FACEBOOK IS
SO LAST YEAR December 24, 2007 (The Guardian) Welcome to the hit websites of 2008. Virtual pets, video diaries,
and travellers' logs could be the next stars of cyberspace.Read
Story
MOBILE ADS:
NOT SO FAST December
16, 2007 (BusinessWeek) Mobile advertising revenues aren't growing as fast as expected,
and that could spell trouble for a bunch of venture-funded startups.
Realistically, no matter how often you see people checking e-mail
on a BlackBerry or surfing the Web on an iPhone, the vast majority
of consumers are just beginning to use their phones for functions,
other than calling, that are conducive to ads. Today, only some 16%
of U.S. wireless users access the Web on those devices at least once
a month. Read Story
THE NEXT VIDEO
INNOVATION:
AD ASSEMBLY AUTOMATION December 11,
2007 (Media Post, Online Video) The
drive to video advertisement online is the result of video demand in
general by consumers — and broadband penetration,
which has given almost everyone the ability to view video. And more
innovation is coming now that ad-serving has reached a standard of
expected performance that also offers metrics for quantifying campaign
results. What are these new innovations? Read
Story
CAMPAIGN ADS:
WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR? November
27, 2007 (Chronicle of Higher Education)The
presidential candidates are expected to spend tens of millions of dollars
on television commercials during the next year. Other than financing
new decks for their media consultants’ summer homes, will those
ads actually have any effect on the election? Read Story
SWEEPING THE
CLOUDS AWAY November 20, 2007 (NY Times) At
a recent all-ages home screening, a hush fell over the room. “What
did they do to us?” asked one Gen-X mother of two, finally. The show
rolled, and the sweet trauma came flooding back. What they did to us was
hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone
at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal
basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track
to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t
exist. Read Story
BEYOND THE WIRE November 15, 2007 (Edutopia) To
the world outside of inner city schools, teachers are often ambassadors,
and so they frequently talk only about their students' struggles and
the bureaucracies that entangle schools among themselves. "I'm not going
to tell stories about a lot of the tragedies or violence or mismanagement," says
former West Baltimore teacher Carla Finklestein, "because I don't want
to be responsible for furthering anybody's stereotypes." Read Story
TEEN FILM REVOLUTION November
14,
2007 (Movie Maker)Moviemaking is finding its way
into high schools. While it hasn’t replaced the school play just
yet, some programs are putting up a good fight. More than 2,500 high
schools have posted films on Varsity Television’s Website…” Read
Story
WHAT YOUTUBE DOESN'T SHOW October 31, 2007 (Christian Science Monitor) If
a picture is worth a thousand words, how many are conveyed by a video
tape? Whatever the number, it is not always enough to understand
the situation. That will not stop many people from rushing to judgment
based on what they think they know. Their views are formed more by
the media stampede and their own biases than by what really happened.
And that says a lot about how people react and how information is
used today. Read Story
COMCAST BLOCKS SOME INTERNET TRAFFIC October
19, 2007 (Yahoo News) Comcast
Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet
subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition
of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The
interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide
tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S.
Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading
as those of its users.Read Story
PLAYBOY TV TARGETS "YOUTUBE" GENERATION WITH SHORT PROGRAMMING October
16, 2007 (Multichannel News) Playboy
TV is devoting its daily three-hour, primetime programming to the short-form
programming desires of the male, “YouTube” generation. The
adult-themed, pay TV network recently launched Playboy Prime,
an innovative daily 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. block of programming designed to
appeal to the short-form preferences of the network’s key 18-34
year old male viewer demographic, according to network executives.Read
Story
NEW RESEARCH SHOWS SENSATIONALISM IS BAD FOR RATINGS October 14, 2007
(Boston Globe) The past two decades
have seen a marked shift in local television news across the country,
away from in-depth coverage and toward speed and spectacle. Broadcast
news, envisioned in the early years of television as a means of enriching
civic life, has - according to politicians, media watchdog groups, and
many TV journalists themselves - degenerated into lowest-common-denominator
entertainment. The sensationalism of late-1990s the study suggests, does bring
good ratings. But well-done, substantive TV news proves just as popular
- and often earns even better ratings.Read
Story
MTV AND PEPSI CO-BRAND ON REALITY MICRO-SERIES PROGRAMMING October 10, 2007 (Broadcasting & Cable) MTV is working with soda company Pepsi on a reality “micro-series” (1-2
minute podcasts) as a companion to hit reality show The Hills.
