• Second Screen: What Are Tablet Users Doing While TV Viewing?
    What are those reported 45% of U.S. tablet owners who use their devices daily in front of the TV actually doing? Nielsen answers that question with stats showing that, not surprisingly, folks most often check email, followed by social networking activity. Thirty-seven percent spend tablet time "looking up information related to the TV program [they were] watching." "In aggregate, it’s a good reminder that a large chunk of the TV+tablet audience is doing unrelated stuff on their devices," writes Cory Bergman. " While some argue that second-screen experiences are distracting, in reality they have the potential to attract a large …
  • 'Economist' Digital Circ 6% Of Total
    The Economist's digital subscribers averaged 6% of total circulation in March (at a charge of $105 per year -- a premium price echoed by its print sub fee), putting it at the high end of magazines, writes Lucia Moses. The pub was the second major magazine to reveal stats about its digital circulation through the Audit Bureau of Circulations' voluntary Consolidated Media Report, which "presents publications’ total brand footprint across print and digital platforms."
  • Is Streaming Hurting Kids' Channels?
    "We've got hard data: Netflix really is killing Nickelodeon," is the headline on this post, which discusses stats showing "that among homes that regularly stream Netflix programming, viewing of linear kids’ channels — and not just Nickelodeon — took a hit." Despite that headline, we're not sure if there's really cause and effect here. The other big takeaway is that on-demand viewing through digital platforms did help serialized cable dramas like "Mad Men." "AMC’s ratings grew 86 percent in Q1 for streamers but only 71 percent for non-streamers," writes Daniel Frankel.
  • Study:More Than Half Of Radio Listeners Begin Day With Another Medium
    It's probably not surprising, but stats from Jacobs Media Techsurvey8 show how traditional radio has evolved: almost 6 in 10 (57%) respondents (a self-selected pool, since it was made up of almost 60,000 listeners to broadcast radio stations, polled online) said they begin their day with a medium or gadget other than radio. The younger demo (18 to 34) is more likely to turn to email or Facebook; the sports-radio demo is the biggest user of Twitter. Further showing how technology has changed radio, almost 4 in 10 stream Internet radio weekly, while almost half (45%) of respondents listen …
  • Who Won The Ad Page Race In May
    Three women's mag's -- Marie Claire, Allure and Harper's Bazaar -- were among the top six whose May issues tracked the most increases in ad pages for that month year-over-year, according to Greer Jonas. Not surprisingly, beauty and fashion ads were key to these success stories. For example, first-ranked Marie Claire, with a 57% jump in pages, "was one of the two titles to receive Guess’s 12-page '30 Sexy Years' campaign," and also "created its first-ever global credentialing unit (partnering with Elizabeth Arden) which resulted in a 31% beauty ad-page growth," writes Jonas. The other three top-ranked pubs were Texas …
  • 'Southern Living' Teams With Decor Retailer For Product Line
    Lifestyle magazine Southern Living, which already "has a long history of brand extensions, ranging from plants to books," is teaming up with home decor retailer Ballard Designs to design a line of 32 Southern-themed tabletop products, according to Emma Bazilian.  Priced from $15 to $249, items include "an extra-tall glass cake dome is meant to accommodate the three-layer cakes popular in Southern homes," she writes. The pub's editors "contributed content to promote the line online and in the Ballard catalog," will run ads for it in the June issue, and may incorporate it into editorial pages as well.
  • Open Gate Capital Looking To Buy 'Variety'?
    "Open Gate Capital, which famously bought TV Guide magazine for $1 four years ago," will not make a bid for the pub's Web site, and will instead make a play for Variety, on sale since March, according to sources cited by Claire Atkinson.  TV Guide's non-print assets have been in play since January, and its other product besides the site -- the TV Guide channel -- reportedly has only two "lukewarm" suitors, both media companies, Atkinson writes.
  • Kiss-Off: New York Radio Station Kiss-FM Shuttered, ESPN Takes Its Spot
    Shakeup in a major radio market: First, New York urban adult rivals WBLS (107.5 FM) and WRKS (98.7 FM, Kiss-FM) merged and on Monday will become a single station  at 107.5 FM, under the WBLS call letters. Both stations were struggling -- but still New York Daily News' David Hinckley called the move "as sudden and stunning as the Yankees merging with the Mets." In the second piece of the shuffle, sports radio ESPN New York is taking over the former WRKS 98.7 FM spot on the radio dial, moving from AM to FM for a much stronger signal …
  • NYTimes' New Product Serves Customized Branded Articles
    The New York Times Co. R&D Ventures Group is unveiling its first commercial product: Ricochet, which enables brands to drive consumers to Times publication articles surrounded by display ads for the brand. These specially branded articles will have their own URLs, which advertisers can distribute through social media or other channels. Ricochet will eventually "become a self-serve platform that advertisers can use to search the Times. Co article database by topic, upload the ads they want tied to a given article, choose from a handful of page formats and set the duration of the campaign," writes Jason Del Rey.
  • 'Vogue' Article On Syria's First Lady Vanishes From Web Site
    Perhaps "the worst-timed, and most tin-eared, magazine article in decades" -- a flattering profile of Syria's first lady, Asma al-Assad, that appeared in the March 2011 Vogue just as "Assad’s husband, Bashar al-Assad, began a bloody crackdown on his opponents" -- has now dissappeared from the pub's Web site, according to Paul Farhi. This is "an almost-unheard-of step for a mainstream media organization and a generally acknowledged violation of digital etiquette," he writes. Not surprisingly, no one at Vogue will comment on this move -- although the writer of Assad piece, Joan Juliet …
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