NBC Universal has retained independent incumbent Horizon Media for broadcast buying chores and enlisted Publicis Groupe’s Fallon for media planning and some buying on its estimated $140 million ad account following a review, Adweek reports.
Amid rising fears of a bird flu pandemic, Kentucky Fried Chicken is preparing a consumer education plan to reassure customers that it’s safe to eat chicken, AdAge reports. The company recently revealed their contingency plan to a small group of analysts and investors. The program includes TV advertising to educate consumers that eating cooked chicken is perfectly safe.
Executives from the chain’s parent, Yum Brands, estimate sales could drop 10 percent to 20 percent in the U.S. based on its experience in China. Chicken demand is slipping 20 percent to 40 percent in parts of Europe and China on avian flu fears. In Guantang, Shanghai’s largest poultry wholesale market, sales have dropped by as much as 80 percent.
Time Inc.’s request of the Audit Bureau of Circulations that it and other publishers be allowed to use the new Verified reporting category on statements six months earlier than the by-law allows may have been a move to show advertisers that other publishers use sponsored sales, too, AdAge writes.
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Website Services, a new quarterly magazine, is being distributed to more than 25,000 individuals who own, operate or manage Web properties, BtoB reports. Articles will focus on Internet advertising, search engine optimization and programming. For a limited time visitors can sign up for a free subscription at www.websiteservices.com.
Ziff Davis has partnered with Hong Kong-based SEEC Media Group to launch a Chinese edition of PC Magazine. The 160-page debut issue of the Chinese edition of PC Magazine is now on newsstands in China. The magazine will be published monthly and will have an editorial mission identical to its counterpart in the U.S.
Dennis Publishing’s music magazine Blender is increasing its rate base by 15 percent with its January issue, from 630,000 to 725,000, Mediaweek writes. In March, the magazine upped its frequency from 10 to 12 times a year.
According to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, total paid circulation for the magazine rose 17.2 percent to 636,256 for the first half of the year, while newsstand sales dropped 25.6 percent.
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The buzz about podcasting is no longer about the technology; now, venture capitalists and media giants alike are trying to figure out how to make money, experimenting with advertising and subscriptions, writes Business Week (via MarketingVox), which reports that his month podcast pioneer Adam Curry is launching a podcast network of 30-50 shows that will share ad revenues.
With traditional media such as CBS, Clear Channel and Walt Disney producing podcasts and tech giants such as AOL, Apple and Yahoo offering aggregation, the business foundation is being laid for selling shows and ads.
The semi-annual report on paid newspaper circulation showed a 2.6 percent top-line decline in paying weekday readers among 786 papers across the country, AdAge reports. That represents a loss of nearly 1.2 million readers, but the New York Times and USA Today both posted slight gains.
Gannett’s USA Today reported 1,882 more paid readers of its Monday-Thursday edition, for a total weekday circulation of 2,222,745, the highest weekday circulation of any paper. The New York Times reported an average increase of 5,133 paying weekday readers, for a total of 1,126,190.
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Yahoo Local is reportedly running pay-per-call ads being served by Ingenio, writes SearchEngineJournal (via MarketingVox), citing a post on the Search Engine Watch forums by a member who apparently received verbal confirmation from a Yahoo rep that Ingenio is indeed testing pay-per-call listings with Yahoo. Ingenio also serves pay-per-call ads for AOL, and they have been more profitable than other ads, points out WebProNews.
Four CBS shows - CSI, Survivor, NCIS, and Amazing Race - will be available on a video-on-demand basis for 99 cents per 24-hour period for each show, beginning in January 2006, Mediaweek reports. The programs will be available on Comcast systems in all of the CBS markets in which it owns and operates stations, including seven of the top 10 markets.
Google has introduced a referral program for AdSense publishers in an effort that’s likely, at least in part, a response to Yahoo’s encroachment on what Google sees as its turf. Google will reward AdSense publishers with $100 for each small publisher and blogger referred, paying the money after the new participants earn their first $100 in ad revenue, writes CNET (via MarketingVOX). Google will also pay U.S. AdSense participants $1 for every person who downloads the Google Firefox toolbar via referral.
Grokster yesterday said it would stop distributing file-swapping software and cut off support for its peer-to-peer network as part of a settlement with the recording industry and Hollywood, reports the New York Times (via MarketingVOX). The agreement comes four months after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Grokster could be held liable for copyright infringement by users of its software, and sent the case back to a trial court. The settlement should end the four-year-old legal battle for Grokster, which agreed to pay up to $50 million in damages, though it doesn’t have the money.
Grokster’s co-defendant, Streamcast Networks, which runs the file-sharing network Morpheus, apparently plans to keep fighting the good fight in court.
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The Audit Bureau of Circulations has created a new category under which it will allow public place magazine copies to be reported, Mediaweek writes. The new circulation category, called Verified, allows publishers to report copies distributed to public places like doctor’s offices, hair salons, and hotel rooms, and will be available as of the June 2006 reporting period.
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Howard Stern and Tom Chiusano, general manager for Stern’s flagship New York station WXRK in New York, apparently quarreled about Stern’s constant on-air chatter about Sirius, resulting in a one-day suspension of the shock jock from his syndicated show, according to Mediaweek. Stern is expected to be off the air today. An Infinity spokesperson had no comment on the situation. Stern has 23 shows left on terrestrial radio before his switch to satellite, assuming he resumes his show on Wednesday.
Connie Chung will co-host a half-hour news talk show on MSNBC beginning Jan. 7 with husband Maury Povich, according to the New York Times. The show, a review of the week’s news, will appear on Saturday mornings and air again on Sundays. If it catches on, MSNBC may consider moving it to a more prominent spot.
This marks Chung’s first return to television since CNN canceled her prime-time show in 2003.
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Clear Channel Radio’s Total Traffic Network and Inrix, Inc. - provider of predictive traffic flow information - today announced an agreement. Inrix will make Total Traffic Network’s real-time traffic incident data available to Inrix customers by integrating it into Inrix’s predictive and forecast traffic services. In return, Clear Channel’s Total Traffic Network will make Inrix’s predictive and forecast traffic flow information available to its customer base, including broadcasters and real-time traffic navigation systems.
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