The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com


In This Issue
7 of the Most-Watched TV News Events of 2009
TWC, News Corp. Strike Retrans Deal
Disney Sets Sights on Adult Niche
PBS's ‘Nightly Business Report’ Gets Facelift
NBC News Accused of 'Checkbook Journalism'
Nets Still Bank on Risky Remakes
Apple Dominates Social Brand Ranking
Yahoo Scores with Holiday Marketing Stunt
An Open Letter to 2009


Quotes

"When you consistently maintain a positive frame of mind, you'll become known as a problem-solver rather than a complainer.  People avoid complainers.  They seek out problem-solvers."
- Joseph Sommerville, PhD from The 5 Keys to Interpersonal Success

"The world is a great mirror.  It reflects back to you what you are.  If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you.  The world is what you are."
- Thomas Dreier

"To respond is positive, to react is negative."
- Zig Ziglar


7 of the Most-Watched TV News Events of 2009
Here are seven of 2009's most viewed moments in TV news:

President Barack Obama's Inauguration
On January 20th, President Barack Obama was sworn in to office as the 44th President of the United States.  The event was accompanied by massive coverage from the cable and broadcast networks. Nielsen reported that 37,793,008 total viewers watched the ceremony.  ABC and NBC each drew around 10 million viewers and CNN drew 7 million.

Hudson River Crash
In January, viewers tuned in for coverage of a plane crash in the Hudson river.  Fox News had the most viewers of the cable networks, which together averaged nearly 5 million viewers as the story broke.  That night, over 27 million viewers watched the evening news broadcasts.

Obama's First Address to Congress
Nielsen reported that a huge 52,373,000 viewers watched President Obama's first address to a joint session of congress back in February.  33.6 million watched on the broadcast networks (10.5M on CBS).  Fox and CNN split the top spot on cable.

The Death of Michael Jackson
The cable networks combined for nearly 8.5 million total viewers during primetime the night news broke that Michael Jackson had died.21.6 million viewers tuned in to watch the broadcast networks' Jackson (and Farrah Fawcett) specials.  Nielsen reported that 31.1 million later watched Jackson's memorial service across 17 networks.  8.9 million watched on the cable nets.

Sen. Edward Kennedy's Funeral
Over 5 million viewers watched Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral services on the cable networks in late August, with many more watching on the broadcast networks.  In the preceding days, news of his passing and the subsequent specials and memorials consumed the networks.

Two Words: Balloon Boy
It was a rollercoaster of emotions watching that balloon float through the air with the belief that a young boy was trapped inside.  That sure took a turn.  But before we knew it was a hoax, nearly 5 million viewers watched on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC.

Shooting at Fort Hood
On November 5th, reports spread of a shooting at Fort Hood, a story that quickly dominated news coverage.  The cable networks went wall-to-wall and the broadcast networks broke into regular programming.  Between 3-7pmET, CNN, FNC, and MSNBC together averaged 4.5 million viewers.  Fox lead the ratings with their coverage and Bill O'Reilly averaged 5 million viewers that evening.  A few days later, a memorial service was held.  Over 3 million tuned in on the cable nets, and more watched the president's remarks on the broadcast networks.

MediaBistro


TWC, News Corp. Strike Retrans Deal
News Corp. and Time Warner Cable finally struck a retransmission consent deal in the afternoon of New Year's Day after a series of extensions and negotiations that went through the night and past the Dec. 31 midnight deadline.  The pact prevents any disruption of service and will keep the Fox networks in the 13 million homes the MSO serves.  The deal also includes  an additional two million homes served by Bright House Networks.  Sen. John Kerry said the Hill would be doing some Monday morning quarterbacking to see if any legislation was needed to avoid a repeat of the impasse.  FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the pair had granted a New Year's resolution to millions, while urging Sinclair and Mediacom to follow suit and finalize their own retrans deal.  Terms of the Fox-TWC agreement were not disclosed, though the companies were at one point understood to be quite a bit apart, with News Corp. seeking around $1 a subscriber for the Fox-owned broadcast stations, and TWC reportedly countering with an offer in the 35 cent range.  The deal has benchmark implications for numerous retrans deals industrywide.  The agreement ends months of negotiations between the parties.  News Corp. opted not to pull the Fox networks from TWC once the clock struck midnight, so the MSO's customers were able to see the college Bowl games that were in jeopardy if a deal was not reached in time.
Broadcasting & Cable


Disney Sets Sights on Adult Niche
Disney is trying something different with "Good Luck Charlie," a show it hopes will reach across generations in the same way that NBC's "The Cosby Show" and ABC's "The Wonder Years" once did.  In seeking out this older demographic, however, the network faces a dilemma: Can it craft a comedy sophisticated enough -- and realistic enough -- to appeal to adults without alienating its core viewers, who, after all, come to Disney to avoid racier programming?  "What 'Good Luck Charlie' represents is an evolutionary step to really put the family into our kid-driven family brand," said Gary Marsh, Disney Channel's entertainment president.  "Do I think this will be a first choice for 35- to 40-year-old moms?  Not necessarily . . . . But if we do our jobs properly and we create the authenticity we're talking about, it will allow us to tackle stories in a more grounded way that will be more appealing to parents than other shows we've done before."  Disney Channel's attempt to capitalize on the timeless appeal of the family sitcom in hopes of luring children and adults reflects a larger industrywide return to more inclusive comedies -- such as ABC's "Modern Family," CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" and Fox's high school-centered musical comedy "Glee."
LA Times


PBS's ‘Nightly Business Report’ Gets Facelift
PBS’s “Nightly Business Report” is by some measures the most popular business news program on television.  Last week, the half-hour show, whose executives worried that it had become too stodgy with its screens of stock quotes, introduced a major redesign, the second of PBS’s weekday news programs to get a facelift in recent weeks.  The makeover will include new virtual sets, graphics and music, additions to the roster of commentators, and something decidedly not cosmetic: an approach that will play down stock coverage.  “A stock quote has become commoditized,” said Rodney Ward, the show’s senior vice president and executive editor.  “What people want at the end of the day is more analysis, more perspective, more context.”  “We’re going to put some shape to all of that daily box score and data dumps,” Mr. Hudson said.  Once the changes are in place, PBS plans to begin a promotion for both “Nightly Business Report” and “The PBS NewsHour,” which had its own reformatting in early December, including the addition of a co-anchor for Jim Lehrer, and a new emphasis on sending viewers to the show’s Web site.  Three decades ago, “Nightly Business Report” led the way in dedicated business coverage on television, but its turf was encroached upon by cable channels, including CNBC and Fox Business Network, public radio’s weekday “Marketplace” program and myriad Web sites and mobile apps that give consumers immediate access to financial data.
NY Times


NBC News Accused of 'Checkbook Journalism'
The Society of Professional Journalists is "appalled" that NBC News gave a ride to the U.S. from Brazil to David Goldman, and his son, who have been involved in a high-profile custody battle.  In a statement, SPJ Ethics Committee Chairman Andy Schotz said, "The public could rightly assume that NBC News bought exclusive interviews and images, as well as the family's loyalty, with an extravagant gift."  NBC taped the first exclusive interview with Goldman during the flight, for the Monday “Today” show.  NBC claimed it didn't pay for the interview, noting, "The Goldmans were invited on a jet NBC News chartered to fly home to the U.S. on Thursday, Dec. 24," and adding, "NBC News has followed this story since the Goldman's story first ran on Dateline nearly one year ago -- David Goldman since has appeared on Today seventeen times."  "Mixing financial and promotional motives with an impartial search for truth stains honest, ethical reporting," Schotz said in the SPJ statement.  "Checkbook journalism has no place in the news business."
TV Week

Nets Still Bank on Risky Remakes
In the fall of 2000 all the buzz in the television business was about a new drama on CBS on Friday night.  Not “CSI” — that had no buzz at all.  All it had was ratings.  No, the buzz that fall was about the remake of “The Fugitive,” the classic innocent-man-on-the-run series from the 1960s.  The redo seemed a can’t-miss idea.  But it lasted 23 episodes.  And then there was “Bionic Woman.”  The NBC remake in 2007 of that sci-fi chestnut from the 1970s started out as the hottest new show of that fall season — and was gone after all of nine episodes.

There might be a lesson in there somewhere, but you would not know it from looking at the development lists at three networks this winter.  Among the most prominent projects under consideration as new series next fall are these familiar names: “The Rockford Files” on NBC; “Charlie’s Angels” on ABC; and “Hawaii Five-O” on CBS.  All of the projects were announced with some fanfare by their networks, though the program creators and top network entertainment executives were reluctant to discuss any specifics about the new versions yet, saying they were still in the writing stages. 

But the network executives expressed genuine excitement about the possibilities for the projects.  It is easy to understand why.  “It’s a good idea to try,” said Warren Littlefield, who was the top programmer at NBC and is now an independent producer.  “Movies have proved you can do well with a presold concept.”  That is another way of saying it is only natural to turn to familiar titles because they attract attention.  The question is whether the series that result will attract viewers.  The track record does more than suggest not: it screams not.  In the history of network television, no remake of a previous hit series has ever become a hit itself on network television.

The issue of how much to remake and how much to reinvent has dogged previous efforts at bringing back familiar shows and characters.  Fans and those who merely have heard of the old hits have tended to turn up for the initial episodes (and for two hours’ worth of a movie rendering), but have not stayed around once they got a whiff of what the new version was really like.  “The identity of a hit TV series is so intimately tied to the original stars, style and attitude that made it a hit in the first place that any deviation from that creates a real sense of aesthetic dissonance,” said Robert J. Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.  “This may be one case where an established brand is more a liability than an asset.  In television, it’s a much safer approach to rip off an old idea than to try to remake one.  It’s a perfectly plausible plan to develop a new TV show about three beautiful women fighting crime in fabulous clothes; maybe not such a good idea to call it ‘Charlie’s Angels.’ ”

Mr. Littlefield said that the woeful track record of previous remakes should not discourage network programmers from continuing to buy projects based on old hits.  “But there has to be a series there,” he said.  “It can’t be like a movie.  You can’t trick them.”  Mr. Littlefield suggested a formula that could work: “At the risk of being oversimplistic: it also has to be good.”
NY Times


Apple Dominates Social Brand Ranking
The key to brands coming out on top on the social Web is to have great products people want to talk about.  It should come as no surprise then that Apple dominates a new list of the world's most social brands.  The iPhone retained the top slot for the second year in social media management company Vitrue's annual ranking of the most social brands.  Its companion service, iTunes, ranked No. 6 and Apple itself was No. 8. Sony (overall brand, PlayStation) and Microsoft (overall brand, Xbox) were the only other companies to have multiple brands in the top 20.  Vitrue measures conversations about brands, both positive and negative, on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and blogs.  It made the comparisons based on data collected throughout December.  Most major product categories are represented, although the top of the rankings are dominated by entertainment and technology brands.  The iPhone taking the top slot, said Reggie Bradford, Vitrue's CEO, was an exception in that it illustrates the power of a breakthrough product to generate chatter without maintaining a presence on Facebook or Twitter.

