Articles of the Day
Survey Finds Women Own More Game Consoles Than Men - A new survey from JWT found that 44% of women reported owning a gaming console such as a Wii, Xbox or PlayStation, compared with just 39% of men.
Fox Offers Ad-Free Show Downloads On iTunes - Looking to juice up its fall season–and that of the Apple iTunes Music Service–Fox announced that it will, for the first time, offer ad-free downloads of series premieres beginning this week. Such a move signals a shift in philosophy for iTunes–perhaps because of some pressure from Fox executives.
Online Is Ad Spending Bright Spot - Internet display advertising grew 17.7% to $5.52 billion during the second quarter of 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence. However, TNS found total ad spending in the first half of 2007 fell 0.3% to $72.59 billion versus the same period in 2006. “Internet spending growth used to be driven by small and midsize businesses,” he said. “Now it’s the large companies like consumer packaged goods firms which are getting more into the Internet. The percentage of budget allocated to display by the top 50 blue-chip firms is still comparatively low, but that’s changing.”
E-Mail Top Digital Marketing Tool - Major marketers worldwide use e-mail in their campaigns, according to The McKinsey Quarterly. In a survey of 311 marketing executives, McKinsey found that 83% used e-mail, ahead of display ads, paid search and online video. Over one-half of respondents said they planned to increase their e-mail spending in the next three years, but plans to increase spending could mean that e-mail would lose some budget to paid search and other tactics.
Effective Web-Video Ads Focus on Viewers’ Interests - If share of budgets matched share of mind for online video advertising, it would be worth a lot more than eMarketer’s $775 million 2007 revenue estimate. But much of the attention paid to the ad channel is because there are still so many unknowns. The latest parties to research the space are two of the Web’s giants, AOL and Google, which have teamed with TNS to produce a study of video-viewing habits. They found that online-video viewing steadily increases throughout the day, peaking in the evening, but that the heaviest viewers also watch in the afternoon. As for online-video destinations, most users had requested a video-sharing site in the past month (77%), followed by news sites (55%) and broadcast TV sites (49%).
Microsoft Wages Stealth Anti-Google Campaign - Microsoft Corp. is waging a quiet campaign to convince all interested parties to oppose Google Inc.’s acquisition of DoubleClick Inc., in part via its public-relations firm. Burson-Marsteller pitched media outlets and Internet companies on the dangers of the deal, which would bolster Google’s already strong presence in online advertising. Burson cites the deal as part of a larger discussion of “fair and free competition” in Internet-search and privacy rights of consumers.
Hey! Guess What Just Went Live, And Is Rising With A Bullet? - Media and marketing research giant Nielsen Company opened the beta for its new “Hey! Nielsen” social network to the general public. And based on what’s happening on its pages, the site is destined to be a monitor of pop culture, ranging from TV to music to online media content. Based on the initial conversations from 2,720 members — mainly Nielsen employees — TV is generating the most buzz. Shows like CBS’ “Jericho,” NBC’s “Heroes,” and ABC’s “Ugly Betty” are the buzziest. Its in
TV Networks Flex Web Muscles - Television executives are convinced that the bigger opportunity for their industry is not digital downloads but streaming their programs over the Internet with advertising. The networks began to experiment with streaming video last year. An ABC survey in August 2006 found that 84% of viewers believed they were getting “a great deal” by being allowed to stream programs for free, even if it meant advertisements could not be skipped. The network also found that 87% of respondents were able to recall which advertisers had sponsored particular episodes.
Microsoft Fires Volley At Google in Ad Battle - Microsoft is in talks to buy a minority stake in the popular social-networking Web site Facebook Inc., a sign of a new urgency by the software giant to jump-start its online business at a time when Google is widening its lead in the fast-growing Internet-advertising business. Microsoft in recent weeks approached Facebook with proposals to invest in the startup that could value the fast-growing site at $10 billion or higher, said people familiar with the matter. If those talks bear fruit, Microsoft could purchase a stake of up to 5% in the closely held startup, at a cost in the range of $300 million to $500 million, the people said.
