Time-shifting now accounts for 9% of national ratings, according to a study by media-buying agency Magna Global USA. While less than one-fourth of all U.S. TV homes have DVRs, they account for 15% of viewing by adults younger than 50. Magna executive Steve Sternberg says homes with DVRs "use them with a vengeance." The impact of DVR viewing on ratings is twice as high as the impact of VCRs when they were in 90% of TV homes. Magna is projecting that in four years, almost 25% of adult prime-time viewing on the broadcast networks will be time-shifted. …

Soaring gas prices, airfare and hotel rates are affecting a large growth areas for publishers: magazine events. Such events have eclipsed print as the largest revenue stream for publishers, but attendee travel costs for business publications and host travel costs for consumer pubs are dampening the party. According to a recent trade survey, 41% of shows expect to see a 10% reduction in expo attendance over the next 12 months. Buyer-seller events--in which the publisher recruits a select audience for a sponsor--may no longer be economically viable. "We pay our attendees' way, so it's hurting our budgets dramatically," …

Reality TV is making news documentaries harder to film, as subjects fear producers won't portray their lives accurately. In filming a documentary about Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, ABC News producers had to deal with the cynicism of some doctors. They assumed the network was making just another reality show instead of realistically trying to portray life at a big hospital. ABC's crew spent four months at Hopkins, taking thousands of hours of film. Crew member Alex Piper, contrasted that with the reality series he has worked on in which filming would be done in a month or …

Comedy Central's worst nightmare is the possible defection of "The Daily Show." As the king of the coveted 18-to34-year-old-male demographic, Comedy Central has built its success around a few indispensable personalities, which breeds a certain paranoia. Relying on guys like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, not to mention "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, can be perilous, so the network must constantly search for new stars. "We're always looking for that hit that's going to become a cultural phenomenon," says Lauren Corrao, Comedy Central's development chief. Or, put more bluntly, "a hit that it can service …

In current endorsement deals, its becoming harder and harder to discern where the celebrities end and their product and pitch begins. In the era of the human billboard, celebrities show up in about 14% of ads, more than double what it was a decade ago, according to researchers at Millward Brown. Television programmers and music producers have become particularly eager to set up joint marketing deals that offer artists new ways to reach audiences, while also defraying their own marketing costs. Adding to the shift are celebrities who have also grown much more sophisticated about the …

KSL has reeled in about $250 million in media billings in 10 months, mainly by offering small-to mid-market clients a more-precise system of targeting consumers that uses transactional data the companies already have. "Clients have all this data sitting around them, but they don't know what to do with it," said Hank Cohen, KSL's CEO. The agency examines customer transaction data gathered by the marketer to identify the best and worst customers and the differences between them. Further research helps the agency establish the best marketing and media approach for particular customer clusters With this process, "it's …

Global talent agency and TV producer IMG is negotiating to buy Mark Burnett Productions. Burnett, the "Survivor" mastermind, has been looking to sell his company since last year, when he retained Bear Sterns to shepherd the process. Burnett has already met with a range of potential buyers. IMG tapped former HBO boss Chris Albrecht as global media head in September and gave him $250 million in private-equity funding for acquisitions and investments. IMG has actively been in the market for a successful reality production company. In April, the company inked a partnership deal with Glassman Media to …

BusinessWeek coins the term "antipreneurs" for the thousands of business owners who have won both notice and profits by being overtly or covertly anti-big business and anti-advertising. Their marketing strategy is targeted toward consumers who have grown cynical about buying products and services from larger companies, whose methods they deem irresponsible. "Once these cynical consumers find a company they can trust, they are very motivated to stick with [it]." says marketing professor Amanda Helm. Antipreneurs are business reformers, not social do-gooders, and they can offer lessons to big brands striving for long-term customer loyalty. "What appeals to people …