The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and a coalition of other marketing and media groups have urged the U.S. Senate to oppose a provision that would prohibit colleges and universities receiving federal education funding from spending those funds on any marketing or advertising. That provision is contained in the FY2013 Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill that was recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was sent by The Advertising Coalition (TAC).

Fandango has secured a deal with MSN to become the exclusive online and mobile ticketing service for MSN Movies. The company, which sells tickets to almost 20,000 screens nationwide, has struck similar partnership in recent months with other key Web properties including Yahoo and AOL Moviefone. Fandango recently also expanded the number of theaters where people can buy tickets through its app and scan a barcode at the ticket widow to eliminate the need to wait on line or print out tickets. Fandango said 23% of all ticket sales are now driven by mobile transactions, including those where mobile users …

Boingo was tapped by New York City in May to roll out Wi-Fi service across the subway system over the next five years. Today, the company announced it’s partnering with Google Offers to sponsor free Wi-Fi at more than 200 hotspots in Manhattan, including six subway stations through Sept. 7. When someone accesses one of the Boingo hotspots on their smartphone or other device, they’ll see a branded welcome page that lets them subscribe to Google Offers to get nearby deals. Among the stations with free Wi-Fi are the A/C/E station at 8th Avenue and 14th Street, the L …

YouTube pushed ahead of MSN/Windows Live in May to become the fourth-ranked Web property, with 127.5 million unique monthly visitors, according to the latest Nielsen data. That gives Google, which again had the largest online audience last month, at 173 million, two of the four top sites. Sandwiched in between were Facebook (152 million) and Yahoo (143 million). While Facebook’s traffic held about steady from April, time spent on the site slipped slightly from seven hours, nine minutes to 6:53 in May. Among the top 10 sites, Yahoo was next closest in time spent, at 2:31. For its May …

With 4G service available across most of the country, at least through Verizon so far, Nielsen conducted a survey looking at adoption rates and attitudes toward 4G among U.S. mobile users. For starters, it found 4G penetration has quadrupled since last year--reaching 7.6% in the first quarter of 2012 from 1.4% a year ago. Younger consumers are the most likely to have already gotten 4G phones, and 63% of teens are likely to consider switching in the next year. Among other highlights of the research: -While both awareness and adoption of 4G have increased, understanding of 4G …

A slow moving summer TV news cycle, coupled by some legal proceeding that didn't go CBS way, have given us some faux press release fodder. After losing its lawsuit to stop ABC from launching "Glass House" -- a very similar summer reality show to CBS' "Big Brother" --CBS sent out fake release for show that would seemingly "copy" a big ABC reality effort:  "Dancing ON The Stars". This show will feature -- what else? --  "moderately famous and sort of well-known people you almost recognize competing for big prizes by dancing on the graves of some of Hollywood’s most iconic …

Proving once again there’s an app for everything, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association has released its own free app for the iPhone and Android devices. Developed by social media agency Banyan Branch, the WOMMA app includes a weekly newsletter with the latest social media news, a monthly research digest and the All Things WOM blog. “Our free mobile app is making the rich content that our organization develops and the unique insights that our members share on our blogs easily accessible in a mobile-friendly, digestible format,” said WOMMA President Suzanne Fanning, in a release. WOMMA’s membership spans more than …

If it seems like just about every brand is on Facebook, that’s not far from the truth. According to a new study by InSites Consulting, 80% of U.S. companies are on the social networking site. Almost half (48%) are on LinkedIn, 45% have a Twitter account, and 31% use YouTube. When it comes to managing their social media presence, 61% of companies monitor what people are saying about them and more than half (54%) actively participate in online conversations with consumers. At the same time, however, only 11% of companies are integrating their social media approach into their …

Social media marketing firm Unified has named Calvin Lui as president and chief strategy officer, overseeing companywide strategy, business and corporate development. Before taking the new post, Lui was president and CEO of ad technology firm Tumri, whose ad optimization platform was used by clients including HP, Nike, Dell and Publicis. Previously, he served as COO of performance marketing company Connexus, and as SVP of sales and marketing at Ticketmaster. “Calvin’s appointment is a great win for us, and a testament to Unified’s commitment to building a world class team,” said company CEO and co-founder Sheldon, in a statement. Unified …

Mobile ad network TodaCell has raised another $2 million in funding from AfterDox, group of investors from telephony billing solutions provider Amdocs, as well as private investors. The company also announced hiring Mark Lehmann as CEO. Before joining TodaCell, Lehmann was VP, Web and mobile marketing at Universal Music Group/Island Def Jam, and previously led Web marketing at mobile content provider Flycell. New York-based TodaCell says its proprietary optimization technology helps advertisers and agencies improve mobile ad performance by analyzing publisher inventory and the click patterns of prior ad campaigns. That data is combined with targeting attributes such as mobile …