More than 600 users participated in the recent Webinar on the Traffic Audit Bureau's new outdoor ad rating service "Eyes On," which will debut next month. Four years and $20 million in the making, the outdoor industry's first ratings could be a game-changer for the business, with measurements that allow outdoor to compete directly with TV and radio. Eyes On ratings were initially released for only 10,000 outdoor units in Chicago. Next month, the new system will be rolled out in more than 200 markets covering ratings for about 400,000 units. Chris Gagen, Posterscope USA's managing director, claims that …

Where are major marketers to turn for mainstream programming that includes black audiences? Many advertisers believe that programming on Black-owned BET is too young or too racy for family-friendly brands, while TV One can be too niche. Broadcast TV and mainstream cable have given only limited support to African-American entertainment, says Monica Gadsby, CEO of SMG Multicultural. Her agency insists that it is up to marketers and producers to figure out new distribution models for such programs. To address the problem, SMG this week hosted a lineup of producers and talent. Each gave 20-minute presentations on their …

The Wall Street Journal's quarterly lifestyle magazine WSJ., was slated to go monthly this year. But a big decline in advertising means those plans are being put on hold. Nonetheless, publisher Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio insists that the magazine remains "a priority" to owner Rupert Murdoch and that it has brought in new advertisers that are often bundled with newspaper and digital buys at the Journal. In the national edition of the fashion-themed March issue of WSJ. there are 27 ad pages out of 92 total pages. By contrast, September's premiere issue had 51 ad pages out of a total …

After several delays, executives at NBC Universal and WNBC-4 are on the verge of launching their 24 hour, 7-day-a-week "hyper-local" digital TV news channel in New York. What exactly the channel will look like has been a hot topic of speculation in recent months. In an internal email, Michael Horowicz, WNBC-4's news manager tells staffers that the launch of the channel, dubbed "New York Nonstop," is "imminent" and that their future news reports should no longer look like traditional news piece and instead, "should look live. If it looks like a traditional newscast, we're dead," he states. …

Martha Stewart Living is broadening its coverage to include beauty, travel and fashion as it tries to boost its appeal with advertisers in those categories. With the April issue, Living will introduce a fashion department as well as a health and beauty column called "Apothecary." The magazine also will begin running an occasional personal travel column by Martha Stewart. The magazine's cover also sports a more modern look in April, with an airy, san serif font. Gael Towey, acting editor in chief, says the additions reflect the interests of the audience of parent company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. …

To reach readers interested in more than business and financial news, The Wall Street Journal is expanding its sports coverage to six days a week, starting this week. The paper previously had a sports page on Fridays only -- in its Weekend Journal section. The new sports section will run Monday through Saturday. (The paper does not publish on Sundays.) The Journal wants to use the new section to produce analytical articles and statistics and graphics packages, says sports editor Sam Walker. Early stories will include a "big-picture analysis" of major sports leagues and a statistical package about …

Viacom is ready for Time Warner's "TV Everywhere" initiative to take flight. The initiative is designed to make all cable programming available online on an on-demand basis only to viewers who have a subscription to a TV service, such as Comcast. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman says his company is "very open" to experimenting with models that would allow cable, satellite and telco TV subscribers to view cable content online. "We think it has to be seamless to the consumer, and we're working [with the distributors] on the consumer and technology side," he says. Viacom represents 20% of …

DDB Worldwide is bringing David Plouffe, Barack Obama's marketing strategist, to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival this year. Plouffe is scheduled to speak on the "Audacity of Successful Brands" on June 25. President Obama credited Plouffe, a partner in the Washington, D.C., consulting firm AKPD Message and Media, as "the unsung hero of this campaign." Plouffe and David Axelrod, another partner at AKPD, first became associated with Obama while working on the president's 2004 run for the United States Senate. DDB CEO Chuck Brymer is clearly proud of his association with the White House. He says …

Financially troubled radio network Westwood One is restructuring its $241 million debt. As part of the move, The Gores Group will acquire control of Westwood by increasing its equity stake in the company to 72.5%. "The refinancing is an essential part of our turnaround plan," says Rod Sherwood, president of Westwood. Sherwood took over the top spot in late October. He is the former CFO of Gores, a private-equity firm based in Los Angeles. Since Sherwood's arrival, Westwood has reorganized its executive management and sales organizations, and is in the process of consolidating its Metro Traffic division. …

Bucking the media downturn, the Financial Times publisher Pearson posted a 2.8% increase in 2008 net profit. Even better, the company says it expects to at least maintain profits this year because it is shielded from the worst of the media slowdown by its limited reliance on advertising revenue. Pearson, which also owns Penguin Books, said net profit for 2008 rose to $370 million. The bottom line was somewhat weighed down by a loss and tax charge related to last year's sale of Data Management, Pearson's data collection and scanning business. At the Financial Times, the business …