• by John Gaffney , April 30, 2003

Stand Back, Jim. He's Got A TiVo Box: I still want to know why the ad industry is treating TiVo like a ticking bomb. Latest example: Hearst Magazine EVP Michael Clinton told the Magazine Day luncheon throng yesterday that the magazine business has a good story to tell advertisers compared to the problems TV will have with consumers skipping ads with their TiVo devices. That's a good short-term story. A TV salesperson could of course counter that by saying that people flip too fast through magazines these days because so many are built for a quick read. But I don't want to host a debate here. I do think that we're giving TiVo too much credit at this point. People will use TV to record programming and yes, they will skip ads. It doesn't add or take away from the fact that magazines are a special thing for consumers. "Magic" was the word Clinton used, and I'll buy into that. Let's not set magazines against other media. Let's not set it against TiVo. In fact, while we were all talking TiVo at Magazine Day, TiVo named NBC executive Martin Yudkovitz as president. His main goal? "Offer TiVo service through partnerships with satellite and cable companies and other licensing opportunities." In other words, "generate revenue."

The Big Deal: Yesterday we ran a newsbrief about a major undercap cross-promotion between Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up and Warner Bros. Entertainment. A lot of the promotion involves offline promotion, but there is a substantial online component as well. It was barely mentioned the online part in the corporate release. Tomorrow Pepsi's Billionaire promotion breaks and the trades have been filled with Pepsi's commitment to TV around this. But I think we've lost sight of the fact that a huge online commitment has been made by Pepsi for the third year running. In fact Pepsi has used Yahoo as a CRM partner for every major promotion over the past three years. Yet this has been underplayed by mainstream business media. What are big brands doing online? They're integrating the Internet into most every major promotion they run. You just can't read between the lines about it.

At The Buzzer: I can't tell you how many times I talk to magazine people and they refer to the paraphrase that "Internet pundits said the Internet would kill magazines. Well, I guess that didn't happen." Michael Clinton said as much in his speech Tuesday. First of all, I was present at the Internet revolution, and I never heard that. And if you heard it, get over it. The resentment I feel among magazine people toward the Internet is dead wrong and destructive. Make the Internet your biggest ally. It can be.

At The Buzzer In Overtime: Saw the Fox News billboard on the FDR while I was driving into NYC Tuesday, which promises "Fair and Balanced" news coverage. That billboard would be a lot more convincing without the huge eagle's head stamped all over it.