Measuring the buzz around products people want to talk about and the outlets on which this is done leads to different results compared to other brand rankings, such as Interbrand's, which calculates brand value based on the financial contribution it makes by increasing product demand. Interbrand pegs Coca-Cola as the top brand in the world in 2009. Vitrue says as a social brand Coke measures just 31st after losing nine spots since last year. IBM, Interbrand's No. 2, comes in at No. 90 in Vitrue's evaluation. Interbrand's third best brand, Microsoft, is in 18th position.

All was not rosy for Steve Jobs' empire, however.  Apple's legacy brands Mac and iPod both dropped considerably in the rankings, with the iPod falling 27 spots to No. 34 and Mac dropping 19 to No. 35.  iTunes was a big gainer; while it didn't rank on the list last year, it rocketed in 2009 to No. 6, a move Bradford attributes, in part, to its strong Facebook presence.  Some other major brands saw precipitous falls in their rankings compared to Vitrue's 2008 list.  Dell, often heralded for its early embrace of social channels, tumbled 20 places to No. 30.  General Motors nosedived 54 spots to rank at No. 85.  Pepsi fell 43 spots to No. 73 and Fox News dropped 35 places to rank No. 54.  Vitrue's ranking omits some well-known digital brands, including Facebook, Google and YouTube, since it reasons they make up the social infrastructure rather than use it to connect with consumers.
AdWeek


Yahoo Scores with Holiday Marketing Stunt
On Dec. 23, Yahoo sent employees to the San Francisco and San Jose airports to pay for airline customers' baggage fees, NBC Bay Area reports.  Yahoo rep Meg Garlinghouse called the stunt "one small act of kindness.  "We hope to inspire the Yahoo community to create a wave of goodwill."  Goodwill?  Great.  Putting the idea in consumers' heads that Yahoo is a company that will make navigating the world simpler and cheaper?  Brilliant.  Our only issue with the stunt was its scale.  Instead of spending $80 million on "It's Why-Loo" ads, and sending employees to just two airports for one day, Yahoo could have "sponsored" baggage checks throughout the holidays all over the country.  Maybe the idea should resurface during the summer holiday travel season.
AdAge


An Open Letter to 2009

Dear 2009:

Screw you.  Seriously, die.  You can't end quickly enough.  Forget silver linings and all that crap, let's be honest: You stunk.

Where do you want to start?  How about the world of journalism—or what's left of it.  Journalism is far worse off than it was a year ago, and as I have said before in this space, that will very simply lead to the dumbing-down of our country.  That's not hyperbole.

Too many thoughtful and important journalists were replaced by thoughtless and insignificant bloggers or needlessly ranting pundits.  And too many left in their jobs are engaging—or being forced to engage in—silliness to attract Web traffic that their sales side can't monetize anyway.  For instance, can we please stop the trend of a journalist going on Twitter before a big interview and asking his followers if they have any questions for the interview subject?  Seriously, it's like a chef tweeting (still detest that verb), “How should I make my steak tartare tonight?”  I know I wouldn't go to that restaurant.

Elsewhere, we were reminded that while politicians can be bought and sold, so, too, can World Series championships.  But the worst part of the detested Yankees winning the title wasn't the Evil Empire rising again, but how soon the media forgets.  At the beginning of the year, Alex Rodriguez created a circus by getting exposed as nothing more than a cheat, and was rightfully pilloried by the media.  But by the post-season, he was celebrated as a hero.

We also saw probably the worst PR strategy in sports history with Tiger Woods' handling of his situation.  While I can't stand the way he acts on the course with all of his ridiculous temper tantrums, to this day I am in shock at how badly his people shanked this whole thing from the start.  They absolutely set the table for the media to dig up everything and vilify him.  Though I will always have the great laugh of looking back at the media outlets that initially reported his wife going out to rescue him from his car with a golf club.  At 2 in the morning.  After reports of an affair had surfaced.

But that was hardly the only terrible decision made in 2009.  There were the regrettable ones—like my choice to get an iPhone.  I love the device itself.  But switching from Verizon to AT&T is like moving from a chateau in the south of France to my in-laws in Sacramento.  Seriously, I often sit around amusing myself by thinking of creative instruments with which I'd (allegedly) like to bludgeon the person in charge of AT&T's cellphone reception.

Then there were the stupid decisions (see Abdul, Paula).  Joe Mantegna once told me he had a photo of Mandy Patinkin over his bed, since it was Inigo Montoya's flameout that handed Criminal Minds to Mantegna.  Maybe Paula's “advisors” could send a nice head shot over to Ellen.  You know, if they're not too busy fielding all of Abdul's lucrative offers.

And finally, there were the totally gutless decisions, like the sport of tennis' unwillingness to swiftly and strongly discipline Serena Williams for her scandalous threatening of a U.S. Open official.  That was the day pro tennis lost the ability to call itself family-friendly.  That was the sad day we truly learned no one in tennis has any balls.

Granted, there was some late cause for optimism heading into 2010. The broadcast networks put on wonderful television like Glee and Modern Family, and even better, viewers actually showed up.  There are some signs of the advertising market at least bottoming out.  And America is rallying around a true throwback hero who is inspiring people of all ages: Brett Favre.

So here's hoping we all bounce back in the year ahead.  And 2009, I wish you farewell.  And extend to you the courtesy of exactly what you deserve: my middle finger.

Follow Ben Grossman on Twitter: @BCBenGrossman

Broadcasting & Cable

------------------------------------
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

TVSpy.com is home to ShopTalk, the FREE daily newsletter for the TV news industry, read by more than 25,000 subscribers. For more than 20 years, ShopTalk has given TV news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE. news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com

In This Issue
Marketers Using Bloggers to Boost Branding Efforts
Eyes on NBC for 2010
Outlook Rosy for Cable in 2010
ESPN, USA Split Ratings Crown
PBS Signs On for Weekly Nielsen Ratings
Nets Find Comfortable Ratings in Food Shows
Lawmakers Ask MTV to Cancel 'Shore'
Dell Pulls Ads from 'Jersey Shore
Religious Broadcasters Fear Spectrum Reclamation
News Corp. Plans 'Broadcast + Broadband' Strategy
HuffPo Shines Under ComScore Direct Light
9 Things We Learned About Us in 2009


Quotes

"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year.  It is that we should have a new soul."
- G. K. Chesterton

"All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning."
- Albert Camus

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.  That will be the beginning."
- Louis L'Amour


Marketers Using Bloggers to Boost Branding Efforts
When Kodak wanted to increase participation in its "Time to Smile" branding effort, which launched this past summer, the marketer recently looked to influential bloggers, Twitterers and Facebookaholics to move the needle for its push.  But with so many voices buzzing on the web these days, how can a marketer be sure it has found the right group of "influencers" to help it get the word out?

Tapping the power of an influential consumer has long been a practice of marketers.  Once, that simply meant looking for the coolest kid on the playground or in the mall or in the club that everyone else was trying to emulate.  But with the explosion of the blogosphere, it's no longer just the cool kids that are tagged as influencers; everyone and their mother -- mommy bloggers are now some of the biggest influencers in the consumer space -- can be needle movers.

The upside of that for marketers is a bigger pool to choose from, but the downside is identifying the right one.  Cue the agencies and their social-media platforms, which they claim can identify the perfect blogger or Twitterer for any campaign.

Kodak, with the help of one of its PR shops, WPP's Ogilvy Public Relations, which recently launched its influencer relationship management platform called Insider Circle, identified 10 bloggers they deemed influential within the markets they were looking to target.  John Bell, managing director 360 Digital Influence at Ogilvy PR, said the influencers range from parent bloggers to photography enthusiasts.  Mr. Bell said using bloggers helps stimulate authentic word of mouth that's relevant to the consumer and brand, and builds long-term relationships with these influencers

"We call it social influencer relationship management," he said.  "We provide them with new content and values they can pass along to their readers to get them involved in the program."

Some of the bloggers are soliciting their readers to participate in a contest asking readers to post photos with a story explaining why they are smiling.  The blogger decides which story is best and will give a new Kodak HD camera to the winner.  "We're giving some bloggers access to people at Kodak for stories they'll post on their blogs," Mr. Bell said.  The bloggers disclose their relationship with Kodak to their readers.

Just about every agency has a similar platform that uses varying metrics to determine whether a blogger or someone's Twitter feed is right for a marketer.  In this case, Kodak and Ogilvy were looking for blogs that had topical relevance, significant reach, a high number of links pointing to their posts and high levels of back-and-forth conversations within their platforms.  Depending on what the marketer is looking to accomplish, marketer and agency may also look to see if the bloggers are conversation starters, how trusted and engaged they are, how often their posts get mentioned by others and if they're authoritative.

Chris Perry, exec VP digital strategy and operations at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Weber Shandwick, said choosing a blogger is more art than science.  "We don't create a threshold saying you need 5,000 followers on Twitter, but given that it's digital you do get a better read on how you measure influence," he said.  "But it could be someone who is just so vocal on a particular subject or category that they are being referenced by other bloggers and media.  They may not have a lot of followers but they have a certain point of view that's being noticed, picked up and heard."

Underwriters Laboratories reached out to mommy bloggers to help push its 'UL Keeping the Holiday Safe and Bright' campaign.  Sara Greenstein, CMO of Underwriters Laboratories, said the 150-year-old independent product-safety company reached out to mommy bloggers to help push its "UL Keeping the Holiday Safe and Bright" campaign.  The effort isn't pushing any specific UL products but is looking to educate consumers on who the company is and create a community of influencers and consumers that share stories on "how they make their holidays safe and bright," Ms. Greenstein.

