Ad Sales to Mirror Stock Market in Near Future

A great deal of attention is being focused on projects aiming to make the ad buying and selling process similar to that of commodities, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft, Yahoo and Google are working on ways to compete with smaller players in becoming ad exchanges, marketplaces where ad inventory is offered and snapped up by buyers. These automated systems would be able to connect buyers with what otherwise would have been unsold inventory, a frequent headache for publishers unable to sell leftover spots.

Firms like Right Media, ContextWeb and others have created their own marketplaces by signing blog network partners and other deals. But a large-scale solution remains elusive. Many publishers, especially those tied to traditional media outlets, still rely on sales people and their contacts, a less efficient process that is nonetheless steeped in tradition and politics.

Cynics feel exchange marketplaces will only excel at selling scatter and non-premium inventory since big brands negotiate their own buys. Others contend that there is more than enough inventory to keep a robust ad market happy.

Bonnier Develops Video Content For 40 Titles

Swedish Bonnier Corp. is planning to produce online video content for more than 40 of its big titles, including the recently acquired Time4Media titles, according to MediaPost. With digital infrastructure provided by the Onstream Media Corporation, the video initiative accompanies a parallel push to develop more social media and networking functions. Bonnier is seeking to expand the online footprint of titles including Parenting, Babytalk, Popular Science, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Saveur, Spa and various sports enthusiast publications.

As part of the program, the Parenting Group is partnering with Studio 4 Networks to produce free video content for Parenting magazine that targets mothers, called "What Matters to Moms." In the series, Parenting editors discuss issues of importance to overtaxed modern mothers, including controlling temper tantrums, good manners and health issues. The video content will be available online as well as on Parenting's VOD channel, carried by Cox, Shaw, Charter, and DirecTV.

Jeff Wellington, president and group publisher of the Parenting Group, said the relationship will "create targeted opportunities for our advertisers to reach a captive audience of mom viewers." Ed Stansfield, CEO of Studio 4 Networks, added that "the partnership offers sponsors a direct and compelling opportunity to reach moms in a contextual kid-centered environment."

Gen Y Reads More Print, Not Less, than Older Counterparts

Despite worries that tech-savvy Gen Yers are ditching print media for digital, research house McPheters & Co. finds that 19-34 year-olds are actually reading more consumer magazines than older consumers, reports MediaPost.

After reporting the results, McPheters assumed they were skewed due to a low sample. To ensure accuracy, the group checked a similar study conducted last year by Readership.com across 8,400 pollsters. It confirmed that "adults in the 19-24 and 25-34 age groups reported that they read a larger number of both different magazine titles and specific magazine issues than their older counterparts," said company partner John McPheters of McPheters & Co.

"This evidence speaks directly to the growing concern that younger audiences are abandoning the hard-copy magazines for the Internet and other forms of media. It simply has not happened," he added.

MarketingCharts offers more data from the survey, including tables.

Where do media moguls go...?

As the media business goes through a generational shift, several former industry titans appear to be seeking a compass for their lives.

WHEN Michael D. Eisner left the Walt Disney Company after a shareholder revolt in 2005, the former chief executive was forced to rethink his life. Where once he had commanded a private plane to fly around the world, last year he pedaled around Italy on a bicycle. Instead of wielding the power to back the next “Pirates of the Caribbean,” today Mr. Eisner is financing a modest Web video series called “Prom Queen,” e-mailing his friends to remind them to watch.

While Viacom boss Tom Freston admits: "I'm trying to figure out what to do." Ex-Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin says: "I'm going to find myself."

New York Times has more.

Microsoft Wins aQuantive with $6 Billion Cash Bid

Per a recent commitment to broaden its digital advertising horizons, Microsoft today agreed to purchase online ad firm aQuantive for $6 billion, Internet News Reports.

At $66.50 per share at an 85 percent premium over aQuantive's Thursday closing price, the $6 billion purchase represents Microsoft's most ambitious bid to date.

Microsoft has stated it plans to use aQuantive's myriad assets to develop "new media" ad systems like cross media planning, VOD and IPTV.

From inception, aQuantive has seen significant growth spurts, having evolved into three primary brands: DRIVEpm, an ad service that matches ad campaigns with published content; Avenue A | Razorfish, a digital marketing consulting service; and Atlas, the foundation for the Media Console ad platform.

aQuantive is expected to add thrust to Microsoft's AdCenter, which serves approximately 500 users a month but remains a small contender to Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing.

