A new media study by Avon and MediaVest is reinforcing Avon's commitment to magazine ads. The study shows young adults are much more likely to pay attention to magazine ads than online ads, says David Shiffman, MediaVest senior vice president. "Magazine advertising is a key part of the magazine experience." The study of 18 to 34-year-olds also demonstrates that people's expectations and goals in each medium depend on the subject. In general, people use magazines more often than the Web for entertainment, celebrity, fashion and beauty news. At the same time, the Web is clearly better when people …

With the implosion on Wall Street, Bloomberg -- one of the world's top purveyors of financial data -- may face the biggest loss of customers in its history. Bloomberg's 2,300 news staff in 145 bureaus deliver 6 million stories a year. But its money-making business is financial data. Michael Bloomberg bet the house on growing his data terminal business among bond traders, hedge funds and outfits selling mortgage bonds and collateralized debt obligations. The failure of Lehman Brothers alone pulled the plug on some 4,000 Bloomberg terminals, or about 1% of its entire base. Thousands more Bloombergs were disconnected …

With more than 15,700 episodes on radio and TV combined, the soap opera "Guiding Light" will shine no more on CBS. The long-running serial will be broadcast for the last time on Friday, Sept. 18. "Guiding Light" consistently ranks at the bottom of the daytime ratings, and its cancellation is the latest hit to the once-vibrant daytime soap genre. In a last ditch effort, the show's look and feel were radically altered last year, with producers taking the show outdoors and using hand-held cameras, simultaneous digital editing and on-location shoots. But the alterations only upset "Guiding Light's" loyal …

TV Guide Channel, which made its name with a scroll guiding viewers to shows on other networks, wants to ditch the scroll and point viewers to its own programs. The network, which sold to indie movie studio Lionsgate in January, is planning to add original programming and possibly change its name. Lionsgate is eager to transform its new acquisition from a utility for basic cable into a venue for entertainment programming, and to expand its ad base from endemic "tune-in" advertising to major mass marketers. President Ryan O'Hara says the network is considering different branding options based …

Delta's monthly Sky magazine is being relaunched in the wake of the merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines. In addition to being available on the planes, Sky will also be sold on newsstands--a first for U.S. in-flight magazines. Publisher MSP Communications says 15,000 copies of the monthly magazine will be available in stores like Barnes & Noble, Borders and B. Dalton for $3.99. MSP expects Sky's total readership to be between 5 million and 6 million a month. Editor-in-chief Jayne Haugen Olson says that though most readers are on an airplane, the magazine "offers content and service-oriented take-away …

The parent company of flagship Chicago Sun-Times plus dozens of suburban publications filed for bankruptcy Tuesday. And while this bankruptcy follows several other newspaper publishers, including the parent company of rival i>Chicago Tribune, this situation is different. The Chicago Sun-Times says it doesn't have debt to banks or bondholders. Instead, a large reason for the bankruptcy filing is the financial ruin left by former C.E.O. Conrad Black, who is now serving prison time for defrauding stockholders. The Chicago Sun-Times says the company plans to continue publishing its newspapers and Web sites through the restructuring. But in a …

Residents of Detroit didn't have a local paper on their doorstep to read to find out Monday's General Motors news -- which was happening right in their backyard. Under a new distribution model that started this week, Gannett's Detroit Free Press and MediaNews Group's Detroit News only offer home delivery on Thursday and Friday, while the Free Press arrives Sunday. On other days, the two papers publish a small print paper that's sold only on newsstands. On Monday, the two dailies marked the start of their new system by distributing about a half-million copies of the abbreviated papers …

Time Warner Inc.'s spinoff of its cable division dropped it to third place among U.S. media companies, behind Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. Here's the breakdown: Disney reported fiscal 2008 sales of $37.8 billion. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. had $33 billion in sales. Excluding $17.2 billion in cable revenue, Time Warner's 2008 sales totaled $29.8 billion. "Investors want to buy large market names. It's better to be Disney than a company that's a third of the size, like Viacom," says Michael Nathanson, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst. He rates Disney, News Corp. and Time Warner shares "market perform." …

Telemundo, will start broadcasting in high-definition beginning in April -- the first Spanish-language network to offer HD content both at the local and network levels. According to a Telemundo research study, almost half of the research panel members own a widescreen HD television. NBC Universal-owned Telemundo says its first HD broadcast will be the 2009 Billboard Latin Music Awards on April 23. After that, the network will gradually roll out its HD broadcast offerings for prime-time novelas, sports broadcasts and specials. Nine of Telemundo's owned-and-operated TV stations will initially distribute the network HD signal to their audiences, …

After six years at the helm of USA Today, president and publisher Craig Moon will retire April 17. Moon also oversees USA Weekend, the Detroit Media Partnership, Gannett Offset and Military Times. Moon started at Gannett 23 years ago. He plans to return to Nashville to spend time with his family and explore business opportunities. "While the challenging media environment has been difficult for this industry and its people, it has also created new opportunities which I plan to explore with partners," Moon says. Advertising revenue at USA Todaywas down 18.5% in Q4 2008 compared to the same period in …