MediaPost
In a move that accelerates TNS' burgeoning census-based, digital set-top TV ratings business -- and may thwart Google's own TV Ads initiative in the process -- satellite TV giant DirecTV has struck a deal with TNS to provide a national TV household panel of 100,000 DirecTV homes, creating the largest national TV audience measurement panel ever in the U.S. The companies said they would draw the opt-in panel from a subset of DirecTV's more than 16.6 million subscribers, and plan to launch a commercial service, dubbed TNS DirecTVview, sometime this year. TNS said it would measure …
Boston Globe
Patriots fans who watch the Super Bowl at home this weekend will get all the usual beer and snack ads -- along with a pitch for votes from Sen. Barack Obama. The Illinois Democrat has purchased a 30-second spot during a local advertising block on Boston's WFXT, just two days before Massachusetts holds its presidential primary. Fox won't sell national ad space in the Big Game to presidential candidates -- not that any had tried to buy it -- but local ad space is fair game and far less costly. Further, both Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton have …
The Hollywood Reporter
Marie Osmond wants back on TV. After her recent stint on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," the singer/actress has linked up with Program Partners for an entertainment and lifestyle talk show set for a fall 2009 launch. Osmond hosted the late-'90s daytime talk show "Donny & Marie" with her brother and says the new show called "Marie," will focus on women's topics. "It will be a real feel-good show," she says. "I've been through a lot of things in life and have no problem talking about it. Women need a safe place where they can laugh, feel good and …
Silicon Valley Insider
While the Internet is by far the fastest-growing ad medium, one top buyer says it won't be cutting into TV expenditures anytime soon. But Margaret Clerkin, who helps allocate about $175 million in Web ad cash at MindShare Interaction North America, says she is more than ready to start spending money on mobile phone ads once the various carriers get their acts together. "We've seen significant share-shift from newspapers and print to online," she says. "But everything we've seen is that online and TV are the most powerful combination to move brand metrics. People are not giving up …
Ad Age
Although many marketers look to chop ad budgets during tough economic times, Kraft Foods and Kellogg Co. have both vowed to boost ad outlays despite a squeeze on their bottom lines. According to Kellogg chief executive David MacKay, much of his company's fourth-quarter loss was stemmed by increased ad spending, which hit $1.1 billion, or about 9% of sales last year. And when things like point-of-sale promotions are factored in, the company spent about 12% of its total $11.8 billion in sales on advertising. Kellogg says it made "double-digit" spending increase last year, on top of the $765 …
Broadcasting & Cable
Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell sees the media landscape moving to a la carte approach where consumers pick "the hour, place and time for accessing content." But he adds that the pricing of pay video services is a "fragile economic ecosystem" and regulators need to be "very, very careful" as they consider unbundling cable service. He isn't sure anyone completely understands a marketplace that is more competitive than ever, with so much free online content. "As the paradigms are shifting, I think we need to take all of that into account," ha says. McDowell also says there …
MSNBC
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MediaPost
GROUPM, the media agency holding company within in the WPP agency holding company, has reorganized the local broadcast operations of its three major U.S. agency brands: Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom and MindShare, consolidating them into two new teams, called Team Matrix and Team Motion, respectively. Significantly, the units will operate under the GroupM banner, suggesting that the WPP unit is moving away from a hands-off management approach to becoming an active media services brand.
Adweek
Collective Brands has put its $95 million media account in play following a split with WPP Group's Mediaedge:cia. The holding company, with brands including Payless ShoeSource, Stride-Rite, Keds and Sperry has signed on New York-based search consultant Joanne Davis to run the review. Questionnaires have thus far been sent to "a handful and a half" of holding company and independent media shops, Davis says, with a decision expected to be made early in April. For its part, MEC says a failure to come to terms on a new contract lead to the break after a five-year relationship. …