Archive for June 9th, 2008

Although online video is perceived as the domain of officemates sharing stupid YouTube videos or die-hard fans dialing up that episode of Lost they missed, it’s kids and teens who are doing most of the streaming–particularly at home, where kids 2-11 averaged 51 streams and 118 minutes of online video during the month of April, according to Nielsen Online’s VideoCensus. Teens are even more voracious video users, with the 12-17 demo averaging 74 streams and 132 minutes of online video monthly, versus 44 streams and 99 minutes averaged by users 18-plus.

One thing the demos have in common is that YouTube reaches the largest numbers of streamers. In April, the site reached 4.1 million kids 2-11 and 8.9 million teens 12-17. That’s more than 5 million more teens than the No. 2 video destination, MySpace.

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One of the biggest music events of the summer has already taken place in Fayetteville, Ark. From Tuesday through Thursday last week, the Bud Walton Arena at the University of Arkansas presented shows by Journey, the country singer Keith Urban, the “American Idol” personality Carrie Underwood and the alternative rock group All-American Rejects.

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Frustrated that publishers have made scant progress in quicker posting of their circulation numbers to the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Rapid Report, some print buyers are considering measures to prod magazines.

Three months ago, ABC recommended that publishers file their numbers no later than three and seven weeks for weeklies and monthlies, respectively, after their on-sale date. At that time, the average first posting was about 13 weeks for monthlies and 8.3 weeks for weekly titles.

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ABC has completed its upfront selling in all dayparts except prime-time sports, and the network is expected to take-in about $2.5 billion in prime-time upfront dollars, up about $100 million over last year.

ABC sales president Mike Shaw said the network averaged 9 percent cost-per-thousand increases for prime time, early morning and daytime commercial inventory and between 5-7 percent increases for evening news and late night.

He said the network sold about two-to-three percent more of its available prime-time inventory this year compared to last year, in the 80-85 percent range.

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PJ Franklin only has 576 MySpace friends, and one of them, by all accounts, is something of a “douche bag.” But TBS is doing everything within its power—and expansive marketing budget—to help the young lady expand her social circle.

PJ is practically the Platonic ideal of girlfriend material; trouble is, she’s a fictional character.

Played by actress Jordana Spiro, the twentysomething anchors TBS’ original comedy series My Boys, which returns for a second season June 12. Although the show has only been a modest hit (season one averaged 1.61 million viewers), TBS is pulling out all the stops for the sophomore debut, launching a spot cable, print and digital campaign.

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At the request of theatrical film makers, the Federal Communications Commission on Friday quietly launched a proceeding on whether to let video program distributors remotely block consumers from recording recently released movies on their DVRs. The technology that does this is called Selectable Output Control (SOC), but the FCC restricts its use. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) wants a waiver on that restriction in the case of high-definition movies broadcast prior to their release as DVDs.

“The Petitioners’ theatrical movies are too valuable in this early distribution window to risk their exposure to unauthorized copying,” MPAA wrote to the FCC last month. “Distribution over insecure outputs would facilitate the illegal copying and redistribution of this high value content, causing untold damage to the DVD and other ‘downstream’ markets.” Less than a month after the request, the FCC has given MPAA a public comment period on the question that will last through July 7.

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Much has been made about how to prevent ad zapping, but it looks as if dancing and singing might just do the trick. An Advertising Age survey of media-buyer projections of commercial ratings for the fall season reveals that Fox’s “American Idol” and ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” will have the highest “C3″ ratings — those households that will watch the ads within three days of a program’s original air date.

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Google has struggled to find the best way to monetize YouTube. The latest idea: Let content creators sell ads.

Professional content producers — those who come equipped with their own ad-sales teams — are now able to sell advertising on their YouTube channels. That includes the click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos and display units on the page that hosts the video player. The revenue is split between the content creator and YouTube, just as it would be if YouTube sold the ads.

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It’s summertime, and the movie-product tie-ins are flourishing. Is it really worth all the fuss for advertisers? You bet. Long before its first sneak preview, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a monster hit. Not with moviegoers—with marketers.

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