With the aid of Publicis Groupe's MS&L Worldwide, UL has identified five "relevant" mommy bloggers it is providing a constant feed to of new safety tips they can share with their networks.  These five bloggers have generated about 25 blog posts regarding the campaign.

"They are providing us reach," Ms. Greenstein said.  "This segment interacts a lot and they trust each other.  These bloggers are opening the door for us to enter into that dialogue, discussion and engagement and giving us a certain level of credibility."

Weber Shandwick's Mr. Perry said the marketer that uses this type of influencer program as a one-off is foolish and missing the long-term benefits.  Engaging influencers on a sustained basis by bringing them into the franchise, exposing them to executives and giving them sneak peeks at products can make them lifelong advocates for the brand, he said.

"If you're a brand marketer looking at this as a creative way of just getting that one-time transaction done," he said, "you're not recognizing the power of social media and how consumers are playing in the marketing space."
AdAge


Eyes on NBC for 2010
Fox, ABC and CBS all had something to celebrate in 2009.  Fox won its fifth straight season among adults 18-49, CBS was the only network to see year-to-year gains, and ABC finally added a few buzzy new shows to its lineup.  As for NBC, well, it had a hugely successful Super Bowl and not much else.  But in 2010, the story will be NBC, more specifically whether the network that dominated the late 1990s and early 2000s can climb back into contention under new owner Comcast and whether the Jay Leno experiment will be declared a success or failure, based on a full year of results.  All the other issues facing broadcast -- continued viewer erosion due to time-shifting and cable gains, the struggles of the CW, and the series finale of ABC staple "Lost" -- will be secondary to what happens to NBC.  "There is not likely to be much impact on NBC during the short term from the Comcast acquisition," notes former Magna researcher Steve Sternberg, a veteran television analyst.  "Viewers care little about corporate ownership.  What matters is what's put on the small screen.  NBC has had problems developing successful scripted programming for years."  Those years included cutting costs and managing for the bottom line under General Electric.  In recent years NBC has heavied up on cheap unscripted programming and even briefly eliminated the pilot process in an effort to save money.  Notably, all of its fall series were canceled that year.  If Comcast wants NBC to prosper in a way that it has not in recent years, the cable company will need to pour money into program development and decide whether its goal is to rebuild to challenge for first among 18-49s or rebrand as more of a niche network.  Whatever path Comcast pursues will determine whether "The Jay Leno Show" remains at 10 p.m.  The network gave the comedian a nightly primetime talk show to save millions of dollars per year on scripted programming.  The show thus far has met the very modest profitability goal of averaging a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating or above, but media people remain skeptical that its ratings will increase opposite ABC and CBS repeats and in the summer.  If Comcast does decide to rebuild, Leno could be one of the first casualties.  "If cost containment is Comcast's major goal, Leno should remain at 10 p.m. If they want to re-establish NBC as a premier broadcast network, it may not last beyond next season," Sternberg predicts. "Of course, it would be difficult to re-populate the 10 p.m. hour all at once in the fall."
MediaLife Magazine


Outlook Rosy for Cable in 2010
Only a handful of media have held up well during this recession, and cable television is certainly one of them.  Third-quarter numbers suggest that the recovery so many other media are hoping for has already begun for cable.  Next year should bring even better advertising numbers, as well as a continuing rise in viewership, buzz and awards for both basic and premium cable networks.  Year to date, cable advertising is either up or down only slightly, depending on which numbers you rely on.  By comparison, television as a whole is down some 12 percent, while categories such as local newspapers, radio and magazines have fallen by more than 20 percent.  And 2010 looks to be an even stronger year for the medium.  Magna's chief forecaster, Brian Wieser, sees cable growing between 4 and 6 percent next year, after a dip of nearly 4 percent this year.  Other ad trackers say this year's cable advertising numbers were even better.  Year to date, Nielsen says cable spending is up 9 percent, with Spanish-language cable up even more, 36.7 percent.  The reason is pretty simple.  At a time when expensive entertainment, such as ball games and Broadway, are losing audience, cable continues to gain viewers as a relatively cheap alternative.  More viewers translate to more ad dollars.  "Cable provides people with thousands of hours of content and entertainment programming to engage in, and people want to be entertained," says Cross MediaWorks CEO Marc Krigsman.  "Wallets are tight right now, so I think you are going to continue to see that growth.  Beyond being economical, the most powerful platform we have is still the television. You sit back and it delivers entertainment to you."  Cable gained in viewers, prestige and buzz this year, continuing the growth that began earlier this decade, when cable's share of viewership surpassed broadcast for the first time.  It has yet to relinquish that lead.  Year to date through early December, cable's household share had nudged up 2 percent compared to last year, to 60.6 percent, at least its 10th consecutive year of growth, according to Turner Networks analysis of Nielsen data.  The four major broadcast networks' share dipped 2 percent, their third straight year of decline, to 32.1.  Cable also went over a 50 share among adults 18-49 for the first time, hitting 50.7, though as broadcasters continue to point out, they have the top shows overall on television while cable delivers mostly niche hits.  Still, the audience for those niche hits is increasing. Earlier this month, USA's "Monk" drew more than 9 million total viewers for its final episode, setting a cable record for a scripted series.  Two months earlier, ESPN's "Monday Night Football" broke its own record, averaging more than 21 million viewers to become the most-watched program in cable history.
MediaLife Magazine


ESPN, USA Split Ratings Crown
USA Network last week notched a late-December victory, knocking ESPN off its perch atop the cable ratings heap with an average prime-time delivery of 2.97 million viewers.  The NBC Universal network won the week ended Dec. 20, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data, although ESPN was able to hold onto two of the core TV demos.  In the penultimate week of the Nielsen calendar, ESPN maintained its stronghold on adults 25-54 (1.42 million) and viewers 18-49 (1.39 million), although USA made the latter race interesting, averaging 1.38 million members of the demo.  USA also eked out a win among viewers 18-34, drawing 674,000 to ESPN’s 646,000.  Despite an unpromising NFC West matchup between the 6-6 San Francisco 49ers and the 8-4 Arizona Cardinals, ESPN’s Monday Night Football won its 14th consecutive week, drawing 13.1 million viewers on Dec. 14.  Through its first 15 MNF contests, ESPN is averaging 14.4 million viewers, up 20 percent from this time a year ago.  The 49ers-Cards scuffle also won the three major demos, drawing 6.74 million viewers 18-49, 6.97 million adults 25-54 and 3.18 million viewers 18-34.  USA got a lift from a special three-hour WWE Raw, averaging 4.92 million viewers Monday night between 8 p.m. and 11:10 p.m.  A repeat of NCIS also drew a crowd, as the Dec. 16 installment of the procedural averaged 4.8 million viewers at 8 p.m.  All told, USA took second place among the 25-54 set, averaging 1.34 million on the week.  Rocketing into third place on the week was NFL Network, which smashed its own ratings record Saturday night, as its coverage of the Saints-Cowboys battle drew 10.5 million total viewers.   One week after getting bumped out of the top five for the first time since the year began, Fox News Channel stormed back to a fourth-place finish, serving up 2.13 million total viewers.  In the core news demo, FNC finished 15th among ad-supported cable nets, with an average nightly draw of 527,000 adults 25-54.  ABC Family fell two spots to number five, drawing 2.06 million viewers, of which nearly half (928,000) were viewers 18-49.  Last week’s top 10 ad-supported cable nets among the core TV demo were: ESPN, averaging 1.39 million viewers 18-49; USA (1.38 million); NFL Net (1.18 million); TBS (1.03 million); ABC Family (928,000); A&E (862,000); FX (787,000); TNT (746,000); Discovery Channel (666,000) and History (589,000).
MediaWeek


PBS Signs On for Weekly Nielsen Ratings
For the first time in nearly 40 years of broadcasting, PBS has signed on as a weekly Nielsen subscriber, a move that will allow the public television service to provide clients with a more accurate look into its audience deliveries.  PBS is not ponying up for overnight ratings, but the weekly Nielsen NPower data will offer sponsors a more timely read on programming performance.  While PBS does not run traditional call-to-action advertising, it does solicit marketers to underwrite its programming expenses through sponsorships.  Rather than a 30-second spot shilling a product or service, PBS sponsors are identified by short creative that runs immediately before and after the supported program.  In the past, sponsors backed PBS programs for a 52-week run.  This spring, the broadcaster began accepting shorter commitments, some as brief as a single week.  The decision to loosen the old sponsorship guidelines reflects clients’ increasing desire for greater flexibility––a phenomenon that also has informed the broadcast and cable scatter market in the last several quarters.  Content restrictions remain in place, in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.  PBS said it began kicking the tires on the new service this fall, with the premiere of the Ken Burns documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.  Each episode of the six-part series averaged 5.5 million average viewers, per Nielsen data.  Among the prime-time PBS programs that will be measured by Nielsen are: Antiques Roadshow, Masterpiece Theater, PBS NewsHour and Nova.  Kids-targeted series that will get the Nielsen demo treatment include Sesame Street and Curious George.  “PBS is meeting the evolving needs of our program supporters, who are essential partners in making our content available to the public,” said Andrew Russell, senior vp, PBS Ventures.  “The new Nielsen ratings service will provide current and potential sponsors with a detailed picture of the diverse audiences our programs serve.”
MediaWeek


Nets Find Comfortable Ratings in Food Shows
Holiday revelers might overindulge this weekend, but viewers are gorging on food television shows.  Fox has made a cottage industry out of curmudgeonly Gordon Ramsay (Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmaresand next year's Master Chef).  Networks not known as foodie havens have found solid ratings: Bravo's Top Chef and TLC's Cake Boss are their networks' top series, while others ranging from IFC to Planet Green are opening their cupboards to new food shows.  And Scripps Networks, which saw prime-time ratings for its Food Network spike 29% this year to a new record, is turning its underachieving Fine Living Network into a 24-hour Cooking Channel next May.  Scripps chief John Lansing says the sprouting of more food shows on other channels simply "broadened interest in the category," and much of the growth is coming from younger viewers.  It's a long way from Julia Child— portrayed by Meryl Streep in summer's Julie & Julia — and her TV successors, Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray.  Programmers say a recessionary trend toward home entertaining has driven the genre.  "Culturally right now, food is a comfort device," says TLC chief Eileen O'Neill, who's peppered her network's schedule with shows about barbecue pitmasters, dwarf chocolatiers and that New Jersey cake guy, tapping more male viewers.  The audience for Bravo's Top Chef, among the top-rated food shows, is the new norm.  "It tends to be people who enjoy eating and are interested in food (more than) people who want to do it themselves," says programming chief Frances Berwick, who's prepping a spinoff built around desserts.  Like other reality series, food shows spawn stars of their own.  Next Food Network Star's first-season winner Guy Fieri, who hosts the channel's top regular series, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, was tapped last week to host new NBC game show Perfect 10.
USA Today


