Industry Hears Roar Of Wieden + Kennedy Engines Again by David Goetzl

In more ways than one, Wieden + Kennedy continues to be the ultimate trophy agency. Holding companies would love to acquire it, but it holds fiercely to its independence. Perhaps it's because executives fear creative freedom might disappear. The agency is certainly thriving with the opportunities that brings. On Thursday, W+K landed three of the five nominees for the "Outstanding Commercial" Emmy award. A win would add to its three-year winning streak. ...Read the whole story

  • media Gas Station TV Switches To High Test by Karl Greenberg

    The gas pump media company is changing its brand positioning in tandem with a big expansion program. GSTV says its network reaches 32 million monthly viewers in over 110 DMAs after having added six new markets in the past six months. ...Read the whole story

  • 5 TV Spots Earn Emmy Nominations by Wayne Friedman

    The Academy of Televison Arts & Sciences nominated five TV commercials for an Emmy. Included in the mix is Wieden + Kennedy's high-profile and controversial "It's Halftime In America" spot for Chrysler featuring Clint Eastwood. Deutsch LA got two nominations both for its critically acclaimed Volkswagen campaign "The Dog Strikes Back." ...Read the whole story

  • DirecTV Competitors Take Aim Over Viacom Networks' Blackout by Wayne Friedman

    Multichannel network sellers are looking to make gains at the expense of the ongoing DirecTV-Viacom stalemate over carriage fees, according to one media analyst. Comcast is running radio commercials, Dish Network has added key Viacom images on its Web site page, and Cablevision Systems has bought keywords from Google in an effort to bring in prospective consumers. ...Read the whole story

  • Consumers Catching Up With Smart TV Apps by Wayne Friedman

    While desired apps for new smart TV come from the most popular online destinations, such as Netflix, YouTube and Facebook, many consumers are still not familiar with the functions of these new TV sets. ...Read the whole story

  • Verizon's Olympic App Integrates TV, Social Interaction by Laurie Sullivan

    Verizon plans to release an Olympics TV app, dubbed the Verizon Olympics 2012 widget, to make the TV experience more social. The app automatically populates with content from the NBC Olympics and allows viewers to use their remotes to search for and read top news stories, events schedule, athlete bios, as well as play more than 50 video clips. ...Read the whole story

  • TV News Staffing Numbers Highest Since 2000 by David Goetzl

    When broadcasters go to Congress again and argue that they need more in carriage fees to fund expanding news operations, they might have some new ammunition. The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University survey on employment in the local TV news business found that 2011 had the highest number of full-time employees since 2000 and second-highest ever. ...Read the whole story

  • telecom U.S. Cellular Offers 'Better' Relationship by Aaron Baar

    "We don't believe frustration is necessary in the category," Dave Kimbell, the carrier's senior vice president and chief marketing officer, tells Marketing Daily. "And people tolerate it, because they don't think there's a better option." ...Read the whole story

Why Subway Loves TV by Sarah Mahoney

Perhaps we're fascinated by how many Subway sandwiches athletes like Michael Phelps and Apolo Ohno get to eat. Or maybe we're impressed that the chain recently won the stamp of approval from the American Heart Association, the first fast-food restaurant to do so. Or maybe we're just suckers for a company that seems happy to spend any of its $358 million ad budget on baby-talking firefighters eating avocadohh. Whatever the reason, omma caught up with Subway cmo Tony Pace before he left for the London Games, to explain how he's making his budget decisions these days. ...More

  • TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles' Nissan TV Campaign by Tyler Loechner

    Out to Launch reported on July 18 that TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles created a TV campaign for Nissan promoting the redesigned Altima. Check out the first ad here. ...More

  • Media Insights Q&A With Ellen Oppenheim by Charlene Weisler

    Ellen Oppenheim of Oppenheim Media Consulting began her career in media research at Y&R, and soon switched to media planning, where she benefited from the company's excellent training program. Her background spans such a wide swath of the industry that she likes to say that that she "has done everything that one can do in media that is legitimate; bought, sold, marketed and promoted all forms of media." In my interview with her, Ellen talks about her work at the MPA, the impact of second screen on print, the concept of engagement and what skill sets the next generation of ...More

  • HBO's 'Newsroom' Pleads For No Advertising During Newscasts by Wayne Friedman

    HBO's "The Newsroom" makes the case that Congress blew it at the dawn of the TV age when it came to the use of "public airwaves." That's when it was proposed that, since media companies had the ability to make millions of dollars from using the public airwaves, those companies should give up one hour of daily programming for an advertising-free newscast. ...More

  • Despite AutoHop, Dish Network Works With Advertisers On Addressability by Wayne Friedman

    Advertisers aren't all that upset with Dish Network, the maker of a more efficient system to skip commercials called AutoHop. While TV networks are legally trying to get Dish to back off from AutoHop, the networks' advertising clients are still doing addressable advertising trials with the satellite programming company. ...More

  • Half Of Cell Phone Users On Phones During TV - What It Means For Social TV, Olympics by Daisy Whitney

    No wonder television networks are wringing their hands over their social TV strategies. With the news from Pew this week that nearly half of cell phone users are on their phones while viewing TV, it's understandable that broadcasters would be in a pickle about how to leverage this new behavior. ...More

  • Only 20% Of Cable Subs Have Heard Of TV Everywhere, But They Watch TV On Tablets by Daisy Whitney

    Cable and satellite viewers don't have a clue they can watch shows from their providers anywhere besides the TV, but they sure know how to find videos to watch on their mobile devices. A recent Parks Associates survey found that only 20% of pay-TV customers know about TV Everywhere options from their service provider as of the first quarter of this year, and of those who did about half use it once a month. These numbers should be concerning to service providers, especially given that consumers are already aware of and actively watching TV on mobile devices --presumably content they ...More