Newspaper-owned Web sites are taking the biggest slice of an online local ad pie that is rapidly getting bigger, says a new study by Borrell Associates. In 2007, newspaper online local ads for the first time topped more than $2 billion. Overall, newspaper sites captured about 25% of the local online ad spend -- and in some markets, they got half the pie. It's a lot, say researchers, but not as much as a few years, when newspapers overall attracted 44% of the total spend. Other media are not close. Broadcast TV got a 6.9% share of …

Bonnier Corp.'s Parenting is launching a loyalty program that gives its readers cash back on online purchases and uses the spending patterns to compile data for advertisers. The loyalty program required readers to register, and then they are rebated a percentage of what they spend on participating retailers' sites, including ToysRUs.com, Target.com and Diapers.com. Parenting plans to collect and identify trends from the purchase data, which it hopes will give it an edge with advertisers. Parenting hopes the program will help it catch up with rival Meredith Corp.'s Parents, which grew ad pages 12.4% in the first …

Netflix has agreed to be the exclusive distributor of TV series from Logo, the gay- and lesbian-themed cable channel. The arrangement leaves open the possibility that future titles from MTV Networks-owned Logo will be distributed the same way. In exchange, Logo will promote the Netflix-enabled shows on air and on Logo-owned Web sites: 365gay.com and NewNowNext.com. The deal says future programs will premiere on TV via the Logo network and then be acquired, cross-promoted and rented to viewers on Netflix.

Is it a TV show, a Web site or print publication? "The Young and the Restless," the TV soap opera, is rolling out a new fashion magazine with a twist. The magazine is online only, and it coincides with the launch of a fictional print version of the magazine on the show. Called restlessstyle.com, the new entity will offer celebrities, fashion shows, beauty tips and all the content that is part of the fictional print magazine created by characters in the TV series. Executive producer Josh Griffin calls the project "an innovative extension of the TV show …

In recent months, a smattering of made-for-cable programs have started to become available in full over the Internet. Last week, "The Daily Show" and other Comedy Central offerings were added to the list, even though Comedy Central once vowed it would never Webcast its entire programs. This Vebcasting trend annoys cable operators. Glenn Britt, chief of Time Warner Cable, recently said that Webcasting a program the same day it is broadcast, "erodes your business model" and cable operators "have to intervene at some point." Regarding the new Webcasts of "The Daily Show," a Time Warner Cable exec …

As both large and emerging entrepreneurial media companies give lip service to changing market conditions, most are still using outdated mass-media-dependent economic models, writes industry strategist Jack Myers. They are "in danger of following the railroad industry model and becoming Industrial Age mass distribution vehicles," he claims, rather than interactive brand and human connectors. Industry execs celebrate small steps toward innovation, such as branded entertainment, while clinging to organizational structures that reward consistency, he says. "Visit the advertising sales groups within the top 200 U.S. media companies, including television, print, online, out-of-home and radio, and you …