• Lifetime Rethinks Positioning
    With Andrea Wong coming into her second year as CEO of Lifetime Networks, she is readying a big rethink of the flagship cable net that would shift it from its "Victim Channel" positioning to a more contemporary, younger-looking outlet. And if her biggest change to date has been to snare the rights to "Project Runway," plans call for a repositioning that goes much deeper -- and Lifetime is layering a new proprietary research study on top of a fresh batch of original programming. Late last year, the net commissioned a study designed to provide its clients with …
  • PTC Goes After CW's "Gossip Girl" Campaign
    Parents Television Council is asking the CW Network to alter its ad campaign "Gossip Girl," a show aimed at teen viewers. The net's effort features a teen text message with a well-known curse word and also uses God's name in a supposedly "blasphemous" way, says Melissa Henson of the PTC. "It's really deplorable that they are using such sleazy tactics to attract young audiences, and that they are targeting this particular ad campaign at teenagers." She also claims the show glamorizes casual sex and drug use and says that even though it is the most-watched show on the …
  • Outside Groups Joining Political Ad Fray
    While Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been dominating the political advertising scene for months, partisan groups and political parties are pushing their way onto the airwaves with negative ads that can add an even harder edge to an already rough-and-tumble campaign. For instance, in Louisiana, Mississippi and Indiana, ads on behalf of Republican congressional candidates attempt to label Obama as too liberal while the Democratic National Committee portrays Republican John McCain as offering little more than a continuation of the wildly unpopular George W. Bush. In the Hoosier State, with a key primary on May 6, …
  • FTC To Police Mortgage Ads
    One top official of the Federal Trade Commission says the agency will ramp up oversight of the marketing of sub-prime mortgages as the agency comes under fire for not doing enough to stop misleading ads. "For the past several months, we have been questioning ourselves on whether we could have done more," says Lydia Parnes, the FTC's director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, under grilling by the Senate Commerce Committee. She adds that staff is now being shifted to help the FTC devote more of its time to policing financial ads. While it does not regulate …
  • CBS, NBCU Ready Bids For Weather Channel
  • CNN Plans For Post-Election
    The cable news nets, currently getting a ratings boost from the presidential campaign, may be faced with an ad drought come November. But to minimize that boom-bust dynamic, CNN is trying out some new things. "In any post-election year, you've always seen a dropoff in news," says Greg D'Alba, chief operating officer for ad sales at the channel. But he hopes things will be different this time around and concentrating on a strategy of selling 40 "programming platforms" during the upfront. Each has content on specific subjects that consumers can watch on cable, online or via mobile devices. …
  • NFL Net Distribution Down But Ratings Still Jump
    Although its distribution fell from 42 million homes to 34 million due to disputes with Comcast and EchoStar, the NFL Network's first-quarter household jumped 25% in total daytime and 17% in prime over the same period in 2007. And numbers for its flagship 7 p.m. "NFL Total Access" rose 5%. Media buyers in attendance at its recent upfront presentation were impressed -- especially as those rating came outside of fourth quarter, when the channel has eight regular-season, prime-time NFL games. "Do we wish they were in more homes? Yes," says one buyer. "But the NFL is the …
  • "Simpsons" Producer To Tackle New Toon For Fox
    Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein of "Simpsons" fame will executive produce a new Fox animated comedy called "Sit Down, Shut Up." As part of the deal, the duo also got a blind script commitment at Sony Pictures Television, which is behind the show. Their arrival is a signal that a series order is in the offing; Fox has yet to decide on the show's fate and still hasn't confirmed a pickup. "Sit Down, Shut Up," which was initially set up by "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz, a big draw for Oakley, who says "to run Mitch's show …
  • Intel Goes With OMD For $300 Million Media Account
    Intel has tapped OMD for its $300 million global media account after a review, with the Omnicom shop topping out Publicis Groupe's Starcom and incumbent Interpublic agency Universal McCann. "Each of the finalists impressed us, but OMD gave us a stronger sense of possessing world-class media industry leadership and state-of-the-art business intelligence and analytics," says Nancy Bhagat, Intel's vice president of sales and marketing and director of integrated marketing. The count was trimmed to three in March with final pitches being held two weeks ago. Zenith Optimedia and Mediaedge:cia were cut from contention earlier on in a search …
  • Publicis Posts 1Q Organic Revenue Growth Of 5.4%
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