The cable network said it is engaged in a commercial strategy to “experiment
and create new commercial experiences for viewers. The strategy effectively
blurs the line between commercial and entertainment programming. Read
Story
WITH VIDEO, MUSIC PIRACY ON THE RISE, NBC CHIEF CALLS FOR TOUGHER PENALTIES October 3, 2007 (Washington Post) When
Jeff Zucker took over media giant NBC
Universal from longtime chief executive Bob Wright in February, he
inherited more than the task of lifting the slumping network out of the
ratings basement. Zucker also took on Wright's self-appointed role as
the industry's torchbearer on fighting piracy. So
far, he has had more luck with ratings than robbers.Read
Story
STUDY EXPOSES FCC LEAKS October 3, 2007 (Variety)Information
about pending Federal
Communications Commission regulatory decisions often gets into the
hands of lobbyists and corporate insiders before it is released to the
general public, a new federal study has found. "Some stakeholders had
access to nonpublic information that could give them an advantage in
the rulemaking process." FCC rules prohibit such leaks. Read Story
DO INTERNET ADS LACK CREDIBILITY? October 2, 2007 (BrandWeek) A
new global study of consumers found that the most popular forms of Internet
advertising score at the bottom when it comes to consumer trust. It
also found that the older forms of ad messages—appearing in newspapers,
magazines and on TV—far outscored the most popular forms of Web
ads, search links and banner placements.Read
Story
DOVE CAMPAIGN GOING SOFT September
24, 2007 (AdAge) As Dove's
widely lauded Campaign for Real Beauty enters its fourth year, the results
aren't looking so pretty anymore. After two years of double-digit sales
growth and share gains, Dove's sales have abruptly slowed. That raises
the question of whether the campaign, hailed as one of the most courageous
creative breakthroughs in recent years, went a step too far in embracing
aging in all its naked, wrinkled and sagging glory. Read
Story
MYSPACE MOBILE VERSION SET TO LAUNCH September
24, 2007 (The Hollywood Reporter) The social networking Web site MySpace is launching a free, advertising-supported
cell phone version Monday as part of a wider bid by parent News Corp.
to attract advertising for mobile Web sites. The
company said it also plans to offer a mobile version of its Photobucket
picture sharing site in coming months. Read Story
OBAMA CALLS FOR TIGHTER FCC REGULATION September 20, 2007 (Broadcasting & Cable) In a statement delivered by a staffer, Democratic presidential
candidate and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama laid into the Federal Communications
Commission for its dereguatory policies under Chairman Michael Powell,
saying that it promoted "the concept of consolidation over diversity," and
he heartily endorsed tightening FCC regulations on broadcasters.Read
Story
MOBILE ADVERTISING PREPARES FOR TAKEOFF September 11, 2007 (InfoWorld) The company spending
on mobile search and display advertising will skyrocket in the coming
years in the U.S., finally making cell phones a viable vehicle for this
type of online marketing. This means that major players in online advertising,
such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, as well as the major mobile carriers,
will battle it out in a market that is uncharted territory. Read
Story
A STUDY IN 'BUZZ': CBS' 'KID NATION' September 10, 2007 (BrandWeek) If
there’s no such thing as bad press, then the child-labor scuttlebutt
surrounding CBS’ Kid Nation couldn’t have come at
a better time for the network. With advertisers already skittish about
the show, premiering Sept. 19, the only chance CBS may have to change
buyers’ minds is to draw
eyeballs. Causing a stir almost always seems to pique viewers’ interest. Read
Story
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OPPOSES NETWORK NEUTRALITY IN FCC FILING September 6, 2007 (TVWeek) The Bush Administration’s
Justice Department is going on record opposing network neutrality requirements
on Internet providers. Justice on Thursday warned the Federal Communications
Commission against listening to consumers, consumer groups and companies
including Google, which are urging the agency to act to ensure consumer
choice. Read Story
DIGITAL DETECTIVES DISCERN PHOTOSHOP FAKERY August 29, 2007 (Christian Science Monitor) The magazine
photo-spread showed French President Nicolas Sarkozy in swim trunks,
canoeing across Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H. But something was missing. With
a slight digital nip-tuck, the magazine trimmed the flab that peeked
above the presidential waistline. Read Story
YOUR AD HERE,
ON MY SUV AND YOU'LL PAY? August 27, 2007 (NY Times) Some companies pay millions
to have their logos on Dale
Earnhardt Jr.’s racecar, but others prefer to pay Brian Katz
$500 or more a month for space on his Ford Expedition. Mr. Katz, 32, of
Manhattan, is one of the tens of thousands of motorists who have signed
up to have their cars and trucks wrapped in advertisements in exchange
for a stipend up to $800 a month. Read Story
A SUMMER
OF DISCONTENT WITH WASHINGTON August 21, 2007 (Pew Research) As official Washington
winds down for its summer holiday, all three branches of government
are coming under fire from the American public. Just 29% approve of
the way President Bush is handling his job, and only slightly more,
33%, approve of the job performance of the Democratic leaders of Congress. Read
