Coming out of the sweeps month, ABC seems to be the network to watch among media agencies, Mediapost reports. ABC tied CBS for the win in adults 18-49, reaching its highest sweeps rating since Feb. 2001. It also won in the 18-34 demo and had five of the top six highest-rated shows in adults 18-49.
Those who view ads in videogames have better brand recall, and sometimes are more likely to favorably change their opinion of a brand, than those who view TV product placements, according to a study released today by Nielsen Interactive Entertainment and videogame publisher Activision, reports the Boston Globe (via MarketingVox). The study suggest that videogames can persuade like no other media, said Michael Dowling, general manager of Nielsen Interactive Entertainment.
Even luxury brands such as TAG Heuer and Bang & Olufsen have now realized that males 18-34 spend hours playing videogames - instead of watching TV - according to the article.
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While a new Merrill Lynch report predicts that ad spending in the automotive category will flatten, continuing to trail overall U.S. adspend, U.S. automakers will likely not cut the amount of ad dollars spent on broadcast and cable networks, Mediapost writes. Ray Warren, president of Carat, said that “you have to show the consumer that you continue to be optimistic about your products. And if you’re a marketing executive for one of these companies, television is traditionally the safer place to advertise than nontraditional media.”
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Atlanta Hispanic Broadcasting’s Georgia TeVe is debuting the first Spanish-language newscast, Georgia Teve Noticias, in the Atlanta market today at 7 p.m. on Fox Television’s WAGA, Mediaweek reports.
DaimlerChrysler’s Jeep is creating an outdoor exhibit of a rugged mountain scene during next month’s North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center, The Detroit News reports. Jeep also plans an all-new display inside the auto show.
A new trend in outdoor advertising is being seen in vacant storefront windows, according to a Media Life article. Instead of just large-scale poster ads being posted in the windows and doors of empty stores, at least one company is offering video and projection screens, as well as audio. TBS is using the technology in a storefront in New York City’s SoHo district to promote its new series, Daisy Does America. The campaign, running through the New Year, shows a display in each of the store’s front windows, with suitcases being used as props for Daisy-character mannequins. The suitcases are mounted with LTD screens, which show a five-minute trailer.
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With a projected increase in political advertising next year as well as the first anniversary of Clear Channel’s Less Is More initiative, Harris-Nesbitt analyst Lee Westerfield expects to see a radio “uptick” of three percent in 2006, Radio Ink reports. Overall, Westerfield predicts U.S. ad spend should be 4.4 percent in 2005 and +6.9 percent in 2006.
U.K. direct marketers have a new way to look at wealth and disposable income for every U.K. household with EuroDirect’s property and income prediction tool, Brand Republic reports. The tool is being offered after processing government reevaluations of homes in Wales, and it will be housed in an updated version of EuroDirect’s property evaluation tool Cameo Property+.
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Online shopping MVPs (most valuable purchasers) - the top 18 percent of the online buying population - account for nearly half (46 percent) of all online spending, writes InternetNews (via MarketingVox), citing Nielsen/NetRatings figures released Friday. MVPs are also heavy users of comparison-shopping tools: 56 percent of them visited Shopping.com from June to August 2005; 48 percent went to Yahoo Shopping; 42 percent to Shopzilla; and 21 percent to MSN Shopping.
Thanks to the local people meters which are now in use in seven of the top 10 television markets, stations can now claim a win or point out significant growth in a specific demo, Mediaweek writes. LPMs have specifically changed how stations handle programming, which has had a significant impact on certain sweeps activities, as previously, ratings were only available during sweeps months.
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Digg.com, the technology news site that some are calling the next Slashdot, has reached a critical mass of users and now plans to enter into broader categories - including, perhaps, sports and business news - as well as new forms of media such as video and audio, Mediapost reports.
Digg’s readers vote for stories, and the more votes a story lands, the further up the rankings it goes. Digg.com’s CEO, Jay Adelson, hopes that this process will ultimately prove faster and more relevant than the automated search engines and the people-powered sites like Slashdot.
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ZenithOptimedia has significantly lowered its projections for ad spending in 2006, predicting that U.S. spending will rise only 2.9 percent compared to the gain of 3.6 percent it predicted when it released its last quarterly update on Oct. 24, Mediapost reports. Worldwide ad spending is now expected to grow only 4.8 percent, compared to a previously predicted growth of 5.2 percent.
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Although Kellogg said in early November that its media review would be limited to two roster shops, it has, according to Adweek, added Aegis Group’s Carat to the review. It was originally expected that only Publicis Groupe’s Starcom - the U.S. incumbent - and WPP Group’s Mindshare would be involved in the review.
Agency executives can expect better compensation packages and an average net gain of three new hires in 2006, according to the Advertising Age Salary Survey, AdAge writes. Raises look to be in the area of 4 to 6 percent, with year-end bonuses around 3-7 percent of based pay for non-management and 10-12 percent for management positions.
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