The deal is expected to finalize in Q1 of 2008.

CFO Chris Liddel noted the online ad market, worth about $40 billion at present, is expected to grow 20 percent per year until 2010.

Too fast to Fast-Forward

New York Times reports this morning that a Broadcast Newtork will soon offer advertisers two more ways to try holding the attention of viewers throughout those commercial breaks that consumers love to hate.

One idea is to run quickie commercials of only five seconds each. The other is to schedule a series with no commercial breaks at all, and instead incorporate sponsors’ products into each episode.

Executives of the network CW outlined their plans yesterday as they offered Madison Avenue a preview of their prime-time lineup for the 2007-8 season.

The proposals are the most recent to be advanced by the major networks, broadcast and cable, as they grapple with the problem of keeping viewers from changing channels during commercials — or, if the viewing is being done on digital video recorders, from fast-forwarding through the spots.

The presentation by CW was part of what is called upfront week, which gets its name because the broadcasters share their programming with advertisers and agencies before the fall season begins. The upfront week for 2007-8 ended yesterday with sneak peeks at the schedules of CW, owned by the CBS Corporation and Time Warner, and Fox Broadcasting, part of the News Corporation.

Last month, Fox tried interspersing humorous program snippets between commercials, and executives said they would try other versions of the snippets during the 2007-8 season.

The other reason to tinker with traditional commercial breaks is the penchant of DVR owners to skip through spots when they play back recorded programs. That problem is getting worse as more households acquire DVRs.

The two CW ideas are based on the network’s experience since September with a device known as a content wrap, which CW produced for almost 20 brands during the 2006-7 season.

In content wraps, products of advertisers like Procter & Gamble, Toyota Motor and Unilever are integrated into a set of three short program segments on topics like fashion and music. The segments were interspersed in commercial breaks during episodes of series like “America’s Next Top Model.”

The five-second commercials, intended as shorter versions of content wraps, are called “Cwickies” — a play on the network’s name, just as the initials of “content wrap” are “CW.”

CW took in $600 million to $650 million during the upfront market last spring, while Fox sold an estimated $1.8 billion.

The 2007-8 upfront week began on Monday with NBC. The presentations continued on Tuesday with ABC and Telemundo, then with CBS and Univision on Wednesday before ending with CW and Fox yesterday.

You can view the full article here

Murdoch invests in the Baltics

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has bought two Latvian TV channels to extend its footprint into the Baltic region.

The company’s subsidiary News Corp Europe has acquired Latvian Independent Television (LNT) and a 70% stake in TV5.

Chairman of LNT Andris Ekis said: “LNT and TV5 are the beginning of the development of News Corporation's network in our region.” He added that the media giant was interested in developing a presence in Estonia, Lithuania and Belarus.

De Mol buys back Endemol

Media and Marketing Europe reports that Dutch media tycoon John de Mol has re-purchased Endemol, his previously owned Dutch-based European production company, along with equal partners Mediaset, owned by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.

The consortium is paying Spanish telecom group Telefónica €2.63bn for a 75% stake in the 'Big Brother' producer. It aims to acquire the remaining 25%, which was floated on the Dutch Stock Exchange in 2005.

Seven years ago Telefónica paid €5.5bn for Endemol, then owned by De Mol and Joop van den Ende. The trio outbid a rival offer by Stephane Courbit, the head of Endemol France, who is now expected to leave the company.

John de Mol indicated he considers the acquisition, through his investment vehicle Cirte, primarily as a strategic matter. But it is widely assumed he will try to become more actively involved.

De Mol’s spokesman stressed the Endemol purchase was "not connected" to the ongoing discussions about the future of De Mol’s ill-fated Dutch tv-channel Tien, part of Talpa Media.

Talpa is talking to RTL Nederland and SBS Broadcasting about some form of co-operation and might even sell off the channel. It is speculated that RTL has the better chance, since it is bigger in Europe than SBS, enabling De Mol to arrange more production deals for Endemol.

Emap shares soar as CEO resignation sparks bid talk

The Daily Telegraph reports that Emap shares soar as CEO resignation sparks bid talk.