Story
MTV REALNETWORKS JOIN
TO BATTLE iTUNES August 21, 2007 (WSJ) In
a bid to create a stronger competitor to Apple Inc.'s
market-dominating iTunes Store, Viacom Inc.'s
MTV Networks announced Tuesday that it is merging its online digital-music
offerings into a joint venture with RealNetworks Inc.,
the company behind the Rhapsody subscription digital-music service.Read
Story
GAMING SURPASSES VIDEO, SOCIAL NETS IN ONLINE POPULARITY August 17, 2007 (Media Post) Over
a third of U.S. adult Internet users play online games weekly, according
to Parks Associates, with games trumping social networking and online
video as the most popular Web-based entertainment activity. Online
video came in as the second most popular activity, with some 29% of users
watching short clips weekly, while social networking rounded out the
top three at 19%. Read Story
WEB SURFERS
SPEND MORE TIME WITH CONTENT August 14, 2007 (AdAge) Visiting
content sites has become the predominant task among web surfers, according
to a new four-year analysis of internet activity. internet users are
spending nearly half their time online visiting content, a 37% increase
in share of time from four years ago.Read
Story
DIGITAL SPAWNS SHORTER ATTENTION SPANS August 7, 2007 (Media Daily News) toward digital media options for news, information and entertainment is producing an unintended consequence for all of the industry's stakeholders--especially advertisers: It's reducing the amount of time people spend with media. For the first time in recent memory, the amount of time consumers spend with media has declined. Read Story
PBS HISTORY OF TV ON THE HORIZON August 2, 2007 (Broadcasting & Cable) WETA Washington and the Academy of Televison Arts & Sciences Foundation are teaming up on a "History of Television" television
series. The series is scheduled to launch in spring 2009 with four,
hour-long looks at scripted primetime programming over six decades. Read Story
SIMPSON'S MOVIE WILL BOOST NEW TV SEASON FOR FOX July 30, 2007 (Variety) After this week's stellar $74 million domestic opening of the long-awaited "The Simpsons Movie," Fox is poised to add ginormously to that tally in the coming months. The success of the movie and the marketing blitz that accompanied is also likely give a boost to the ratings of the weekly TV series, which is going strong into its 19th season in the fall.Read Story
IMAGINE THE (UN) THINKABLE: COMMUNITY MEDIA OVER THE NEXT 5 YEARS
July 25, 2007 (Funding Exchange) This collection of essays pushes the boundaries of current research on media policy and provides critical information on the potential power of the internet, radio, and community-access TV to enhance social justice movements. Written from perspectives of people of color, low-income people, women and other marginalized communities, the report offers useful tools and strategies for media justice advocates.Read Story
MARKETERS TURN TO WEB AD NETS July 23, 2007 (MediaWeek) Online ad networks, long the domain of direct marketers looking to blast their “act now” offers to large audiences across the Web, are being invaded by brand advertisers.Read Story
YOUTUBE'S DARK
SIDE July 19, 2007 (Slate) The
Internet was supposed to make the video world egalitarian. No longer
would an oligarchy of content providers—a few TV networks, a
couple of major movie studios—control what we watch. The
Web gives creative people a potential audience of millions, as well
as countless venues to display their creations. But that's not how
things turned out. Read Story
USA NETWORK
FOCUSED ON ATTRACTING WOMEN VIEWERS July 16, 2007 (Hollywood Reporter) a
new trend at USA, where network president Bonnie Hammer is looking
to bring in strong lead female characters in upcoming new series, including "In
Plain Sight" and "To Love & Die," which star Mary McCormack and
Shiri Appleby, respectively. "USA in recent years has been a little
too focused on guys for my tastes," said
Hammer, who also is president of Sci Fi.Read
Story
LOCAL STATIONS SAY NO TO CONDOM ADS July 16, 2007 (NY Times) Controversy over a new advertising
campaign by Trojan, the condom maker, has trickled down to the local
level, with television stations in Pittsburgh roundly refusing to show
it, and stations in Seattle giving it the green light. When Trojan
introduced the condom commercial last month, it was rejected as national
advertising by both CBS and
Fox. Read Story
NEW CAMERA HAS
IMPACT FOR ADVERTISERS July 11, 2007 (Deutsche Well) German
researchers have developed a new tool to recognize emotions as they
flicker across the human face. Rapid facial analysis has huge potential
for advertisers, but some are concerned about protecting privacy.Read
Story
FALL SITCOMS EXPLORE CROSS-CULTURAL THEMES July 9, 2007 (MediaWeek) With
its premise revolving around a Midwestern family playing host to a
Pakistani foreign exchange student, the CW’s Aliens In America
may be the sitcom next season that most closely examines issues of
race and tolerance in post-9/11 America. But it’s not the only
such prime-time entry. Read Story
FOOD MARKETERS MAY BE READY FOR KIDS-ADVERTISING GUIDELINES July 5, 2007 (AdAge) A huge
task force report on child obesity is being postponed -- a broad hint
that the nation's top food and beverage marketers are planning to unveil
major concessions this month in how they market food to kids on TV. Read
Story
FOX DEAL FOR PHOTOBUCKET GETS US ANTITRUST OK July 4, 2007 (Reuters) U.S.