Lawmakers Ask MTV to Cancel 'Shore'
MTV is getting more pressure to cancel its "Jersey Shore" reality show.  The latest criticism comes from the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus, which says the show promotes derogatory ethnic stereotypes and is "wildly offensive."  In a letter sent Tuesday to the president of Viacom, MTV's parent company, caucus chairman Joseph Vitale asks that the show be immediately taken off the air.  The state lawmakers also have asked advertisers to boycott the show, which focuses on eight tanned 20-somethings and their escapades in Seaside Heights, a popular New Jersey beach town.  On Wednesday, a Viacom spokesman referred a request for comment to an MTV spokesperson, who did not immediately respond. MTV has said its intention is not to stereotype or offend.
Variety


Dell Pulls Ads from 'Jersey Shore
Dell became the third advertiser to pull adds off the MTV reality show about self-described "guidos" and "guidettes," TMZ.com reports.  The computer company told TMZ they'll "block" their commercials from running in future episodes of the show, saying they don't "condone or support ethnic bashing in any form."  Two weeks ago, American Family Insurance saw their ads running during the show's premiere and instructed MTV not to use them for any future episodes.  Pizza chain Dominos was the first to make the move away from the controversial reality show.  The advertisers began pulling out after the Italian American group, UNICO National, said they were outraged by "Jersey Shore" and would put pressure on sponsors to cut ads until MTV takes the show off the air.
NY Daily News


Religious Broadcasters Fear Spectrum Reclamation
Religious broadcasters have asked the Federal Communications Commission not to reallocate any broadcast spectrum for wireless, saying it will disproportionately impact Christian TV broadcasters.  Responding to an FCC request for input on how the public's welfare would be impacted were the commission to "diminish" over-the-air TV coverage in order to recover spectrum, the National Religious Broadcasters told the agency Monday that it thinks that spectrum reassignment might be illegal.  "NRB presumes that the term 'public welfare,' includes such things as compliance by the FCC with existing legal and constitutional standards," said the group in its filing, "and believes that violation of those standards would be contrary to 'public welfare.'"  Pointing to the writings of FCC Distinguished Scholar in Residence Stuart Benjamin that spectrum could be reallocated from "lower value" uses like broadcasting to "higher value" uses, NRB says it is afraid it could be relegated to the lower of that low due to its noncommercial model.  [O]ur Christian television broadcasters rely on current 'must carry' regulations to gain optimal coverage, and do not, as a general rule, enter into retransmission agreements," NRB pointed out.  "As a result, there is no standard market index for the economic "value" of Christian television programming from a macro-broadcasting viewpoint.  Does that mean, therefore, that Christian stations would be more susceptible to being viewed as being of lower 'value,' and therefore more likely to lose spectrum?"  NRB argued the fact that a station can support itself through public donations should, in fact, argue for its value to the public, but it points to a lack of clarity in the FCC's notice regarding terms like "value" and "benefit."  NRB also maintained that if spectrum reclamation were to significantly impact religious broadcasters, it could well violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which applies a compelling interest/least restrictive means test for any government action regarding exercise of religious expression.  The FCC has not yet proposed any spectrum reclamation, but the broadband advisor has been talking with broadcasters and others about possible scenarios that would preserve broadcasting in some form, while freeing up spectrum for wireless broadband.
MultiChannel


News Corp. Plans 'Broadcast + Broadband' Strategy
News Corp. outlined its plans to use a portion of its broadcast spectrum to deliver TV, newspapers and other content to mobile devices in a filing Tuesday with the Federal Communications Commission.  Promising to "reinvent and recreate the content experience from the ground up," News Corp. described a mobile media platform built around providing local news and information but also spanning everything from prime-time TV shows and movies to celebrity interviews to books, newspapers and magazines.  In addition to on-demand offerings, the mobile system would also provide live coverage of sporting events and breaking news as well as the ability to access the Web, check My Space or Facebook pages or go to Hulu free of technical glitches or slowdowns.  "Consumers would have access to the best content, delivered in ways that are personally tailored to consumers on the go, all through the touch of an icon on a screen, with short-cuts to favorite shows, alerts when new episodes are available, and recommendations to try something new from favored genres, actors, producers or writers," stated the filing in response to an FCC notice of inquiry issued Dec. 2 seeking comment on whether parts of the broadcast spectrum should be reallocated for wireless broadband.  Broadcasters have strongly opposed the FCC possibly taking back some of the national airwaves from TV stations to help meet growing demand for wireless broadband services.  The idea is under consideration as part of the agency's wider efforts to develop a national broadband plan.  TV executives say they want to use their broadcast spectrum to offer more digital channels as well as programming for mobile devices. To that end, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch earlier this month told the Federal Trade Commission at its meeting on the future of the news media that the company has been working for two years on the project to deliver mobile TV over its airwaves.  In its FCC filing Tuesday, News Corp. reiterated that it plans to use its remaining broadcast spectrum to roll out an ambitious mobile content platform over the next two years.  The media conglomerate argued that its "broadcast + broadband" strategy would provide the most efficient means of delivering programming to mobile devices.
MediaPost


HuffPo Shines Under ComScore Direct Light
The Huffington Post has plenty to celebrate and the end of 2009.  The news and blogging hub recently received its first batch of data from ComScore's new measurement service, ComScore Direct, which employs "beaconing" -- which records every time there's a server call on a given Web page as opposed to the standard ComScore audience measurement service, which is panel-based, relying on a relatively small group of volunteers willing to have their Internet usage recorded.  (ComScore Direct says this method is believed to provide a more accurate view of Internet usage that takes place while people are at work, since big companies are reluctant to have their employees serve on panels.)   The result?  ComScore Direct pegged the site's unique audience at 17.7 million, versus 7.9 million for the panel-only method.  "My belief is the reason the Huffington Post numbers grew so dramatically is because it has very high at-work usage," Michele Madansky, a media consultant who works with HuffPo, tells Daily Finance.
MediaPost


9 Things We Learned About Us in 2009

For a species that has been studying itself for thousands of years, you might think humans would have learned everything there is to know about, well, us.  But science never ceases to reveal more about the complex human body, mind and culture.  Here are 9 of the most fascinating things we learned about ourselves in 2009: 

- Adults have baby fat.  Scientists had long believed the brown fat that babies are born with disappears once they grow up.  But a study published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that some adults do indeed retain deposits of this baby fat.  And this is the so-called good fat since it burns calories.  In fact, the researchers also found that thinner people are more likely to have brown fat, suggesting that it may play a role in regulating body weight.  Boosting growth of this fat could potentially become a new way to treat obesity, the researchers said.

- Your skin is loaded with bacteria.  Scientists are learning more and more about the many bacteria that reside in and on our bodies through the Human Microbiome Project.  New results this year showed that different populations of bacteria inhabit different sites on our skin, with some sites more diverse than others.  The forearm was the winner in terms of diversity, with scientists finding 44 different bacterial species there.

- Late-sleepers are more alert than early-risers.  "Morning people" may get out the door earlier, but at a price: They may not stay focused as long as those who stay up late and stay snuggled beneath the covers during the a.m. hours, according to a study that examined the attention spans of both early birds and night owls.  The study measured the alertness of both groups at 1.5 hours and 10.5 hours after waking.  Results showed that while both groups had about the same attention level at 1.5 hours, the late-sleepers were more focused than the early-risers after 10.5 hours.  So if you find yourself naturally rising at dawn, you may want to think twice before scheduling an important afternoon meeting.

- Could you speak into my right ear please?  If you want someone to do you a favor, you may be better off speaking into their right ear than their left, a study this year suggests. The results showed that people would rather be addressed in their right ear, and they are also more likely to grant favors if the appeal is made to the right ear.  This preference may be due to the fact that speech coming into the right ear is mostly processed by the left side of your brain, the hemisphere that is thought to process verbal information.

- Multitasking slows you down.  If you do a lot of multitasking, you should be good at it, right?  Not so, according to research out this year that found those who multitask more frequently are actually worse at it than those who conquer chores individually.  In the study, multitaskers took longer to complete tasks, and when they had to switch tasks, they were slower at it.  The findings add more evidence to the argument that certain multitasking situations, such as texting while driving, may not be wise, and even can be dangerous.

- Infants cry in their native tongue.  Even when babies are only a few days old, their cries resemble their native language, researchers in Germany found this year.  For instance, the cries of French infants have a rising melody pattern from start to finish — a characteristic of the French language.  On the other hand, German infants have cries with falling melodies — a pattern found in German speech.  

- Most children lack vitamin D.  A national survey of U.S. children showed that about 70 percent do not have sufficient levels of vitamin D, a result the researchers deemed "shocking."  They pinned the blame for the low vitamin levels on poor diet and too little sunshine.  Vitamin D deficiency can put people at risk for bone disorders, such as rickets, as well as heart disease.  So, perhaps, a New Year's resolution to get the kids outdoors may be in order.

- Cohabiting before marriage may lead to divorce.  Moving in with your significant other before marriage may not be the best idea, say researchers at the University of Denver.  Their survey found that people who cohabited before wedding were more likely to report a lower quality of marriage, and these couples were more likely to split than those who held out on living together until after they tied the knot.

- Why you aren't born walking.  Scientists think they know why some animals, such as horses and giraffes, can get up and walk only hours after being born, while humans take about a year before they can move upright on two legs.  Although mammals seem to start ambling at different points in their childhood, they actually begin to walk at the same point in their brain development, according to a study released this month.

