375 per share on December 11, 1998, the company filed a registration statement, which was “materially false and misleading” because it failed to disclose, among other things, that “the Underwriters had solicited and received excessive and undisclosed commissions from certain investors in exchange for which the Underwriters allocated to those investors material portions of the restricted number of DoubleClick shares issued in connection with the DoubleClick SPO.” The complaint also alleges that “the Underwriters had entered into agreements with customers whereby the Underwriters agreed to allocate DoubleClick shares to those customers in the DoubleClick SPO in exchange for which the customers agreed to purchase additional DoubleClick shares in the aftermarket at pre-determined prices.” The complaint alleges similar wrongdoings by DoubleClick in connection with the company’s tertiary public offering of 7.5 million shares at $90.25 per shares on February 18, 2000. Requests for comment left with Stull, Stull & Brody were not immediately answered.
Nielsen's plan to make its People Meter a tool for measuring local market viewing is advancing. Its debut run in Boston, which began this spring, produced better numbers than the standard measurement procedure, so beginning at the start of the May 2002 sweep it will be the only measurement system used in Boston. This year it has been used in conjunction with the set tuning meter/diary system, the standard measurement system in 53 major markets, which Nielsen has used in different forms since the 1950s. The People Meter has been used to measure national network viewing for 15 years, but it has never been used at the local level because of the cost involved. The People Meter is the preferred method because it records personal viewing habits, with individuals pushing numbered buttons to register their viewing. The set meters only gather household data, with personalized data generated by the diaries, which are used six times a year during sweeps. Data generated by the People Meter "far exceeds the existing meter-diary standard," says Ken Wollenberg, senior VP of strategic and business development at Nielsen. He says HUT (households using television) and PUT (people using television) numbers were higher with the People Meter. The numbers may influence future media buys. "If a station has a 20 share in May, you multiply it by the HUT of November and project it forward," Wollenberg says. Tony Jarvis, senior VP and director of strategic insight at Mediacom, a buying division of Grey Global Group, says the availability of demographic data on a continuous basis, which the People Meter provides, will indeed influence buying decisions. "We start to see the stream of data month by month and it improves our estimates of how shows will perform each month," he says. With the meter-diary standard, "you don't know the demographics on a day to day basis," he says. Jarivs also says the People Meter provides a larger sample, referring to the fact that 600 viewers have taken part in the People Meter measurements, compared with 420 for the meter-diary system. At this point only Boston has the People Meter, giving it "an advantage over other markets," Jarvis says. Nielsen's goal is to get it up and running in ten to 12 major markets within a few years. "It's a costly measure and can't go everywhere," Wollenberg says. But Jarvis says, "It should have happened years ago," noting the People Meter has been used to measure network viewing for 14 years. The cost of installing People Meters and signing up families to participate has held it back, he says. But he thinks the People Meter will ultimately serve to change the television advertising landscape, elevating spot against network. "Spot could have the opportunity to take a larger share of the TV budget," he says. He attributes the network hegemony partly to the fact that "we get big samples for network," compared with smaller samples for local markets. "Now the networks come in and scoop up spot money, but at the end of the day we have to drive brands for clients and want to buy markets on a spot basis, which we can do when there's more confidence in the measurements." He says the People Meter isn't perfect though. He compares it with Arbitron's Portable People Meter, a smaller device that can be carried around to measure out of home viewing. Arbitron's device may produce even better data, Jarvis says, but is still under development. "We can't wait years for this," he says, indicating the impatience among media buyers for better television measurements that both Nielsen and Arbitron are racing to provide.
