CEO Bob Wright: NBC ‘Desperate Network’

NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Bob Wright said the NBC television network is “desperate,” and rebuilding its program schedule will take more than one season, Bloomberg reports (via The New York Post).

NBC has lost viewers in the current season, in which The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and Inconceivable haven’t appealed to large audiences. The network had ranked No. 1 for eight of the past nine years before last season. Now at No. 3, Law and Order: SVU is its only show in the top 10.

Comedy Central’s Motherload.com to Offer 80 New Vids a Week

Responding to market demand for sophisticated online advertising options and more ways to reach viewers, Comedy Central will launch a broadband-enabled site - MotherLoad.com, to go live on November 1 - with new broadband video content that consists of 3- to 5-minute original shorts, up to 80 per week, aimed at an online “content-snacking” audience, writes AdAge (via MarketingVox).

Mirrors Make Up Outdoor Campaign

Women & Co., a Citigroup financial services firm, has launched an outdoor campaign made up of mirrors rather than posters, Adrants reports. The mirrors contain messages like, “You’re one of a kind. Is your financial plan?” and “That smile would go great with a financial future.”

The message includes a web address for the company. Along with the mirrors, a street team handed out branded mirrors to women, to remind them to “look” at their finances.

UPS Stops Shipping Cigarettes

UPS will stop delivering cigarettes to consumers in the United States in an agreement aimed at reducing Internet access to cigarettes by underage smokers, Reuters reports.

The agreement between the world’s largest package shipping company and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, follows a similar deal with DHL.

Behavioral Ad Clicks Low, Conversions High

Those who click on behaviorally targeted ads are more likely to respond to a call to action, according to a new study from AOL’s Advertising.com, which found that although behavioral targeting produces lower click-through rates than run-of-network placements, those who do click on such ads are more likely to open accounts or complete registration forms, reports AdWeek (via MarketingVOX). Targeted auto ads, for example, had a 64 percent lower click rate - but 323 percent higher conversion rate.

P&G, Dodge Sign On with RipeTV

Proctor & Gamble and DaimlerChrysler’s Dodge division have joined the list of charter advertisers signing on for the Oct. 28 launch of RipeTV, a new on-demand TV service that will be distributed across cable video-on-demand services and broadband Internet, MediaPost reports.

Chevy Opens Store in U.S.’s Largest Mall

Chevrolet is opening its first Chevy store, ChevyShowcase, where consumers don’t buy cars and trucks but get referred to dealers, at the largest mall in the country, the King of Prussia Mall, outside Philadelphia, Brandweek reports.

Maxim Plans India Launch

Dennis Publishing’s Maxim is launching in India next month, ahead of three other launches this autumn in Bulgaria, Romania and Indonesia, Mediaweek reports. Maxim will launch with an initial print run of 80,000. Although the country’s population nears 1.1 billion people, the market is still relatively small. The bestselling men’s mag there, Man’s World, currently moves between 12,000 and 15,000 copies.

Google - The World’s Database

Click to enlarge

If Google’s mission is indeed to find, search through, sort, categorize, and provide/sell (or otherwise, via advertising, monetize) access to information - in short, to become both the repository and warehouse of the world’s knowledge - then Google Base, “an early stage test of a product that enables content owners to easily send their content to Google,” according to a Google spokeswoman, may be a good indication of the vast scope of its ultimate intent.

In the short term, the accidentally discovered Google Base test page is being interpreted by some, according to CNET (via MarketingVox), as the search giant’s challenge - in the form of a combination classifieds listings and e-commerce site - to eBay and Craigslist. Google terms it a service that would allow people to post and make searchable any type of content.

For Real: Roth, Carolla to Replace Stern on Infinity

Confirmed

When Howard Stern leaves Infinity for Sirius in December, David Lee Roth and Adam Carolla will take over the morning-drive broadcasts in New York and Los Angeles, respectively, AdAge reports. Jimmy Kimmel, currently a late-night talk show host for ABC, will come onboard as creative director for The Adam Carolla Show and advisor to Infinity.