Tuned InUncategorized
Super Bowl Sunday is a little more a week away, and the most exciting matchup so far is on the advertising field. CBS, which used to observe a proscription against “issue” advertising during the big game, recently dropped its objection, to accept an ad from pro-life evangelical group Focus on the Family, featuring star quarterback Tim …
Tuned InAdvertising
During the ten minutes or so I happened to tune in to the pregame of yesterday’s Jet-Colts championship game, I saw something that I could have happily lived my life without seeing: CBS pregame host James Brown interviewing the eTrade baby for his predictions on thegame:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buavSmY59QM]
Tuned InAdvertising
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTWCvEENccw]
…in product placement!
From the get-go, The Jay Leno Show has been a business strategy first, an entertainment program second. And while its business success is debatable—it’s certainly cut costs for NBC, but often pulls no more viewers than Jay got at 11:30—Nielsen has …
Tuned InUncategorized
If you watch a lot of TV news, you become well aware of the consumer options for free credit reports, health-care products for the elderly and—if you watch Fox News in particular—gold. A fascinating story up at Politico examines the symbiosis between the conservative talkers peddling disaster and the various companies peddling the …
Tuned InAdvertising
Remember those DVRs that are supposed to be killing the TV business by letting people skip advertising? Turns out they’re killing the TV business somewhat more softly than previously thought. Or maybe even helping it.
The ultimate outcome is still hazy, but the effects of DVR on TV have become more complicated because, as Bill Carter …
Tuned InAdvertising
So Microsoft has a new operating system to launch. It wants your attention. It wants to reach the young people, who like the Family Guy, which is on the television machine. So Microsoft hired Family Guy’s creator Seth MacFarlane to produce a comedy variety special on Fox sponsored solely by the new Windows 7. Then Microsoft watched the …
Tuned InAdvertising
A coalition of advertisers and media companies (my corporate master Time Warner included) today announced the name of a planned new ratings service to compete with Nielsen: the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, or CIMM. (Not actually sure how the acronym is pronounced, but “simm” works for my headline, so I’m sticking with it …
Tuned InAdvertising
No, Courteney Cox hasn’t gone into a new line of work. This sign—snapped a block and a half from my house—is part of a stealth campaign for Cox’s upcoming ABC sitcom Cougar Town. Cox’s character, besides being an older gal with an eye for the younger fellas, is also a real-estate agent, which career must have seemed pretty hot and au …
Tuned InAdvertising
I was on vacation when infomercial pitchman Billy Mays died, but beyond the obvious jokes (see this post’s headline), it was good to see him get his due at the end. Whatever you think of their products, advertisers, for better or worse, have an underappreciated effect on the culture of TV. Infomercials, in their way, are the essence of …
Tuned InAdvertising
I try not to do too many navel-gazing, whither-the-future-of-criticism posts, but today’s New York Times feature on bloggers paid to do sponsored posts promoting products is the sort of thing that gives me the heebie jeebies.
In a nutshell: successful bloggers can now earn income and freebies by doing posts and videos for advertisers …
Tuned InRemembrance
Oscar Mayer, the purveyor of meats who shared a name with the company he chaired, died Monday at age 95. It’s a little odd to feel nostalgia for the passing of a man who, I would guess, most of us did not know except for the name attached to his products. But Mayer’s company, and his name (actually his family name; he joined the family …
Tuned InAdvertising
I cursed my parents when I first heard about the product-placement deal MSNBC’s Morning Joe had secured with Starbucks. The news-talk show, on which Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski regularly trade barbs over their choice of caffeinated beverage, is being paid upward of eight figures, according to the New York Times, to officially …
Tuned InAdvertising
I mentioned earlier that NBC had picked up Chuck for 13 episodes this season, but NBC just issued its official announcement, which is worth a separate post simply for the way NBC was able to keep the show around. It really was all about the sandwiches! (Well, that and slashing the show’s production budget. Update: Or not! On a conference …