LiveScience


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In This Issue
Promo of the Day
Fox Going Yellow for 'Simpsons' Anniversary
Sawyer's Debut Gives 'World News' Slight Bump
ESPN Show Hooks Brokaw
November's Top 30 Global News Sites
Twitter Not A Top Mobile Brand
Marketers Embracing 'Random Acts"
LinkedIn Now Offering 'Freemium" Services
Message From Michael
Top Ten Christmas Carols


Quotes

"Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job.  It lies with each of us individually.  Peace, for example, starts within each one of us.  When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us."
- the Dalai Lama

"Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first we have to make them feel worse?  Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly.  Did you feel like cooperating or doing better?"
- Jane Nelson

"Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom."
- Theodore I. Rubin


Promo of the Day
As KIVI Operations Manager Dan McColly says "Okay so ... maybe not your typical "holly & ivy" promos."... but we get a fun spin around the station and given quick insight into their team, infused with the spirit of giving.
 
602communications.com/VideoExamples

Have a video clip to share?  Email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Flash (.flv) or QuickTime (.mov) files, size 320 x 240, are preferred, but WindowsMedia (.wmv) files will also be accepted.  Large files may be sent via http://www.yousendit.com.  You can also mail your clip on VHS or DVD to Graeme Newell at 1011 Lyndhurst Falls Lane, Knightdale, NC  27545.


Fox Going Yellow for 'Simpsons' Anniversary
Fox is going yellow for the home stretch of its "Simpsons" 20th anniversary celebration.  For the week beginning Jan. 3, graphical elements across Fox properties will turn yellow in honor of Matt Groening's iconic characters.  That means on-air graphics, Fox's Web sites, social network pages and special on-air promos -- all in yellow, along with a range of other stunts (such as local Fox news anchors wearing yellow ties).  The move is part of the final push of what's been an extensive "Simpsons" marketing push to honor the series, which concludes with a Jan. 10 one-hour documentary special on the show directed by Morgan Spurlock.  Right before the doc, "Simpsons" will air its 450th episode.  "We always knew at the end of the campaign we'd go yellow," said Fox executive vp marketing Joe Earley, who has led the year-and-half campaign.  The effort has included on-air scavenger hunts, contests for viewers to create their own posters and "couch gag," and even the "Simpsons" receiving their own postage stamps.  It's rare for a network to put such an extensive marketing effort behind a veteran series. It's not as if "Simpsons" is even Fox's highest-rated program on Sundays (that honor goes to "Family Guy). Earley points out that any uniqueness in the campaign is matched by the show's accomplishments.  "'The Simpsons' is not only a Fox icon, it's a cultural icon worldwide," Earley said.  "For a show to hit its 20th anniversary in today's universe is such a feat, and it still has such a resonance in the zeitgeist.  The show has viewers who have viewed it for three generations.  Besides, it's such a creative property that it's fun to come up with ideas for it."
Hollywood Reporter


Sawyer's Debut Gives 'World News' Slight Bump
Diane Sawyer's debut as World News anchor registered a slight viewer uptick for the Dec. 21 broadcast, according to preliminary data from Nielsen.  World News averaged 8.9 million viewers Dec. 21. NBC's Nightly News prevailed with 9.3 million and the CBS Evening News was watched by 5.9 million viewers, according to fast affiliate data.  (Fast affiliate data reflects viewing on ABC stations from 6:30-7 p.m. where World News airs in most but not all markets.)  For the season, World News is averaging 8 million viewers.  The show's average for Monday broadcasts is 8.4 million.
Broadcasting & Cable


ESPN Show Hooks Brokaw
ESPN confirmed that Tom Brokaw would be hosting a series where he goes on a weeklong fishing expedition.  The show's trailer has received some traction on YouTube with 14,000-plus views.  Sponsored by Ace hardware, "Pirates of the Flats" debuts Dec. 27 on ESPN2's outdoors block.  Brokaw, formerly of NBC News, will be joined by actor Michael Keaton and others in their bone-fishing adventure off the coast of the Bahamas.  One message of the show: Fishermen need to be environmentally conscious, with the program produced in partnership with the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.  At one point in the trailer, Brokaw says the color of the water is "psychedelic," and he was "transfixed" by it.  The series includes six episodes and runs through Jan. 30. Garden & Gun magazine touted the series as "about the coolest fishing show to come around since, well, ever."
MediaPost


November's Top 30 Global News Sites
Like newspapers, at least half of the top 30 current events/global news sites had a difficult time clearing tough comparables in November, marking one year after a closely watched presidential election.  Of the top five sites, only AOL News increased its traffic in November year-over-year after a push to generate original content.  AOL's monthly uniques grew 9% to 23 million.  Growth at Yahoo News, the No. 1 site on the list, was flat at 38.7 million uniques.  The Huffington Post managed to increase its traffic in November 2009, up 27% to 8.9 million year-over-year.  CNN Digital Network had the highest average of sessions per person at 7.3 in November.  Below is the list of top 30 online current events and global news destinations for November ranked by uniques with the average number of sessions per user and year-over-year comparisons.  Additionally, The Wall Street Journal is included on another Nielsen list, which tracks business and financial sites.

Yahoo! News -- 38,716,000 -- 5.71 -- 0%
CNN Digital Network -- 36,605,000 -- 7.33 -- (-12%)
MSNBC Digital Network -- 35,068,000 -- 5.38 -- (-16%)
AOL News -- 23,006,000 -- 6.22 -- 9%
NYTimes.com -- 16,635,000 -- 4.00 -- (-20%)

Tribune Newspapers -- 16,551,000 -- 3.46 -- (-14%)
Google News -- 15,895,000 -- 4.12 -- 10%
Fox News Digital Network -- 15,811,000 -- 5.97 -- (-14%)
ABCNEWS Digital Network -- 12,922,000 -- 3.06 -- (-3%)
Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Division -- 11,946,000 -- 5.29 -- (-15%)

Washingtonpost.com -- 11,321,000 -- 2.98 -- 2%
CBS News Digital Network -- 10,581,000 -- 2.60 -- (-17%)
McClatchy Newspaper Network -- 10,091,000 -- 3.86 -- (-19%)
Advance Internet -- 9,457,000 -- 4.13 -- 0%
TheHuffingtonPost.com -- 8,986,000 -- 3.44 -- 27%

USATODAY.com -- 8,309,000 -- 3.84 -- (-20%)
MediaNews Group Newspapers -- 8,081,000 -- 3.71 -- (-1%)
Hearst Newspapers Digital -- 7,722,000 -- 3.44 -- (-7%)
BBC -- 7,465,000 -- 3.15 -- (-23%)
Daily News (NY) Online Edition -- 7,109,000 -- 2.19 -- 21%

NBC Local Media -- 6,943,000 -- 1.92 -- 148%
WorldNow -- 6,811,000 -- 3.52 -- (-16%)
Examiner.com -- 6,225,000 -- 1.88 -- 228%
Guardian.co.uk -- 5,486,000 -- 1.71 -- 33%
Cox Newspapers -- 5,369,000 -- 4.59 -- 16%

NPR -- 5,012,000 -- 2.15 -- 6%
New York Post Holdings -- 4,934,000 -- 2.92 -- 10%
MailOnline -- 4,374,000 -- 2.14 -- (-7%)
Telegraph -- 4,363,000 -- 2.72 -- 7%
Topix -- 4,356,000 -- 2.47 -- (-37%)
Editor & Publisher


Twitter Not A Top Mobile Brand
A recent study by Strategy Analytics found Google and Facebook to be the most desired brands to have on a mobile phone.  Not a big surprise, given the companies' respective dominance in search and social networking on the desktop Web, which is quickly extending to mobile.  More unexpected is that Twitter would ran 16th out of 24 brands in the U.S. despite its mobile-centric format and the reams of publicity the microblogging service has generated.  Ahead of it were more established brands including Yahoo, Weather.com, iTunes and MySpace, according to the research firm's survey of 439 mobile users in the U.S. and the UK.  The latest data from comScore also shows Twitter's audience growth continued its holding pattern of recent months, adding only 100,000 new U.S. unique visitors for a total of 19.4 million in November.  Twitter's international growth has also flattened, at 58.3 million visitors as of October.  TechCrunch, pointed out, however, that popular Twitter applications like Seesmic and Tweetdeck are still enjoying strong growth as more people to turn to these and similar programs to manage their Twitter accounts.  The comScore figures also don't reflect mobile usage.  Even so, Twitter doesn't appear to be a threat to Facebook becoming as powerful a social networking force on mobile as on the PC.  Morgan Stanley's recently released Mobile Internet Report cited Facebook and Apple as leading innovation in mobile communications and commerce. But it views mobile social networking as a rising tide lifting all boats rather than a zero sum game between Facebook and Twitter.  "Like Twitter, Facebook is evolving to provide complete communication to its users, from emails and posts to online chats, voice and video," states the report.  So while Twitter may not live up to the hype that's surrounded the service since early on, it doesn't mean it will swept away by Facebook's mobile expansion either.
MediaPost


Marketers Embracing 'Random Acts"
Looks like Yahoo is the latest marketer to jump on the resurging "Random acts of kindness" bandwagon, announcing a year-end giving campaign called "You in?"  This month, both Clinique and Macy's asked people to commit these random acts on behalf of their brands.  And in recent months, Cosmopolitan partnered with Estee Lauder for its Cosmo Karma project, and Servus Credit Union, a Canadian bank, handed out $200,000 in $10 increments to finance small good deeds.  Experts expect to see more marketers work the "Random Acts" thinking, a phrase that last soared in popularity in the mid-'90s, into their cause-related efforts.  "It's a natural extension of the trend we've seen among companies to offer consumers choice through their cause programs," says Sarah Kerkian, senior insights associate at Cone Inc., a Boston-based cause-marketing agency.  "Consumers get to select the issue or organization the company will donate to, and in some cases, even nominate organizations close to their hearts.  It helps shift the consumer cause relationship from passive to active."  For Yahoo, the randomness isn't new: The "You in?" campaign -- which encourages users to post their kindnesses on social media pages to inspire friends and families to do the same -- is an extension of its year-round Purple Acts of Kindness campaign, which has been in place for several years.  And the World Kindness Movement, along with its American arm, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, surged in popularity about the same time as did the Spice Girls.  But because of the recession, Kerkian says, the idea of small, inexpensive interventions is gaining new traction.  "Americans are so aware of the struggles their neighbors are facing, and there is a real desire to help one another, even at a time when they themselves are facing financial hardships.  So the ... approach helps -- it's bite-sized enough that we all can feel a sense of doing good, even if we don't have a lot of charitable dollars to spare."
MediaPost


