PBS Trade Campaign Might Be Better Tabled For Now by David Goetzl

At a time when PBS is under siege by members of Congress looking to eliminate its federal funding, an ad campaign it is associated with might be smart business, but it is ill-timed. While PBS makes the case that government dollars are crucial for its viability, the drawing of attention to other funding streams might be better shelved until the NPR-fueled, anti-public broadcasting tide ebbs. ...Read the whole story

  • Amid Ad Turnaround, Print Media Continues To Lose Ground by Joe Mandese

    The good news is that U.S. ad economy expanded 6.5% in 2010. The bad news is that some major media - especially print media like newspapers and magazines - are still substantially below pre-recession ad spending levels of two years ago. That is the yin/yang perspective of one of the ad industry's leading economists - Kantar Media North American Senior Vice President-Research Jon Swallen, after analyzing the data the WPP unit compiled for the ad-supported media it measures. ...Read the whole story

  • Daily Deals Driving Real Revenue Online From Print, TV Broadcast, Radio by Laurie Sullivan

    Hearst's media services company LocalEdge will adopt Analog Analytic's Bigger Better Deal platform, a white-label daily deal service aimed at supporting local media companies and advertisers. The companies plan to announce the partnership Monday. The deals are tracked and optimized using an analytics platform and other technology. ...Read the whole story

  • Cable Shuffle: Wachtel, McCumber Named USA Network Co-Presidents by Wayne Friedman

    There are more executive changes at NBC Universal's big cable network: USA Network has named network veterans Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel as its co-presidents. ...Read the whole story

  • NCAA Tourney Nets Highest Ratings In Decades by Wayne Friedman

    CBS Sports and Turner Sports say their multi-network airing of Thursday's second-round coverage, which featured many big name teams, posted ratings 24% higher than a year ago -- the best numbers in two decades. ...Read the whole story

  • Total Auto Ad Spend To Grow 6.4% by David Goetzl

    Media companies have been touting the resurgence of the auto category and a Wall Street analyst has put an estimate on it: Spending was up 20% in 2010. That accounted for 32% of overall ad growth. Total category spending was $14.8 billion. ...Read the whole story

  • In Syndication, 'Men' Stands Out by Wayne Friedman

    Syndication in the 2010-2011 season has seen much of the same erosion as in previous years. Many shows this season are under their levels of a year ago. But individually, one show stands out: "Two and a Half Men." One of the biggest losers: "Entertainment Tonight." ...Read the whole story

  • beverages Tecate Expands Marketing To All Hispanic Males by Karlene Lukovitz

    Heineken USA's Tecate beer brand, which up to now has focused its U.S. marketing on Mexican male immigrants, is expanding its target audience to all male Hispanics for its new 2011 "Celebration" campaign. ...Read the whole story

  • NCAA 'Madness' Online Viewing Up 47% by David Goetzl

    A clue that traffic for the online streaming of NCAA tourney games was significant this weekend came as the live feed frequently staggered. On Monday, Turner and CBS said that so far this year, there has been a 47% increase in total visits to the free "March Madness on Demand" offering of every game online. ...Read the whole story

  • NBC TV Relies On 'Talent' And 'Voice' by Wayne Friedman

    NBC hasn't had much luck in the regular season for the last few years. But it has had decent success in the summer. The network will look to build on its top-rated "America's Got Talent," which is going into its sixth season, and newcomer "The Voice" from Mark Burnett. ...Read the whole story

  • Disney Kids Networks Profits By Sponsorship Model by Wayne Friedman

    As a sponsorship-driven network, devoid of the usual slate of 30-second commercials, the Disney Channel continues to push a different marketing message to TV advertisers. A key sell for Disney comes from touting big co-viewing in prime time, where a parent, mostly a mother, watches with their child. ...Read the whole story

  • restaurants Taco Bell's Ad Blitz 'Defense' Strategy Working by Karlene Lukovitz

