Six-Act Format Turns Off Viewers

TV viewers are complaining about excessive commercials that seem more intrusive than ever and slow down the programs they surround, USA Today reports. Some of those complaints could be due to ABC requiring all drama producers to move to a six-act format, rather than the traditional four-act format, this fall. All of The WB’s dramas use the format too. CBS, NBC, and FOX use it on some shows.

The amount of “clutter,” including network and local commercials and plugs for other shows, has steadily increased on broadcast and cable, to the point where an “hour-long” drama is about 40 minutes of original programming. Average non-program minutes in an hour of prime-time have risen from broadcast’s 9:53 and cable’s 12:46 in 1996, to 15:48 non-program minutes for broadcast and 14:55 for cable in 2004.

ABC ad-sales chief Mike Shaw says he’s perplexed by increasing complaints. Viewers must “feel that way because they love the show so much, that they really notice it when the breaks are there,” Shaw says. Even though studies show ABC has slightly more commercials than other networks, ABC did run away with the top spot among 18-49s for the first week of the season, with Desperate Housewives making a major contribution to the ratings win. And for the third week of the 2005-06 season, ABC was once again the highest-rated network in the adults 18 to 49 demographic, with Housewives scoring an 11.1 rating for the same group, TV Week reports.

Martha Builds Homes

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and KB Home will try selling houses under the Martha Stewart brand, TheStreet.com reports.

Kellogg $500 Million Account Under Review

A month after Kellogg decided to retain its U.K. media agency, Mindshare, the cereal maker has put its $500 million-plus U.S. media buying business into review, Mediaweek reports. A Kellogg representative said that there are no plans as of this time for a creative review.

Permission-Based Email Blocking Still High

On average, 21 percent of permission-based emails did not reach the inbox during the first half of 2005 (relatively unchanged from the first half of last year) because they were either blocked or filtered into the junk folder, according to a new email deliverability study from Return Path, reports ClickZ (via MarketingVOX). Senders’ deliverability problems stemmed as much from their own practices (e.g., low list quality and number of complaints against the sender) as zealous blocking of emails by ISPs; blocking rates for individual mailers were as high as 54 percent.

MSN, Yahoo IM Take Aim at AOL

Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to make their instant-messaging services compatible with each other, and the deal is expected to be announced today (Wednesday), reports the Associated Press (via MarketingVOX), citing unnamed sources. Until now, none of the leading consumer IM systems have communicated directly with each other (enterprise versions have), although Microsoft has reportedly been in talks with AOL over possible partnerships with MSN.

Clear Channel Fires Two for Payola Violations

Clear Channel has fired two programming executives and disciplined several others for misconduct after an internal review of “pay for play” allegations, The New York Times reports. Clear Channel says it will provide additional training to station managers and programming personnel on the company’s policies against payola.

The move comes a little over a week after Clear Channel President/CEO Mark Mays said he did not see a “train wreck” coming on the issue of payola. At that time, Mays said that the 4-6 employees investigated in connection with the BMG consent decree were the bad actors, leaving 99.9 percent of its radio programmers doing what they should be doing.

FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein recently said the payola scandal was “the widest and most flagrant abuse of our rules in the history of American broadcasting” and that he planned “to put the fear of God” into broadcasters about obeying the FCC’s payola rules.

Cingular Drops Upfront Commitments to Fox

Breakage in Fox’s upfront market has left the network with holes to fill during its sports programming: Cingular has pulled its commitments worth anywhere from $3 million to $25 million out of Fox and plans to spend it with other networks, according to executives close to the situation, AdAge reports. The commitments, part of a deal to purchase airtime on Fox sports programming, were apparently pulled approximately three weeks ago.

Magazine Ad Rev Up 4.7%

Total magazine rate-card-reported ad revenue for the month of September increased 4.7 percent compared to September 2004, according to Publishers Information Bureau. Ad pages were down 1.3 percent from September 2004. Year-to-date, PIB revenue closed at $16,213,532,068, an increase of 7.9 percent from the same period last year, with ad pages totaling 171,696, a one percent gain.

Seven of the 12 major advertising categories increased their PIB revenue and pages over last year. Media & Advertising generated the largest increases in both pages - 15 percent - and dollars - 23.6 percent. Other top gainers included Financial, Insurance & Real Estate - revenue up 5.2 percent and pages up 7.4, Drugs & Remedies - revenue up 16.6 percent and pages up 7.1 percent, and Toiletries & Cosmetics - revenue up 14.5 percent and pages up 5 percent.

Losers included Home Furnishings and Supplies which fell 18.4 percent in revenue and 17.8 in pages compared with last year and Automotive, which saw revenue drop 3.1 percent and pages 9.2 percent.

80% of DM Companies Plan to Hire

According to Bernhart Associates Executive Search’s quarterly direct marketing employment survey, 80 percent of direct marketing companies plan to hire more workers this fall, BtoB reports. In addition, the hiring level for fall is up 20 percent compared with fall 2004. Nine percent of companies reported hiring freezes will continue and six percent said they plan to reduce headcount by the end of the year.

Return Path’s Postmaster Direct Offers RSS Advertising

Return Path Inc. has relaunched its Postmaster direct business to provide media buyers and marketers a wide variety of online customer acquisition programs. A notable addition to its traditional targeted email database is the ability to advertise in RSS feeds and on email confirmation pages.