Shares in Emap, the publisher of FHM, soared by 7pc this morning after the unexpected resignation of chief executive Tom Moloney sparked speculation that the company could soon become a takeover target.

The announcement that Mr Moloney was stepping down "by mutual agreement" comes just days before Emap is due to report its full-year results and ongoing strategic review to the market next Tuesday.

Alan Cathcart, previously non-executive chairman, has been appointed interim executive chairman until a permanent replacement can been found, which could take months.

Emap's management has been under pressure for some time from investors who are unhappy at the lack of a successful growth strategy and the disappointing share price.

The company issued a profits warning in February as it said difficult consumer markets would leave profits at the bottom end of City expectations this year.

But sources close to Emap said that Mr Moloney's departure was related to execution of the company's strategy, rather than a problem with the strategy itself.

Analysts believe that Emap, which owns a variety of business-to-business publications as well as consumer brands like Heat magazine and the radio stations Kiss and Magic, would be an attractive break-up target for private equity investors because it is clearly divided into three different businesses with strong decent levels of cash.

Emap shares rose by as much as 65p, to £9.03, in early trading.

But Emap insisted that it was persevering with its strategy of growing the business by focusing on digital media, rather than looking to break the company up.

Mr Moloney joined Emap in 1981 and was chief executive of the UK consumer magazines arm and chief operating officer before becoming head of Emap's American business. He became head of the whole company in January 2003.

WPP to Buy 24/7 Real Media for $649 Million

Advertising giant WPP Group plans to acquire global digital marketing firm 24/7 Real Media in an all-cash transaction. "Our clients and therefore our industry are becoming more technology driven," says WPP CEO Martin Sorrell. "24/7 Real Media significantly enhances our capabilities."

Bloomberg has the full story.

Curious about what Media Bosses Earn...?

Data for publicly held companies reveals the fiscal 2006 compensation for media chieftains Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger, Jeff Immelt and many others.

MinOnline has more.

Disney, Sprint Ink Deal for Entertainment, Kids’, News Content

Sprint customers will be able access full episodes of news and entertainment programming from ABC Entertainment, ABC News and Disney Channel on their mobile phones, either on demand or via streaming channels, via a new deal announced today.

The Disney-ABC Television Group and Sprint deal will see the content being delivered on demand and via three mobile channels, streaming continuous scheduled programming throughout the day. The deal includes on-demand, full-length episodes of ABC’s Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Ugly Betty, as well as a linear channel with content from Disney Channel.

Sprint is also the first carrier to provide ABC Mobile, a newly created linear mobile channel. ABC Mobile features a variety of full-length and short-form news and entertainment content, including full-length episodes of Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Ugly Betty.

Video-on-demand shows will be available the day after their television premiere. In general, customers will be able to access the four most recently televised episodes of each series. Beginning this fall, selected entertainment and news on-demand content and linear programming will include advertising.

The content is available via Sprint TV on Sprint's Power Vision devices. All of the content will be included in the Sprint Power Vision TV Pack, which costs an additional $20 per month. Alternatively, content from Disney Channel only, including the on-demand programs and linear channel, will be available as part of the Power Vision Access Pack, which costs an additional $15 per month.

WorldScreen has more.

Murdoch Sends Second Letter to Bancroft Family

AdAge announced today that Rupert Murdoch has sent a second letter to the Bancroft family trying to earn their support for his $5 billion bid to buy Dow Jones.

In his letter to the Bancroft family, Rupert Murdoch writes: 'I would like to express my regret if you have been placed in an uncomfortable position.'

"In the weeks since our proposal was made public on Tuesday, May 1, there has been much written about a potential combination and News Corporation's intentions," he writes later. "I would like to express my regret if you have been placed in an uncomfortable position by the events of the past week."

A News Corp. acquisition of Dow Jones would have no effect on the journalistic independence and integrity that belong to company brands, including The Wall Street Journal, he said. To provide some assurance, he would give a Bancroft family member a seat on the News Corp. board and create an independent, autonomous editorial board to ensure the integrity of Dow Jones properties.

Read the full article here

The Billboard have eyes..

A Canadian academic has created technology enabling billboards to track and count the number of people who look at it, reports The Associated Press.

The portable device can recognize when eyeballs are actually turned toward signage, an improvement over previous, more expensive devices.