LinkedIn Now Offering 'Freemium" Services
LinkedIn Corp., Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, Skype Ltd. and other Web sites, which reeled in users with free content, are now boosting sales by adding features that customers have to pay for.  LinkedIn introduced a product last month that helps recruiting agencies scour the networking site for job candidates.  In June, ESPN merged its online magazine with its Insider service, which costs $6.95 a month.  Skype has added features such as voice mail and calling plans that allow users to dial land-line phones for a monthly fee.  The shift reflects a desire by Web site owners to reduce their dependence on online advertising.  Instead, they’re attracting visitors with free content and then selling them premium services or subscriptions, a model known as “freemium.”  U.S. consumers will spend $8.55 billion on Web content such as games, music and dating in 2010, up 13 percent from this year, according to Forrester Research Inc.  “They’re finding things that are valuable to people that they’re willing to pay for,” said Charlene Li, an analyst with Altimeter Group LLC in San Mateo, California.  “Diversity in terms of revenue stream is always healthier because they’re never dependent on a single stream.”  LinkedIn said in October that it’s ahead of financial targets for this year.  While users can create personal profiles for free, the Mountain View, California-based company introduced paid subscriptions in 2005.  Those services give recruiters more access to job candidates and provide business professionals with ways to communicate with one another.  Prices range from $24.95 to $499.95 a month.  “Professionals have consistently shown a high willingness to pay for unique value-added tools and content,” said LinkedIn Chief Financial Officer Steve Sordello.  The company doesn’t disclose its revenue or the percentage of users who pay for the service.
Bloomberg


Message From Michael
WHO’S WRONG OR RIGHT:  It doesn’t matter because Michael Jackson didn’t just beat it; he beat everything when it came to the top search topics of 2009.  Whether it was Google, Yahoo, Bing or Twitter, the pop idol’s death was the number one topic, almost across the board.  No surprise there.  What may be a little surprising (and may be heartening) to those who believe such reports only confirm the celebrity obsession culture is that the Iranian election was far and away the top topic for “Twitterers”, according to the official Twitter website as well as spin-off site Whatthetrend.com.  That’s not to say celebrities didn’t dominate as usual.  On Yahoo, the top ten included Megan Fox, Britney Spears and Kim Kardashian.  On Bing, it was Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Jon and Kate Goselin, Billy Mays and Jaycee Durgan.  And just so you’re in with the in crowd, you should know that Amy Winehouse is out (she was on Google’s  GLOBAL “fastest falling” search list) while Lady Gaga is in (She was on Google’s GLOBAL “fastest rising” list.)  In the category of entertainment, Google’s list indicates Eminem is back, along with Beyonce and Natasha Richardson.  President Barack Obama also had the dubious distinction of making the “fastest falling” list on Google and only made it to number 44 on Yahoo’s list.  A different kind of personality also dominated the search engine trends – Vampires.  Shows like TrueBlood and movies like The Twilight Saga, New Moon were prominent search items along with Paranormal Activity, District 9 as well as Transformers.

TWO TURKISH DELIGHTS:  Continuing the what’s hot, what’s not theme.  KralOyun is out; Sanalika is in.  If you’re like me, you’re saying, ‘heck, that kral thing is out before I even knew what it was it was and that san thing is in and I don’t even know what it is.’  Well, they’re both virtual world or multi-layer games.  Now, you’re saying to yourself, ‘that’s why I didn’t know about them; I’m not some teen video game enthusiast.’  No, actually, that’s probably not the reason.  There are some video game enthusiasts who are Message readers.  The real reason is that they’re Turkish in origin.  According to website TechCrunch whose editors were as surprised as you and I were, the reason is that there are 14 Million Turks online and when they do searches, they do a blanket kind of search which generates more hits.  Or something like that.  But if you are really into video games (which more and more research indicates is the trend of the future, along with mobile), then Runescape is the name of the game.  It isn’t just a multi-player online role playing game (MORPG), according to Yahoo, where it made the top ten list; it’s a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG).  Continuing the fantasy vein, Naruto isn’t just an anime or manga, it is THE manga series.  It came in at number six on Yahoo’s list of hot search topics and number four on Google’s fastest rising list in entertainment.  It is the story of a boy and his sword.  Actually, it’s the story about a young ninja who wants to become the ‘hokage’ – the top ninja in his village.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES:  Or the Gonzalezes.  Or the Wangs.  Or the Nguyens. The ‘global village’ that is the Internet is very much apparent in the hot search topics.  It is most apparent in Google’s Zeitgeist which has four different countries in its top ten of fastest rising global websites.  Sanalika mentioned above from Turkey.  Tuenti is a Spanish social network based in Madrid and was the third fastest rising site.  A newsletter from Vietnam came in 9th (dantri.com.vn).  And the tenth spot was one of the more unusual risers.  Torpedo gratis is a free SMS service that started in Portuguese-speaking Brazil.  Elsewhere there is Peliculasid.com which provides Spanish versions of English movies free.  Keep digging and you will also find a South Korean sports page and a Japanese cooking website, all of them fast growing websites on the World Internet.  As a cultural footnote to this, it is interesting that three of the top ten blogs coming up in Yahoo’s list of top searches were African-American – Media Take Out, Bossip, and All HipHop.  Taking the top spot was relative newcomer TMZ, although ‘old-timers’ Drudge Report and Perez Hilton rounded out the top three.

JUDE THE OBSCURE:  If like the title character in Thomas Hardy’s novel (See, I don’t just do rock and roll references), you want to be a scholar, then the various websites and topics from the various search engines can help you.  Of course it depends on what you want to learn.  For example, I don’t know what learning about the search for the Yeti-like mythical character, Chupacabra, mentioned as one of the hot topics on Yahoo’s buzz blog list does for you.  But it is interesting to find that the hot new health food is the Acai Berry whose antioxidant capacity is so much higher than its cousins, blueberries and cranberries, that it is touted as a “superfood” with anti-aging and even weight loss properties.  Probably more to the point is the cultural snapshot that the searches provide.  Some would say that there is none better for this than Twitter.  And you can get that weekly through some of the top twitter hashtags.  For example, the top hashtag is #musicmonday where people share the favorite or recommended music choices.  But if you want to dig a little deeper, and some might say darker, into the culture, track hashtags #unacceptable where people exchange what they find is ‘unacceptable’ and #3drunkwords which, as the name says, is a way to share the three words someone utters in a drunken state.  Warning – some of the exchanges can be raunchy.  Much nicer, is #friendfriday where people tweet the names of people they like or think you should follow. It didn’t make Twitter’s top ten, but it did make the top 50 list on whatthetrend.  Another one of those footnotes I like so much, whatthetrend noted that one of the top twitters concerned Glee, a Fox TV show about a high school glee club which, while popular in the U.S., is wildly popular in the Philippines, Australia and Brazil.  What caused the twitter commotion?  The show was pre-empted by the World Series.

TACKY AWARD OF THE YEAR:  The honchos at ABC News just made it under the wire, but managed to win my first ever Tacky Award with the December 18th broadcast in which Charlie Gibson made his final appearance.  One of the more interesting points he made during his farewell speech was that objectivity no longer seemed to be the valuable asset it once was in news.  It was a very thoughtful and heartfelt speech in which he became obviously emotional.  That was followed by a series of humorous and serious soundbites from politicians and celebrities talking about Gibson.  Out of that, they came to a shot of Gibson at the desk surrounded by the various people who work there.  They applauded him; he applauded them.  And then… then they immediately went to a promo spot for his replacement, Diane Sawyer, starting Monday, with some marketing genius’s allegedly witty play on the words “no” and “know.”  Okay, admittedly, commentary on my part, but the crassness really is astounding.

DUMB PATENTS OF THE YEAR:  My message may be a little late for you to rush out and get these for Christmas, but here are some gift suggestions for next year for the person who has everything.  A toilet-training watch.  Disposable diapers with a camouflage pattern.  Condoms shaped like a filled beer glass.  A fingernail sander with its own debris bag.  A sun visor complete with hair. These are some of the dumb patents applied for in 2009, according to The New York Times.  Want some more?  Apparently putting two different ideas into one is a big deal for inventors.  Things like the combined letter opener, screen cleaner and pen cap.  Or the towel that also doubles up as a handbag.  Or the combined manure fork and fan-type shavings blower.  The greeting card that also can be used to hold socks.  And the list goes on… and on… and on.

NOT SO DUMB VIDEOS OF THE YEAR:  Okay, so you can’t go out in time for Christmas and buy yourself an abnormality alarm device (another of the 2009 dumb patents), but you can watch some of the great viral videos of the year, courtesy of website Mashable.  Some of them you may already have seen.  Such as the baby who dances to Beyonce.  The president of The Feed Company, Josh Warner, who selected the videos, is probably right when he says the ads on this must-watch video will probably pay for the kid’s college education.  Or there is the guy whose guitar was broken by baggage handlers at United, and who now probably has enough publicity to put together a full orchestra.  Interestingly, the list dispels the myth that all viral videos must be short, ‘snackable’ videos.  The videos range in length from a minute and 39 seconds to 12 minutes and 13 seconds.  The top choice is a five-minute homage to one kid’s incredible wall-climbing, stair-case-jumping, rooftop-hopping biking skills, produced by Inspired bicycles.  The list shows how companies can capitalize on the viral video phenomenon – such as Volkswagen’s video showing how a subway staircase was turned into piano keys, convincing two-thirds of the people in a test to use the stairs instead of the nearby escalator.  Or, how companies can embarrass themselves—Microsoft attempting to some how connect the release of Windows 7 to a kind of The Big Chill gathering of friends.  And, if you liked last year’s viral video of the guy catching Ray-Ban sunglasses with his face, you’ll love this year’s spoof version where a guy catches a laptop with his butt.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS:  To all my friends and acquaintances, strangers and not-so strangers, subscribers and other readers, broadcasters and ink-stained wretches, new media and old media people, social media and anti-social media friends, those in the mainstream and those not even in the river, mobile and stationary; whoever you are, I wish you peace and happiness.  The message will go silent over the holidays…unless something really interesting happens.  But we’ll be back in the New Year with a look at the trends and issues, predictions and prognostications for the next year in media.  

Michael Castengera is an instructor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia AND President of Media Strategies and Tactics Inc., a consulting firm that works with all media but primarily broadcasting.  You can visit his website at MediaConsultant.tv.


