New York Station Seeks Truth With Campaign by David Goetzl

A sweeps campaign at WPIX wanted to break from the family photo/Colgate ad that has become standard fare when plugging the late news. Another shot of anchors looking like team captains in a yearbook photo wasn't going to distinguish the station in the crowded New York market. Enter a campaign with a nighttime background -- a sort of "Law & Order" hue, but darker -- where some of the reporters and anchors could be less posing than probing -- whether on the phone or looking through a notepad. There are loosened ties and withering stares that almost beg a public ...Read the whole story

  • TRAnalytics Turns 'Stories' Into Marketing Dollars by Wayne Friedman

    A new version of TRA's Media TRAnalytics -- the research tool that marries second-by-second data with consumer purchasing data -- will provide TV networks with "stories" to help identify opportunities for marketers. ...Read the whole story

  • Interpublic Downgrades U.S. Ad Outlook, Cites 'First Signs Of Weakness' by Joe Mandese

    Citing the "first signs of weakness," Interpublic's Magna Global unit this morning issued a downgrade to its outlook for U.S. ad spending in 2011, revising its downward two-tenths of a point to 2.9%, from 3.1% in its previous forecast. ...Read the whole story

  • Oprah Wraps TV Show, Laser Focus On OWN by David Goetzl

    Even as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has had some bumps getting off the ground, Winfrey said Thursday she has confidence success is coming as her involvement moves to full throttle. "I wouldn't bet against me," she told a national cable event. ...Read the whole story

  • Video UX Study Completed, Concludes Multi-Screen Not 'Cannibalistic' by Joe Mandese

    Capping off a week of research findings and discussions focusing on how Madison Avenue measures audiences across the multitude of screens they use to access media, the Council for Research Excellence released what likely is the most comprehensive review of data and trends about video user experiences. The review, which has culminated in a substantial database of some of the most important research conducted to date on how consumer's experience with video across multiple platforms and screens, will be the subject of a webinar hosted by the CRE and MediaPost in New York at 2:30 p.m. today. ...Read the whole story

  • New Metric Measures Ad Effectiveness, Distracting Influences by Wayne Friedman

    Are TV viewers tuning away from your commercial to another channel, or other activity? Millward Brown and Kantar Media say they have developed an "enhanced commercial measurement" that can analyze creative and media placement of commercials on a second-by-second basis. ...Read the whole story

  • Comcast Lets Networks Program Remind Alerts by David Goetzl

    Media Storm, the agency with a slew of entertainment clients, said it is looking to extend the effectiveness of network promos by taking advantage of a new Comcast function. Remind Record gives viewers a heads-up when a show is about to begin. ...Read the whole story

  • Bloomberg Taps Morse To Kick Up Net's Game by David Goetzl

    Bloomberg said it has tapped an executive at ABC News' digital operations to lead its 24-hour business news network, which will relish closing the gap with CNBC. Andrew Morse, with a lengthy career at ABC News, will report to Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andrew Lack in the role. ...Read the whole story

  • NHL's 'Guardian Project' Strikes Marketing Deal With NBCU by Wayne Friedman

    Extending its TV-sports marketing efforts, Stan Lee's "The Guardian Project," a bunch of comic-book hockey-theme superheroes, has struck a marketing and equity deal with NBC Universal. Each superhero represents one of the National Hockey League's 30 teams. ...Read the whole story

  • Comcast Rebrands NBC Owned Stations by David Goetzl

    Comcast's group of 10 owned NBC stations, which took on an "NBC Local Media" umbrella to emphasize expansion into new platforms, is switching to NBC Owned Television Stations. ...Read the whole story

  • sports Hockey Superheroes Coming To An NBC Channel by Karl Greenberg

    Guardian Media Entertainment will join in an equity partnership with NBC Universal wherein the latter will give cross-platform media support around content and product launches for the project. The deal, which supplements marketing and promotion from the NHL and clubs, includes a multimillion-dollar commitment. ...Read the whole story

  • Puck Up: NHL Cup Final Scores Top Numbers by Wayne Friedman

    Game seven of NBC's "NHL Stanley Cup Finals" did its job as the top-rated show of Wednesday night. It earned high marks versus the final game of the event over the last two years. ...Read the whole story

'The Closer': A Risky Final Season For A Historic Cable Series by Ed Martin

TNT's signature crime drama "The Closer," arguably the most successful scripted series in the history of advertiser-supported basic cable, is about to try something that few shows on broadcast or cable are sturdy enough to pull off. A game-changing, certain-to-be-controversial storyline that will run throughout the upcoming seventh season of the show (scheduled to begin on July 11) will lead to the departure of its hugely popular lead character and set the stage for a new series titled "Major Crimes," which is not so much a spin-off as a reworking of "The Closer" with many members of its current c ...More

  • Cable Operators Head To The Clouds -- Will Addressable Ads Come Along? by Wayne Friedman

    Cable system operators are finally moving to a point where the description of their business will truly be a misnomer. Increasingly, entertainment distribution systems are working wirelessly. ...More

  • Top 10 Consequences Of 350 Million Connected TVs In 2015 by Dave Morgan

    As attendees to the Smart TV Summit in San Jose last week learned, it is estimated that by the end of 2015 there will be 350 million computer-driven, Internet-connected televisions in the world. Even if these estimates are off by 20%, it will still be an enormous number and will likely have extraordinary impact on the media and marketing industry. Today, for fun, I have created my list of the Top 10 consequences of there being 350 million connected TVs in the world in 2015. Here they are: ...More

  • Study: Why Marketers Need An IPv6 Education by Laurie Sullivan

    Feel free to ignore IPv6, but I recently came across a white paper that describes to marketers why they should care about the transition from IPv4. The good news is that marketers likely have a few years before the technology will influence the speed at which ads serve up or influence search engine marketing, especially on mobile devices or Internet-connected TVs. Just don't expect a magic day when one switch flips on and the other off. It will happen gradually -- and brands need to prepare. ...More

  • Set-Top Box Lexicon: Ad Decision Hardware And Software by Jane Clarke

    Ad decision components -- whether hardware or software -- come into play once the ad inventory is properly watermarked and ready to air. But air where? And how? Ad Decision Managers and Servers help to channel and monitor campaigns: ...More

  • Netflix: Brilliant, But Overblown For Now by Steve Sternberg

    I am an early adopter when it comes to anything TV or video-related. I got my VCR and DVR when each was in less than 10% of the U.S. My wife bought me a video iPod a month after it came out. I just bought an iPad 2. My household consists of just my wife, our 12-year-old son, and me, yet we have five television sets, four DVRs, digital cable, DirecTV (we need our NFL Ticket), a blu-ray and two regular DVD players, and three computers (two laptops and a desktop) -- Mac and PC. ...More

  • Current TV Looks To Olbermann For Buzz In Sleepy Summer Season by Wayne Friedman

    Television always looks for the out-of-nowhere hits in the sometimes-sleepy summer period. And Current TV, with Keith Olbermann's new show starting in a few days, hopes to wake things up. ...More