At the Radio Advertising Bureau’s (RAB) annual Advertiser Day and semi-annual Board of Directors Meeting in San Francisco last week, marketing and advertising consultant Phil Guarascio delivered a rousing speech that challenged top-line industry executives to “be ready” for the changes ahead. In reference to an open letter to the Radio industry written by RAB President & CEO Gary Fries last month, Guarascio, who last May retired as VP of Advertising and Corporate Marketing from General Motors after 14 years, stressed the need to create better professionals and urged the industry to “support training initiatives that the RAB has in place. You are going to need better-qualified people.” According to Guarascio, who currently consults for such brands as P&G Ventures, the NFL, and William Morris, big marketers’ desire to integrate will lead to a convergence of media planning. “Media buying has become a commodity practice,” he said and warned that changes were coming. “It’s not just CPMs, but how things happen in the marketplace.” He declared the time was ripe for creativity and fresh ideas and perceived an immense opportunity for that at the local level. “Good media buyers understand the personality of a (Radio) station within the market and the context of that station and how it connects with an audience. There is an opportunity to leverage that,” he said. He also explained how in the new cross-platform selling, one had to take a horizontal as well as vertical view. “These deals are about using a medium to help a client meet an objective that is not just about CPM or brand visibility. Radio is at the table, but not enough,” he warned. “Make sure you are in all the negotiations….. and make sure you are at the table when the deal goes down.” Guarascio also noted the increasing demand from clients for accountability from their agencies and their media buys. “That’s why RAEL (Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab) is so appropriate. You absolutely need to do this!” he emphasized. “You have to get past re-selling the medium each time you go into a buy.” Gurarascio did suggest that for RAEL findings to be most beneficial, the Radio industry would have to “find a way to give it a local flavor. “Most advertisers are looking for ways to take their big national assets, like the Olympics, and drive it down to the local level. This is an opportunity for Radio, if you can get in there early enough.” Pointing out that $175 billion was spent in advertising last year, Guarascio noted that, “the big issue is knowing exactly what to do with that money, strategically. How do we position our brands and products?” According to Guarascio, “there will be more emphasis on local marketing from the big marketers.” Predicting that marketing through entertainment would be the next big sector; he also projected new money would be coming into the media business, particularly for companies aligned with multi-media assets. “But, get in on the ground floor,” he urged. “Be ready!” Lastly, he urged the Radio industry to “steal good ideas.” He counseled against remaining insular and encouraged Radio industry executives to be aware and knowledgeable of emerging trends in competing media.
MeasureCast, Inc., the company that provides Internet radio broadcasters with next-day streaming audience size and demographics data, has found that AM News/Talk stations streaming their programs over the web stream more hours of coverage to larger audiences during breaking news of crises. "The latest evidence of this trend occurred Monday, November 12 when American Airlines flight 587 crashed in New York," said MeasureCast CEO Ed Hardy. "Many terrestrial AM News/Talk stations streaming their programs over the Internet streamed more hours that day than they did the previous Monday. We saw the same thing happen on September 11th, but those TTSL and audience size increases were more dramatic." For example, ABC Radio's WLS-AM in Chicago (streamed by RealBroadcast Networks) witnessed a 32% increase in total time spent listening (TTSL) compared to the previous Monday. Portland, Oregon's KOTK (streamed by SurferNetwork) saw a 26% rise in TTSL. During the entire week of November 5 - 11, however, the MeasureCast Internet Radio Listening Index, which tracks listening to streaming radio stations, dropped 4% to 315. Nevertheless, listening to stations measured by MeasureCast has more than tripled since January. As for the MeasureCast Top 25T ranking, WQXR-FM finished another week as the number one Internet radio station. Jazzfm.com and MEDIAmazing.com finished second and third respectively, just as they did the week before. Other facts for the week of November 5 - 11 - 82% of all listening occurred between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific. - The peak listening hour was 8 a.m. Pacific, with 8% of the day's listening. - 11% of the week's TTSL occurred over the weekend. - The peak listening day was Monday Nov. 5, with 19% of all TTSL. - The largest age group listening to Internet radio: 25-34 year-olds (29%). - 55% of listeners were under 35; 26% were younger than 25; 8% were over 55. - 69% of listeners were men; 31% were women. - Top streaming nations include Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico and the U.S.