Online Ad to Rebound in 2003
According to eMarketer's just-released Interactive Marketing: Stats, Strategies and Trends report, after two straight years of decreasing sales, US online advertising will begin recovering next year, slowly.
According to eMarketer projections, 2003 spending will rise slightly to $6.70 billion, up from $6.38 billion this year. The expected bounce-back is due to a combination of factors, including traditional marketers devoting larger slices of their ad budgets to online advertising as well as a general easing of the economic recession. By 2005, online ad expenditures will hit $8.10 billion-still less, however, than 2000's spending of $8.23 billion.
All good things take time.
--------
HBO Shows Use Real Brands But Channel Has No Paid Product Placement Deals
As HBO's hit gangland drama, The Sopranos, heads for the climax of its fourth season on Sunday, there seem to be more consumer products flying around than Ralph Cifaretto body parts.
In one recent episode, we saw Ralph squirt Tony Soprano in the eyes with a can of Raid ant and roach killer as the two fight to the death in a kitchen. Tony later "gets the red out" with Visine, before slicing Ralph into pieces.
It's so refreshing to see a show that uses products as they are used in everyday life. No more generic, "I'll have a beer" sitcom lines. Marketers will soon realize that they will not have complete control over how their products are portrayed in some media. A whole new form of negotiation is now taking place.
There will be paid product placements. Those are easy. You have a contractual agreement on product usage. But, product placement Sopranos style is something completely different. There will be very touchy negotiations, if any at all, between product companies and producers. Not all will be happy. SC Johnson sure wasn't when their product, Raid, was used as a weapon.
It's all getting very interesting now.
--------
Electronic Media Online -- Television and Media News
David Barrett, who heads the company that has the most ABC affiliates in the country, has a message for the network: Slash your prime-time schedule from 22 hours a week to 15 so his stations can make some decent money.
"I would love to see the networks cut back to 15 [hours a week]," said Mr. Barrett, president and CEO of Hearst-Argyle Television, at a financial seminar hosted by Bear Stearns in Washington last week.
[..]
But assuming the time were returned -- an eventuality that could be accomplished by a simple change in an affiliate's contract with a network -- affiliates could fill the slot with syndicated programs or other fare they felt would make more money for them. ABC had no comment.
More money maybe. But do you really think local programming would be any better?
--------
Glossy and Greedy: Real Page-Turners (washingtonpost.com)
This month, two prominent magazines have published dishy articles about nefarious doings at other prominent magazines: Vanity Fair covers the absurd rise and pathetic fall of Rosie, while GQ covers the reign of terror unleashed by a despotic honcho at the magazines published by the mega-conglomerate now known as AOL Time Warner.
So, let me issue a warning: This is a magazine review about two magazine stories about magazines. If that's too ridiculously meta for you, quit reading now. My only defense is that these stories help explain why so many of America's big corporate publishers put out such lame mags.
OK, anyone else sick of the mudslinging and name calling going on between publishers? Damn, the industry sounds like a bunch of children! Wine, wine, wine. And no, not the kind of wine you drink. Please, can we get back to the serious business of publishing?
--------
Radio Ad Spending Rose Sharply in October
Advertising spending for radio increased sharply in October, posting a double-digit percentage gain for the second consecutive month, the Radio Advertising Bureau in New York reported yesterday.
Good news.
--------
