Motor Trends, Others Take Advantage of New Video Platforms

Primedia is taking its Motor Trend magazine into broadcast TV, creating a service that can be carried by broadcast stations’s secondary digital channels, writes Broadcasting & Cable. Motor Trend TV should be ready to launch in early 2007. Programming will be free to stations; affiliates will receive local commercial inventory and will have the option of inserting locally produced auto-related programming.

DuPont Endorses WOMMA Ethics, Raises Bar for U.S. Companies

Fortune 100 firm DuPont has officially endorsed the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Code of Ethics, making it applicable to all sales and marketing employees and vendors, in what WOMMA described as a milestone in consumer protection and word of mouth marketing, MarketingVox reports. DuPont also said it would engage only those word of mouth marketing services providers that adhere to the Code of Ethics. DuPont is the first major marketer to screen vendors for word of mouth ethics.

New MRI Service to Measure How Fast Mags Build Readership

Beginning in May, Mediamark Research Inc. plans to test a new service that will reveal issue-specific data on the rate at which magazines accumulate readership, MediaWeek reports.

15% of Searches Lead to Competitor Site Visits

While 85 percent of brand name searches result in a visit to the brand owner’s website, 15 percent result in visits to competitors’ sites through sponsored search results, according to a study published Wednesday by Hitwise, writes BtoB.

‘Village Voice’ Dropping Editors Left and Right

Tuesday, music editor Chuck Eddy was fired from The Village Voice, making him the 17th employee to leave the paper - either by termination or resignation - since Village Voice Media - then named New Times - took control following a $400 million merger in November, writes The New York Observer. Also, the Voice’s Robert Christgau recently discontinued his podcast, certain that he was next to be fired from the paper, writes the Gawker.

Marketing Compensation Survey Results Released

Boston-based Aquent and the American Marketing Association (AMA) have announced this year’s Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals, and the news seems mostly good, according to a post in the MarketingProfs DailyFix blog (via MarketingVOX). The survey results point to companies’ placing more emphasis on strategic marketing within their organizations and hiring more top-level marketers. In fact, there are more positions available than there are top-tier candidates. Consequently, there’s more opportunity trickling down to mid-level and entry-level marketing positions.

Media Buyers Expect Close Race During Sweeps

Heading into the May sweeps, as Fox is now within 0.1 rating points of taking over for longtime leader among adults 18-49, ABC, the question is not whether Fox will pass ABC but rather whether ABC will be able to bounce back, Media Life reports.

Google to Charge for AdWords API

Effective July 1, Google will charge, per use, for its AdWords application programming interface (API), which software developers use to design applications for sending and receiving data to and from Google’s keyword ad auction, reports MediaPost (via MarketingVOX). The move is likely to affect bid management firms most, because they continually receive and send data to change keyword bids dynamically.

Burst: Online Ads Make Impression; Internet Primary Source for Purchase Info

Some 57.1 percent of all web users 18 years and older say the internet serves as the primary source of information about products or services they might want to buy, according to a survey by Burst Media of more than 3,700 web users, MarketingVOX reports. That proportion is significantly higher among the affluent: 69.2 percent among those with household income of $75,000 or more. That’s compared with 50.6 percent of those with income less than $35,000.

TV commercials, however, apparently still make the most impression. Nearly half (49.8 percent) of respondents cited television as the most effective media to capture their attention, followed by the internet (22.3 percent), magazines (11.6 percent), newspapers (10.3 percent) and radio (5.9 percent). Stil, half (50.7 percent) of respondents say they have watched an online video advertisement for a product or service online.

Yahoo Ad Revs Up 35 Percent in Q1

Yahoo, which runs the largest web portal, yesterday reported a 22 percent decline in first-quarter profit but met Wall Street expectations, helped by growth in ad sales, reports the New York Times (via MarketingVOX). Revenue was up 34 percent, to $1.57 billion from $1.17 billion in the year-ago period. Branded and search advertising revenue increased 35 percent, to $1.38 billion. Net revenue - sales excluding fees Yahoo pays to advertising partners, rose 33 percent, to $1.09 billion from $821 million.