Investors should spend more time watching the Super Bowl ads. It turns out that if you buy stock in companies that produce the most-loved ads, you are likely to be rewarded in the short term, according to research by Cornell University and the State University of New York. Companies that produce the 10 most-liked Super Bowl ads, per USA Today's survey, see an average stock performance the Monday after the game that is 0.26% better than the day's action in the S&P 500. The companies that produce the least-liked ads are up 0.01% when compared with the broader market. …

Time Inc. is refusing to pay the new 7-cents-per-copy fee that some wholesalers are charging for trucking magazines to the nation's retailers. Time is telling its wholesaler Source Interlink Distribution that it will find alternate distribution for all 24 of its U.S. titles, including Time, People and Sports Illustrated. Publishers and their distributors have been in nail-biting meetings for the past several days with wholesalers, which informed them they need the additional newsstand fees on top of existing incentive programs starting Feb. 1. Source Interlink joined Anderson News Co., which together represent about half of the nation's magazine …

Epix, the new premium TV channel and broadband service from Viacom and its Paramount Pictures unit, Lionsgate and MGM, will introduce a unique business model, says chief Mark Greenberg. He brushes aside concerns that the service has yet to ink any carriage deals nearly nine months after being announced. Epix -- whose name was only confirmed Tuesday -- will consist of a linear TV channel targeted to launch in October, as well as a broadband site where subscribers can watch movies on-demand. The site is likely to launch in May, but there won't be any marketing or …

Perhaps this is the future for all big-budget TV campaigns. Companies advertising during the Super Bowl this year are looking to get more for their $100,000-a-second ads. They are using their pricey, high-profile 30-second spots to kick off promotional campaigns that may last for weeks or even months. Among the 17-plus companies taking the plunge, Mars' Pedigree dog food is making its first Super Bowl appearance. It hopes to extend the buzz from its TV spot to the company's Web site, which will feature behind-the-scenes videos related to the TV ad. The plan is that 4 million people will …

Peddlers of $19.95 products like the PedEgg, ShamWow, Snuggie and other 800-number come-ons have become some of TV's most prominent sponsors. Their ads used to be all but absent from TV's golden 8-to-11 p.m. period, considered the most prestigious time for advertisers. But no more. The post-holidays sales lull and a tanking economy have sent prices for airtime plummeting and stations scrambling. Jeff Order, who handles ads for CashPoint, a company that makes quick-fix loans, says some stations have offered him the equivalent of three free spots for every 10 he buys. What effect will such direct-response ads …

eMarketer's sober news for network and cable TV: You're not booking $70 billion a year in ad revenue any more. In 2009, the number will be about $66.9 billion, or about 4.2% less than in 2008. The lost dollars are going back into the pockets of marketers and to cheaper, more-accountable media. But online video is one place those dollars are not shifting in comparable scale. The online-video market will gain 45%, or a mere $263 million, to reach $850 million in 2009, per eMarketer. That will likely make a big difference for Hulu, Veoh and maybe even …

Bernstein Research has downgraded CBS' stocks to "underperform" in anticipation that the company will have to cut its dividend in order to conserve cash and keep up its credit rating. Bernstein reduced its 12-month price target from $8 to $6 a share. "Local ad trends continue to shock us with unimaginable rates of decline," says Bernstein media analyst Michael Nathanson in a research note. CBS has long reaped strong cash flow from its local ad businesses such as TV, radio and outdoor, but those have been hit hard in the current economic downturn. In 2009 Nathanson expects …