From the not-so-surprising department: The new Oprah Winfrey Network has landed its first major charter advertiser – Procter & Gamble. P&G has been heavy TV sponsor of “The Oprah Winfrey Show� in daytime syndication show. It is a big advertiser for many other daytime TV shows, especially those that target women 25-54. Reports suggests the multi-year deal is worth around $100 million. The Wall Street Journal first reported the story.

Imagine never leaving home without your friends…ever again.  Representatives from each stage in your life are there on every street corner, the seat next to you on the plane, in front of you on the checkout line and attending birthday parties from now until your last one.   Now, imagine that same friendly mob, hanging on your every move around the world-wide web.  Whether renting a movie, buying shoes, or getting directions, your friends are there, dropping knowledge at every turn. This is the new web in which everything you ever “liked;â€� your interests, favorite music, and restaurants compose a …

Rejecting the perceived omnipotence of crowds -- and their preferred platforms like Google and Wikipedia -- Oxford University Press has launched a collection of professionally-produced, peer-reviewed bibliographies in different subject areas. Ars Technica calls the new Oxford Bibliographies Online service “the Anti-Google,â€� and “sort of a giant, interactive syllabus put together by OUP and teams of scholars in different disciplines.â€� Users can explore specific bibliographic entries, which contain descriptive text and a list of references that link to either Google Books -- or to subscribing libraries’ own catalog entries -- by either browsing or searching. Along with concerns over …

Pontiflex, an agency that helps marketers generate email lists to use as sales leads, said the average cost for an email address it generates is 78 cents. Marketers pay it per lead generated. Pontiflex uses “cost-per-lead (CPL)â€� online ads to prompt people to sign up to receive brand communications, and advertisers then send an email looking to build a relationship. Pontiflex also said the average cost for an address or lead it generates for what it terms “premium fieldsâ€� is $2.46. Those leads are considered more valuable because they can include a person’s telephone number, Twitter handle or …

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, Skype had 560 million registered users, according to the company’s chief technology strategist, Jonathan Rosenberg -- and as reported by GigaOm. Skype added 39 million registered users in the fourth quarter, while the number of Skype-to-Skype call minutes totaled 36.1 billion in the final three months of the year. What’s more, Skype users made more the 250 billion minutes worth of Skype-to-Skype calls from the time the service was launched through the end of 2009. Furthermore, 36% of Skype-to-Skype calls as of the end of the fourth quarter included video, …

Eyeing ecommerce growth, Visa has agreed to buy online payment processing company CyberSource Corp. for about $2 billion. “Visa said the deal would increase the amount of online payments it processes and the resulting business for its client banks, which issue Visa credit and debit cards,â€� Reuters reports. PayPal parent eBay, meanwhile, had been better take notice. “We’re paying attention to PayPal, as well as other companies that are getting into the e-commerce space, and we are obviously concerned that that would have an effect on our market share ... This is somewhat in reaction to it,â€� Visa chairman …

The Internet of things has been discussed among the technology community for more than 10 years. IPv6, is the next generation of the Internet Protocol version designated as the successor to IPv4. Given the quantity of device that identify themselves on the Internet, I had an opportunity to speak with Scott Brinker, president and chief technology officer at ion interactive, about IPv6 and how the Internet of things will tie back into personalization of devices and marketing and advertising campaigns. Brinker points to Blippy, the social network that ties purchases to your credit card service, and transmits …

The last panel at MediaPost’s Email Insider Summit ended where it should have: a look towards the future. Evan Adlman, a vice president at Pontiflex, suggested email marketers will face a challenge in delivering messages to the many inboxes people will have on the growing types of devices. “Five years from now, it will be all about using different devices and getting to those people at different times,â€� he said. A multi-channel strategy is going to be “critical,â€� AdKnowledge’s Mike Fitzgerald added. Marketers will not only have to stay on top of the hardware, but behavior such as …

Last month, the New York Times chracterized NBC's promotion of its Tuesday line-up as "dim-witted." During the Olympics, the Times said NBC sought to "bundle the bathetic reality series 'The Biggest Loser' with a new scripted show, 'Parenthood.'� But the heavy advertising may have helped the new drama, which was developed for NBC under the now-departed Ben Silverman . On Tuesday, “Parenthood's� ratings hit a seven-week high with a 2.9 in the 18-to-49 demo and 7.2 million viewers. Those were up 15% and 16%, respectively, compared to last week. NBC has renewed the show for next season.

No doubt possible consumers would rather hear from past ones than corporate marketers. For three years, Disney has enlisted a series of moms to participate in a forum to answer online questions about Disney World, offering advice on best places to stay, dining options, and don’t-miss attractions. Those participating in the Moms Panel get a free trip with their families and then become brand ambassadors. No pay -- so why do they keep doing it? Sharyn Lewis, a CRM executive at Disney Parks, said simply the moms enjoy it. Moms apply to join and the program started with …