The Xuuk eyebox2 was developed by Roel Vertegaal and costs $999. Broad use and data resulting from the eyebox2 could affect rates charged for billboard ads over the long-term.

Advertisers are "failing to harness internet"

Many advertisers are recognise the power of the internet as a marketing tool but fail to harness its power effectively, according to a study into online advertising by Group M reports Media & Marketing Europe.

The study, called Interaction, includes consumer and advertiser internet data from 28 countries, and argues that when it comes to online advertising, it is just as important for marketers to consider the benefits as well as the costs.

According to the research, internet advertising typically grows at six times the rate of traditional media. In western Europe the internet is the principal source of measured-media growth, and in North America it runs a close second to TV. Were it not for the explosive growth of the USA’s Hispanic TV, it would be first.

The study highlights four key areas that marketers need to utilize with internet advertising: reach, engagement, reputation and transaction. As traditional media declines, brands must use the internet to add reach to their campaigns. As consumers want to interact with brands, so internet campaigns should maintain brand consistency, but with "sufficient personalization to help the consumer engage with the brand or message on his or her terms". Furthermore, brands should monitor their reputation via the internet in a time when consumers make quick judgements. Finally brands must ensure that consumers can transact online.

Murdoch Woos Bancrofts With Flattery, Not Higher Bid

Rupert Murdoch is trying to persuade the Bancroft family to sell him Dow Jones by offering appeals to their pride -- but not more money. "We admire the Bancroft family," he says. Wall Street firms are becoming pessimistic that Murdoch will succeed. A competing bid is seen as unlikely.

Bloomberg has the full story

Time Warner: Cable Ads Can Compete with Web Ads

The cable industry can compete successfully with online companies like Google for advertising dollars by launching on-demand networks supported by interactive advertising, says Time Warner president Jeff Bewkes. "Why would [this] not be the next great future of advertising?"

Read the complete article on Reuters

IAB Issues Digital Measurement Guidelines

THE INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU has issued a public set of guidelines on the measurement of digital media in general, and rich online media in particular. The IAB is also inviting members of the industry to publicly comment on the guidelines through the first week of June.

The guidelines attempt to gauge the level at which an ad impression is counted in rich online application environments supported by AJAX and JSON technologies. The best-practice tips are geared to online browser or browser-equivalent-based Web activity that no longer link page content changes and ad serving.

Ajax and JSON technologies have grown increasingly popular by providing updated content to Web users without having to refresh an entire Web page. While improving the user experience, however, Ajax and JSON make traditional metrics such as page views and ad impressions less relevant and more difficult to gauge.

The IAB officially unveiled its Rich Internet Application Ad Measurement Guidelines at an IAB Leadership Forum earlier this month in New York. The IAB has now called on agencies, publishers and tech vendors to review these guidelines, and to offer ideas and criticisms up for public debate.

The guidelines state that "in instances where significant user activity (click-through and responding to mail and changing search options through clicking or typing, etc.) is present, this activity can be directly tied to ad-serving and counting provided that counting rules are defined in a consistent and fully disclosed manner."

The guidelines go on to acknowledge that "in special circumstances, due to the nature of the application, there may be no material user activity, for example, a single streaming event (e.g., financial tickers, sports game coverage, long single-stream video content). In these cases disclosure and counting must abide by the auto-refresh guidelines of the current IAB Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines.

Media to Move to Web, Gates Says

Microsoft is telling advertisers that the business model for much of old media is falling apart, as the software giant positions itself as a prime location for advertising's future. Television now competes with YouTube, says Microsoft boss Bill Gates. Newspapers are seeing an "inexorable decline."

Read the full story on Seattle Times

Thomson bid for Reuters worth $17.6 billion

International Herald Tribune reported yesterday that Canadian Thomson is in talks to buy Reuters for about £8.8 billion to create the world's biggest news and financial data company, the two firms said Tuesday.

The Reuters chief executive, Tom Glocer, would become chief executive of the combined group under the terms of the proposed $17.6 billion deal, the companies said in a joint statement.

Reuters shareholders would receive a 42 percent premium over the company's closing share price on Thursday, the day before it announced a bid approach. The deal value is based on the number of outstanding Reuters shares.