Top Ten Christmas Carols

10. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, Bleached Bright Like Sammy Sosa's Face

9.  Don We Now Our Gay Apparel, Fa La La La La La La La La, For The Adam Lambert Concert, Fa La La La La La La La La

8.  I Saw Mommy Injecting Santa Claus with the H1N1 Vaccine

7.  Oh Holy Crap, My Family's Driving Me Crazy

6.  Frosty the Snowman, Had a Carrot on His Face, Til Some Young Punks Relocated It, To a Very Naughty Place

5.  Here Comes Tiger Woods, Here Comes Tiger Woods, Driving Really Fast. Here Comes Elin Woods, With a Seven Wood, Clobberin' Tiger's Ass

4.  Your Name Isn't On the List, Must Have Been Someone We Missed, Since You're In a Tux and Frock, Go Meet Michelle and Barack, Saaaaa-laaaa-hi

3.  You're Beginning to Look a Lot Like an Owl, You've Had Too Much Botox

2  .Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Oops, I Forgot, You're a Jew

1.  Deck the Halls with Junk Made in China, Fa La La La La Our Country's Screwed

The Late Show with David Letterman


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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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In This Issue
Two Things to Include in Every Anchor Intro
CNN Lags Behind MSNBC in Prime-Time Ratings
Comcast Could Own 100% of NBCU by 2014, Analyst Foresees
Tiger's Affairs Cost Millions in Lost Ads
Pepsi Skipping Super Bowl Next Year
Twitter Hacked by Iranian Cyber Army
Popes Taps Cyberspace to Reach Youth
Time Names Bernanke Person of the Year
Newsstand Gets Undercover Visit from Murdoch
Book of Tens: Epic Media Feuds of 2009


Quotes

"One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to commit themselves to action.  Most people are not satisfied with giving money; we also feel we need to work."
- Peter Drucker

"There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else."
- Peyton Conway March

"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own."
- Ben Sweetland


Two Things to Include in Every Anchor Intro
by Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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http://www.602communications.com
Twitter: gnewell
Facebook: facebook.com/gnewell

Pay special attention to the first and last line of the anchor intro.   This critical story element should start strong, then give an enticing taste of what's to come.

The first line of your package should be the strongest of the piece.  It should grab your attention, leaving the viewer curious for explanatory details.  As you're reviewing scripts, pay special attention to this critical beginning.  It should contain the most interesting and provocative fact from the story.  Don't save it for later.  Put your most dramatic and amazing fact in the first line.

"The mayor is in jail tonight."
"Jennifer never thought that three pigs would end up in her basement."
"Get ready for a big tax hike."

Don't start with history.  Never begin a package with background information or past happenings. Avoid the temptation to tell the story chronologically.  Packages that "begin at the beginning" are doomed to start with old and outdated facts.  Most reporters tend to saunter up to the impressive story details, assuming viewers will stick around while they methodically build to the juicy stuff.  Remember that all our viewers have ADD.  You have seconds to impress them, not minutes.

Weak: "The mayor's office finished up its financial assessment today."
Stronger: "The mayor says the city is broke."
Weak:  "Frank Johnson has been the chief resident at City Hospital for five years."
Stronger: "City Hospital refuses to give any more flu shots."

Finally, end the anchor intro with a promise of specific information to be revealed in the package.  Most anchor intros end with generic phrases.  Show the audience there is real meat inside the package.  Identify the juiciest fact in the piece, then make a specific promise of the great coverage to come.
Weak: "Joe Smith is here with more."
Stronger: "Joe Smith tells us why the mayor won't give an inch on school funding."
Weak: "Bob Jones has details."
Stronger: Bob Jones tells us the clever way the family escaped the burning building.
Weak: Jessica Martin has been checking out the story.
Stronger: Jessica Martin tells us why these pets won't go to new homes.

Remember, this last line of the anchor intro is a tease, plain and simple.  It's purpose is not just to inform, but to bridge the viewer on to the great content within the story.  Feel free to pull these lines directly from story teases you used earlier in the newscast.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and new media marketing specialist.  He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free.  Find out more here.


CNN Lags Behind MSNBC in Prime-Time Ratings
CNN will finish 2009 behind MSNBC in prime-time ratings, the first time CNN has ever trailed a competitor other than the Fox News Channel over a full calendar year.  That finish had been expected.  In recent months, CNN, which continues to stand behind its policy of steering clear of the opinion-based shows that draw large prime-time audiences for its competitors, has also trailed its own sister network, HLN (formerly Headline News).  CNN has frequently finished fourth in the news channel category.  CNN will finish the fourth quarter of 2009 in fourth place — another first — and with two weeks left has been fourth on more than 100 nights this year.  But the end-of-the-year ratings for the news networks — which were being presented this week because nothing is likely to change by Jan. 1 — are bringing some other, less expected, results.  One is the ability of Fox News, which had the biggest ratings year in its history, to grow even against the heavily viewed election year of 2008.  (Both CNN and MSNBC were down sharply from last year.)  Another surprise has been the steady growth, up 9 percent in prime time, of HLN, where hosts do offer opinions.  Perhaps most surprising is the overall growth in viewing for all the news networks over the last several years.  For example, even with its competitive problems in prime time, CNN has had more viewers on average this year than it did in 2006 or 2007.  So has MSNBC.  But they both have been left in the dust by Fox News.  Fox has averaged 699,000 viewers for the year, up 10 percent, in the weeknight prime-time hours.  (All figures cited here are for viewers ages 25 to 54, the audience that determines success among news networks because that is the group sought by news advertisers.)  MSNBC was second with 307,000 viewers, while CNN averaged 297,000.  But CNN remained much stronger than MSNBC everywhere but in those prime-time hours. CNN’s morning show, “American Morning,” beat “Morning Joe” on MSNBC for the year, 161,000 viewers to 136,000.  (HLN’s “Morning Express” even beat “Joe” with 158,000.)  And from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CNN beat MSNBC, 185,000 viewers to 101,000. (In all cases both networks were again far behind Fox News.)
NY Times


Comcast Could Own 100% of NBCU by 2014, Analyst Foresees
Comcast could buy out General Electric Co.'s 49% interest in the NBC Universal joint venture for $17 billion in the next four years, according to Citigroup media analyst Jason Bazinet, a scenario that the analyst believes would not only make sense for the Philadelphia MSO, but would be affordable.  According to the JV agreement, Comcast would have the right to buy out a portion of GE's stake in the joint venture after 3.5 years and the rest seven years after the deal closes.  But in a 20-page research note issued late Wednesday, Bazinet wrote that it might make sense for Comcast to buy out GE early.  GE would have to request that Comcast buy out its interest, which Bazinet is assuming it will do.  The analyst estimated that the partnership would increase revenue from $18 billion in 2010 to $20 billion in 2014 and cash flow would rise from $3.3 billion to about $4.2 billion in the same time frame.  Free cash flow is expected to increase from $1.6 billion to $2.5 billion in 2014.  Bazinet estimates that Comcast would have to shell out about $17 billion to buy out GE's 49% stake, representing a 20% premium to the value of its interest in the JV.  That, the analyst said, could be funded partly with Comcast cash on hand -- estimated to be about $11.6 billion by 2014 -- and $11.5 billion in debt that could be tacked on to the partnership.  Bazinet wrote that NBCU should be debt free by 2014, which would enable Comcast to heap more debt on the partnership and still maintain a 2.75 times leverage ratio.  "All told, this suggests there is about $23 billion of available funds.  In effect, this suggests Comcast would have about $6 billion more in available funds that the 49% stake would cost," Bazinet wrote.
MultiChannel


Tiger's Affairs Cost Millions in Lost Ads
Tiger Woods’s indiscretions will cascade through Golf Inc., costing the PGA Tour, television networks such as CBS and merchandise vendors like Nike Inc. $220 million or more in lost revenue.  Woods’s indefinite leave from the sport, announced Dec. 11 after he disclosed marital infidelity, deprives professional golf of its biggest draw.  In his absence, tournament crowds may be 20 percent smaller, according to organizers.  Television audiences may shrink by half, based on Nielsen Co. data from past events.  TV advertising may drop by as much as 40 percent, said Aaron Cohen, chief media negotiating officer at New York-based ad agency Horizon Media Inc. Nike, which built its golf equipment business around Woods, stands to lose more than $30 million in sales, according to Claire Gallacher, an analyst with San Diego-based Capstone Investments Inc.  “It’s not so much a ripple effect as it is a tsunami,” said Rick Gentile, a former CBS Sports executive producer who teaches at Seton Hall University.  “The aura is gone.”  The PGA Tour received revenue of $773 million from tournaments and television in 2008, according to its annual report.  In turn, broadcasters received $642.7 million in TV advertising revenue, according to New York-based TNS Media Intelligence.  Should Woods sit out the entire year, ad spending will skid 30 percent to 40 percent, Cohen said in an interview
Bloomberg

Pepsi Skipping Super Bowl Next Year
Ads for the drinks won't appear in next year's Super Bowl on CBS.  Instead, the company plans to shift ad dollars to a new marketing effort that's mostly online.  Pepsi was one of the biggest advertisers in this year's game and has advertised every year since 1987.  Frito-Lay, a unit of parent company PepsiCo Inc., will still have Super Bowl commercials in the 2010 game.  The company, which is based in Purchase, N.Y., spent $33 million advertising products like Pepsi, Gatorade, and Cheetos during the 2009 Super Bowl, according to TNS Media Intelligence, $15 million of it on Pepsi alone.  Ad time for the NFL championship game cost about $3 million for 30 seconds, on average.  Those prices may have dipped to as low as $2.5 million per 30 seconds for the 2010 game, according to Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research for TNS Media Intelligence.  Pepsi had been a major advertiser during the Super Bowl. According to TNS, the company spent $142.8 million on the 10 Super Bowl ads from 1999 to 2008, second only to Anheuser-Busch, which spent $216 million.  Pepsi recognizes Super Bowl ads can be effective for marketing, spokeswoman Nicole Bradley said, but the game doesn't work with the company's goals next year.  "In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event and more about a movement," she said.  The nation's second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing marketing dollars into its "Pepsi Refresh Project" starting next month as its main vehicle for Pepsi.  The project will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to "refresh" communities.  A Web site will go live Jan. 13 where people can list their projects, which could range from helping to feed people to teaching children to read.
Yahoo News

