Ingenio, Podbridge Team for Podcast Pay-per-Call

Pay-per-call advertising pioneer Ingenio and podcast ad network and audience measurement firm Podbridge have teamed up to integrate Ingenio’s performance-based ad listings within Podbridge’s podcast network - an industry-first combination, according to the companies, MarketingVOX reports. “As far as we know, this is the first time podcasts are being monetized with pay-per-call ads,” Ingenio CEO Marc Barach is quoted by ClickZ as saying. The move may also be positioning the company for expansion into radio.

Christian Music Magazine Subscriber List Hits Market

Direct Partners Solutions has taken over management of the Christian Music Planet Magazine subscriber list and will make it available to the market for the first time, writes DM News. The list, with 21,000 names, is comprised of Christian music lovers. Christian music album sales have reached $39.2 million, according to the article, and book sales have reached 62 million copies.

‘The Economist’ Chosen Top Mag by Chicago Trib

For its list of 50 best magazines published today, the Chicago Tribune chose The Economist as number one, writing that it is, “in a class by itself as the best English-language newsweekly, with each issue unavoidably reminding readers of the weaknesses of Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report.”

Nielsen to Track TV Viewing Online and on Mobile Devices

As people increasingly watch TV shows outside the home and on computers, mobile devices and cell phones, TV audience tracking firm Nielsen Media Research and sister company Netratings on Wednesday announced plans to track TV viewing online and on mobile devices, as well as in restaurants and bars, reports Reuters (via MarketingVOX). The move may have a serious impact on ad spend and advertising revenues.

Latin Grammy Awards Seeks Sponsors

The Latin Grammy Awards, headed to Madison Square Garden on November 2, is looking for five corporate sponsors in the wireless, automotive, financial services, retail and apparel categories. Univision will broadcast the show in Spanish.

Yahoo Exhibits ‘World’s Largest Brain’

Yahoo’s latest brain-child is, well, a giant brain, which doubles as a two-story terrarium atop the Hard Rock Cafe in New York. The PR stunt is meant to promote Yahoo Answers, an online community where consumers ask and answer questions on any topic, writes Promo Magazine. Within the terrarium are 22 “brainiacs,” picked from an online submission process, who are answering questions from Yahoo Answer users.

The website includes videos of events taking place at “the brain” and a live feed, along with Flickr photos from visitors and sample questions the brainiacs have answered (”Should I start my kids on skiing or snowboarding first?” “Can anyone please explain how to watch golf on TV and enjoy it?”).

Behavioral Targeting Transforms Online Ad Campaigns

A new JupiterResearch report, Effective Targeting, reports that advertisers and agencies that have tested early online behavioral targeting services are yielding positive results and that one in four online advertisers will be using behavioral targeting by 2007.

Touch of Class Goes Multiplatform with Video

Research by The Touch of Class Catalog, part of Parke-Bell Ltd., has shown that 60 percent of its online orders come from customers holding a catalog while sitting at the computer, DMNews reports. As a result of those findings, in a test running the next few months, demonstration videos will be available at www.touchofclasscatalog.com where visitors can watch the in-motion utilities of products.

CBS Plans to Show Rather the Door

Dan Rather, who has sat in the CBS anchor chair for 24 years, will be gone from the network by the time Katie Couric joins this fall, according to the Washington Post. CBS executives have said that they are not trying to “boot” him because of the controversy surrounding his botched story on President Bush and the National Guard, but rather that there will be no room for him on 60 Minutes, particularly with Couric’s arrival as well as that of CNN’s Anderson Cooper as part-time contributor.

WPP’s Group M to Purchase M-80

WPP’s GroupM announced yesterday that it will acquire M80, a smaller word-of-mouth marketing firm, in order to strengthen its capabilities in that area, MediaPost writes. Word-of-mouth marketing has become an increasingly important part of the marketing mix in the last year, and M80, with its focus on community activation and viral marketing, will help boost GroupM’s abilities to harness consumer-generated media, according to the article.