Reuters shares rose as much as 7 percent to a five-year high of 659 pence in early trading in London. They were 3.5 percent higher in the late morning. Thomson closed Monday at 47.23 Canadian dollars, valuing the business at about 30.8 billion dollars, or $27.9 billion.

Thomson, whose publishing interests span law, tax and scientific research, has been building up its financial data business as it looks to tap into booming global markets.

The two firms said the deal could close this year, but might not complete until 2008.

Read entire article here.

Scandinavias biggest media event - this week

Scandinavia biggest media event is taking place in Stockholm this week. StockholmMediaWeek - the forum for the Swedish Media industry - will take place at hotel Rival in Stockholm between the 9th and 10th of May 2007.

During these days, the audience will meet prominent speakers who share their experiences in the most current and relevant media topics.

The StockholmMediaAward-ceremony will take place on the 10th of May where our prizewinners received their awards.

The big Media Party with approximately 600 guests will be held at Berns in the centre of Stockholm.

We will be there...

ESPN to Air on Gas Station Pumps

ESPN will provide 45-second telecasts to Gas Station TV's Internet-based, at-the-pump television network. The first viewers are in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston, where 1,000 gas pumps sport the screens. ESPN says: "It's another opportunity for fans to be able to watch us." according to LA Times.

New York Times to launch Small Business Site

The New York Times has launched a new site for small businesses and their advertisers, reports MediaPost.

The new Small Business section will feature regular features and columns, as well as blogs from NYT writers.

The site will also assists advertisers looking to connect with small business owners. ATT, Hewlett-Packard, American Express and FedEx have all signed on as initial advertisers on the site.

Content from outside blogs and sites such as AllBusiness.com and Inc. Magazine will also be incorporated.

Apple “Most Innovative Company” for Third Year in a Row

“For the third year in a row,” report the editors of BusinessWeek, “the design-driven masters in Cupertino, Calif., lead the pack of creative firms on our list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. Apple manages to dominate any would-be contenders, beating out two-time runner-up Google with more than twice as many votes.”

Microsoft Woos Yahoo - Ad Sales Lost to Google May Be $2 Billion

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer interrupted a Hawaiian vacation to call his top Internet ad man, Yusuf Mehdi, on April 16 after Google Inc. announced its $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick Inc.

Ballmer may be about to follow up on his pledge. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, has held talks with Yahoo! Inc. about a partnership to develop Web search and advertising programs to fight Google, people briefed on the discussions said. That would help remedy what Mehdi says is his one regret in the past year.

Microsoft probably lost $2 billion in sales last year alone because its search engine doesn't attract as many users as Google, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Kirkland, Washington- based Directions on Microsoft.

Google runs four times more Web queries than Microsoft and is gaining market share over the software maker and Yahoo, confounding analysts who expected progress by Microsoft. Buying DoubleClick gives Google an instant position in graphical display ads, one market where Microsoft is beating Google.

Internet ad sales are growing twice as fast as the personal-computer market, where Microsoft's Windows runs most systems.

Microsoft's discussions with Yahoo are in the early stages and focus on a partnership rather than a merger, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The New York Post said May 4 that Microsoft may want to buy Yahoo. Both companies declined to comment.

Even together, the combined company would have 38 percent of the U.S. search market, 10 points less than Google, according to ComScore Inc. Yahoo CEO Terry Semel has come under fire after the stock sank 35 percent last year amid delays in new ad programs and earnings that disappointed investors.

It could take at least five and maybe 10 years for Microsoft to gain significant traction against Google's search, Mehdi said. A Yahoo partnership could make Microsoft a threat right away and may be its only choice to keep up with Google's acquisitions.

Microsoft's stock gained 30 percent in the past year on optimism for the new version of Windows, compared with a 19 percent increase at Google. Microsoft fell 41 cents to $30.56 on May 4. Yahoo rose $2.80, or 9.9 percent, to $30.98 on reports of the talks. Google fell $2.11 to $471.12.

Microsoft already was prepared to spend $16 billion in the next three years to improve its online business, said Goldman analyst Sarah Friar. Now a year into an effort to spur search ad sales with a program called AdCenter, Microsoft attracted 100,000 advertisers. Mehdi says Google, which doesn't disclose client numbers, may have 1 million.

Microsoft's share of searches widened 0.4 percent to 10.9 percent in March, the biggest rise since releasing its own search in November 2004, said Reston, Virginia-based ComScore. Microsoft had 14 percent at the time, using an earlier product.

