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• packaged goods Kotex Launches Fem Care Products for Tweens by Tanya Irwin

  Research shows that one in three young girls has no idea what's happening when she gets her first period, according to Kotex. Four out of five moms feel only somewhat or not at all prepared to talk to their daughter about her changing body. ...Read the whole story

• electronics Maytag Is Out To Warm Up Its Image by Sarah Mahoney

  Maytag is introducing a new brand campaign that it hopes will warm up its old-reliable image, while at the same time building on its never-breaks-down brand equity. The famed Maytag repairman gets a cameo in the TV spots, but the focus is now on contents of the machine, themed "What's Inside Matters." ...Read the whole story

• TV Viewers Embrace Long-form Digital Content by Wayne Friedman

  Longer-form digital entertainment content destinations continue to gain popularity among U.S. TV viewers. In March, Netflix remained the biggest digital platform when it comes to the most time spent per viewer, coming in at just under 10 hours a month. ...Read the whole story

• Invidi Raises $49 Million, Puts Software In DirecTV DVRs by Fern Siegel

  Invidi Technologies has completed its $49 million D round of funding. The addressable advertising company raised monies from various media sectors, including Google, Group M, Motorola, NBC and Verizon. DirectTV was the final participant in the investment pool. ...Read the whole story

• food 3 Smaller Kraft Brands' New Campaigns Detailed by Karlene Lukovitz

  Kraft Foods recently announced the existence of "Operation Spark" -- an initiative aimed at reconnecting consumers with "entrepreneurial" brands Athenos, Stove Top, Breakstone's and Knudsen. Kraft chose The Martin Agency to handle all three accounts (and Droga5 to handle Athenos), reflecting the Spark strategy of significantly upping the brands' advertising budgets and using agencies of record new to Kraft to gain a fresh perspective. ...Read the whole story

• Mobile Content Venture Launches in 12 New Markets by Wayne Friedman

  Major broadcasters' mobile TV efforts are expected to be in 32 markets by the end of the year, covering half of all U.S. television homes. A dozen markets have been added to 20 markets announced earlier -- in Seattle, Miami, Denver and St. Louis, among others. ...Read the whole story

• 'Idol' Reigns As Season Nears End by Wayne Friedman

  Ready for the final push into the season-ending May period, Fox kept up its dominant ways with "American Idol" taking most of a mid-April Thursday's rating points. ...Read the whole story

• 'Friday Night Lights' Memorabilia Up For Auction by David Goetzl

  Fans of the critically acclaimed but ratings-challenged "Friday Night Lights" can own a piece of the show -- via an online auction coinciding with the final season airing on NBC. ...Read the whole story

• ESPN Approves 'Relevant' Endorsements by David Goetzl

  Responding to criticism that endorsement roles may compromise the objectivity of its on-air talent, ESPN has released a list of "relevant" endorsement relationships it has approved for its anchors, commentators and reporters. ...Read the whole story

• P&G, Walmart Continue Family Movie Support by David Goetzl

  Procter & Gamble and Walmart said they will continue as sponsors of "Family Movie Night" on two networks this year with five original productions. The first comes on Fox later this month, with four more on NBC. ...Read the whole story

• Discovery Teams With Big Producers by David Goetzl

  Discovery Communications' studio arm said it has development arrangements with producers behind hits such as CBS' "Undercover Boss" and NBC's "Biggest Loser." The studio said it will work with All3Media and Shine Group, respectively, on a nonexclusive basis. ...Read the whole story

• Show Time: Nick Renews iCarly by David Goetzl

  Nickelodeon will offer a fifth season of "iCarly," a show partly about a show. The comedy features kids putting on a Web series, with the next season set for 2012. ...Read the whole story

Cable TV Apps Latest Challenge For MobiTV by Mark Walsh

Cable operators and networks have been wrangling lately over rights for the streaming of live TV over iPad apps. Both Time Warner Cable and Cablevision have riled cable TV channels with new apps that their respective customers can use to watch a range of programming on the Apple tablet from anywhere in their homes. Time Warner has gone to court seeking a declaratory judgment of its rights to stream network content through its TWCableTV app. ...More

• TV's Weekend At Bernie's by Mark Lieberman

  "Age/sex demos are dead." So went the refrain last week at the NAB Show in Las Vegas and, later, at an event my company co-hosted in New York. But despite all the chatter, and despite the industry's consistently and increasingly warm reception of the new generation of media-measurement solutions, many marketers seem inexplicably (to me at least) reluctant to let go of traditional television ratings. ...More

• Rerun/Repeat Programming Becomes Today's Trend -- Tomorrow's, Too by Wayne Friedman

  Plenty of TV critics still complain cable networks are mostly just a bunch of reruns. That criticism isn't entirely wrong. But have you seen the broadcast networks lately -- and, more importantly, have you seen your DVR list of recorded shows? ...More

• Cable Carriage Is Still An Important Goal In The Quickly Growing Digital TV Age by Wayne Friedman

  Cross-channel promotion is nothing new in the still-strong cable and satellite TV distribution world. But channel-carriage promotion is another story. With growing numbers of new bandwidth-hungry HD channels, where is the endgame? ...More

• NBC Live Helps You Watch TV by Erik Sass

  I've never understood the appeal of social TV watching -- meaning, logging into a social site to talk about TV while you're watching TV -- but someone out there must, because media companies keep on pushing the idea. The latest to do so is NBC: the network is launching a new online social platform, NBC Live, which will entice users with polls, trivia, insider commentary, photos, and -- most importantly -- a social stream which allows visitors to comment on what's currently playing and interact with other viewers. ...More

• Set-Top Box-Lexicon: It Is So 'Over' by Jane Clarke

  We have Set-Top Boxes, whether Analog or Digital and hardware that helps to migrate from analog to digital. But there are ways to transmit signals that either bypass the box entirely or that are in place of a box, whether it is considered Over The Air (OTA) or Over The Top (OTT). In either case, the method of capturing usage data from the box faces challenges. ...More

• When Digital TV Episodes Have Lots Of Commercials, Viewers Will Go To Other Screens by Wayne Friedman

  Competing TV screens or complementary TV screens? The CW has been cheered by media buyers not only because it offers a similar number of commercials online as it does on its traditional network, but because its young-skewing viewers "watch" the commercials to completion. (Media buyers also love that the CW's online CPMs are more in line with traditional TV CPMs -- way less than other premium digital TV content.) ...More

• AirPlay For All? by Steve Smith

  Apple's admittedly cool video-tossing technology AirPlay got a viral burst yesterday when legendary tech geek Robert Scoble raved that "AirPlay is the Most Important New Protocol Since RSS." Of course, AirPlay is the iOS feature that lets iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad users transfer a video they are watching on these devices to the TV screen via an Apple TV box. Recent iOS updates widened the scope of AirPlay to include third-party apps. At his Scobleizer blog and Business Insider, Scoble brought us into his living room to show off how a video aggregation app like ShowYou or the video series ...More