Inflight Ad Category Soaring over Competitors

While the magazine industry’s ad pages have had relatively flat gains in 2005, the inflight category has seen record gains, announced Pace Communications, custom publisher and producer of Delta Sky, United Hemispheres and the new US Airways Magazine. According to numbers from the Publishers Information Bureau, inflight mags including Sky, Hemisphers, and Attache (which will be replaced by US Airways magazine) were among the top 35 publications, growing 21 percent over the last year. The industry as a whole grew only 0.4 percent in reported ad pages.

Jupiter: Automotive Industry to Help Drive Online Advertising Growth

JupiterResearch forecasts (via MarketingVOX)that spending on online advertising - display and search - will grow at an average annual rate of 10 percent from 2005 to 2010 and will be driven by the automotive, media and entertainment, and financial services industries. The most impressive growth, according to the Jupiter report titled “U.S. Category Advertising Forecast, 2005 to 2010,” is expected to come from automotive (yearly average of 24 percent) and travel (13 percent).

“Agencies and publishers must educate themselves on how industry categories prioritize online advertising and tailor their pitches to different industries,” said Zia Wigder, VP and Research Director at JupiterResearch.

Online Display Ads Down from October Peak

Though more online display ad impressions were served in November - 115.2 billion - than any other month from March to September, that was still down nearly 7.5 percent from the 124.5 billion served in October, writes MediaPost (via MarketingVOX), citing new figures from Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance. Once again, email sites accounted for the largest share of ad impressions - 26.7 percent - up from 20.8 percent in November 2004. Portals and search engines accounted for 12.3 percent, down from 15.5 percent last year; and 11.5 percent of impressions were on general community sites, up from only 4.8 percent last year.

PPM Tests Face Proportionality Problems

Getting 18-24 year olds to participate in an electronic ratings service is just as difficult as convincing them to take part in a diary-based service, Billboard Radio Monitor reports. Arbitron’s Pierre Bouvard said that difficulties in proportionality have arisen with 18-24 males and females. Male 18-24 proportionality in PPM tests tracked at 64, while males 25-34 tracked at 78. Females 18-24 tracked at 70. Ideal proportionality is 100.

Google Music Plays Middleman

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Google today launched a new service - Google Music - that serves up links to song lyrics, music artists and CD titles on the search results page, writes CNET (via MarketingVox). Users who search on the name of a band, artist, album or song in the main Google search bar will get results that appear at the top; a click on that takes them to music search results, including links to additional Google pages with names of tracks and CDs that a band or artist has released; snippets of reviews on websites and links to those sites; and links to various sites that sell the music.

MobilePlay Adds Pocket PCs to Platform List

MobilePlay has added Pocket PCs to its list of devices through which it can offer its content, Adrants reports. In return for downloading the MobilePlay software and viewing accompanying ads, users get free content from Business Week, PC World, USA Today, The Weather Channel, Gawker, The Sporting News and others. MobilePlay currently works with Palm, Blackberry and now Pocket PC phones and PDAs. Microsoft and Volvo are charter advertisers on the service.

Viacom Renews with NYC Transit, Gains Urban Panels

The New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority has renewed its contract with Viacom Outdoor, Mediaweek reports. In addition to handling all display advertising on rail cars, in stations and on station platforms in the NYC Subways and Staten Island Railway, as it has in the past, Viacom has gained 1,600 additional urban panels. In all, Viacom’s MTA inventory includes inventory on 6,211 subway cars, 468 subway stations, and the new urban panels.

‘Radar’ Mag Going off the Radar Again

Radar magazine looks to be shut again - after two issues in 2003 and three in its current incarnation - as publishing mogul Mortimer B. Zuckerman and financier Jeffrey Epstein pull the plug, according to the New York Times. But editor of the pop culture magazine, Maer Roshan, has been seeking new backers, according to friends - if not to save the magazine entirely, at least to allow it to print the fourth issue, which was set to close this week and would have hit newsstands in January. It is not clear if he will be able to pull it off in time to keep the magazine from closing.

‘Infinity’ Moniker Dies, CBS Radio Rises Again

Infinity Broadcasting will become CBS Radio, CBS Corp. announced Wednesday, Mediaweek reports. A new slogan for the radio group expands on “traditional” radio, touting: “Broadcast…HD…Streaming…On-Demand.” According to Les Moonves, CEO and president of the new CBS Corp. - the result of Viacom’s separation of its businesses - the CBS Radio name is “one of the most revered brands in broadcasting, with a history that predates the television era.” The original CBS Radio was founded in 1928.

Ford to Place Corporate Ads in Gay Pubs

Ford Motor Co., after having announced that it had cut Jaguar and Land Rover advertising in gay publications, has announced that it will instead run corporate-wide ads in those publications featuring all of its brands, the Detroit Free Press reports. Ford had claimed that the original plan to cut the ads had nothing to do with a threatened boycott by the American Family Association, which had run a campaign accusing Ford of “extensive promotion of homosexuality.”