Google bought ad technology start-up Invite Media, a 3-year-old "demand-side platform" designed to help buyers navigate high-volume display-advertising exchanges-like the one Google launched last year. The price is estimated in the $70 million range., reports All Things Digital. Google's plan is to leave Invite running as a standalone unit, which will work at arm's length with exchange's like Google's AdX, as well as competitors like OpenX, Yahoo's Right Media and Microsoft's AdECN. Like many startups, Invite CEO Nate Turner and his co-founders started Invite Media when they were still undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. The …

Stations, battered by the recent recession, are increasingly confronted by the lure of product placement lucre, and the effect it may have on viewer trust. Branded integrations have long been a staple of network entertainment programming, now they are becoming increasingly common in local TV, whether it's Pepsi containers on WIAT Birmingham's Wake Up Alabama, Verizon FiOS branding on WNBC New York's sports reports, or KFOR Oklahoma City branding its helicopter with the name of a local auto dealer. The LIN group has even built a stable of product placement-driven morning shows, including WNAC Providence's The Rhode Show and WISH …

The FCC last Friday nailed seven stations between $25,000 and $70,000 for multiple violations of the children's programming rules. The fines totaled $270,000. Most of the station were cited for exceeding the limits on commercial time in children's shows: 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 minutes per hour on weekends. The largest fine, $70,000, however, was imposed on Belo's KSKN Spokane, Wash., for violating the program-length commercial rule, which prohibits blurring the line between kids programming and the advertising within it. KSKN has already violented the rule on 86 other occasions. Other offending stations include: Cox's …

Maurice Lévy tenure as chief executive of Publicis as been marked by aggressive acquisitions. In recent years, those deals have been focused on digital advertising, Publicis bought the online-marketing business Digitas in 2007; search-marketing business Performics from Google Inc. in 2008; and Razorfish last summer. In 2009 Publicis made more than a quarter of its $5.55 billion revenue from digital ads, more than its Dublin-based rival WPP PLC or U.S behemoth Omnicom Group Inc. The company expects 3% organic growth this year, Lévy says, compared with the 2% organic growth rival WPP expects to achieve. He puts Publicis' …

A current round of shows depend on million-dollar multimedia displays like never before, bringing video upstage after years of being relegated mostly to backdrop status. New musicals like "Sondheim on Sondheim" use sophisticated swirling computer screens that flash thousands, wile "Everyday Rapture" features YouTube for comic effects. "Sondheim," for instance, includes a montage of people, from celebrities like Barbra Streisand to budding singers, lending their voice to the composer's famed song, "Send In The Clowns." Rock band Green Day's "American Idiot," "Enron" and "Fela!" project news broadcasts of war, conflict, corruption and politics that boldly make video more than …

A battle is brewing between Apple Inc. and Google Inc., and this time it may come into your living room. Nearly 40% of consumers said they wanted to connect their computers to their televisions to watch online video, according to a recent survey by Frank N. Magid Associates.  One week after Google announced its bid for the hearts and eyes of America's TV viewers with Internet-based Google TV, its Silicon Valley rival is reportedly poised to overhaul its own offering, Apple TV, reports Los Angeles Times. The stakes are high. Whoever wins could play a leading …

Procter & Gamble is relaunching Pantene with a new campaign from Grey that suggests consumers "Put it to the test." The beauty brand, which now offers products customized by hair type, named the winner of its first "Reality Hair Star Contest" with a live TV ad broadcast Tuesday on NBC's season finale of The Biggest Loser: Couples. The 60-second ad recapped the consumer contest that asked contestants to upload their best pitches for the role. Brand spokesperson Stacy London appeared at the winner's home. Three finalists were primed for the live reveal, each receiving a Pantene makeover. During a …

Demographics have almost no effect on whether TV ads produce sales. Consumers' purchase history is the most reliable predictor of success, according to research from TRA, which has been pairing data from set-top TV boxes with retail loyalty-card purchase data since 2008. The gender and age of viewers has little correlation with the way those viewers respond to ads, TRA President Bill Harvey said at the Advertising Research Foundation conference: "TV's major sales effect tends to be among people who are heavy purchasers in your categories and occasional purchasers of your brand." TRA has found that trade promotion executed …

The FCC officially launched its congressionally mandated review of its media ownership rules. That came in a May 25 notice of inquiry teeing up questions, the answers to which will help the commission set new policy or adjust old ones. The agency is looking at five rules: the local TV ownership rule, the local radio ownership rule, the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule, the radio/TV cross-ownership rule, and the dual-network rule. The notice makes it clear the FCC will take into account the role of the Internet. "The Internet clearly has not wholly supplanted traditional media, such as broadcast stations, newspapers, …

The World Health Organization called on Friday for more action against tobacco advertising that targets women and girls, especially in developing countries. Females represent the biggest potential growth market for tobacco products and are being subjected to aggressive campaigns linked to fashion, sports events and entertainment, the United Nations agency said. Men account for 80% of the world's 1 billion smokers, according to the United Nations agency. Among adults, 40% of men smoke, compared to about 9%t of women. In large emerging markets such as China and India, 3% to 5% of women, leaving an important market to capture, …