Even as the financial pages write The New York Times' obit, something hopeful, "a kind of evolution," has been going on at the paper. A variety of new features have popped up on the newspaper's Web site, such as video, audio and "drillable" graphics. It is a reinvention of the Times voice, shattering the omniscient God-tones in which the paper had always grounded its coverage. The online features tug the reader closer through comments and interactivity, rendering the relationship between reporter and audience more intimate, immediate and exposed. The quiet evolution started in fall 2007 when the …

Facing an incredibly challenged market, more syndicated shows are going off the air than are being launched this buying season. The only new first-run strips certain to go forward for fall 2009 are Sony's "Dr. Oz" and Debmar-Mercury's "Wendy Williams," both cleared on the Fox station group. Sony's court shows "Judge David Young" and "Judge Karen" each will end their runs after this season. In all, six first-run shows and at least two new shows will depart. Because stations lack cash to purchase new first-run shows, they are expected instead to double- or triple-run existing shows. With ratings …

As consumers cut back on shopping, single-copy magazine sales declined 8% to 244 million in the third quarter of 2008, compared to 2007, per MagNet. For the first nine months of 2008, unit sales declined 9%. Magazines' dollar sales fared better. At $1.2 billion, they were down 2% over the previous year, mainly because several celebrity weeklies raised their cover prices in 2008. Final figures aren't in for the fourth quarter, but newsstand sales are trending worse, even with a sales bump from commemorative election editions, says Gil Brechtel, CEO of MagNet. He attributes the slide to higher …

Overall, broadcast networks are holding firm to the terms of their upfront ad deals and are unwilling to offer price concessions. This comes as advertisers face a deadline for reaffirming the second-quarter TV ad time they committed to during the upfront. Many in the industry worried that advertisers might pull back some of the money they previously earmarked for the period. Buyers and some network executives suggest networks will be flexible in setting deadlines for final orders to accommodate economic concerns. But networks actually have quite a bit of leverage. Pricing for scatter ad inventory, which is …

Universal McCann worldwide CEO Matt Seiler has quickly put his stamp on the IPG media shop. In five months, he has restructured the U.S. operation, eliminating the post of U.S. president and solidified his senior global management team.,br> Seiler is hiring a new chief for the New York office, who will oversee key U.S. accounts and handle national broadcast and print buying, as well as business development. "North America now looks like a mini world with Canada, New York, L.A., San Francisco and J3 (UM's stand-alone Johnson &Johnson operation) as full service entities reporting into global with the …

Condé Nast has found a way to keep Men's Vogue alive after shrinking the title to twice a year. The spring issue will appear as a reverse-bound issue attached to the April issue of Vogue. It will be the first time Vogue has published a reverse cover. This special Men's Vogue will likely carry around 60 pages. A four-color full-page ad will cost $52,340, compared to a similar ad in Vogue for $128,220. The experiment helps the publisher in two ways. Men's Vogue more than doubles its circulation, which was 350,000 as a monthly title, by being sent …

The television business may be rediscovering Americans older than 49. For the last 20 years, network executives have driven themselves to distraction struggling to find programs with appeal for viewers in their 20s and 30s. Meanwhile, people of other ages drifted away to niche shows on cable TV or other media. In an age of DVRs, multichannel systems and increasingly tiny ratings, the demo obsession may be exacerbating the industry's problems and excluding from consideration too many programs that could have broad appeal. This season, CBS has zoomed to first place in both mass audience and youth-skewing demographics …

Maria Bartiromo, Meredith Vieira and 23 other female media leaders will form a panel offering marketing advice to NBC Universal and its advertising clients on how to reach women. The group will also blog, write and appear on air for NBC's women-oriented properties and contribute to a quarterly newsletter, "Power of the Purse," covering female-focused marketing and trends. Leading the group is Lauren Zalaznick, president of NBCU's Women and Lifestyle Networks, which include Oxygen, Bravo, iVillage and "Green is Universal," the company's new environmental initiative. The panel will launch Feb. 10.