Doomsday For TV? Not According To Gotlieb by David Goetzl

Henry Blodget has industry types talking with his TV-is-going-the-way-of-newspapers treatise this week. It's a lengthy piece on BusinessInsider.com, but the upshot put before industry oracle Irwin Gotlieb on Wednesday was on-demand viewing and DVRs will kill the underlying ad model. The argument from Blodget, the Business Insider Editor-in-Chief, is pretty unoriginal. It's a matter Gotlieb has been dealing with since probably the last days of the Clinton administration, if not before. Yet if Gotlieb, the chairman of GroupM, ever had doubts about what ad-zapping could do - he had to, right? - those now seem to be fading. Gotlieb hadn't ...Read the whole story

  • TV Remains Dominant Viewing, Ad Medium by Wayne Friedman

    The TVB, the TV-based marketing group for stations, says despite the growth of the Internet, total Internet viewing represents 1.5% of all TV-video viewing, with traditional TV having a virtual near monopoly -- 91% watching TV live and 7% being time-shifted. ...Read the whole story

  • Sing Out: Pepsi Teams With Viacom For Promo Efforts by David Goetzl

    As the Cola Wars will be fought largely via music this summer, Pepsi is turning to Twitter to sing its praises. The company has linked with multiple Viacom networks on a promotion offering prizes, highlighted by an opportunity to serve as a correspondent during MTV's Video Music Awards. ...Read the whole story

  • HSN Expands Into Digital, Gaming by David Goetzl

    As HSN looks to expand its traditional home shopping business further into digital platforms, a redesign of its platform is expected. Part of HSN's goal is to turn HSN.com into an "experiential" locale. ...Read the whole story

  • spirits Pucker Vodka Teams With DJ Steve Aoki by Karlene Lukovitz

    Two new TV spots -- one for each flavor -- recently launched on the E!, Food, TBS, TLC and We networks. The ads use an exclusive remix of Aoki's song "Ladi Dadi" from his latest album, "Wonderland." The videos are also on online platforms. ...Read the whole story

  • automotive Ford Escape Gets 'Brand New' Multicultural Campaign by Karl Greenberg

    The campaign created by UniWorld Group for the Escape compact SUV has a comedy-sketch feel about how the Escape has completely changed a family, and therefore the lives of gas station attendants, and valets. ...Read the whole story

More Internet Boredom? Try Multiple Video Chats -- Or Some TV Shows by Wayne Friedman

Facebook can be somewhat boring, says Sean Parker, a former investor of Facebook: "There's a part of me that feels somewhat bored by all of this. There's no room for serendipity." So here comes Parker's new venture Airtime, a video chat service. And interestingly enough, it is a Facebook application. (Wait, didn't someone just call Facebook boring?) ...More

  • Dish Sends AMC To TV Siberia As Punishment For Its Carriage Controversy Commercial by Wayne Friedman

    AMC Networks wanted to alert 15 million Dish viewers that its AMC, IFC and WE TV channels might be removed from the satellite service by the end of June as a byproduct of the carriage dispute between the two companies. AMC tried to inform Dish viewers of this fact through a commercial on its own networks -- which ran over Dish. No surprise that this didn't sit well with the folks at Dish. As a consequence, it banished the AMC networks to the hinterlands -- sky-high channel positions numbered 9607 through 9610. ...More

  • A Tale Of Two Cities -- And A Maverick by Neil Perry

    First, there was New York City and the OMMA Video event in mid-May. In the Big Apple, a thoughtful and intelligent group of panelists debated whether or not online, Web-based video can really steal dollars from TV. Then, there was Dallas and the Videonomics event held at Cowboys Stadium in late May, where I was given the task of interviewing Mark Cuban ...More

  • Media Insights Q&A With Carat's Billie Gold by Charlene Weisler

    Billie Gold, VP of Research and Programming at Carat, has a unique perspective on the media landscape. After entering the industry at MTV in the early days of cable, she followed a path that led her through the agency world. In my interview with her, Billie talks about how she got into the media business, how agency research differs from network research, the future of multitasking, the upfront, and how the media marketplace will change based on the new 2010 census figures. Billie also offers some perspective on set-top-box data, social media, cross platform and what makes a network program ...More