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News and commentary for media professionals - from MediaPost.

Online Media Daily: Meredith Invests In Real Girls Media Network
Positioning itself as the premiere online destination for women ages 25-54, Meredith Corp. has made a minority investment in the Real Girls Media Network. The San Francisco-based Real Girls Network is made up of about 30 female-focused communities and social networks, which will add about 3 million unique visitors to Meredith's existing stream of roughly 12 million unique visitors a month.
MediaDailyNews: Power Off: 'PC' Magazine Folds
Ziff Davis Media said Wednesday that it is closing PC Magazine after the January issue, converting the brand to a digital publication. The closing, which will result in seven layoffs, marks the third print title to close this week, as consumer magazines suffer an accelerating implosion.
MediaDailyNews: Correction: MirriAd Not Involved With 'Deal or No Deal'
The MediaDailyNews Nov. 19 story "Comcast Nets Push Digital Product Placements" incorrectly stated that MirriAd created images for "Deal or No Deal" and "Big Brother." The shows are included on MirriAd's Web site only as an example of what their technology can do.
MediaDailyNews: Fight Club: ESPN Deportes Carries MMA
ESPN has entered the mixed martial arts ring. Its Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, in only 4 million homes, will begin offering MMA programming next spring. Bellator Fighting Championships will produce a two-hour weekly Saturday prime-time show for the net that includes fights and up-close-and-personal pieces about the fighters.
MediaDailyNews: Dalva Named SVP Content, MTVN
Eddie Dalva has been named senior vice president of content, MTV Networks Entertainment Group. In this new post, he will pursue global content opportunities, as well as strategic co-ventures and digital content partnerships. Dalva's primary focus will be Spike TV, but he will also represent TV Land and Comedy Central in select instances.
MediaDailyNews: All Business Is Personal: CBS Moves Media Biz To OMD
CBS Corp. has suddenly moved its $135 million media business, without a review, to Omnicom Group's OMD USA from Interpublic's Initiative. The decision was all about one key executive, Alan Cohen, and his close relationship with CBS.
MediaDailyNews: Nielsen Cancels National Client Meeting, Cites Economy
A little more than a week after canceling a promising new out-of-home television audience measurement service due to concerns about the "current economic environment," Nielsen has canceled plans for its annual client meeting in 2009. The event, which was set to take place March 11-13 in Las Vegas, has grown to be something of a boondoggle in recent years--in which Nielsen wined, dined and entertained clients, and spent more time promoting its vision and new products than discussing serious methodological issues surrounding its measurement of media audiences.
Out to Launch: Out to Launch
Alton Brown digs Welch's. PC can't get no satisfaction. Let's launch!
MediaDailyNews: 'Life' Mags Puts 10 Million Images On Google
Time Inc. said it is putting over 10 million images from Life magazine online using Google. Some 97% of these photos have never been seen by the public.
MediaDailyNews: Optimedia US Promotes 3 Execs
Optimedia US, part of Publicis Groupe, has promoted Frank Friedman to managing director and head of operations for the agency's New York office.
MediaDailyNews: BBDO Loses Pepsi After 48 Years
BBDO, New York has lost the Pepsi brand account after 48 years. TBWAChiatDay will now be the lead communications agency for the soft drink, which includes Diet Pepsi.
MediaDailyNews: Ad Council To Teens: Anti-Gay Language Isn't Cool
The defeat of same-sex marriage makes it harder for the Advertising Council's new effort to educate teenagers about how painful anti-gay language can be. The goal is to teach teenagers tolerance and to help stop the verbal and physical harassment gay and lesbian teens endure at school.
MediaDailyNews: Media X: New, Not Necessarily Improved
The mangled legacy our inept leaders have left us is that every market is going to hell and every category is crumbling, enabled by bureaucrats whose idea of regulation is giving AIG only enough money to party in a luxury resort in Phoenix instead of Hawaii.
MediaDailyNews: Braking: Auto Marketers Drop 10% In Ad Spend
Big Auto is begging for a bailout. So it's no surprise that automotive marketers dropped an overall 10% in their ad spending through the first half of 2008 to $6.1 billion--with only the import brands improving on average overall. The big U.S. automotives have been in major cutback mode--with possibly more to come in the second half of the year. The biggest, General Motors, slipped 6% to $1.2 billion.
