• by December 18, 2003

MEDIA BEAN COUNTERS GROW OPTIMISTIC, HAVE BIG AD SPENDING PLANS - Corporate America is growing more optimistic about the economy and that's translating into plans for higher capital expenditures, especially for advertising and marketing. While this is obviously good news for the media business, the industry itself is among the most optimistic, according to a new survey of America's chief financial officers. Every one of the communications and media industry's financial executives said they are more optimistic about the U.S. economy than they were in the third quarter of 2003, according to a quarterly poll conducted by Financial Executives International. Asked to rate their optimism on a scale of 0-100 (with 100 being most optimistic), the media industry finance guys averaged a 74.0, trailing only the service consulting industry (74.79). The media industry also plans to practice what it preaches. The sector plans to increase its advertising and marketing spending 5.7 percent during the next 12 months, second only to the technology/software/biotechnology industry in ad spending growth (+10.6 percent). The only industry to indicate negative ad spending plans was transportation/energy (-2.3 percent). The average of all industries - 4.0 percent - by the way, is extremely close to what the forecasters at Zenith Optimedia have been predicting for 2004.

Financial Exec Ad Spending Plans For Next 12 Months (By Industry)

Retail/Wholesale         +5.5% 
Mining/Construction
+4.3% 
Manufacturing            +5.6% 
Transportation/Energy    -2.3% 
Communications/Media     +5.7% 
Tech/Software/Biotech   +10.6% 
Banking/Finance/Insure   +2.7%

Service/Consulting       +2.1% 
Other                    +1.8% 
Total                    +4.0% 

Source: Year-End 2003 CFO Survey, Financial Executives International.

IMPULSIVENESS, THY NAME IS TED - Ted Turner may be a millionaire and one of the great entrepreneurs of our time, but he may not be the best at selling stock. The New York Daily News reported yesterday that Turner sold $60 million shares of Time Warner stock at $13 a share in May. Now, it's no secret that Turner was upset at the way things were going at the company. But if had waited - to, say, now - he would have earned an extra $272 million, since the stock has increased to about $17.54 since then.

PARIS FOR PRESIDENT? - The Washington Post reports that, somewhat gleefully, that "The Simple Life" with socialite Paris Hilton, outdrew President Bush's primetime interview with Diane Sawyer by more than a million viewers. The Post said that Hilton had not only a lock on the 18- to 34-year-old viewers, she also was more popular than Bush's interview by both men and women 25-54.