Bark Out Loud: Dogs Get Their Own Network by David Goetzl

Dogs can't fill out a Nielsen diary or light up a people meter, so data on what programming they enjoy would seem to be scant. Intuition might suggest this week's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on USA would be a smash, while Animal Planet would be a favorite network, especially when "America's Cutest Dog" is on. But if a dog is really a person's best friend, shouldn't people push harder for information on what their pets enjoy. ...Read the whole story

  • ABC, Not Facebook, Is Ad Industry's Overall Favorite Media Brand by Joe Mandese

    Facebook, Twitter and Google may dominate the trade press and the blogosphere, but one of the most traditional media brands -- ABC -- is the most powerful in the hearts and minds of advertisers and ad agency executives, according to an annual survey of Madison Avenue's perceptions of the media they do business with. The study, which surveyed thousands of advertisers and agency executives, is conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, which is to the ad industry what J.D. Power's annual awards are to the automotive industry. ...Read the whole story

  • Grammys: Ratings Strike High Note by Wayne Friedman

    Rocketing ratings for "The "54th Annual Grammy Awards" -- driven by news of the death of superstar singer Whitney Houston -- gave CBS its best results for the music show in nearly 30 years. Nielsen preliminary results put the Grammys at 39.9 million viewers -- the second-largest audience ever for the show. ...Read the whole story

  • NBC, Google Kick Off Olympic Research Initiative by Wayne Friedman

    Continuing its research efforts around the Olympics, NBC will debut a new research initiative for the 2012 London Olympics with the help of Google and comScore. It focuses on finding out new ways to measure "single source consumption of video content on TV, mobile, the PC, and for the first time in this Olympics, the tablet." ...Read the whole story

  • Lionsgate Kicks Off Originals: 'Lilyhammer,' 'Anger Management' by David Goetzl

    Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed last week that the company is prepping an original series for Netflix. Jenji Kohan, creator of Showtime's "Weeds," is involved in "Orange is the New Black," which is expected to make it to Netflix in early 2013. In addition, the Charlie Sheen-vehicle "Anger Management" coming to FX. ...Read the whole story

Building Network Brands Takes Character -- But(t) That's Not All by Wayne Friedman

Electronic program guides have always been a TV marketing tool of sort, giving us shorthand for a channel's real identity. (Hey, in the old days -- and even today -- TV Guide was a huge marketing tool for the networks, specifically because of its program guide). Now, quicker program changes -- as well as infomercials (or paid programming with titles) -- are all part of EPG fodder. Executives of Rovi Corp. might tell you that EPGs can be the center of everything, the home page of the modern entertainment consumer. ...More

  • Super Ads, Super Messaging, Super ROI? by Mark Lieberman

    I know, I know. By now Super Bowl XLVI -- the game and the commercials -- has long since lost its novelty as water-cooler fodder. However, being a huge aficionado not only of televised sports, but also of the advertising that drives the business, I feel compelled to weigh in on what I consider to be the best Super Bowl ads of 2012, and how they compared on my personal scale of advertising success: The ROI Meter. ROI is one key metric that all the other rankings of TV commercials are now only just managing to capture. Here they are, ...More

  • Shazam, CBS, IntoNow Up Second-Screen Volume at Grammys by Steve Smith

    Rather than having app users chase, vote on and tag ads, the second screens for this year's Grammys actually added some content. CBS and Shazam in particular offer fully programmed experiences. ...More