Worldwide ad spending will expand 4.7% to a total of $427 billion, according to estimates released this morning by Interpublic's Magna Global unit at the annual UBS media conference in New York. That estimate is down slightly (-0.5%) from the +5.2% forecast Interpublic published in June 2011, "due to the softening of some markets in the second half of the year."

Web hosting and domain registration service GoDaddy, which is known for tussling with networks over its racey Super Bowl ads, said NBC's Standards & Practices department has "surprisingly" approved two new spots it will air in its coverage of the Big Game, which will mark its eighth consecutive Super Bowl.

Citing two waves of consumer research. super rich media developer SAY Media says about a third of online users no longer watch "live" TV programming, and unveiled a new system for targeting them.

Facebook on Friday said it will open an engineering office in New York City early next year, its first outside the West Coast. The engineering group will be located within the company’s existing Madison Avenue office in New York, where it employs about 100 mostly sales staff. “New York has a strong history of innovation and is home to thousands of talented technical people, and we want them to help us solve the challenges of designing and building the next generation of Facebook,” said Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s VP and president of engineering at Facebook, in a statement. To that end, …

Disney-ABC Television Group is reconfiguring all its daytime network and syndicated programming under one roof. In the wake of all of this, longtime Disney-ABC Television executive Brian Frons,  president of daytime, is departing. Disney-ABC veteran executive Vicki Dummer will head up a new division as executive of current series and specials of Times Square Studios. Dummer had been senior vp of current series and specials for ABC Entertainment Group. She will will continue to report to Paul Lee, president, ABC Entertainment Group. The current Disney-ABC programming under Times Square includes “The View,” “General Hospital,” and “The Chew" on ABC network …

Yahoo today launched a new site called Yahoo Voices to house the freelance-produced content the Web portal acquired through its purchase of Associated Content last year for $100 million. The collection of more than 2 million articles and other pieces of original content had been maintained until now at www.associatedcontent.com. That site is being replaced by Yahoo Voices. In connection with the move, Yahoo said it is releasing revised submissions guidelines that emphasize the importance of first-person stories from a range of experts, enthusiasts and “citizen journalists.” It’s also dumping 75,000 pieces of outdated content and issuing its own …

David Letterman has been inching closer to Jay Leno for the better part of a year among key 18-49 viewers. Now in the key November sweep period CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" has topped NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" -- 1.19 million (0.9 rating/4 share) to 1.08 million 18-49 viewers (0.8 rating/3 share). CBS says this is the first time it had happened since 1994. Still Leno is ahead in terms of overall viewers 3.65 million to 3.49 million. Letterman and Leno tied among young audiences 18-34, each with a 0.5/2 for the November sweep period which …

The fall in the unemployment rate may reflect out-of-work individuals giving up on finding jobs.

Fox doesn't look to slow down come mid-season -- returning "American Idol" for its 11th season and three new dramas. Fox won the fall rating race among 18-49 viewers and improved in many other categories. "Idol", while down in ratings versus recent years, looks to get a big jump coming after the NFC Championship Game on January 22nd - this following a special two-night premiere on Wednesday and Thursday of the week before. "Touch", with Fox favorite Kiefer Sutherland and "Heroes" producer Tim Kring, will start up Wednesday January 25. J.J. Abrams' "Alcatraz" will begin on Monday, Jan. 16. "House" …

Americans are increasingly going online just for fun and to pass the time, particularly young adults under 30, according to results of the latest poll by Pew Internet.