• Green Ad Agencies Sprout Up
    Agencies that specialize in touting environmental organizations and eco-friendly products are sprouting like alfalfa. "When I started out in 2003, there were maybe five or six green agencies around," says John Rooks, president of Dwell Creative, a three-person environmental ad agency in Portland, Maine. "There's got to be at least 50 of us now." While there are no firm numbers to back that up, there is anecdotal evidence that the count is increasing. "The nonprofits are realizing that it takes money to create a brand, and the corporations are finally getting that their customers really care about green," …
  • Big Pharma Means Big Ad Money In 2006
    Big Pharma is looking to set another ad spending record, with drug marketers pushing budgets up by almost 9% over 2005. Total spending on all prescription drug brands should come in at $4.5 billion, according to TNS, up from $4.1 billion. And the growth was driven by some familiar names, including Sepracor's insomnia drug Lunesta, which will probably grab the spending crown with $219 million ponied up through September of this year--a 78% jump. Nielsen Monitor-Plus date indicates an even higher figure: $292 million for January through October, well over 2005's $227 million. Those numbers …
  • ESPN's Big Score With MNF
    ESPN's first season of "Monday Night Football" is the most-watched series in cable history, the network says. Its 17 NFL games averaged over 9 million homes and 12.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, and represented the 17 largest household audiences for cable in 2006. According to ESPN, more than 109 million people tuned into MNF at some point--and studio shows also got a pop as Monday Night Countdown was up 23%; Sunday NFL Countdown rose 5%; and the weekday NFL Live show jumped 22% rise in viewership from 443,000 to 542,000. "ESPN's Monday Night …
  • NBC Affil Launches Show At 4:30 A.M.
    Local TV news is already getting up with the chickens, but the NBC affiliate in Chicago is about to launch the earliest yet. On Jan. 15, WMAQ will premiere "Barely Today" at 4:30 a.m. Hosted by Bruce Wolf, it will also be simulcast on WLUP-FM, an Emmis Communications' rock station, in another first for the market. "These days, it is more important than ever to create new content and customer experiences," says Larry Wert, president and general manager of WMAQ. The show will combine radio with TV as an unscripted, discussion-driven morning program to include top …
  • Syndie TV Slumped In Mid-December
    The syndication business had a rotten week, ratings-wise, heading into the holidays, posting mostly dismal numbers due to repeats, pre-Christmas shopping and a December 14 power outage in Seattle and Portland. People using television (PUT) levels fell by an average of 386,000 viewers from the previous week. And the talk-show genre slumped again, with 12 of the 13 veterans off by double-digit percentages from last year. While "Dr. Phil" was a relative bright spot with a 6% drop, "Oprah" hit a new season low with a mere 6.0 rating. Meanwhile, rookie "Rachael Ray" dropped 5% on …
  • CBS To Ford: Drop Dead
    CBS News did not break into programming for any special report on former Gerald Ford's death, opting to run an on-screen "crawl" to announce the death of the man who became president when Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. The Tiffany Network will, however, call Katie Couric home from vacation to anchor the "CBS Evening News" Thursday and any ceremonies over the weekend. News of the 93-year-old former president's demise broke shortly before midnight on the East Coast, but during prime time in the West. Terry Moran, already working on ABC News' "Nightline," anchored a special report, …
  • Match.com Retools Image In New Campaign
    Match.com has rolled out a multimedia push themed "It's okay to look" in ads created by Hanft Unlimited in New York. The campaign tries to relaunch the online dating service and pushes a "Portrait Toolkit" that allows users to seek advice from Jay Manuel of "America's Next Top Model" on wardrobe, hair, makeup, etc. to make photographs more appealing. It is a break from Match's recent efforts featuring TV's Dr. Phil as pitchman. "The category as a whole has been missing real guidance about how to feel good about going online and be proud of the quirks that …
  • Schedule Switch For NFL On New Year's Eve
    The Chicago Bears will host the Green Bay Packers in prime time on NBC for the last game of the National Football League's regular season on Dec. 31. The game was moved back as part of the flexible schedule deal the network has. The NFL switched the game, originally slotted for the afternoon, to 8:15 p.m. Eastern time. The league's pact with NBC guarantees it gets competitive match-ups. With a 7-8 record, the Packers are one of five teams fighting for the final playoff spot, along with the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons and St. Louis …
  • Telenovelas Lose Their Sizzle
    The telenovela, a low-budget soap opera genre that is a programming staple in Spanish-speaking countries looked to be ready for its closeup with Anglos. About this time last year, networks announced a rush to begin developing a new form of programming for the summer: the American telenovela. But the ardor has cooled. In the 12 months since news broke that CBS was working on as many as seven scripts for telenovelas, that ABC had invested in 45 existing storylines, and NBC was jumping in to adapt those already produced by Telemundo, there is zip on TV. Not a single …
  • AZN Rolls Out New Series Targeting Asian Americans
    AZN Television, a network targeted to Asian Americans, owned by Comcast is rolling out a raft of new programming for 2007. Next month, it will bring several new series premieres, including "Handsome Siblings," a drama, and "Style: Asia," a guide to fashion from cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Shangai. Also ready to go: "Drunken Kung Fu," a Vietnamese drama. On Jan.12, AZN will show "Music Bang, a music-video series featuring Asian and Asian-American musicians," while historical and martial arts dramas will hit the net on Feb. 20.
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