antitrust authorities have approved plans by MySpace-owner Fox Interactive
Media, a unit of News Corp., to buy photo-sharing site Photobucket. Read
Story
OUTCOME OF AD CONTEST STARTS UPROAR ON YOUTUBE June 27, 2007 (NYTimes) Some YouTube users cried foul
when they saw the winning video in a Malibu Caribbean Rum
user-generated advertising contest. The contest, which began in early May,
solicited videos about Malibu Banana Rum set to the tune of “Banana
Boat Song,” also known
as “Day-O.” But, some consumers who lost the contest were
quick to start a rumbling on YouTube message boards that the contest
had been rigged. Read Story
US AD SPENDING GROWTH SLOWS WAY DOWN June 27, 2007 (AdAge) Three
new ad-spending forecasts out this week -- and even a report intended
to gauge how consumers view various media -- paint yet another discouraging
picture for traditional media.Read Story
CONSUMERS NOT
GAGA FOR MOBILE ADS June 26, 2007 (Adweek)
While advertisers are giddy at the prospect
of placing ads on cellphones, many consumers
are wary of the prospect. A Harris Interactive
survey found consumers ambivalent to
the idea of ad-supported content and
services on their cellphones. Read Story
A&E's STREET
THIEF IS CON JOB, BUT FASCINATING June 21, 2007 (Courier-Journal)
Is it for real or a clever fake? If you
love mysteries, "Street Thief," at 10 tonight on A&E,
will be right up your alley. A&E says the film stunned audiences when
it was shown at New York City's Tribeca Film Festival. It's easy to see
why. Read Story
FCC DENIES CHALLENGE CHICAGO
AND MILWAUKEE TV STATIONS June 13, 2007 (Broadcasting & Cable) The FCC has denied
a challenge to a total of 19 TV stations in Milwaukee and Chicago, saying
the petitioners had not demonstrated that the stations had failed to provide
adequate election coverage in 2004, and effectively telling stations and
activists to try to work out their public interest differences themselves. Read Story
NO MORE AD ZAPPING June 7, 2007 (Media Daily Post) A top Disney executive
said the proposed deal to offer ABC shows on VOD with the ad-zapping capabilities
disabled was not driven by a desire to circumvent DVR growth. "A robust ad model is in the interests of the consumer and the advertiser and certainly the programmer," says
Tom Staggs, Disney CFO. Read Story
COURT REBUFFS FCC ON FINES FOR INDECENCY June 4, 2007 (NYTimes) If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts.Read Story
ABC GIVES iCAUGHT A SIX-WEEK RUN May 28, 2007 (Variety) ABC
is hoping to reinvent the newsmagazine for the YouTube generation with
a show produced by ABC News but based on user-generated video.Hourlong
skein "i-Caught" will get a six-week run on the network starting
Aug. 6 at 10pm on Mondays with an eye toward a midseason return if it
performs as well as the network hopes. Read Story
BLURRING THE
LINE BETWEEN CONTENT AND COMMERCIALS May 22, 2007 (NYTimes) To
many people, the commercial break is when you use the restroom, change
the channel or grab a snack. Fixing the commercial break is the most
pressing topic of discussion this spring between networks and advertisers
as they negotiate television ad sales deals for the next year. Changes
include creating a single commercial that lasts for an entire break,
integrating stars from programs into the ads and developing storylines
that run through the ads. Read
Story
FEW WOMEN WIN TOP HONORS FOR FILMMAKING May 20, 2007 (Yahoo) Cannes,
like the film world in general, is short on female directors. Of the
22 movies in the running for the top prize this year at Cannes, only
three were made by women.Read Story
ADS THAT ARE TOO FAST FOR FAST-FORWARD BUTTON May 18, 2007 (NY Times) A broadcast network will soon
offer advertisers two more ways to try holding the attention of viewers
throughout those commercial breaks that consumers love to hate. One idea
is to run quickie commercials of only five seconds each. The other
is to schedule a series with no commercial breaks at all, and instead
incorporate sponsors’ products into each episode. Read Story
SYRACUSE PROF
IS POP CULTURE AMBASSADOR May 14, 2007 (Yahoo) Last week was pretty slow in the
world of pop culture news. But the media sought out Robert Thompson
just the same. The Syracuse University professor was quoted on the
image of motherhood on TV. On the phenomenon of animal shows on cable.
The danger of Hollywood trilogies. Rosie O'Donnell's future. The hipness
of being a nerd. Read
Story
PRIMETIME TV LOSING ITS LUSTER May 10, 2007 (TVWeek) Prime time used to be "appointment
television" time. Problem is that these days many viewers, especially
the younger generation, are skipping their appointments.