Microsoft's ad sales grew 23 percent last quarter, less than Google's 66 percent. Microsoft had $1.61 billion in ad sales in 2006, less than the $10.6 billion for Google, said Charles Di Bona at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

While hurt by low search numbers, AdCenter itself gets good reviews. Since unveiling AdCenter almost six years after Google's software, Mehdi says customers find more of the people who see the ads actually make purchases than with Google or Yahoo.

Last quarter, Microsoft surpassed the revenue received for each computer user who clicked on an ad it had achieved with an earlier system, a quarter ahead of plans.

Europeans Like to Watch Web TV

Close to half - 45 percent - of broadband users in Western Europe watch television via the web according to research just released by Motorola and conducted by StrategyOne, writes MarketingCharts (via the Guardian and paidContent).

Among the five leading markets studied, France led with 59% of broadband users saying they watch web TV, followed by Spain (48%), Italy and the UK (43%), and Germany (33%).

Some other findings from the study:

Some 64% of UK households have two or more PCs, as do 57% and 54% of German and French households, respectively.
Nearly a third of UK households have three or more TV sets.
Nearly two-thirds of those under age 25 said they watch TV shows on the web, compared with 30% of those over 55.
Some 57% said they would use interactive services on web TV, such as background info on athletes during a game.
35% of viewers want the ability to pause, fast forward or rewind live broadcast programming.
On average, users are now plugging three devices into the TV set, with nearly a third of Europeans attaching a digital camera to download and view photos.
45% of Europeans expect to be making video calls via their home TVs by the time the 2012 Olympics is on.
The research was commissioned by Motorola's connected home solutions department and surveyed 2,500 broadband users in five countries.

Me.TV Puts Custom TV in Users' Hands

Me.tv, a website upon which users can create their own TV channels online, launches this week, according to a press release.

Created by Demand Media, me.tv asks users to purchase a .TV domain, then provides them with the tools to create a video-centric website with built-in social features like profiles, blogs, message boards, messaging, and ratings.

Talk show host Carson Daly, formerly of MTV, was among the first members to take part, quickly snagging carsondaly.tv.

New Trade Publication Targets Bloggers, Podcasters

This month Larstan Publishing launched Blogger and Podcaster, a trade magazine dedicated to "new media titans," reports CMS Wire. Allegedly the first of its kind for the "new media" industry, Blogger and Podcaster will operate on a collaborative format, drawing from a number of frontline voices in the blogging and podcasting worlds. It will also be closely edited by two longtime journalists.

CEO Larry Genkin of Larstan expects the magazine to draw hobbyist attention at outset, but the content is dedicated mainly to professional practitioners of digital media.

“There are two things holding back the industry: helping practitioners to earn a full-time living from their craft and providing vendors a cost effective vehicle to communicate with and generate significant sales from bloggers and podcasters. We aim to help the industry on both fronts,” said Genkin.

Like its industry, the publication is fluid, appearing in a number of forms: digital, print and podcast. A yearly print subscription costs $79, while digital and podcast editions will be available at no cost.Genkin projects circulation will leap from its current 20,000 to 250,000 next year. The publication has already been dubbed the official trade magazine of the International Blogging and New Media Association.

TiVo strikes back against zippers

NYT reported that holy grail on Madison Avenue these days is to create advertising that is “TiVo-proof” — compelling enough to owners of digital video recorders that they will watch the commercials rather than zip past them when replaying recorded programs.

In an effort to come up with a TiVo-proof ad for itself, TiVo is relying on humor, double entendre and unfamiliar body parts. In one ad, above, a baseball fan’s antennas spring to attention when his girlfriend beckons.
But how do you make a TiVo-proof commercial for TiVo? Executives at TiVo hope the answer is to hire an agency known for broad humor, talking animals and chirpy jingles, then approve a campaign centered on a silly (though eye-catching) visual device, meant to symbolize how much TiVo differs from generic DVRs.

The proliferation of DVRs means that viewers are increasingly watching TV programs on a delayed basis rather than live. That in turn is leading Nielsen to rework its longtime methods for measuring viewership to count people who play back a program within one, three or seven days after it ran.