Twitter Hacked by Iranian Cyber Army
A group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army hacked into Twitter, knocking the microblogging service offline early Friday morning.  The group also hacked Iranian opposition Web site mowjcamp.org, redirecting traffic to its own site, where it claimed to have ties to Middle Eastern countries.  It appears that hackers tampered with Twitter's DNS server records.  Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote in on the company's blog that Twitter's DNS records were temporarily compromised tonight but have now been fixed.  "As some noticed, Twitter.com was redirected for a while, but API and platform applications were working," Stone wrote.  "We will update with more information and details once we've investigated more fully."  The hackers defaced Twitter's and mowjcamp.org's home page, as people attempted to log into the service.  While Twitter's service is now running, mowjcamp.org remains down.  The message "written in confused English," according to the BBC, criticizes the United States for sanctions on Iran.  "USA think they controlling and managing internet by their access, but they don't, we control and manage internet by our power," the message read.  The hackers left an e-mail address.  Searches for the mowjcamp.org on Google and Bing were also influenced by the hackers at the time.  The mowjcamp.org YouTube channel continued to show demonstrations in Iran
MediaPost

Popes Taps Cyberspace to Reach Youth
Pope Benedict XVI, who at 82 still handwrites his speeches rather than use a computer, is tapping YouTube, MySpace and podcasts to lure disenchanted youth into the Church’s fold.  Reaching out to the cyber-faithful, he this year debuted on YouTube, Google Inc.’s video-sharing site, and has a MySpace playlist that includes a rap song by Tupac Shakur.  His midnight Christmas Mass next week will be podcast, and for the first time ever a Webcam will broadcast the Pope’s appearances from his apartment window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.  “New media will be increasingly important for the Church and the Pope himself has said the Internet is a tool,” Don Paolo Padrini, 36, a priest in the northern Italian village of Stazzano, said in an interview.  “It demonstrates the Church isn’t afraid of technology and is keeping up with the times.”  Pope Benedict, who was elected in April 2005, is looking for ways to reach out to the young amid a decline in church attendance and following. Catholics were overtaken for the first time last year by the world’s 1.1 billion Muslims, according to the Vatican Statistical Yearbook. Attendance at Mass in the U.S. fell to 25 percent in 2002 from 75 percent in 1965, according to “Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church since Vatican II” by Kenneth C. Jones.  “The new digital arena, the so-called cyberspace, allows (people) to encounter and to know each other’s traditions and values,” the Pope said in a May speech.  It’s for “young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital continent,’” he said.  The Vatican’s efforts to tap digital technologies go back to the 1990s. As his health began to fail, Pope John Paul II started the official Vatican Web site in 1995 and sent text messages to Catholic subscribers to his weekly Angelus prayer.  The late pontiff also called the Internet a tool to “promote justice and solidarity.”  “You must find new ways to spread voices and images of hope through the ever evolving communication system that surrounds our planet,” Pope Benedict said this year.
Bloomberg


Time Names Bernanke Person of the Year
Time magazine on Wednesday named Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as its 2009 Person of the Year, calling him "the most powerful nerd on the planet."  Bernanke will be featured on the cover of the magazine that hits stores Friday.  He beat out Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, President Obama, Apple CEO Steve Jobs and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi among other finalists.  Time said Bernanke was the reason the U.S. financial crisis wasn't worse.  "The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker.  Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord," the article said.  "He didn't just reshape U.S. monetary policy; he led an effort to save the world economy."  Bernanke was sworn in as Federal Reserve chairman in February 2006. He spent years in academia, as a professor at Princeton, Stanford and New York universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to the Fed's Web site.
CNN


Newsstand Gets Undercover Visit from Murdoch
Imagine the scene: a busy newsagent's shop in west London one morning.  A hard-pressed woman behind the counter recognises two smartly dressed men in suits as sales representatives from the newspaper publisher News International.  With them is a polite, elderly gentleman she cannot place.  But he is the one who asks all the questions.  How many copies of this or that paper do you sell?  Are you getting your copies on time?  What's your major problem at the moment?  He seems like a nice guy and she answers without hesitation.  The two reps smile indulgently in the background.  After a couple of minutes, they depart.  She looks a little baffled until one of her regular customers, who happens to have entered the shop as the group left, says to her: "Do you know who that man was?"  "No idea."  "It was Rupert Murdoch."  And that, it transpires, was indeed the case.  The head of one of the world's largest media conglomerates had called in to speak to Daxa Solanki, who – with her husband, Amraish – runs Jads newsagents, in Turnham Green.  Murdoch, 78, chairman of the mighty News Corporation, visited several newspaper retailers incognito to gauge the concerns of the people who sell copies of his four Wapping titles, the Times, the Sun, the Sunday Times and the News of the World.  The walkabout took place in July, around the time that Murdoch's British operation took over the delivery of its papers from its former distributors.  A News International spokeswoman confirmed that the media mogul had wanted to see for himself what life was like for newsagents and to understand their problems.  "He visited several shops in the west London area," she said.  "He just wanted to know what was happening on the ground."
The Guardian


Book of Tens: Epic Media Feuds of 2009

SARAH PALIN VS. LEVI JOHNSTON
America's most famous retired Alaska politician took on America's most ... uh ... most famous baby daddy?  Most unlikely pistachio pitchman?  Most notorious Fleshbot-award-winning Playgirl model?  Most cunning hoarder of unspecified damning personal information that could possibly derail a certain almost-mother-in-law's presidential prospects?  We're not sure what to call him.  Maybe you're on Team Sarah, maybe you're on Team Levi -- us, we're not taking sides because we want the deliciously surreal tango danced by these two masters of media to go on forever.  Seriously, it's way better than anything we saw last season on "Dancing With the Stars."

JON VS. KATE
They had a bunch of kids, these two.  They were cute kids, more or less.  Mom and Dad exploited these cute kids to get on TV, and, for a while, everybody was mildly entertained.  But the real show didn't really start until their stupid marriage started to come apart at the seams, and then Jon started acting out by canoodling with a new tabloid-ready gal pal, and then Kate changed her signature reverse-mullet haircut, and then Jon huddled with his new "spiritual adviser" Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, then Kate switched back to her reverse-mullet, and then ...

TIGER WOODS VS. A FIRE HYDRANT. AND A TREE. AND HIS IMAGE.
Or, if you want to believe the gossip mill, perhaps this should just be: Elin (the allegedly wronged and very angry wife) vs. Tiger.  In the aftermath of the golf superstar's bizarre car accident, the year's best celebrity scandal arrived as an early Christmas present to the giddy tabloid press.  Was Tiger really such a hound that his wife chased after his car with a golf club?  Does he have a fatal weakness for party girls and cocktail waitresses?  And do any of them have anger-management issues (and ready access to nine-irons) as well?  Stay tuned.

RUPERT MURDOCH VS. FREE
In a year in which Wired Editor Chris Anderson insisted, per the title of his book "Free," that information really, truly should cost nothing, Rupert Murdoch came after him a golf club and ... oh wait, we're getting confused here.  It was Google Rupert came after with a golf club.  Er, no, wait, actually, it's just Rupert who's confused, because if he really wanted Google to stop "stealing" News Corp. content by linking to it, his websites could block Google search spiders overnight by adding a simple bit of HTML.  No charge for that bit of info, Rupe.

LETTERMAN VS. EXTORTION PLOT
In media terms, David Letterman was the Tiger Woods of his day (you know, last October): a shameless philanderer who went looking for love in all the wrong places (i.e., the office).  So why did we all move on from his scandal so (relatively) quickly?  Because Dave came clean from the get-go -- and rather cleverly overshadowed consideration of his own failings by dissecting, on his show, the mentality of the guy Dave claims had the not-so-clever idea of demanding $2 million to clam up.  Dave declared seriocomic battle on his "hinky" alleged extortionist -- and won the media war.

SARAH VS. DAVE
Congratulations, Sarah and Dave!  You're both on our list twice this year!  But really, Sarah Palin deserves way more than just two mentions -- because there was perhaps no feistier feud-er in the public eye this year, whether she was attacking McCain campaign staffers or attempting to derail Obamacare ("death panels!").  But given how long she milked her attack on Letterman for a tasteless joke -- and the fact that they couldn't even agree what the joke was about (Sarah insisted it was aimed at her younger daughter; Dave insisted it was about her adult daughter)  -- Sarah vs. Dave definitely makes the cut.

PEREZ VS. PREJEAN
At the Miss USA pageant, judge Perez Hilton asked Miss California Carrie Prejean her opinion about gay marriage.  Her answer: "I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other.  We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and ... I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman ..."  Despite seeming to champion marital freedom of choice, Prejean was instantly cast as a heroine among, uh, "opposite marriage" supporters -- and Perez was cast as the nasty queen who derailed her shot at the crown.

ADAM LAMBERT VS. ABC
"American Idol" loser Adam Lambert hijacked the American Music Awards and ABC's airwaves to deliver a performance that included, most notoriously, simulated gay fellatio.  A tone-deaf attempt, perhaps, to distance himself from the family-friendly karaoke competition where he made his name -- but more to the point, an assault on the sensibilities of TV viewers of every persuasion. ABC then effectively banned him from its airwaves, prompting Lambert to go on a non-apology tour (I'm the victim of homophobia, he tried to argue) and, well, anyway, how nostalgic we are for Janet Jackson's Nipplegate now!

BIRTHERS VS. OBAMA
Barack Obama can't be president of the United States because he's bl... er, because he's not a natural-born citizen.  Yeah, that's it!  Because he's from Indonesia or Kenya, not Hawaii, which is barely a real state anyway, or he's secretly half-British or something, or something-something about his Kenyan dad and stuff -- so, yeah.  Anyway Lou Dobbs and a few other folks have kindly pitched in to rent a U-Haul van so that the Obamas can move out of the White House.  But Barack's ticket back to Kenyanesia or wherever -- sorry, that he's going to have to cover himself.

THE WHITE HOUSE VS. FOX NEWS
Throughout the year the denizens of the White House apparently felt singled out -- terrorized! -- by Fox News.  And so, come fall, in the midst of wartime and continuing economic meltdown, a bunch of administration brainiacs sat around and said, basically, "Fox News won't stop picking on us!  Let's say mean stuff back to those meanies!"  And so they did, on the White House website and on rival networks.  Humbled, Fox News apologized, promised to change its bullying ways, and threw a tea party for Rahm Emanuel -- and everybody lived happily after.

Simon Dumenco is the "Media Guy" media columnist for Advertising Age. You can follow him on Twitter @simondumenco
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