Advertising Age - MediaWorks

Must Weep TV: Bringing Ma, Pa and Biological Child Together

ldobrow@adage.com(Larry Dobrow) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:34:16 -0500

Come tomorrow afternoon, many of us will congregate with family members we haven't seen in a full 12 months. We'll banter about the weather, feign interest in meandering anecdotes and quietly critique every aspect of each other's being. Come nightfall, we'll embrace warmly and promise to re-adjourn 365 days hence, then set about covering the freshly picked emotional scabs with ointment. But for the next few hours at least, we're all about bringing families together. In that blithely unaware spirit, I heartily recommend ABC's new celebration of unity and forgiveness, "Find My Family".

Can James Finkelstein and Lachlan Murdoch Save Nielsen's Trade Titles?

mlearmonth@adage.com(Michael Learmonth) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:29:06 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Nielsen Company's beleaguered trade publishing unit, including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek, are on the block again. Can a private equity group including the publisher of The Hill newspaper and News Corp. scion Lachlan Murdoch save it?

Association of National Advertisers Join Protest of Nielsen's Metric Switch

bsteinberg@adage.com(Brian Steinberg) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:33:49 -0500

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The battle for local-media measurement has intensified in the last 24 hours, with the Association of National Advertisers now lobbing a protest against Nielsen's recent decision to incorporate DVR users into its official estimates of how many people watch programming on local TV stations. Just a week ago, the media committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies sent a blistering letter to Nielsen protesting the switch.

'Jon & Kate Plus 8' Airs Final Episode

jrash@cmithun.com(John Rash) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:37:11 -0500

Jon and Kate Gosselin, whose public lives have made them more hucksters than Huxtables for most viewers, had their last-ever episode of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" on TLC Monday night. The series finale delivered a 2.0/5 rating and share in the ad-centric adult 18-49 demographic, which tied it, fittingly, with WWE wrestling on USA as the second highest-rated show on cable (as usual, ESPN's "Monday Night Football" was first with a 4.8/13).

What Does Black Friday Even Mean Anymore?

sdumenco@adage.com(Simon Dumenco) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:51:15 -0500

What does "Black Friday" circa 2009 mean anyway? It's always been a weird marketing construct -- as if consumers ever really cared that the day after Thanksgiving is the chance for retailers to clear the red ink from their ledgers and go into the black (though who knows how realistic that expectation is this year). And while the supposed joy of frenzied bargain-hunting still gets celebrated in the media (shots of bustling mall scenes will surely open local newscasts across the country Friday evening), the darker possibilities, like last year's gruesome Walmart stampede remain an unsettling subtext. ,

Who Can Explain the Billion-Dollar 'Twilight' Economy? This Guy

sdumenco@adage.com(Simon Dumenco) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:01:30 -0500

Hollywood wasn't exactly blindsided by the weekend box office take of Summit Entertainment's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" -- everybody expected it to do big business -- but the numbers are still rather astonishing. For this latest edition of Dumenco's Media People, I've turned to a keen observer of the teen entertainment market to help make sense of the "Twilight" phenomenon and the demographic that powers it: Matthew Rettenmund, founder and editor in chief of Popstar!

As Snug as a Whole Host of Bugs in a Rug

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:14:41 -0500

It's quite hard to get excited about a vacuum cleaner. Unlike men with cars, the typical target consumer for vacuum cleaners -- the housewife -- is not wowed by technical specifications and suction power. They are, however, concerned about the cleanliness of their homes. For a more in-depth look at this Idea of the Week and other case studies, visit Ad Age and CMDglobal's Inspiration site.

Somebody's Watching You

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:36:46 -0500

To ensure that the best new German film-making talent came to its annual Shocking Shorts film festival, crime and thriller channel 13th Street went to extreme lengths, stalking the film directors that the festival was hoping would come. For a more in-depth look at this Idea of the Week and other case studies, visit Ad Age and CMDglobal's Inspiration site.