    The tide appears to be shifting back in the fast-food chain's favor. Taco Bell's "buzz score" among adults (asking whether they've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, and if so, whether it was negative or positive) plummeted from 19.1 on Jan. 3 to -10.6 on Feb. 7. However, as of March 15, it's back up to 9.8. ...Read the whole story

  • TV Land Greenlights 3 Original Series by David Goetzl

    TV Land, which has been laughing all the way to the ratings bank, will look to continue the momentum with two more new comedies, including one with former "The Nanny" star Fran Drescher. ...Read the whole story

  • Nokia Debuts TV Ads For E7 Smartphone by Mark Walsh

    Nokia's recently announced alliance with Microsoft to help take on both Apple and Google in the smartphone market won't produce jointly developed phones until next year. Until then, Nokia is still pushing its latest Symbian-powered smartphones, like the E7, in a global campaign. ...Read the whole story

Comcast Could Begin To Unlock NBCU Value With Theme Parks by Diane Mermigas

Comcast's challenge to unlock the value of non-core or declining assets has been thrown into high gear by The Blackstone Group's move to sell its 50% interest in Universal Orlando or flip full ownership of the theme parks and resort to a third party. ...More

  • TV Ad Spending Led The Rising Tide Last Year by Jack Loechner

    According to a recent report from Kantar Media, total advertising expenditures increased 6.5% in 2010 and finished the year at $131.1 billion. Ad spending during the fourth quarter of 2010 was up 7.0% versus last year, propelled by the long-tail of small advertisers outside the Top 1000. ...More

  • Finding And Mining Media Data In The Middle by Mark Lieberman

    Last week I attended a Roundtable Breakfast at the Paley Center with Google's Marissa Mayer. She mentioned a content-recommendation study at Carnegie Mellon that piqued my interest. The project, dubbed Elvis, had found that collaborative filtering -- aka recommendations -- is most effective and most interesting when it relies not on a largest-possible sample of participants, but on a midsize sample that allows for serendipity. ...More

  • Are We Losing Some Historic TV Images? by Wayne Friedman

    A major earthquake leading to a tsunami that swallows not just homes, but people and everything in its wake -- that may seem incomprehensible. Now it seems the laws of nature want to extend collateral damage to some TV news history. ...More

  • Media Insights Q&A with Rob Frydlewicz by Charlene Weisler

    Rob Frydlewicz is best known as a veteran agency researcher at agencies such as NWAyer, FCB and Carat. And now he has expanded his skill base to include social media and blogging. Rob is part of a blog network that consists of several media executives who write on a variety of pop culture subjects. In this interview, Rob talks about his blogging experiences, what he sees as trends in the social media landscape and the future of blogging as a media communications form. ...More

  • Set-Top Lexicon: Digital Platforms by Jane Clarke

    We could fill up several columns with definitions that apply to the concept of digital media, technology and platforms. Continuing on the Digital theme of last week, this week we focus more on the digital transmission platforms that contribute to Set-Top Box data origination. ...More

  • Netflix Needs To Keep Pace As It Expands Into Upscale Content by Wayne Friedman

    How do you market an original TV show when you don't have a place to run promos? When your customers aren't sure where to look for new shows? When you don't really have a "network"? Someone at Netflix must be asking these questions. Maybe someone else there has the answers. Maybe someone else is just winking at it all. ...More

  • OTT Threat Is Overstated by Michael Kokernak

    ome of the OTT "over the top" providers politicize their mission by directly attacking the cable and broadcast industries, supposedly on behalf of abused consumers. Searching to find truth in these statements I took it upon myself this past year to install several OTT boxes. I wanted to figure out for myself how real this OTT threat is to the TV industry. ...More

  • Exactly HOW Accurate Must Historical Content Be These Days? by Wayne Friedman

    Here's what one media executive said about the decision of A&E's History not to air the miniseries "The Kennedys": "They say 'it is not a fit for the History brand.' But somehow 'Ice Road Truckers' and 'Pawn Stars' are? Give me a break." ...More