A talking baby, whose plug for E-Trade Financial includes a creepy clown and vomiting, was tops in Super Bowl ads on a list compiled by TiVo. The DVR company tracked the most popular ads during the Big Game via a system of aggregated, anonymous, second-by-second audience measurement data about how its subscribers watched it. Ads with slapstick humor and celebrity appearances dominated, with the E-Trade spot taking the highest honors.

News Corp. has pushed up its full-year profit outlook and sees no weakness yet in the television advertising market. Peter Chernin, chief operation officer of the parent of the Fox and Fox News networks in the U.S., says that while he knows "there are concerns about the health of the ad market," Fox has "not seen any weakness to date. Pricing remains very strong for both entertainment and sports." Fears of recession and the 3-month-old strike by Hollywood screenwriters, have raised concerns about advertising spending in the U.S. this year. But unlike rival TV network NBC Universal, which …

CNN is going around the clock for Super Tuesday with the cable news net rolling out 40 hours of non-stop political programming for the multi-state primaries. Based at the CNN Election Center in New York, personalities like Wolf Blitzer, Lou Dobbs, Anderson Cooper, Soledad O'Brien and Campbell Brown will guide the special coverage, along with a team of political analysts and reporters. The CNN Election Center features technology like "multi-touch" and enhanced graphics designed specifically with Super Tuesday in mind and has led to a new way to visualize the races while enabling the network to drill down …

"Peppa Pig," a popular British animated show aimed at preschoolers is coming to the U.S. to air on Nickelodeon's Noggin network. Entertainment One, which owns global rights to the show, has sold U.S. broadcast rights to the first 52 episodes, plus an option on all future series and specials. "Peppa Pig" first aired in the U.K. four years ago and has since been sold to 50 broadcasters and translated into 25 languages. In the U.K. alone, the brand generates $50 million a year in merchandising and DVD sales. Entertainment One is Canada's largest home entertainment distributor and …

With the 2008 presidential primaries underway, a conservative group has produced an attack documentary called "Hillary: The Movie" -- but federal regulators won't let them advertise it on the airwaves. "I could have the movie in hundreds of theaters," claims complains executive producer David Bossie, "But I can't purchase ad time on television or radio stations." The flick came out Jan. 16 in Washington and is slated for screening in a few other cities, including San Diego and Santa Ana, Calif. But because of content and timely subject matter, the Federal Election Commission has lowered the boom on …

The Sci Fi Channel has green-lighted 13 episodes of "Sanctuary," an original drama based on the world's first high-definition science-fiction Web series. The new show will be the first to use live-action actors against largely virtual film sets. The one-hour show will star Amanda Tapping, who, alongside a young protege, tries to track down, help and protect various strange creatures that walk the earth. The show's sets are 90% computer-generated and shot in the style of films like "300" and "Sin City." The show "promises to be a totally fresh television viewing experience," said Mark Stern, Sci Fi's …

Local television stations are in uncharted waters as the 24-state primary round known as "Super Duper Tuesday" nears. Apart from general elections, never before has one single day brought so much political madness. And never have there been so many outlets to cover it, with Web divisions enhanced to better report breaking news. That has put broadcasters into full scramble to lure both viewer eyeballs-and presidential hopefuls' advertising cash. "Every station is treating this like a blizzard," says Fox Television Stations digital vice president Ron Stitt of the 12 Fox-owned affiliates with a primary or caucus in their …

Chrysler is pushing its willingness to upgrade products in response to customer demands as part of a new ad campaign that broke this week. Ads from the troubled car maker emphasize its responsiveness to customer and dealer feedback, noting it approved 260 "line-item" improvements within two months after Cerberus Capital Management took the company private. It adds that its new promotional packages offer many extras at no additional charge. An animated cross-brand commercial is titled "Listen to You," and there are also eight product-specific dealer spots highlighting 12 vehicles. Ads debuted regionally on Super Sunday in 55 markets …