Several associations and mailers reacted to the U.S. Postal Service’s announcement last week that it filed for an average 8.5 percent postal rate hike with the Postal Rate Commission with concern, and promoted the benefits of postal reform, DM News writes.
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A year after taking the fall for the 2002 merger between AOL and Time Warner Inc. going bad, former AOL exec Bob Pittman purchased the female-targeted email newsletter Daily Candy for $3.5 million, and is now hoping to sell the website for $100 million. Time Inc. has shown interest in acquiring the property, but a source said negotiation between Pittman and the company is “premature,” the New York Post writes.
Many key advertising categories are leaving men’s magazines soft, as they follow male consumers to more interactive media, writes MediaWeek. Though many titles are struggling, some have had success and many are turning to convergence.
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Boston’s Mayor Thomas M. Menino disagrees with French Connection United Kingdom’s recent Fashion v. Style ad campaign - which depicts women fighting with each other - and wants the company to remove the ads from the city’s two FCUK stores, writes Adrants.
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Bypassing advertising agencies and heading straight to the customer, ViTrue Inc. - together with its recently purchased online video sharing community, Sharkle.com - will ask consumers to create advertising for both online and traditional media outlets, writes MediaPost.
U.S. companies have the opportunity to reach the primarily young, male audience of the nation’s armed forces by sponsoring events and recreational activities for military personnel, their families and those retired from the military, Media Life writes.
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The high level of budget allocation uncertainty, coupled with the increasing importance of digital media, has media buyers and planners as well as television networks anxiously preparing for the 2006-2007 upfront presentations, writes Ad Age. However, most upfront players seem to agree that digital media will not interfere with prime-time broadcast negotiations this year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/08/technology/08yahoo.html?_r=1&oref=sloginYahoo is set to unveil today the long-awaited revamp of its online advertising platform (codenamed Project Panama), which the company hopes will close the gap between it and Google and extend its lead over Microsoft, reports the Financial Times (via MarketingVOX). The changes will take affect “shortly after” Yahoo finishes - in the third quarter - the overhaul of the current user interface and management tools that advertisers use to bid for, and manage, keywords. Those changes will be introduced to advertisers and tech partners now to give them time to prepare.
Starting tomorrow, NBA fans can download playoff game video recaps 24 hours after its completion, Mediaweek reports. Fans can purchase 15 to 20 minute recaps of individual games for $1.99 each or packages that follow specific teams throughout the playoffs for $8.99. Starting in June, full-length games of the NBA Finals will be sold for $8.99 each.
A Magna Global USA study reveals that the average television commercial pod rating for the six broadcast networks is seven percent lower than the average program rating, Mediaweek reports. Scripted series on CBS have kept the most viewership when going from programming to a commercial pod.
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The new national advertising network, DotConnect Media, which launched last week, provides direct access to over 1,550 newspaper websites, writes BtoB. DotConnect Media’s subsidiary, TownNews, combines its network of 1,110 daily and weekly newspapers with the 450 newspapers it acquired from ZWire in March to make up the new network.
In a new 60-second cinema spot, Women’s Health magazine positions itself as the friendly voice among a the “mean magazines” that fill newsstands, telling readers, “It’s good to be you” - a tag from Margeotes Fertitta Powell - writes Brandweek.
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TiVo today launched its new advertising search product, TiVo Product Watch, offering advertisers a new way to reach highly valued in-market consumers - those TiVo subscribers who are actively looking for products - with advertising content and information, MarketingVox reports. Some 70 advertisers and 100 leading brands have signed up at launch. TiVo subscribers will be able to create searches, including their favorite brands, and select advertising content ranging from one minute to 60 minutes.
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Targeting an estimated 16.5 million American yoga enthusiasts, health and lifestyle magazine and book publisher Rodale has launched Yoga Life magazine with a website (www.iyogalife.com) featuring podcasts, an email newsletter and a place to buy Rodale books on yoga, writes Ad Age.
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The uncertainty that digital offerings, DVR ratings and the creation of CW bring to this year’s TV upfront market has made it difficult for experts to predict where the ad dollars will go, leaving many to believe that the market will stay flat at last year’s $9.1 billion, writes Ad Age.
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Arbitron will deliver a report on Thursday to Clear Channel, responding to questions that Clear Channel’s electronic measurement review panel had asked about Arbitron’s portable people meter, Radio Ink reports. In an email to the panel, Arbitron CEO Steve Morris said that the company is putting “finishing touches” on a complete report - which could run as long as 250-pages - about the new electronic measurement system.
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The American division of French direct marketing firm Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR), Redcats USA, announced May 5 that in the third quarter it would acquire The Sportsman’s Guide - which specializes in sporting goods and outdoor gear - for about $265 million, writes Multichannel Merchant.
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Liberty Group Publishing will add to its current bank of over 270 community publications when it becomes the owner of a chain of suburban newspapers currently owned by Herald Media Inc. - owner of the Boston Herald - writes Yahoo.
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With several reality shows lined up already for this summer, the Oxygen Network has ordered pilots for three additional half-hour reality programs, writes MediaPost.
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In a deal to help restore Walt Disney Company’s image as a leader in animated film, Pixar Animation Studios’ shareholders agreed Friday to Disney’s acquisition of the company for $7.4 billion in stock - making Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs the largest Disney shareholder, with a seven percent stake - writes The New York Times.
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