Briefs
Staff -- Multichannel News, 7/23/2001
New York— For the third time in this sluggish upfront ad-sales season, cross-platform deals stole some thunder, as AOL Time Warner Inc. has signed a multiyear, multi-platform non-barter advertising alliance with Bank of America.
Industry sources estimated that Bank of America would be spending well over $30 million.
Bank of America will buy across various AOL Time Warner-owned media assets, including such services as Cable News Network and CNNfn, Time Inc. magazines and America Online.
For its part, AOL Time Warner will target Bank of America's 30 million customers by advertising in its Web-enabled automatic-teller machines, bill-stuffers and banking centers nationwide.
In addition, AOL Time Warner has inked Royal Philips Electronics S.A. to a three-year, $100 million deal — one that furthers a 20-year, $100 million cross-platform buy with TBSI that was disclosed in late 1999.
Last month, Viacom Inc. booked Procter & Gamble Co. for a $300 million deal; while News Corp. landed a $90 million multi-platform buy from Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.
Meanwhile, both those clients and several other majors — from The Coca-Cola Co. to McDonald's Corp. — continued to talk with various media behemoths about similar multi-pronged packages.
New York—General Mills Inc. and Turner Sports Sales said Total cereal has become the 10th sponsor of Turner Network Television's Goodwill Games coverage.
Total will be the presenting sponsor of the diving competition from Sept. 7 through Sept. 8, according to Total marketing manager John Schmitz. In addition, the brand will be tagged in on-air and print promotions leading up to the Goodwill Games, which will originate from Brisbane, Australia, from Aug. 29 through Sept. 9.
New York—Citing Nielsen Media Research's Convergence Lab study, Cable News Network reported last week that CNN and its companion Web sites reached more viewers than any other cable/Web combination.
The Nielsen study measured cable ratings via the People Meter and Internet usage via Nielsen/NetRatings from December 2000 through last May.
The sites were seen by 53 percent of sampled viewers per month, versus a combined 39 percent monthly reach for MSNBC and its Web site. CNBC and Fox News Channel — and their Web sites — followed with a monthly 29 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