Mobile Insider: Not Mobile Customers, But Mobile Audiences
From the time I started this column several years ago, one of my persistent laments of the mobile industry has been that tech companies are not by their nature and culture media companies. It never was in their DNA to think of themselves as content platforms that need to market and merchandise media. They don't think of third-party publishers and advertisers as partners and benefactors with whom they share audience data in order to better target content. And, most of all, they don't really think of their customer base as an audience that constitutes an asset it can use in dealing with all of these third parties.
Magazine Rack: The Atlantic
Want to strut your intellectual mettle? Check out The Atlantic. Get ready to get down with Michelle Rhee, D.C. school chancellor, Bill Maher's atheism and China's image problems. The 151-year-old magazine addresses critical issues and champions, according to editor James Benet, "independent thinking." Which means it's guaranteed to send "Fox and Friends" into apoplexy.
MediaDailyNews: Report: Hayes Settles Age Suit With Universal McCann
Interpublic Group's Universal McCann unit and George Hayes, a former long-term executive of UM and McCann-Erickson, have reached a settlement two-and-a-half years after Hayes was filed an age discrimination suit after being dismissed by the agency, reports Adweek. Terms were not disclosed.
MediaDailyNews: Comcast Nets Push Digital Product Placements
Comcast Networks has made a deal with London-based tech company MirriAd for Comcast's cable networks: E!, Style, Versus, Golf Channel and G4. MirriAd will insert digital product placement images into existing video content as if they were included in the original shows.
MediaDailyNews: Ad Spending Confidence Falls To Recent Low, More Downside Than Upside For Most Major Media
The confidence of U.S. ad executive spending plans has fallen to its worst point in recent history, according to the just-released Fall 2008 edition of a semi-annual tracking study of their perceptions of the strength of the media economy. Expectations for the ad spending over the next six months has declined for all media vs. previous expectations, and with the exception of three high-growth sectors - online, mobile and cable TV - the percentage of ad budgets expected to decrease outweighs those that are expected to increase, according to the findings of the Media Economy Report from Advertiser Perceptions Inc.
TV Board: Convenience To Go
When you think of media innovation, the harnessing of the latest technologies and the reinvention of business processes, you probably don't then think of pizzas (unless that kind of mental exercise makes you hungry).But maybe you should.
TV Watch: Recession's Upside: Better Ratings From Unhappier Viewers
TV executives should love unhappy TV viewers. In a weakening economy, with advertising dollars slipping away, more TV viewers with sad faces could be the silver lining.
MediaDailyNews: Havas Taps Outsider To Run MPG, Rutman Moves To Advisory Role
In a surprise move, Havas Tuesday named an executive with no operational media experience as the next CEO for its MPG North America unit. Shaun Holliday, a private equity executive with management experience at some big consumer products marketing companies, was named to succeed Charlie Rutman, who will remain a consultant to MPG as part of a "second phase" of his contract with the Havas unit.
Around the Net In Media: Radio Ad Group Seeks Support For GM Bailout
Around the Net In Media: MPG Taps Outsider Holliday As CEO
Around the Net In Media: Time Inc. Mag 'Cottage Living' Shuttered
Around the Net In Media: Former News Exec Sues Univision For Advertiser Bias
Around the Net In Media: FCC Member Seeks Probe of Arbitron's Radio-Ratings
Around the Net In Media: Universal McCann Settles Age Bias Suit
MediaDailyNews: Yahoo: It's Now Or Never
Yahoo needs a visionary, proactive CEO who can re-channel its energy and resources, make innovation the gold standard and constructively respond to challenges with an epic sense of digital possibilities. Does this white knight exist?
Research Brief: Retailers Make Online Shopping More Attractive For Christmas
According to results of the 2008 eHoliday Study from Shop.org, 56.1% of online retailers expect their holiday sales to increase at least fifteen percent over last year, compared to 77.5% of retailers surveyed last year who expected their sales to grow more than 15 percent. Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org, says "...Retailers will be heavily promotional to attract shoppers on a budget, but have also invested in new site features to improve the online buying experience."
MediaDailyNews: Condemned: Time Inc. Shutters 'Cottage Living'
Time Inc. announced late Tuesday that it is closing Cottage Living after the November-December issue, currently on newsstands. The magazine's Web site is also shutting down. The magazine's demise, following close on the heels of several other big magazines, suggests that the shakeout in the magazine industry is only beginning.
MediaDailyNews: Comics: Added Revs On Newspaper Sites
To bolster newspaper Web site revenues, Hearst-owned King Features is turning to the comics. It has unveiled Comics Kingdom, a digital platform that newspapers can embed on their sites.
