AD BYTES
- Ad Bytes
Internet advertising revenue totaled $5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2008, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. more » » »
AROUND THE WEB
- 1Q Ad Spending Flat
Advertising spending for the first quarter of 2008 remained essentially flat compared to the same period last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus data. Advertising was mixed across media with gains in some mediums and declines in others. Overall, despite a continued softening of the economy, several media and companies are showing healthy growth in advertising for this quarter. National Sunday supplements saw the largest growth of 19.2% over year ago totals. Cable TV advertising rose 12.9% over the same period in 2007. In television, programming and networks targeting African-American and Hispanic viewers grew 12.9% and 7.7%, respectively. more
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- Charter Backs Off Web Ad Plans
Charter Communications is backing off its plan to insert advertisements onto Web pages based on its users' Web-surfing habits after privacy advocates called the program an "attack on users," according to PC World. The MSO said it suspended the pilot program to use NebuAd, a behavioral advertising vendor, to track its users' Web-surfing habits and deliver advertising based on that information. Charter's decision comes less than a week after two digital rights groups, Public Knowledge and Free Press, accused NebuAd and participating broadband service providers of using security exploits to spy on users. more
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- Online Political Advertising Disappoints
When it comes to Web ads and the election, digital ad executives told AdWeek they are disappointed, puzzled, even a little impatient when it comes to the light spending to date. Meanwhile, those with firsthand knowledge of the campaigns say that in spite of the Web proving a fund-raising gold mine (particularly for Sen. Barack Obama), senior officials continue to doubt the medium as a get-out-the-vote vehicle. more » » »
- Time Warner Mulls Solution to Streaming Problem
When Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt was asked at last month's Cable Show in New Orleans about cable TV networks taking their content online for full-length web streaming, he responded, "Guess what? We do mind." The argument over whether to use content to make subscribers pay -- or open it up on the Web to garner the widest possible audience and make up lost revenue in advertising -- is rearing its ugly head as networks such as Viacom's Comedy Central debut full-length streaming episodes of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" on their own Web sites. Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley told Ad Age the company is prepared to go as far as withholding some of the subscriber revenue upon which networks like Comedy Central have built the bulk of their business model. more » » »
BRIEFING ROOM
- Strong Upfront Sales Reaching $8 Billion
(Excerpted from the June 27, 2008 issue of Multichannel Newsday)
Cable is wrapping up what’s turning out to be a robust upfront market for the medium this year, according to Multichannel News. Many cable networks have completed their deals, with the rest expected to be done by around the Fourth of July. Estimates for TV sales during the upfront ad market always vary, but industry sources so far are pegging cable’s overall dollar-volume gains at somewhere between 8% to 10%, or $560 million to $700 million. Those increases would bring cable’s upfront sales, which the Cable Television Advertising Bureau pegged at $7 billion last year, to $7.7 billion or more. Broadcast racked up just over $9 billion during its upfront this year. more » » »
- Google Grilled On Accreditation For Ad-Buying Services
(Excerpted from the June 25, 2008 issue of Multichannel Newsday)
For the second time in two days, advertising-research officials questioned Google about needing to seek industry accreditation for two ad-buying services the Internet giant has launched. At the Advertising Research Foundation’s Audience Measurement 3.0 conference held in New York City on June 25, Google did a presentation on its Google TV Ads service, which permits advertisers to buy spots reaching 14 million Dish Network customers on 96 networks—all via online auctions. At the morning kick-off session, Keval Desai, Google’s director of product management for TV Ads, briefed conference attendees about the service, which he said permits advertisers to not only buy avails on Dish Network and a small Bay area cable system, but to also receive reports within 24 hours to
verify that their spots ran, to tell them how many impressions they garnered and what the cost per impression was. more » » »
- Charter Nixes Controversial Internet Ad Trial
(Excerpted from the June 24,2008 issue of Mutichannel Newsday)
Bowing to consumer and regulatory criticism, Charter Communications has spiked an unpopular targeted Internet advertising test planned this month for four markets around the country. Critics included the Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, who in a June 20 to Charter president and CEO Neil Smit, wrote that he "strongly urged suspension of implementation" of the ad test. Blumenthal (pictured) added he was troubled by the privacy and legal implications of the test, especially in light of federal restrictions on cable companies and the subscriber information they may share with outside companies. Charter notified impacted customers in May it planned to test targeted Internet ads in four markets: San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Ft. Worth, Texas; Oxburg, Mass. and Newton, Conn. The test