Sure, Fox continues to break records with "American Idol," logging 70 million
votes for its contestants in mid-April. But, the idea of needing to be
home in the evening, glued to the TV to watch your favorite shows, is going
the way of the cathode-ray tube. Read Story
WHO'S ADOPTING
MOBILE TV? May 3, 2007 (MediaPost) A recently released comScore
study analyzing Americans' usage of, and attitudes toward, Mobile TV,
(television watched via a mobile phone device) revealed that forty-six
percent of those who currently subscribe to Mobile TV are below the
age of 35 and 65 percent are male. Males were also more likely
than average to be interested in Mobile TV, while females were more
likely to report being not interested. Read Story
SOCIAL NETWORKING
LEAVES CONFINES OF THE COMPUTER April 29, 2007 (NYTimes) Daniel Graf, a founder of Kyte,
the mobile social networking service, sees cellphones as personal TV studios. “Now
you can share your life over a mobile phone,” he said, “and
someone is always connected, watching.” Read Story
SPIELBERG'S
SHOAH FOUNDATION WIDENS SCOPE April 25, 2007 (USAToday) After collecting 52,000 interviews,
the filmmaker's unprecedented effort to record the stories of those who
survived Nazi persecution during World War II is now applying the mantra "Never
forget" to more recent acts
of genocide and oppression. "Now we ask ourselves: How do we make this
vision a priority in communities all across the world?" Spielberg said. Read Story
BRITISH IMPORT
TV GAME SHOW: WITHOUT PREJUDICE April 22, 2007 (Variety) GSN is moving forward on "Without
Prejudice?," setting a host and premiere date for the Blighty import in
which contestants are awarded money based on how they come across to strangers.
Judges will grill players about their views on controversial issues --
abortion, immigration, gay marriage, etc. Read Story
ADOBE LAUNCHES FREE
VIDEO PLAYER TO WATCH VIDEO OFFLINE AND CARRY IT WITH YOU April 16, 2007 (Scientific American) Adobe
Systems Inc. unveiled video-player software that lets consumers
play back video online or offline, a move that could help reshape an
acrimonious debate over video-sharing. Read Story
AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS April 13, 2007 (LATimes) PBS' 12-hour 'America at a Crossroads' examines the genesis of modern-day Islamic militant movements and our engagement in Iraq. If the war in Iraq is being fought by an all-volunteer military, it is also being broadcast by all-volunteer media companies to an all-volunteer viewing audience. Read Story
TV NETWORKS STILL WRESTLING WITH VIDEO April 12, 2007 (TVWeek) A reoccurring theme for TV networks during this upfront season is crossing over to the digital advertising environment, but experts at a conference this week said the content and structure of online ads needed more work. Reaching potential customers online could be huge for TV networks, with online video expected to be a $775 million ad business this year. Read Story
FCC CHIEF AVOIDS MISSTEPS OF PREDECESSOR April 9, 2007 (LATimes) With media ownership rules again on the table, Martin's open style defuses controversy. For nearly six hours, a well-caffeinated Kevin J. Martin listened as a parade of critics stepped up to microphones at a Harrisburg, Pa., theater to lambaste him and his fellow commissioners for considering rule changes that would allow media companies to buy more TV and radio stations. Read Story
WHO WINS ON THE SEARCH ENGINES?
April 5, 2007 (TIME) Has America gone insane? Season six for American Idol has caused us to ask some fundamental questions about the reality television phenomenon. Show judge Simon Cowell repeatedly chides contestants, "This is a singing competition." But is it really? Read Story
VIDEO GAME ADDICTION:
IS IT REAL? April 2, 2007 (PRNewswire) Reports from around the world
suggest that gaming addiction is real and on the rise. Nationally, 8.5
percent of youth gamers (ages 8 to 18) can be classified as pathological
(1) or clinically "addicted" to playing video games. Most youth
play video games and many feel that they may be playing too much. Nearly
one-quarter (23%) of youth say that they have felt "addicted to video
games",
with about one-third of males (31%) and a little more than one in ten females
(13%) feeling "addicted." Read Story
A HIGHER EDUCATION
FOR TV April 2, 2007 (Hollywood Reporter) TV viewing among adults
18-24 has increased across the board since Nielsen Media Research began
including college students living away from home in its TV ratings measurement
in late January, according to the results of a study published by Magna
Global. Primetime TV viewing has increased by 12%, late-night by 9% and
daytime by 5%, according to the study, which compared demo ratings in the
adults 18-24 demo in a roughly four-month period before Nielsen began measuring
those viewers. Read
Story
NEW BARCODES
CAN TALK WITH YOUR CELL PHONE April 1, 2007 (NYTimes) It sounds like something straight
out of a futuristic film: House hunters, driving past a for-sale sign,
stop and point their cellphone at the sign. With a click, their cellphone
screen displays the asking price, the number of bedrooms and baths and
lots of other details about the house. Media experts say that cellphones,
the Swiss Army knives of technology, are quickly heading in this direction.
