Publicis' ZenithOptimedia unit has restructured some key operations, naming Dave Penski CEO of Zenith U.S. and Rob Jayson Chief Data Officer of Zenith Optimedia Worldwide.

J.T. Batson, chief strategy officer of MediaOcean, in speaking at OMMA Data & Targeting, used to hear about too much data can make things stuff for marketers and agencies. But perhaps no more. MediaOcean is new media billing office software group of Donovan Data Systems and Media Bank, which racks up a volume of $130 billion media buys, of which $24 billion comes at digital spending. Many years ago many executives he says used to hear from likes of Xerox who warned: "We are in danger of drowning in data." Batson says what is needed is to create new unique …

"The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart and "The Colbert Report's" Stephen Colbert have extend their contracts with Comedy Central through 2014.

Earlier this year, eBay launched its Watch with eBay iPad app, which syncs with cable TV programming to show viewers products on eBay related to what they’re watching. In connection with the London Games, the company’s app will sync to Olympic coverage to display merchandise specific to the sports that’s on, from shoes worn by a particular track star to a poster of the U.S. swimming team. Watch with eBay users enter their zip code, cable provider, channel and program they’re watching to get set up. Based on show and event-related keywords, the app then surfaces items from eBay’s …

GroupM innovation unit GroupM Next just announced a licensing agreement with visual social media marketing startup Curalate to provide clients of GroupM media agencies (Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare) with engagement analytics on the social platform Pinterest.

What is premium advertising? At the OMMA Premium Display conference in Los Angeles Calif., several industry experts discuss their view on premium advertising. Arthur Chan, SVP Digital Marketing at Palisades MediaGroup, said premium is any sort of ad that elevates the brand name. Adam Kasper, EVP at Havas Digital, defines premium as the real estate, on a highly sought after the page by the consumer and advertisers. Not decided upon by an algorithm. Patricia Galea, Senior VP Digital, Edelman, defines premium ads as qualitative, a deeply engaging experience.

Lest anyone think they're just tossing this stuff off...

Former Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele has joined Skype to lead the Microsoft unit’s marketing efforts. Steele, who left Yahoo in December and served under ex-CEO Carol Bartz there, will oversee Skype’s global brand and marketing, as well as local go-to-market activities. As a corporate VP at Microsoft, she will report to the company’s president Tony Bates and work out of Skype’s Palo Alto office. Microsoft acquired Skype in May 2011 for $8.5 billion and is still integrating the Internet voice and video chat service into its range of products from the forthcoming Windows 8 platform to the Xbox game …

The new Muppets-themed Bandaids are way, way better than the Bandaids I had a kid.

"What are twentysomethings doing online?" asked Eric Weisberg, executive creative director for JWT. "They're watching videos of people setting horse's farts on fire and juggling babies." That's the rationale behind JWT's work for Listerine, which Weisberg said started with the Internet as the "first screen" and proceeded from there, with a series of online videos showing people eating disgusting stuff and then using Listerine breath strips -- which was further promoted with CollegeHumor.com and then snowballed when Jimmy Kimmel picked it up for a skit.  "It's all working together," according to Weisberg, who said he counts CollegeHumor.com and Kimmel as part …