Everything you know about what's hot on television may be wrong. Start-up Networked Insights released a study this week challenging Nielsen's ratings system. Instead of counting households, it measures online interactions, such as people posting videos clips about a TV show and inviting friends to online fan groups. One example of the discrepancy: In late September, Nielsen rated the sitcom "Two and a Half Men" as the fifth-most-popular show on TV. Online, however, Networked says the show was No. 1, with over 65 million interactions. This information is just a "piece of the puzzle that advertisers didn't quantify …

On election night, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer in New York will interview three-dimensional holograms of Obama and McCain campaign strategists in Chicago and Phoenix. That's just one of the gee-whiz tech toys that will be used to snag viewers during the intensely followed event. Everyone is doing something virtual this election year, say TV insiders. The real challenge is "stuff that will travel easily on multiplatforms. Not only must it look good on TV, but on portable devices like cellphones," says researcher Andrew Tyndall. This year's race is expected to draw tens of millions of media viewers on …

Integrated sponsorship ideas for Bravo's "Top Chef" are constantly being flung at the wall to see what sticks. New to the sponsor lineup this season are Campbell's Soup Co., Diet Dr Pepper and Quaker. Keeping its integrated marketing ideas fresh can take some doing, says Kevin McAuliffe, NBC Universal executive. Sponsor Clorox, for instance, has provided contestants with Glad trash products and created entire challenges around its seemingly mundane products. "You want the challenge to be relevant and still be interesting. It's not easy," says Ellen Liu, Clorox's media director.

Tribune Broadcasting has cut a deal with CBS Television Distribution for a fall 2009 daytime talk show hosted by Bishop T.D. Jakes, head of the mega-church Potter's House. The pact gives the show a station home in all of Tribune's 19 markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Jakes is an author and well-traveled motivational speaker, as well as pastor of Dallas-based church.

The polls strongly suggest that the Democrats are in for a very good day next Tuesday, and the result is news media coverage that basically says this contest is all but over. Yet, polls are just polls. They are only snapshots of reality at a specific moment and can change quickly. Shocks do happen. Truman did defeat Dewey. Conventional wisdom was utterly wrong in the early stages of this election. To maintain their credibility with the public at a time when their industry desperately needs it, the news media should remember that they have been wrong before.

CBS is taking advantage of the fact that TV soundtracks can be a good way to promote emerging artists. The network has been using the theme song on its comedy "The Ex List" to get the word out about Karmina, a recording artist on the CBS Records label. Although the show was put on hiatus, the experiment does speak to the integral role played by theme songs in TV shows. "It makes a lot of sense for networks to want to start their own labels, just so they have total control. They can go out and shop for artists …

The media marketplace could be mired in a recessionary climate for the next three years, according to Rino Scanzoni, GroupM chief investment officer. He insists that the current downturn will last significantly longer than the dip experienced in 2001. "It will be a very slow process." Scanzoni, speaking on a International Radio and Television Society panel, said that next year overall media spending could be down 2% to 3% percent -- or flat at best. But all is not lost. He also cited two positives: Commodity prices are dropping, which eases the pressure on corporate profits, and …

A new company is trying to help failing newspapers do more with less. Massachusetts-based Helium offers a fee-based software widget that assists papers in finding and picking stories from their readers. Reader submissions are evaluated and ranked by 150,000 Helium users on a Web site run by Helium, as a way to identify stories most appropriate for the newspaper's site or print publication. So far, GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., has signed up for the program. The service is tapping into a gnawing problem in the news business: Staff resources are evaporating, but the demand …

Reaching beyond the TV screen into the retail realm, CBS is beefing up the out-of-home video handled by its Outernet division. Since June, CBS Outernet has installed a high-def, digital network on 40-inch screens in 1,500 GameStop stores. Another 2,500 stores will be added to the network by June 2009. CBS Outernet also is unveiling new themed video content for its Grocery TV Network in 1,500 stores. Topics include home, kids, meal ideas, wellness and beauty. The videos include 10-second promo spots for targeted ads.