• Nielsen's In-Store Ad Service Loses Walmart
    Walmart has pulled out of Nielsen's PRISM, an upcoming syndicated-data service that tracks in-store ads and merchandising. Last year, Walmart partially lifted its ban on sharing sales data in order to participate in the test phase of the new initiative. The pullout is a blow to Nielsen's effort to give shopper marketing a similar measurement system as other consumer media. Walmart's packaged-goods sales equal more than half of the combined sales of other similar retailers. Walmart plans to incorporate its own shopper-marketing tracking service into the 2010 rollout of its Smart Network, an in-store TV network. PRISM …
  • 2010 Pro Bowl Moves To ESPN
    ESPN will televise the 2010 Pro Bowl, after CBS declined to carry the game. Currently, the broadcast network that carries the Super Bowl also carries the much-lower-rated Pro Bowl. In 2010, CBS will carry the Super Bowl. The shift brings the Pro Bowl back to cable for the first time since 2006. It will also be the first Pro Bowl that is played before a Super Bowl. The change gives ESPN another high-visibility sports property that used to be on broadcast. Recently ESPN bought the rights to the future Bowl Championship Series and golf's British Open. The …
  • League TV Channels To Shake Up Sports Media
    Forecasters say sports media will go through some major changes in 2009. The biggest will be the impact of league-owned cable TV channels, such as baseball's new MLB Network. In 2009, the National Hockey League and Big Ten Network will forge new partnerships with cable operators to increase availability of their networks, now that they air live games. Seeing this success, the National Football League will end its legal wrangling with cable operators and make its games more widely available. Other predictions: Universal Sports, a new cable outfit from General Electric will become an alternative to ESPN by …
  • 'NYT' Needs A Major Restructuring
    New York Times management is finally taking the steps necessary to try to save the company. The latest move is to file a shelf registration with the SEC to permit the company to issue a variety of different securities when it feels like it. However, this is far from the best time for NYTC to be raising cash. Three months ago, the stock was $15. Now it's just over $6. Any cash the company raises in the current environment will be outrageously expensive. It's hard to imagine that the company will attract much interest from equity investors …
  • Newspaper Stocks Collapse in '08, NYT Stays Afloat
  • 'Ugly Betty' In China Makes Content Deal With Unilever
    A remake of the TV show "Ugly Betty" is being used by Unilever's Dove to help solve its Chinese beauty problem. Dove ads showing real-life models have been a hit in the U.S., but not in China, where women aren't driven to buy products promoted with so-called real faces. To address that cultural difference, WPP's Mindshare brokered a deal to bring a version of the show to Chinese TV, giving Unilever the right to exclusive ads and product placements during the show, as well as a script built around the company's Chinese version of the Dove campaign. …
  • New Wind-Powered Billboards, Courtesy Of Coke
    Coca-Cola's new digital billboard in Times Square is going green with its use of wind power and is starting a trend among 30 billboards at the 47th St. and Broadway intersection in Manhattan. The group of wind-powered billboards has an electric supply agreement with ConEdison Solutions and the building management company. Collectively, the group's green initiative will prevent the release of 1,866 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Coca-Cola has been a billboard advertiser in Times Square since 1932, and "we are proud to lead this renewable energy movement on the Great White Way," says Dana …
  • Local Sports, Events Help Marketers In Hard Times
    The recession might prove to be a boon for out-of-home media and event marketing--especially for local sports. As cash-strapped consumers hunker down and people increasing maintain friendships virtually on the Internet, they yearn for the community of local events. Less appealing are the big national events that advertisers gravitate toward. Richard Luker, chief strategy officer of TBA Global, an event-marketing agency, says people want to do more social networking the old-fashioned way: face to face. Luker is proposing that U.S. marketers divert $30 billion of their $300 billion annual media and marketing budget into ads and promotions tied …
  • 'Cincinnati Enquirer' Cuts Classified Days
    It wasn't that long ago that classified ads made money for newspapers. Now, ironically, print classifieds are seen as a drag on the bottom line. In an effort to reduce costs, the Cincinnati Enquirer will cut the number of days it runs classified ads, switch to a narrower page-format and condense some of its sections. Publisher Margaret Buchanan says the steps are needed to reduce the amount of newsprint and ink, the daily paper's second-largest expense. Traditional classified advertising will be eliminated on Mondays and Tuesdays. The format changes, which went into effect yesterday, come on the …
  • Gray Reaps $3 Million From Retrans Deals
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