Online marketplace CafePress has added tag-based targeting capabilities to ads on websites in its affiliate program, allowing webmasters and bloggers to serve TopicAds ads based on the tags on their content, reports ClickZ (via MarketingVox). When a visitor arrives at a webpage, an appropriate ad is served based on the relevancy and timeliness of the tags placed there by the affiliate.
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Sirius Satellite Radio may be the only 100 percent commercial-free satellite music service left, as an arbitration panel told XM Satellite Radio it must use advertising on certain music channels now free of commercials, writes Mediaweek. The panel’s ruling settles a legal dispute with Clear Channel - which gained control of four XM music channels in a 1998 investment - by declaring that “Clear Channel is entitled to include commercials on the music programming it provides XM.”
Reacting to XM Satellite Radio’s $55 million contract with Oprah Winfrey for a 24-hour Oprah & Friends channel, Sirius Satellite Radio hopes to boost female listening by signing Candace Bushnell - the author who inspired Sex and the City - to host a weekly four-hour talk show, called Candace Bushnell’s Sex, Success, and Sensibility, scheduled to launch this spring, writes The New York Daily News.
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Liberal Talk network Air America Radio’s CEO Danny Goldberg issued a memo to his staff denying published reports that the company had lost its N.Y.C. flagship, WLIB/New York, and was facing financial challenges, reports Radio & Records.
Advertising.com’s third annual survey of interactive publishers has found that publishers expect increased spending for online branding from advertisers; increased support for video, rich media and behavioral targeting; and continued growth for large creative formats, MarketingVox reports. Publishers expect web-based direct-response advertisers to account for the largest share of online ad spend (58.5 percent), but they anticipate more than 32 percent will come from more traditional, brand-focused advertisers, up from 26.5 percent in 2005.
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Startup Kitmondo.com has announced its first partner for its cost-per-lead online classified advertising program for B2B publishers. Kitmondo delivers relevant classified advertising content to publishers of trade or b-to-b related websites enabling them to create content instantly for successful classified sections. Each classified ad generates revenue on a cost-per-lead basis. When an advertiser receives a qualified inquiry they pay a fee, which Kitmondo then shares with the publisher.
ChickChat Radio, a U.S. nationally syndicated, female-hosted talk radio show for the 25-54 demographic, has landed a title sponsorship from Swiss Medica, Inc.’s PMS Escape. The multi-media campaign for the all-natural supplement - for women with “normal” PMS-related disturbances in mood and appetite - will include product integration into the show.
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Lifetime is phasing out the slogan “Television for Women,” writes USA Today, but that’s not because the cable programming company no longer plans to target women. Rather, says CEO Betty Cohen, what women are saying is, “Don’t tell me you’re television for women. I’ll be the judge of that.” It’s also because Cohen finds the word “television” to be increasingly limiting. Lifetime has the opportunity to be a leading integrated electronics company for women, if steered correctly, she believes.
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MindShare won the consolidated $750 million Sprint Nextel media buying and planning account, beating out roster-mate Starcom, after a review, writes Adweek. Before last year’s merger, MindShare handled media for Nextel while Sprint was handled by Starcom. Since then, MindShare has handled business-to-business and Starcom has worked on consumer buying. Now those two roles have been combined into one central office, leading to consolidation of media chores.
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Direct marketing industry M&A activity increased 65 percent from 2004 to 2005, with total transactions in 2005 totaling 469, according to investment banker Petsky Prunier, BtoB writes. Internet-driven marketing services accounted for nearly half of the marketing services deals, including IAC/Interactive Corp.’s $1.9 billion acquisition of Ask.com (which recently axed the friendly butler Jeeves), Hellman & Friedman’s $1.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick, and Epsilon’s $120 million acquisition of Bigfoot Interactive.
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ABC anchor Bob Woodruff, 44, remains hospitalized five weeks after he incurred serious injuries during an Iraqi explosion, but is able to speak a few words and has begun to walk again, writes TVSpy. Bob’s brother, David Woodruff spoke out about his brother’s condition, saying, “In the last couple of days, he’s taken a lot of great leaps forward. He’s definitely doing so much better.”
List brokerage ParadyszMatera’s most recent list universe report found that consumer catalog lists lead other consumer file types in year-over-year growth, writes DM News.
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The increasing popularity of online dating and social networking sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com has marketers eager to tap into the sites’ advertising potential and weary about lack of control over the sites’ content, writes eMarketer.
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The CW - which signed five affiliates last week, continues to gain market share as it signed five more affiliates yesterday, boosting its total coverage to nearly 54 percent of the U.S., reports Mediaweek. Fox’s new prime-time network My Network TV has also picked up five new affiliates, which brings its total coverage to 40 percent of the U.S., Mediaweek writes in another article.
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Advertisers want to reach and influence women because they are the most likely of the sexes to watch TV and make most of the buying decisions. NBC - the long-time leading network among woman 18-49 - has fallen from its top spot to third place this season. Now, NBC Universal’s $600 million acquisition yesterday of women’s web company iVillage could allow the network and its cable channels to reach women through new platforms, writes Media Life.
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