Viacom Files for Split
Viacom has filed to split into two companies, MediaPost reports. One company will include the CBS network and another MTV, Paramount Pictures, and other cable properties.
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Viacom has filed to split into two companies, MediaPost reports. One company will include the CBS network and another MTV, Paramount Pictures, and other cable properties.
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The window display of a Victoria’s Secret store in a new wing of Tyson’s Corner, one of the largest malls in the country, has Virginians up in arms at the racy poses of the mannequins, the Washington Post reports. Shoppers visiting the mall called the display “Little Shop of Whores,” “Slutwear,” and “totally disgusting.”
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The WB has given a full-season, 22 epsiode pickup to its first-year drama Supernatural, Mediaweek reports. The show is averaging 5.3 million viewers after four episodes, up 4 percent in the time period from last year.
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Sponsored circulation for audited consumer magazines amounts to 17.5 million copies and represents a sizable chunk as the industry looks to shore up its circ, Folio reports.
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The September Radio Airtime Monitor found 10.1 percent less radio commercial time versus a year ago, Radio Ink reports. Clear Channel leads the pack in reduced commercial time, with 25.7 less than last year’s levels.
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Although most U.S. adults have become part of the online world, nearly one-third of them (32 percent) remain unconnected, some by choice, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, reports the AP (via MarketingVox). Only a third of nonusers cite lack of access as the reason for not using the internet; others say they are too busy or consider it too difficult or expensive.
Goodyear is building a new blimp, to be ready by spring, to replace one that crashed in June during a violent storm in Florida, the AP reports (via Newsday). The company has two other blimps - the Suffield, Ohio-based Spirit of Goodyear and the Carson, Calif.-based Sprit of America - in its North American Fleet.
When NBC decided last week to switch The Apprentice: Martha Stewart from its 8 p.m. slot to E-Ring’s slot at 9 p.m., it looked as though the network was sacrificing Martha’s success for that of E-Ring, Media Life writes. After all, the 8 p.m. slot had much easier competition - aging sitcoms on the other networks - while the 9 p.m. slot was up against ABC’s hit, Lost.
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McDonald’s has chosen to once again play the Monopoly game with customers, offering chances to win free food, “Bucks” from Best Buy, a Dodge Viper, an LG electronics home makeover, an iPod, a Sony PSP prize package, and the chance to star in an upcoming Disney movie, Brandweek reports.
More than three years ago, McDonald’s discovered that the agency that had been handling the contest, Simon Marketing, had rigged it. DDB, Chicago is handling the promotion this year. Ads starring the Latin band Kinky and the premium chicken club sandwich will support the campaign. DDB, Chicago handles.
Best Buy is participating for the third year in the promotion, which ends on Halloween.
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By this time next year, CBS plans to have a second, general-entertainment digital programming channel on the air, Mediaweek reports. Programming will either complement or “counterprogram” the original CBS channel, said executive vp Martin Franks to a group gathered for the Association for Maximum Service Television, an industry group promoting advanced, over-the-air TV.
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The U.K. advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, found that a radio ad for Switchdigital, which claimed that DAB digital radio is “distortion free,” is misleading, because not all DAB digital radio listeners receive distortion-free sound, Brand Republic reports.
One listener complained that a “gurgling noise” permeated the sound of digital radio, making the ad’s claim that it “takes the hiss out of the way you listen to the radio” only a half-truth. An ASA statement said that “…a signal which was too ‘high’ or too ‘low’ could lead to the sort of ‘bubbly’ or ‘gurgling’ problem highlighted by the complainant.”
The average price for search terms again fell, reaching $1.44 in September - their lowest point since last October’s $1.55, four percent less than August’s $1.50 and 26 percent less than the 12-month high of $1.95 in April, reports MediaPost (via MarketingVOX), citing Fathom Online data. However, this September’s $1.44 average cost per click was five percent higher than the $1.37 of September a year ago, although in some categories there was significant fluctuation during the last 12 months.
Average prices fell year over year (Sept. ‘04 compared with Sept. ‘05) in three categories: investment, down 17 percent (to $1.46); telecom/broadband, down 15 percent (to $1.62); and automotive, down 2 percent (to $1.51). But prices were up in the remaining five categories.
Weblogs Inc. will be bought by America Online, and an announcement about the deal is expected next week, reports paidContent (via MarketingVox), citing unnamed sources. No firm figures are available; Adrants reports that the deal could be worth as much as $35 million but it’s likely to be far less. One estimate placed the deal at $20 million for the blog media company, which is reportedly bringing in some $2 million a year. Whatever the final amount, it stands to be a lot of money for something weblog-related, and perhaps marks an encouraging step forward for the medium.
Curb Your Enthusiasm, the HBO show based loosely on the life of Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, has returned for its fifth season with 1.55 million total viewers, down 53 percent from last season’s premiere, Media Life reports. The show plummeted even further in its second episode, with 1.36 million viewers, and has averaged so far only 1.45 million total viewers, about half of last season’s 2.92 million average.
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Rachael Ray, the quirky, upbeat star of several Food Network shows and editor-in-chief of a soon-to-be-launched magazine from Readers Digest Association, will host a daily, syndicated talk show beginning in fall 2006, Mediaweek reports. The show, based in New York, will be produced by King World Productions in association with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and Scripps Networks, and distributed by King World.
Oprah said that Ray has a “connection with her audience that most people only achieve one-on-one.”
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