Read Story
STUDY FAULTS
FOOD ADS ON TV AIMED AT CHILDREN March 28, 2007 (Chicago Tribune) Children eight to 12 years
old are exposed to an average of 21 television food advertisements each
day, commercials that predominantly push candy, snacks and other unhealthy
foods contributing to childhood obesity. Fully half the ads on children's
programs involve the sale of food items.
And they're not pushing healthy foods. Read Story
MEDIA CONGLOMERATE
SIGNS ADVERTISING SPONSORS FOR CELL PHONES March 28, 2007 (CNET) Wireless and media companies are
betting that mobile entertainment will gain momentum among subscribers
in 2007, offering advertisers a new way to reach consumers and cell phone
companies an additional revenue stream. Viacom sends 1 million video
streams to mobile phones every month. Read Story
SPONSORS WANT TO FAST TRACK THE US PUBLIC SERVICE
ACADEMY March 22, 2007 (US Public Service Academy) Sen. Hillary
Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), and Rep.
Christopher Shays (R-CT) joined dozens of Academy supporters to announce
the introduction of the U.S. Public Service Academy Act. Just a year after
we began sending out our proposal for the Academy, we now have legislation
pending before the U.S. Congress. Read Story
CRITICS TO GOOGLE:
PRIVACY PLEASE March 15, 2007 (LATimes) Google Inc.'s memory is getting
a little shorter. Just not short enough for some.The company adjusted
its policies Wednesday to answer complaints that it never forgets what
users have looked for. Google said it would continue to collect and
maintain a vast internal database of search-engine queries, but it
will "anonymize" the data
by stripping addresses from the records after 18 to 24 months. That's
enough time, according to Google, to keep law enforcement officials
happy and satisfy its quality control needs. Read Story
DEWARS LINKS
WITH VIDEO BLOGGER March 14, 2007 (ADWEEK) The
future of niche Web video advertising might look a lot like the TV
advertising's past, when brands acted as presenting sponsors. Dewar's
is the latest brand to sign on as a presenting sponsor of a popular
video blog. It will sponsor the last week of episodes of Ze Frank's "The
Show," which features offbeat observations and commentary by Frank,
a Brooklyn-based performer.Read Story
VIDEO GAMES GROW UP WITH ADULT OWNERSHIP March 13, 2007 (Reuters) Video games aren't just for the kids anymore. More than one in three U.S. adults who go online, or 37 percent, own a video game console and 16 percent own a portable gaming device, Nielsen//NetRatings said on Tuesday. The majority of those console owners, 71 percent, are married, and 66 percent have at least one child in the household. Read Story
VIACOM SUES YOUTUBE FOR 1 BILLION March 13, 2007 (CNN Money) Media conglomerate Viacom
Inc. said Tuesday that it was suing Google Inc. and its Internet video-sharing
site YouTube for more than $1 billion over unauthorized use of its
programming online.The lawsuit, the biggest challenge to date to Google's
(Charts) ambitions to make YouTube into a major vehicle for advertising
and entertainment, accuses the Web search leader and its unit of "massive
intentional copyright infringement." Read Story
WANT MORE ONLINE ADS? GET BETTER METRICS March 8, 2007 (ADWEEK) Digital ad spending, already at an all-time high and still growing, would accelerate even faster if more online media were audited by independent third-party firms, according to a new joint survey by the Audit Bureau of Circulations and NSON Opinion Research. The survey asked online planners and buyers in North America about key issues in digital marketing. More reliable metrics came out as the top concern. Read Story
TV NETWORKS EMBRACE THE YOUTUBE MODEL March 5, 2007 (Washington Post) Ever conscious of a good trend, TV networks and advertisers are increasingly adopting the YouTube model of viewer-created content. VH1, currently airing the third season of "Web Junk 20," will next month premiere the Jack Black-produced "Acceptable TV," which attempts to fuse TV with the Web. In February, Nickelodeon debuted a two-hour programming block called "ME:TV," featuring contributions from 10-year-olds. TLC last week began a six-part documentary series, "My Life as a Child," where children were given cameras to videotape their lives. Read Story
BILL FOR FCC TO REGULATE VIOLENCE ON TV March 5, 2007 (Broadcasting & Cable) Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) Monday reiterated his pledge to give the FCC the authority to regulate violent content on television and expand its authority over the content on cable and satellite. Saying TV violence had reached "dangerous" proportions and that McDowell's approach was shortsighted, Rockefeller said self-regulation by the industry hadn't worked. “The broadcasters have already tried and failed in their attempts at self-regulation. The bottom line is, if they can’t or won’t do it, then the federal government must step up to the plate.” Read Story
