Contrary to popular belief, the average viewer of the late night talk shows of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is more likely to be a hard-working Dad than a party-loving college student. In May, the median age of "The Daily Show" viewers crept up five years to 41.4, and the median age of "The Colbert Report" viewers was up five years to 38.3, per Nielsen. The number of people between 18 and 34 (the most coveted demo for ads) fell 14% to 15% for both shows. Ad rates aren't expected to decline because of viewers any time …

Booze ads are making serious inroads on TV, thanks to the recession. This year, with ad revenue for broadcast TV off 4.2%, local broadcast affiliates that didn't used to take liquor ads are actively courting the $451 million distilled-spirits business. "More and more people are accepting liquor advertising," says Matt Carroll, CMO at Patron, maker of tequila and rum. His tequila brand gained access to NBC-owned stations and has been running ads on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" since Conan took over for Jay Leno on June 1. An ad for Absolut Vodka during the Feb. 9 …

MTV is betting that British TV host Alexa Chung, a 25-year-old former model, will help bring young viewers back to the tube. The network is positioning "It's On with Alexa Chung," a live on-air music show, as the heir to "Total Request Live," which ended last year. To try to make Chung a star in the U.S., MTV plans to make her show a mash-up of television and Web content. The show, which will run weekdays at noon starting June 15, will draw some of its material from social-networking sites like Facebook and video-sharing sites like YouTube. …

Miniseries and made-for-TV programs were a network staple in the 1970s and '80s -- now they are thriving on cable and public television. They are proving invaluable in building a cable network's brand. Case in point: HBO's "Generation Kill," a gritty tale of Iraq War soldiers that debuted last year. It didn't need high ratings to reinforce HBO's reputation for boldness and quality, its budgetary might and its adult attitude. HBO scheduled the miniseries to run across seven weekly installments, regardless of the first-night Nielsen ratings. An active cable market for miniseries and made-for-TV programs means that suppliers …

Running a global news business requires a tricky combination of international brand appeal, regional relevance and subject expertise that both travels and translates. People, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times and The Economist are among the companies that have generally succeeded. "But the tough part is: Who wins the race to ubiquity and can make it pay off?" says Ken Doctor, analyst at Outsell. Winners tend to transcend corporate, political and local agendas; cover locally but market regionally; stick with marketing their media brand for the long term and devote enough financial resource to …

As local TV stations lose viewers and ad revenue, news directors are using social sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to generate stories, buzz and, hopefully, boost ratings. For instance, WHDH-TV in Boston uses its 6-month-old Facebook page to offer news updates and ask viewers to help select stories to air on sister station WLVI. Reporters use the site to update fans on the stories they're covering. Networking sites help stations reach not only people who already watch their newscasts, but friends of those viewers, says Gloria Boone, Suffolk University professor of new media. "The social media is …

In an ongoing investigation into the sales and marketing practices of publisher Rodale, the Florida attorney general's office decided to make public the information it gathered. Rodale, publisher of Men's Health and other magazines, recently filed a petition with a Florida circuit court to keep the information private. The petition seeks to prohibit the attorney general's office from "releasing Rodale's protected trade secret documents and proprietary confidential business information," including customers' names, which the publisher was subpoenaed to produce. A decision on the petition is pending. Since February 2008, the state AG has been investigating "several negative …

Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. confirms it has been in talks for weeks to buy the beleaguered Boston Globe and its prime property along the Southeast Expressway. The Boston-based company manages real estate and some $2.5 billion in investment funds, including union pensions. "Intercontinental is interested in any good investment that offers superior returns for our investors, as well as opportunities for job preservation and job growth for our union investors," says a company rep. In the meantime, the newspaper's biggest union is calling for an equity stake in the paper. The Guild could make wage and benefit concessions …

On-air promos, or house ads, are more important to a TV network than any $100 million upfront buy. Now, instead of simply being free advertising for the networks, as they have been in the past, the promos double as everything from co-sponsored vignettes for advertisers, to customized stunts for movie studios. For instance, ABC is pairing its shows with contextual marketing partners, such as Touchstone's Sandra Bullock comedy "The Proposal." Footage from the movie will be paired with live wedding-proposal promos for "The Bachelorette" next week. Networks sometimes go to extremes to make promos work for sponsors. For …

Some industry observers believe that Time Inc., America's largest magazine group, will soon be spun off or sold by parent Time Warner. Ad revenues at the unit shrank 30% in this year's first quarter, compared to lat year, after falling 20% in the last three months of '08. But the current environment for selling Time Inc. is terrible. "Before you sell, you'd want to know how much of the current bad news comes from a temporary ad downturn and how much from permanent structural change in the media world," writes Jon Fine. Also, good luck finding buyers. …