"American Idol" is waning, and AT&T Inc is no longer an official sponsor of the Fox show. The Fox broadcast TV network confirmed the end of AT&T's sponsorship on Wednesday prior to the premiere episode of the show's 13th season. Coke and Ford also sponsor the show. According to Nielsen data provided by Horizon Media, the average audience size for "Idol" dropped by 9.9 million viewers over the past three seasons, from 23.1 million in 2011 to 13.2 million last year.

More than 100 million people will be watching, but viewers won't be seeing ads for just food, beverages, beer and cars during the Super Bowl. Disney is one of the top five spenders from all categories during Super Bowl broadcasts from 2003-13, per Kantar, with more than $80 million during that period. Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Jennifer Lawrence, Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Godzilla and Spider-Man will all get some screen time.

General Mills has been transforming its lesser-known $2-billion Convenience & Foodservice division. The company has been focusing on channels like convenience stores, schools, hotels, hospitals, restaurants and bakeries throughout the United States, according to the company's new case study on the division. The company is also changing the division's name from Bakeries & Foodservice to its current title.

JC Penney, which has been sinking, plans to close 33 stores and eliminate about 2,000 jobs to help save $65 million a year as CEO Mike Ullman tries to turn around the money-losing department-store chain. Ullman returned in April to replace Ron Johnson, the former Apple retail chief who was unable to turn JCP around.

London Live, the London Evening Standard's TV channel, has unveiled a series of 25-second branding trailers to be its on-screen identity ahead of its launch on 31 March. Branding was developed by Israeli-born, London-based artist Yoni Alter and animated by ad agency Kemistry.

Unilever's Axe has a 30-second Super Bowl spot for its new Axe Peace line. The theme: "Make love. Not war." An extended, 60-second version of the spot launched on YouTube on Tuesday. The ad, directed by MJZ's Rupert Sanders, travels the globe to various hotspots of conflict, including the Middle East and what's clearly meant to be a version of North Korea.

When the doors opened at Detroit's Cobo Center for the 2013 North American International Auto Show, hybrids, plug-ins and pure electric vehicles were featured, and visitors got the opportunity to drive some of the latest green machines in the basement. Manufacturers did take pains to note that their newest performance cars are more fuel-efficient than in the past, the 450 horsepower Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, for example, getting as much as 30 mpg.

The last time the global condiment brand appeared during a Big Game broadcast - in 1998 during Super Bowl XXXII - Bill Clinton was president, "Saving Private Ryan" was the No. 1 movie, and "Seinfeld" was the No. 1 TV show. But Heinz Ketchup is back and plans to use the massive stage of Super Bowl XLVIII to help launch a multi-platform marketing push under an umbrella "Show Us Your Heinz" theme.

A new commercial from Duracell stars Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman, who is the first deaf offensive player to ever play in the NFL. After not being drafted in 2012 despite a stellar career at UCLA, Coleman made the Seahawks this season. In his first game with the team, he had 3 catches for 30 yards, and he also caught a touchdown pass against the Saints in the Monday Night Football game on Dec. 2. In the spot we see a replay of his life, endless rejections, and his fortitude.

At the National Retail Federation's 2014 "Big Show" at Javits Center in New York City, shopping center developer Rick Caruso challenged attendees - most of them retailers from the technology side of their companies - to remember the "human" side of retail. And he predicted the end of the shopping mall, saying that it has "outlived its usefulness."