SKYPE GUYS DEVELOP JOOST —NET TO TV March 1, 2007 (TIME) For years, Microsoft and others have tried, and failed, to bring the Net to TV screens with duds like WebTV. But the Venice Project, renamed Joost (as in juiced), is doing the opposite: moving TV to the Internet. And unlike Apple TV, Slingbox and other hardware offerings, Joost requires nothing more than software. For now, it's by invitation only, but by this summer it will be open to the public. You'll download the free Joost software, then use it to watch channels ranging from Lime, a lifestyle station, to National Geographic. And potentially thousands more, from anywhere, in real time--and without the stuttervision that dogs streaming video today.Read Story
BURNETT AND SPIELBERG DEBUT REALITY SHOW "ON THE LOT" STARTING IN MAY February 23 , 2007 (Boston.com) A new TV series from Steven Spielberg and reality mogul Mark Burnett that offers aspiring filmmakers a $1 million studio contract will air this spring. The first films produced by 16 finalists will air in a two-hour episode on May 28, with four contestants eliminated the following night, the network said.Read Story
MAGAZINE SHOW RATINGS SOAR WITH ANNA NICOLE
SMITH COVERAGE February 21, 2007 (Broadcasting & Cable) Coverage of the death of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith in the week ending Feb. 11 sent ratings for syndicated magazine shows through the roof. Entertainment Tonight recorded its best numbers in over three years and the biggest week-to-week increase of any of the mags, up 12% from the week before to a 6.4 rating, according to Nielsen. It was ET's highest ratings since the week after Janet Jackson's Super Bowl half-time, half-dressed appearance. Read Story
CELLPHONE'S SCREEN IS TODAY'S HIP BILLBOARD February 20, 2007 (Boston Globe) In an ad-saturated world, the cellphone screen is a nearly pristine canvas. But a number of area companies are helping to transform the device that 220 million people are loath to leave at home into a personal, pocket-sized billboard, hawking everything from the latest ringtone to Fabio-favored. Read Story
WEB VIDEO—WHAT GIVES WITH ADVERTISING? February 19, 2007 (AdAge) It's one of the most-hyped developments in marketing, yet online video still accounts for only a tiny fraction of the $280 billion ad market, and less than
While online video is a hot topic, online video ad revenue is something else. To explain the slow growth of video ad spending, industry analysts point to fragmented audiences, limited inventory and the need for a solid ad-buying model for online programming.
What gives? Read Story
MOVIES SHOOT
FOR CHANGE February 14, 2007 (LATimes) Call
them "filmanthropists." They have deep pockets and issue-driven agendas.
Rather than make high-class dramas that might carry some mild social
message, these producers are turning out full-blown advocacy movies. Read Story
JOHNSON AND
JOHNSON LAUNCHES DOCUMENTARY February 14, 2007 (Brandweek) While the rest of the pharmaceutical
business worries about what Michael Moore's new film Sicko will
say about them, Johnson & Johnson has decided to make its own movie.
J&J unit Centocor will next week launch an unadvertised documentary
in movie theaters about patients with Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid
arthritis and psoriasis. Read
Story
INTERNET USERS
TRANSFORMED INTO NEWS REPORTERS February 11, 2007 (Breitbart.com) As picture-taking mobile
telephones and digital movie cameras grow ubiquitous, Internet users worldwide
are being recruited as citizen news reporters. In December Yahoo launched
YouWitnessNews, a website that posts offerings from users after the submissions
pass muster with professional editors. Read Story
THE FUTURE OF
TELEVISION: WHAT'S NEXT? February 8, 2007 (The Economist) The union of television
and the internet is spawning a wide variety of offspring. The new service,
called Joost and now in advanced testing, is based on P2P software that
runs on people's computers, just like Skype and KaZaA. And it does indeed
promise to transform the experience of watching television by combining
what people like about old-fashioned TV with the exciting possibilities
of the internet. Read Story
RISING NUMBER OF KIDS EXPOSED TO ONLINE PORN February 4, 2007 (NJ.com) More children and teens are being exposed to online pornography, mostly by accidentally viewing sexually explicit Web sites while surfing the Internet, researchers say. Forty-two percent of Internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they had seen online pornography in a recent 12-month span. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them out, University of New Hampshire researchers found. Their conclusions appear in February's Pediatrics, due out Monday. Read Story
PHARMA ADVERTISERS
DECRY 'MISLEADING' STUDY January 30, 2007 (BrandWeek) Advertisers’ lobbying
groups reacted with anger today at a study published in the Annals
of Family Medicine that criticized direct-to-consumer prescription
drug advertising. The study was out of date and misconceived, the
marketer advocates said.