And because so many DVR owners fast-forward through spots rather than watch them, Nielsen plans to start providing by the end of May ratings for commercials in addition to its traditional program ratings. (TiVo has started supplying its own data to advertising agencies, showing second-by-second viewing patterns among its subscribers.)

TiVo, as the brand of DVR that has become synonymous with the category, is benefiting from the growing popularity of digital recording in the same way that brands like Band-Aid, Coke, Kleenex, Post-it, Q-tips and Xerox took advantage of similar synonym status in their markets.

But TiVo’s gains in subscribers have slowed significantly as more operators of cable TV systems sell their own — usually unbranded — DVR services.

As of Jan. 31, TiVo reported 4.4 million subscribers, 1.73 million who owned TiVo brand recorders and 2.7 million who had TiVo service through their DirecTV satellite service. The total was only 1.8 percent higher than the 4.36 million subscribers that TiVo had on the same day in 2006.

Microsoft to launch mobile ads

Seattle Times reports that Microsoft will launch mobile ads through its Windows Live properties, following an announcement Thursday that it will acquire ScreenTonic, a French company based in Paris.

ScreenTonic works to launch advertising campaigns in partnership with wireless carriers in Europe and Web-site publishers engineered specifically for mobile phones.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The expertise gained from ScreenTonic will help Microsoft commercially launch banner and text ads on Windows Live for mobile properties in the not-too-distant future, said Matt Champagne, Microsoft's director of mobile-product management for the online-services group.

Last year, he said, the group conducted trials in the U.S. and Japan for display advertising on Windows Live for mobile. Group members determined that taking knowledge they already had from advertising on the PC desktop and applying it to mobile didn't always work.

"There are unique things in selling it and unique things in fulfilling it on the mobile," he said. "These guys have a great sales force and ad expertise, and can accelerate us into the market."

ScreenTonic's 43 employees will continue to be based in Paris, he said, but with the acquisition, the company will enter the U.S. and other markets.

Mobile advertising is starting to gain attention as other companies in the U.S., including Boston-based ThirdScreenMedia and San Mateo, Calif.-based Admob, build mobile-advertising networks.

Although it's early, Champagne said mobile phones could have a more valuable audience than computers do because cellphones are more personal devices.

"The mobile advertising piece has been talked about for years, and now it's more mainstream and becoming part of media budgets. We want to be on the forefront of that," Champagne said.
advertising

Neil Strother, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said there are no leaders yet in mobile advertising as companies try to figure out the landscape.

"Microsoft doesn't want to get left out at this juncture," he said. "In fact, this might put them a little ahead in Europe."

Joost takes charge with online tv content

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Joost, the Internet TV platform being developed by the influential creators of Skype and Kazaa, said Tuesday it had signed several new content distribution agreements, including one to show CNN programs.

The company also planned to expand availability by the end of the month, letting "beta" testers invite anyone else to download the software from its Web site and view programs on Joost as well.

"This is the way you normally ramp up peer-to-peer software ... and it's a way to give our (beta tester) friends a little bit of a scoop," said Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, the company's top executive for content acquisition.

Joost — pronounced "juiced" — was co-founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the entrepreneurs who upset the music industry with the Kazaa file-sharing service and then developed Skype, the Internet telephone system that was bought by eBay Inc. for at least $2.6 billion in 2005.

Joost operates by distributing streaming video of shows "peer-to-peer," or user-to-user, over the Internet. Consumers choose a channel via a software interface on their desktop that resembles a remote control. Like regular TV, it is free for viewers, and aims to be ad-supported.

In Tuesday's deal with Time Warner Inc.'s Turner Broadcasting System, Joost said it would air episodes of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and "Robot Chicken" from Turner's Adult Swim network along with "Larry King Live" and other CNN news and interview programs.

Joost is seen as one of the many candidates to become a primary distributor of television and video to the Internet, competing against Google Inc.'s YouTube, Revver Inc., broadcasters' own Web sites, an as-yet unnamed cooperation between General Electric Co.'s NBC and News Corp., and file-sharing programs such as BitTorrent, among others.

Viacom Lawsuit a Threat to Internet, Google Says

Viacom's copyright infringement suit against Google and its YouTube video-sharing unit strikes at the heart of how the Internet works, Google argues in a new U.S. federal court filing. "Viacom's complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information."

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN3047264820070501