Beyond branded blogs -- "popular for close to a decade" -- comes "the emergence of branded magazines... in the form of online publications created and produced by brands and their agencies to directly compete with traditional magazines," writes Tessa Wegert.  For example, Degree deodorant's "The Adrenalist" "has produced content and videos on the 'coolest adventures, extreme sports, speed, gear, and gadgets.'"

"Total TV ad revenue for the National Collegiate Athletic Association's men's basketball tournament surpassed $1 billion for the first time in 2012 -- making it larger than any professional post-season sports championship," according to a Kantar Media report cited by Bruce Horovitz. And look for that number to get even bigger for this year's games.

Google seems to be preparing a new Android newspaper store, Google Play News, that will be similar to  Apple's Newsstand, according to The Next Web. "It makes sense for Google to enter the newspaper business with Android."

"The news industry continues to lose out on the bulk of new digital advertising," including mobile and local ads -- just one of the less-than-happy trends detailed in a just-released Pew Research Center report on The State Of the News Media. But it's not all doom-and-gloom, however. "Digital subscriptions and print + digital bundles have been the industry’s biggest success story of the last several years," writes Rick Edmonds.

Bobby Ghosh was named the editor of Time International, in charge of  all international editions, the company just announced. Ghoush previously held such titles as Baghdad Bureau Chief and senior editor on TIME Asia. He's replacing Jim Frederick, set to become a contributing editor of the magazine.

Could the Los Angeles Times become a nonprofit? That could happen if a rumored bid for the paper goes through -- that of billionaire Eli Broad and financier and former L.A. deputy mayor Austin Beutner, writes Paul Bond. "The pair are primarily interested in the Times, though they would consider purchasing the block of Tribune Co. newspapers -- including the Chicago Tribune, TheBaltimore Sun, and the Hartford Courant -- and then sell off the excess titles, sources say. "

The McClatchy Co., which owns the Sacramento Bee and other newspapers, will buy media analytics firm Tru Measure by the end of the month.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The publisher had already been using Tru Measure products as a major part of its ImpressLocal initiative, which "supplies digital marketing tools to small- and medium-sized advertisers," writes Kelly Johnson.

Comcast's U.S. ad expenditures last year -- $1.7 billion -- were second only to P&G's, according to a Kantar Media study. The company made the leap to number two from the number 5 position in 2011; five years ago, way before its purchase of NBCUniversal, Comcast was the 50th largest advertiser. Its "elevated ranking is the result of its presence in two ad-intensive businesses: telecom and films," writes Bob Fernandez.  

The 47-year-old weekly paper Boston Phoenix will cease publication after its current March 15 issue. Six months ago the paper "had reinvented itself as a glossy magazine" -- a move that failed to capture needed national advertisers, according to Joseph P. Kahn.

"The spinoff of Time Inc. to create the world’s largest publicly traded magazine publisher may be just the beginning of deals for the owner of People and Sports Illustrated," writes two Bloomberg reporters who get analysts to spin what seems a somewhat rosy picture, "estimating an enterprise value of about $3.9 billion." That figure would make the new company "bigger than any other publicly held company focused on magazine publishing...according to data compiled by Bloomberg." Which means it could be a target for acquisition by a larger company, or could conceivably buy other companies, like, say, Meredith, the company that …