Read Story
STUDY BLASTS TV DRUG ADS January 27, 2007 (Forbes) In
strong criticism of the pharmaceutical industry's marketing practices,
new research claims that televised ads for prescription drugs are riddled
with emotional appeals and lack helpful information on the disease
itself. "The ads really use emotion instead of information to promote
drugs," said
the study's lead author, Dominick Frosch, an assistant professor of medicine
at the University of California, Los Angeles. "The question we have to
ask ourselves is: (Should buying) prescription drugs be the same as buying
soap?" Read Story
I'M A CELBRITY,
GET ME OUT OF HERE January 23, 2007 (The Guardian) Images of Kate Middleton
being doorstepped by the paparazzi have brought back memories of the
press hounding Princess Diana. Following requests by Prince William
(and her lawyers) for the paparazzi to stop harassing his girlfriend,
News International has banned its newspapers, including the Sun and
the News of the World, from using paparazzi pictures of her. This doesn't
stop them using their own pictures. Read Story
WASHINGTON MAY TAKE UP VIOLENCE January 20, 2007 (LA Times) Despite
efforts to quell complaints that they air too much death, blood and
mayhem, broadcasters are facing a renewed battle over regulating televised
violence. With a fresh Congress sworn in
and a major federal report expected soon on TV gore, pressure is likely
to mount to more aggressively stem graphic and gratuitous scenes in
shows.Read Story
MADISON AVENUE CALLING January 20, 2007 (NY
Times) People often say they do not like
advertisements, but that may change if
the ads start lowering their cellphone
bills. The Mobio mobile movie times is
an example of cellphone content supported
by advertising. Cellular phone carriers
like Verizon, Sprint and Cingular, now
the new AT&T, are beginning to test
and roll out advertising on mobile phone
screens, and by next year, cellphone
advertising is likely to be more common. Read Story
STUDY: US MEDIA OVERLOOKED MAJOR HUMANITARIAN STORIES IN 2006 January 19, 2007 (Common Dreams) Last year millions of people in many countries lost their lives as a result of wars, violence, disease, and hunger, yet the major television networks in the United States did not tell their stories to the U.S. public, a new study on media coverage notes. The staggering human toll taken by tuberculosis (TB) and malnutrition as well as the devastation caused by wars in the Central African Republic, Sri Lanka, and the Democratic Republic of Congo were almost completely ignored by the leading television networks, according to a well-respected medical aid group that monitors media coverage on humanitarian issues at the end of each year. Read Story
APPLES'S iPHONE MAY DRIVE MOBILE VIDEO, ADS ADOPTION January 15, 2007 (BrandWeek)
Besides making technophiles weak in the
knees, industry experts say that Apple’s new iPhone
device may be the catalyst that propels mobile media usage—particularly
Web video—to new levels, with advertising opportunities soon to
follow. Read Story
TV'S LAST MAN
STANDING - WHY THE SUPERBOWL IS STILL THE BIGGEST GAME IN TOWN FOR
ADVERTISERS January 15, 2007 (BusinessWeek) On Feb. 4, Super
Bowl XLI will draw an enormous audience of fans nailed to their couches,
transfixed by television's most enduring spectacle. There will
also be a football game. As we all know, part of the genius in the
marketing of the Super Bowl is that the ads, generally created especially
for the telecast, are as much a part of the event the game itself. Read
Story
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TV ARTS AND MYSPACE PARTNER ON BROADBAND EMMY AWARDS January 10, 2007 (WorldScreen.com) MySpace
will collaborate with the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
to honor premium broadband content on the Internet. MySpace will serve as the exclusive online partner to the 2007 Broadband Emmy Awards submissions, encouraging video producers and filmmakers to submit self-generated content through an official MySpace Emmy profile. Beginning February 1, MySpace users will be able to upload videos to their personal profiles and submit their video URL to the Emmy profile page. Read Story
PEW RELEASES STUDY ON TEEN INTERNET USE January 7, 2007 (SFGate-Tech Chronicles) In the ever-growing
field of MySpace-Facebook-teenager
data analysis, the Pew
Internet & American Life Project released a survey Sunday that
finds 55 percent of all teenagers online use social networking sites. Of
the 935 teenagers surveyed, girls in the 15-17 age group used their sites
more often than boys their age. Teenage boys of the same age group
were more likely to claim they were looking for new friends. Read Story
MAJOR MEDIA STAGE COMEBACK January 3, 2007 (AdWeek/Hollywood Reporter) Talk about
a turnaround story. About this time a year ago, executives at most large
entertainment companies were coming to terms with stock performances that
couldn't keep pace with the major averages. Many large entertainment companies
including Disney, News
Corp. and Time
Warner, made impressive turnarounds last year. Read Story
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"The first thing to keep in mind, is that your objective is not to make a 'TV show' or a 'show' of any kind. You are collecting evidence; you are encouraging witness; you are emboldening ordinary people to 'go public.'"
George Stoney from forward in Turn on the Power! Using Media for
Social Change
