Two months into a test with 100 advertisers and 66 newspapers, Google executives say that a pilot program in which small merchants would go online and bid on the excess ad inventory of daily newspapers has exceeded their expectations. So they plan to roll out an expanded version in the coming months. "The volume [of ads sold] is tripling where we thought it would be," says Tom Phillips, director of print ads at Google. "I think we'll have real impact next year" on newspapers' bottom lines," he adds. According to Phillips, the medium is open to …

One million isn't what it used to be in the magazine business. At one time, it was a magic number of readers--one where advertisers really stood up and took notice. But no so much anymore: FHM, a "lad magazine" with a circulation 1.25 million, has left the country in the middle of a bid ad slump. In the last year, its advertising plummeted nearly 20% in the first 11 months of the year. What had not long ago been a hot niche in publishing has cooled. Even circulation leader Maxim was down 5% in ad pages, while circulation …

A study by IAG Research, an ad effectiveness ratings company, has shown that sleep aid Lunesta topped the charts as the most memorable ad in its category of the season. It's now the most-recognized prescription drug brand advertised on prime-time TV. The drug's above-average performance is also good when compared to all other commercials and product categories, exceeding the average consumer recall across any product category advertised on prime-time TV by a similar rate. Another pharma standout was Zelnorm, designed to treat chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. Its "Tummies" campaign performed similar to Lunesta's, with …

The Center for Media and Democracy has tapped ABC as the first-place winner of its annual "Falsies," awards that recognize "the most heinous polluters of the information environment over the past year." The progressive watchdog gave the nod to the Alphabet Network for its "Path to 9/11" miniseries, which it says attempted to rewrite history with the six-hour "docudrama" that was "written and produced by conservative filmmakers." Further, while the program's script was said to be based on the official 9/11 Commission report, it "included fabrications that are directly contradicted by the report." The runner-up was …

Soccer's governing body does not have to immediately comply with a court order requiring it to grant MasterCard Inc. an eight-year World Cup sponsorship deal, pending the outcome of an appeal, says a federal judge. However, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said in her ruling on Thursday that the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) could not proceed with a deal to switch sponsorship of the tournament to Visa International while the case was under appeal. In April, the group handed Visa the rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and MasterCard--official credit-card sponsor for the …

Carson Daly and Ryan Seacrest are about the same age, have similar jobs and sport the same laid-back manner. But the former dismisses any idea that they are in a rivalry to replace one TV pop music icon. "Dick Clark is a huge inspiration for the huge success he's achieved," Daly says. "But that's where I stop. The world is changing. I'm young; I have my own thoughts as a producer. I'm not trying to keep his tradition. I'm trying to do my own." Apparently, it's just a coincidence that the two will be back next …

NBC hopes a new promotional push for its National Hockey League coverage will boost viewership for its coverage of the fast-diminishing sport. The new effort is set for the net's Christmas Day broadcast of a National Football League game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles and will also run in other programming and dayparts. The strategy is to brand its weekend afternoon hockey as the "Game of the Week," much like it has tried to do with Sunday Night Football. NBC will tout young stars of the NHL that have yet to achieve mainstream name recognition, like …

Greyhound has launched a review and wants to integrate its advertising, PR and other marketing services at one agency--and it won't be The Richards Group, which has had the business since 2004. Names of the pitching shops were not disclosed, but a Greyhound rep said a firm list of contenders has already been drawn up and a decision is expected early next year. The bus company spent $12 million on advertising in 2005, and $10 million during the first 10 months of this year, according to Nielsen. Richards got the account as Greyhound was restructuring its …

When the WB and UPN melded into the CW, media buyers wondered where UPN's African-American audience would go, once that channel's heavily black lineup was compressed into one two-hour block on the new one. And while the CW is only picking up half the black audience that used to watch UPN and the WB, the rest have scattered to other networks. The number of African Americans watching the broadcast nets is virtually unchanged. Overall, the WB-UPN merger lost perhaps 1 million young viewers, people who apparently quit watching television entirely, and it was widely assumed that many …

The U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. has signed up Colangelo to be its agency of record for its various brands, which include Copenhagen and Skoal. The hire ends the company's four-year relationship with Louisville, Ky.-based Doe Anderson. Colangelo will handle the company's integrated advertising and marketing campaigns. U.S. Smokeless began searching for a new shop earlier this year as part of a cost-saving initiative. And Colangelo firm was chosen because of its skill in creating integrated marketing platforms across numerous communication mediums, the company said. "We are very impressed with their integrated approach to advertising and marketing …