• Davos: Interpublic Sees Clients Invest In Brands Again
    Clients of advertising firm Interpublic Group of Companies are investing again, noting a recovery in the sector. "Anecdotally, there is no question that clients are starting to focus on 2010 and to invest in their brands, says executive Michael Roth. The advertising company is home to wDraftFCB and McCann-Erickson. General Motors is one of its major clients, and Roth said it was encouraging that GM had come through bankruptcy and was preparing for growth again.
  • CBS Films In Trouble
    CBS Films claims it's going full steam ahead with its slate of movies despite the disastrous flop of Harrison Ford's "Extraordinary Measures." One source says the unit may be "slashing all marketing and production budgets by 50%" after the $31 million Ford film was panned by critics and took in just $6 million its opening weekend. The picture flopped despite an extensive marketing campaign across CBS' television shows and billboards. The failure has led to doubts about the wisdom of putting a TV network in the feature film business. It's scheduled to produce up to six movies a year. …
  • Nancy Grace Wants TV Banned From Her Case
    TV host Nancy Grace, who once worked for Court TV, doesn't want her testimony in a wrongful death lawsuit caught on camera. Grace's attorneys have filed an emergency motion in U.S. District Court in Ocala, Fla., to bar cameras from the hearing, scheduled for today. Grace, host of HLN's "Nancy Grace," is being sued by the estate of Melinda Duckett, the mother of a missing 2-year-old Florida boy, Trenton Duckett, who has never been found. Melina Duckett committed suicide the day after a phone interview with Nancy Grace. Her family has accused Grace of causing her suicide by "intentional …
  • Boomers Major TV Users
    Baby boomers are big media users -- and TV dominates with this key demographic. In the third-quarter 2009, Americans watched an average of 129 hours of TV compared with 27 hours spent on the Internet, according to Nielsen's latest "A2/M2 Three-Screen Report." Baby boomers upped the ante, averaging between 140 and 160 hours of TV time each month, compared with an average of 28 to 31 hours spent online. In addition, they are the largest audience for newspapers, though they also go online to read news. The most recent survey from Deloitte on Americans' media habits, conducted in September …
  • Apple Table One Gun In Publisher's Survival Kit
    Publishers hope Apple Inc's tablet computer will attract new readers and boost revenue, but few expect that it will, by itself, reverse the fortunes of a beleaguered industry. Investors and analysts are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for publishers like Time Warner Inc, Conde Nast, The New York Times and News Corp's HarperCollins. But they warn the device -- launching Wednesday -- is only part of the solution to the flight of readers to cheaper content on the Web. Publishers are crafting an overall strategy that includes smart phones and other mobile devices. Magid Advisors estimate the tablet could …
  • Internet News Can't Sustain Free Model
    Could the era of ubiquitous free content be ending? New Yorker media columnist Ken Auletta thinks so. And not just because traditional media companies find themselves desperate for a new source of revenue in the digital age. The author of the recent book "Googled" argues that a strictly ad-supported business model for the media business is beginning to lose credibility. Auletta has little sympathy for the traditional media companies that continue to blame Google for their own trouble adapting, and his admiration for what the company has accomplished in broadening access to information over its brief history. Auletta warned …
  • Infiniti Drives Into March Madness
    Nissan Motor Co.'s Infiniti marque is launching a multiplatform campaign to showcase its new line of luxury sedans, which includes buys in ESPN's college basketball and throughout CBS' March Madness coverage. In addition to new 30-second spots for the 2010 Infiniti G sedan and coupe, the car maker is sponsoring a new pre-game feature on ESPN. The Infiniti College Basketball Tip-Off will run immediately before eight NCAA Division 1 men's match-ups, including seven Saturday prime-time games and a Tuesday night tilt. A supplemental "Inspiring Coaches" spotlight series will be available on ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile, prior to each …
  • Dentsu Buys Digital Shop 360i
    The U.S. arm of Japan's biggest ad-agency network, Dentsu Holdings USA, has acquired New York-based Innovation Interactive, which owns digital agency 360i, search firm Search Ignite and analytics and targeting practice Net Mining. Innovation is a 10-year-old agency network, with clients such as JCPenney, Reckitt Benckiser, Office Depot and NBC. It claimed $61 million in revenue for 2009 and expects to top $80 million this year. "Digital is where the growth is right now, so if you want a major presence in U.S., there are a smaller number of agencies out there," said Seth Alpert, managing director of …
  • 'New York Times' Focuses on E-Editions
    New York Times Co. will create a business unit to focus on generating profits from electronic editions, including versions of its newspapers for Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, according to an internal memo. Yasmin Namini, the senior vice president of marketing and circulation, is general manager of the unit, which joins four others as part of the Media Group: the newspaper, Web site, the International Herald Tribune and News Services. Times Co. now sells subscriptions to its namesake newspaper on Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Inc. Nook and Sony Corp.'s Reader devices. It offers free applications for Apple Inc.'s iPhone. As …
  • Apple To TV Nets: Slash Prices On Downloads
    On the eve of the Apple tablet release, Steve Jobs is asking TV networks to get cheap. In meetings with television executives, Apple has also been urging TV networks to slash their price tags on shows sold through iTunes to $0.99 -- half of the standard $1.99 price. Apple believes lowering prices will increase sales dramatically, offsetting any revenue lost from the cuts. Networks are resisting, citing the music industry's 2003 pact with Apple to reduce prices. The plan helped boost downloads, but album sales slumped. With DVRs, Netflix and illegal online downloads already plaguing TV studios' profits, Apple …
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