was to last 30 days, using technology developed by NebuAd, a Redwood City, Calif.-based Web advertising technology company. NebuAd combines its technology and ISP partnerships to anonymously observe consumer activity across the Internet to help advertisers target their pitches to individuals. more » » »
- Google Takes Wraps Off Ad-Planning Tool
(Excerpted from the June 24, 2008 issue of Multichannel Newsday)
Google introduced an Internet measurement took aimed at helping media planner find the best Web sites to most effectively reach their target audiences during the Advertising Research Foundation’s Audience Measurement 3.0 Conference in New York City. Google’s move into Internet-audience measurement could challenge veteran measurement companies who are also tracking online use, such as Nielsen and ComScore. To use Google Ad Planner, an ad agency would enter into it the demographics and sites associated with the target audience they want to reach. The Ad Planner site will then come back with information about sites that the target audience is likely to visit, and the ad agency can them go forward and create the appropriate media plan. more » » »
- FTC Report Gives Alcohol Advertisers Good Grade
(Excerpted from the June 26 edition of Broadcasting & Cable)
The Federal Trade Commission said the alcohol industry -- beer, wine and distilled spirits -- generally succeeded in targeting its advertising toward adults, but it is recommending that self-regulatory guidelines for TV and others be extended to the Internet and said it will more regularly check up on how the industry is complying with its self-regulatory benchmarks. The FTC found June 26 that the vast majority (92) of alcohol ads for the period studied (the first six months of 2006) were placed in media with at least 70% of the audience being at least 21 years old (70/21), which is the alcohol industry's self-regulatory ad standard. In addition, 97% of the total advertising impressions generated by alcohol ads met that 70/21 standard (that's because the 8% that missed the mark were in
media with smaller audiences). more » » »
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GREAT IDEAS
By The Book And Picking Prizes
Author Warren Greshes maintains that neither existing nor potential clients want to be experts in what a salesman does. “Heck, most clients don’t have the time to keep up with all the information they need to be experts in their own field, let alone yours. That’s why your ability to supply your clients with knowledge, expertise, information, and education is critical to not only your success, but theirs, too,” he writes in his blog and book The Best Damn Sales Book Ever. A successful salesperson’s job goes beyond supplying clients with great products and service. They must serve as experts, advisors and resources for their clients, always ready to provide them with knowledge, expertise, information and education they need to be more successful. “If
you can do that on a consistent basis, you will have differentiated yourself from the competition, created so much extra value that your price almost becomes immaterial, and reached the zenith of success in sales:You will have made yourself indispensable to the client,” he states on his blog, www.greshes.com/sales-blog.
When Hallmark Channel launched its second local ad sales promotion, one operator used the trip to Paris Hallmark was giving away as an incentive to increase its new sales, said Rita Caprino, Hallmark Channel’s senior director of affiliate ad sales. The operator expected its ad executives to bring in about $650,000 in new business. At the end of the promotion, the operator exceeded their goal by 270% realizing $1.8 million in new business. During the same promotion pushing “Phantom of the Opera,” another operator used the trip as an incentive for ad clients and that local market realized a $500,000 increment from an existing client, Caprino said. The idea, she said, is have prizes that are enticing to everyone and to be flexible enough to let participating operators
use them as they see fit. “It’s all about creating prizing that is relevant to the time period we’re working with and to be flexible enough to let the operators use them to their best advantage,” Caprino said.
PEOPLE
Turner Broadcasting System: John O’Hara has been named excecutive vice president of ad sales and marketing for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. He had been senior vice president/general sales manager for Cartoon. Christina Miller has been promoted to vice president of consumer products for Cartoon Network Enterprises. She came to Turner in 2005 as vice president of U.S. consumer products, Cartoon Network Enterprises.
Comcast Spotlight: Natasha Evans has been elevated to director, advanced media in Spotlight’s Twin Cities region. She had been manager, advanced media.
Cox Media: Cox Media in Hampton Roads, Va., has tapped Juanita Wasco as GoScout Homes account executive. She comes from WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Va., where she was an Internet account executive. |
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