MediaDailyNews: Auto Channel Steers Web Series To Sports Nets
The Auto Channel, which runs a 13-year-old car information Internet site, is bringing a Web series it produces to a group of regional sports networks. The 30-minute shows, which feature executives and others from major automakers, will air on the Comcast SportsNet channels in multiple markets.
MediaDailyNews: Channel M, Outcast Hire Execs
Two big out-of-home digital video networks hired new executives to ramp up their sales operations. Hires at Channel M and Outcast, and plans for expansion at other digital out-of-home networks, indicate widespread confidence in the future of the medium, even in the face of an economic meltdown.
MediaDailyNews: 'TV Guide,' 'D' Cut Workforce
TV Guide, now owned by OpenGate Capital Partners, is laying off 3% or up to 33 people on the mag's staff.
MediaDailyNews: Game Boy: 'Nat Geo' Goes Video
The National Geographic Society, which distributed its first magazine in 1888, is entering the video games business, seeking to further expand its for-profit operations. National Geographic Games is launching with three products this month.
MediaDailyNews: Touchdown: ESPN To Air BCS, Outbids Fox
Walt Disney will again air the college football Bowl Championship Series starting in 2011, outbidding current owner Fox Sports in a deal valued at $500 million for four years. But unlike the last time Disney owned the BCS, virtually all games will air on ESPN--not ABC--making it the first major sports championship to be aired on a cable network.
MediaDailyNews: Media In Recession: Broadcast Stumbles, Cable Capitalizes On Interactive Platforms
Now that the predicted recession is a reality, it seems clear that an array of traditional media, magazines, newspapers and radio are poised to take huge hits in ad revenue and profitability. Based on past recessions, it seems likely that broadcast will also suffer major losses. But cable TV could benefit or bust during the downturn, depending on cable companies' strategy for large-scale interactive advertising.
MediaDailyNews: Correction: MRI Numbers Cover 2-Year Period
The MediaDailyNews Mag Bag column that ran on Friday, Nov. 14 incorrectly identified MRI audience figures for a number of magazines as coming from the full-year 2008. In fact, the "double-base" audience figures actually cover two years, from March 2006-April 2008.
MediaDailyNews: Macy's Uses Flip Books To Promote Parade
To promote its famous parade, Macy's is giving away live-action video flip books at select locations nationwide during in-store holiday events.
Video Insider: Online Video: Redefining How Businesses Connect With Their Customers
Why should corporate America take notice of a small household appliance maker? Because that company is a prime example of a small but growing group of businesses that have cracked the code on the video-centric Web.
Media Creativity: Come For The Wi-Fi, Stay For The Coffee And Carrot Cake
The Coffee Company, an aptly named business located in Amsterdam, was looking for a way to persuade college students to spend more time in its stores. So the company offered free Wi-Fi in shops situated closely to universities.
Gaming Insider: Reality Check
This past week an article from ClickZ got some love for its extreme take on the state of the industry. Which was of course that consoles are going to die to the masses of newer, younger casual games. Of course, the author of the ClickZ article didn't actually qualify any of his opinions with numbers. I mean, it's obvious that casual games are going to eat consoles alive, right?
Digital Outsider: DO Gets That Uh-Oh Feeling
Digital out-of-home is still, by common agreement, one of the most promising new media, enviably poised for long-term growth. But that doesn't mean things are going to be pretty in the near term; in fact, given the unprecedented and unpredictable economic situation, how could they be? The current financial crisis has already laid low one big DO network, halted the roll-out plans of a second, and claimed a promising DO research initiative to boot.
Media Technology Futures: How Deep In The Sand Can You Shove Your Head?
Obviously, pretty deep. I am referring to an article that appeared in today's New York Times, "Is Wal-Mart Too Cheap For Its Own Good?" While the article may be all about how Wal-Mart is having a tough time breaking out of the low-cost, low-end market, the bigger-picture message is this: not only is the report likely right on the money from a brand equity point of view, it was leaked to the mainstream press via an online property, wakeupwalmart.com.
Real Media Riffs: Real Media Riffs - Tuesday, May 15, 2007
COMPOUND FACTIONS -- NielsenConnect, the new compound brand name launched late last year by the Nielsen Co., and headed by former Madison Avenue "iconoclast" Jon Mandel, has "heard from clients, agencies and media sellers about being stodgy and slow to respond to changes in the marketplace," Nielsen-owned trade magazine Mediaweek reported this week.