Archive for September 16th, 2008

By iTVX Staff

Larry and Andy Wachowski’s live-action “Speed Racer” crashed and burned when it opened in May. The story (based on the classic comic) spun a tale of a young race car driver named Speed, played by Emile Hirsch,who tries to overcome his own shortcomings as a racer living under his deceased brother’s shadow.

The movie was a mess, but it did feature some amazing Mach 5 race cars - surprisingly little product placement for a family action flick although when it was released this blogger suggested the “M” on Speed’s helmet was a subtle McDonald’s plug.

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By iTVX Staff

British singer Natasha Bedingfield, who scored a huge hit this summer with “Pocketful of Sunshine,” will perform Thursday on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” The Grammy-nominated singer will perform her new tune “Angel” with a full choir TV Guide reports. Bedingfield performed on “American Idol”last season, and no doubt, her performance on the show helped trigger “Sunshine” Read the rest of this entry »

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Google’s attempt to grab a piece of the $50 million television advertising market secured another toehold last week, increasing the odds that the initiative can alter how TV spots are bought and sold.

Under a deal with NBC Universal, Google in the fourth quarter will begin to sell some last-minute scatter time on some of NBCU’s cable networks. The two companies also will work together on research projects, in collaboration with some agencies and advertisers. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s a safe bet: The Web-video world eventually will spawn a show that goes big, either becoming the Internet’s first “Friends” or leaping to the television screen and making a splash there. The question is who will be the genius behind the hit.

TelevisionWeek keeps a keen eye on Web programming to find the creators with that certain something that will separate them from the wannabes. While predictions are risky, and the knack for finding hits is rare, we’ve identified talents that we think have a shot.

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By iTVX Staff

Station owner Belo is boosting its online content. MediaPost is reporting Belo has signed a deal with Noofangle Media to supply the station’s Web sites with lifestyle content. Under the deal, Belo will be able to “link” with Noofangle’s GreenRightNow.com and TVPuzzles.com, among others.

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By iTVX Staff

Mondaq.com has a very interesting article today on product placement in Australia. In the piece, “Product Placement: It’s Subtle, It’s Powerful, But Is It Legal?”, the writer Cameron Gascoyne dissects the industry over the past 25-years - notably “the candy trail” of Reese’s Pieces in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - goes on to note the constrasts of regulating product placement between Austalia, the United States (it’s permitted although it must be disclosed if “money changed hands”) and European countries (it’s deem it illegal — product placement, it’s explained, can be sneaky and thusly, you’re tricking your audience and that’s wrong.) Read the rest of this entry »

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Can advertisers underwrite the music industry? That is the $2 billion question facing MySpace Music, as News Corp. and three of the four major record labels prepare to launch their new joint venture later this month. They’ve certainly lined up some major advertisers for launch, including McDonald’s, State Farm and Toyota.

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The news that three well-known firms — Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch and American International Group — are either ceasing to be, being purchased or facing concerns about raising capital rocked Wall Street but so far has had surprisingly few repercussions on Madison Avenue. In fact, advertising-industry analysts are predicting little short-term fallout — though the longer-term effects on consumer confidence could be a lot more serious.

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By iTVX Staff

We’ve been reading stories for the past day or so about how product placement has dipped in the first half of 2008 by almost 15% on prime-time programming.  The WGA strike is being blamed for this in some part in that networks had to change their schedules significantly. Adage.com has a terrific story on this, the effect it had on cable, and where we’re heading. The article features numbers Nielsen released yesterday. That’s the measuring company - not Leslie Nielsen by the way.

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Zoom Media and Marketing announced Monday (Sept. 15), its second major acquisition in the past six months. The purchase of ClubCom, a provider of customized digital media networks for the fitness and bowling industries, accelerates Zoom’s strategy to build out digital out-of-home networks in lifestyle venues.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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