A new Miami start-up called Lease Your Body has been looking for people willing to rent out space on their bodies to advertisers, AdJab reports. Getting the walking billboards hasn’t been a problem. More than 2,500 people have signed up wanting to participate in the program. However, the company has been unable to sign a single advertiser.
The WB joins NBC, CBS and Fox as broadcast networks using IAG Research’s ad effectiveness and In-Program Performance data to measure the effectiveness of advertising, product placement and sponsorships, Mediaweek reports.
USA Today is launching a glossy technology magazine covering consumer electronics and trends, Associated Press reports (via Yahoo News).
The new 80-page magazine, USA Today Now Personal Technology, will launch Oct. 17 with at least 300,000 copies printed and will be sold at newsstands across the country with a cover price of $4.95. The newspaper plans to publish the magazine once a year.
ESPN and ABC Sports will air all 64 matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup soccer in high definition, beginning on Friday, June 9 through Sunday, July 9, from 12 cities in Germany, Mediaweek reports. The high-definition telecasts will be offered as a simulcast of ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports World Cup coverage.
In an opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald, Tim Grainger scolds direct marketers for losing the energy, immediacy and aggression that initially attracted advertisers. “If the direct marketers keep focusing on systems, programmes, and processes rather than targeting, sales and accountability, direct runs a very real risk of becoming just another communcations option in the pursuit of top-of-mind brand awareness,” he writes.
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The New York Times Co. said advertising revenue gained 5.6 percent in July, thanks in large part to gains from web portal About.com, Crain’s New York Business reports. Excluding About.com, ad revenues rose 2.9 percent. Ad revenue at About.com rose 73 percent in July and 33 percent so far this year.
The Times Media Group, which includes The New York Times and The Boston Globe, also helped boost revenue, with a 4.9 percent gain in ad revenue.
Online newspaper revenue reached $1.3 billion in 2004, up 38 percent from 2003, and by 2008 is expected to reach $2.3 billion, according to internet research firm eMarketer and reported by B to B.
This year, online newspaper revenue should grow by 36 percent. Growth is being driven by a strong online ad market and a shift in reader usage toward online newspapers. According to the report, the strongest area of growth is in the online operations of traditional newspapers.
Akamai Technologies promises that its new news mapping service will count the sum of page requests across 100 major news sites it serves to rank interest in major events on a scale never seen before, Reuters reports.
Google has launched a blog to explain its AdSense program to publishers. “Inside Adsense” resides at adsense.blogspot.com, ClickZ reports. It promises to offer optimization tips and feature descriptions to prospective and existing publishers in the AdSense network. Its tagline is simple: “A look inside Google AdSense.”
The National Hockey League finalized a two-year deal with Comcast, the owner of Outdoor Life Network, after ESPN declined to match the $65 million agreement for this season and $70 million in 2006-07, Associated Press reports.
Outdoor advertising giant Maiden Group issued a trading statement this morning warning investors that it will post a loss for the first half of the year, blaming “weak and volatile market conditions,” as well as Network Rail’s delay in awarding its 350 million pound roadside billboard contract, Brand Republic reports.
Kroger is installing a TV network in 2,500 Kroger-owned grocery stores nationwide, MediaPost reports. The multi-year agreement with In-Store Broadcasting Network uses plasma and LCD screens located in key locations throughout the store to deliver product and service information as well as advertising.
Most marketers need only make a few changes in their email marketing practices to beat their competitors, according to a new Silverpop study that reviewed the registration procedures, marketing messages and opt-out practices of 175 retailers such as Crate & Barrel, Neiman Marcus, and CompUSA, reports Internet Retailer (via MarketingVox).
Though the acquisition of email addresses is vital for beginning or maintaining a dialogue with customers, 23 percent failed to include email registration request; a similar proportion offered no explanation of benefits. Among those that did, 45 percent offered notice of sales and promotions, 14 percent offered news, and 11 percent offered a catalog or other direct mail piece; only 2 percent offered incentives such as a sweepstakes of discount.
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iVillage is throwing over Google’s contextual, keyword-based ads in favor of a revenue-sharing through Yahoo Search Marketing’s publisher network, MediaPost reports. iVillage’s google-powered search bar will also get a Yahoo makeover.
Online magazine Salon, which has been seeing an accelerated decline in subscribers in recent months, will sell online community The Well in order to focus on its primary business, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Salon’s subscribers have dropped from 84,500 in March to 78,900 this week.
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NBC’s media review, which covers all NBC-owned properties including CNBC, MSNBC, USA, Sci-Fi, Bravo, and Telemundo, has narrowed the field of agencies from 18 to about six, AdWeek reports. According to sources, the finalists include three incumbents - Media Kitchen, MediaVest, and Horizon - along with Deutsch, Initiative, and one or two undisclosed others.
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The U.K.’s “lads” magazine market is seeing a surge in advertising, particularly lads weekly titles Nuts from IPC Media and ZOO from Emap Plc, reports Bloomberg. In Britain, advertising for the lads segment increased seven percent last year, to 63.3 million pounds - and weekly lads ad sales have totaled 4.9 million pounds in the first half of this year, surpassing the 4.8 million pounds from all of last year, according to media buyer ZenithOptimedia.
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Consumers are apparently becoming more touchy about their online privacy, with just 32 percent - down from 41 percent in 2004 - willing to allow websites to track their online behavior in return for receiving personalized content, according to research from personalization technology firm ChoiceStream, MediaPost reports (via MarketingVox). Moreover, 46 percent said they would provide demographic data in exchange for personalized content, compared with 57 percent last year; and 59 percent said they would provide information about their preferences in order to receive individualized content, down from 65 percent in 2004.
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