Agencies to Nielsen:
Reinstate live stream
Other shorts: AOL: We're laying off 2,500 post-spinoff
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Nov 20, 2009
Agencies to Nielsen: Reinstate live local stream
Things are getting downright nasty in the dispute over Nielsen's upcoming switch to live-plus-same-day-DVR-playback ratings from live-only ratings in local markets, eliminating the latter. The American Association of Advertising Agencies has fired a missive at Nielsen head Susan Whiting, accusing her company of inserting itself into the buy-sell process and, as such, surrendering its credibility. The AAAA says that advertisers will lose out in this scenario, as ratings will increase by an average 13 percent with the added viewing stream, raising spot prices accordingly despite the fact that many of those additional DVR viewers fast-forward ads. "Your total disregard for the expressed concerns of local broadcast media buyers, coupled with your adamant refusal to recognize our point of view, is totally unacceptable," says the letter, which has been reproduced by several media outlets. Nielsen has said it will review the letter and issue a response. Stations across the country have understandably supported Nielsen's move, but agencies are likely to agitate until the live stream is restored.
AOL: We're laying off 2,500 post-spinoff
How's this for an unsavory custody agreement: When the AOL-Time Warner divorce becomes final on Dec. 9, nine years after the two disastrously merged, the new AOL will be about 2,500 jobs lighter. The company is slashing roughly one third of its worldwide workforce, a move expected to save $300 million annually, as it continues to put more of a focus on advertising and content rather than internet service. Workers will be offered voluntary buyout packages starting Dec. 4, with layoffs beginning after the volunteers have been exhausted. AOL has made several rounds of cuts over recent years as it attempts to restructure, most recently under CEO Tim Armstrong, who joined the company from Google last spring. In email and video presentations to employees, Armstrong said he will forego his bonus this year as well.
Bloomberg's BusinessWeek cuts one-third of staff
The axe began swinging at BusinessWeek yesterday, as expected, but it cut an even wider swath than many had feared. Some 130 employees were given the boot, or about a third of the magazine's workforce, including up to 70 of the publication's 200 editorial employees. That came weeks after Bloomberg acquired the long-struggling business title, which got a new editor, Time's Josh Tyrangiel, on Tuesday. Yesterday staffers were updating their employment status on Twitter, where former media columnist Jon Fine, who had been on sabbatical, tweeted, "Some sabbaticals last longer than others." Some of the casualties had more than two decades of experience with BusinessWeek, which was sold after years of bleeding money under owner McGraw-Hill. The new BusinessWeek is expected to shift focus from its longtime base of business readers to appeal to a consumer readership. Tyrangiel told the New York Times that his job is to make the title "better, faster, smarter, more comprehensive" than the competition, chiefly Forbes and Fortune.
Programming notes: 'Lost' moving to Tuesday
Come spring, there will be a battle between old and new in the Tuesday 9 p.m. timeslot. ABC said yesterday the sixth and final season of “Lost” will premiere Feb. 2 at 9, where it will face CBS’s new spinoff “NCIS: Los Angles,” the No. 1 new show among total viewers. This will be the first time “Lost” has aired on Tuesday nights; it was on Wednesdays for most of its run but also had a one-season Thursday stint. The season will kick off with a two-hour premiere, which will follow an hour-long recap show. Meanwhile, in other programming, NBC plans to bring back “Chuck” on Jan. 10 at 9 p.m. with back-to-back episodes, before moving it to its regular Monday 8 p.m. timeslot on Jan. 11. On cable, VH1 has picked up a second season of the reality competition “Scream Queens,” in which 10 wannabe actresses will compete for a role in the upcoming film “Saw 3D.” The new season will launch sometime next year. And TLC has ordered 12 episodes of “Mall Cops: Mall of America,” which will follow security guards at the Minnesota megamall. The new series is based on a special the network aired last month, which averaged 1.2 million total viewers.
The word of the decade: Global warming
The English language gains a new word every 98 minutes, according to the Global Language Monitor, but what was the top word of the decade? “Global warming,” according to GLM, which used an algorithm to track words and phrases in the media and online, including blogs and social media, throughout the decade. “9/11,” “Obama,” “Bailout” and “Evacuee/refugee” rounded out the top words of the 2000s, which, as the decade of 9/11 and numerous wars, were quite a downer. GLM notes that few of the words have a positive connotation. “Looking at the first decade of the 21st century in words is a sober, even somber, event,” GLM president Paul JJ Payack said in a release. “For a decade that began with such joy and hope, the words chosen depict a far more complicated and in many ways, tragic time.” The group also came up with the top phrases of the decade, and they aren’t any prettier: “Climate Change,” “Financial Tsunami,” “Ground Zero,” “War on Terror” and “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” The top five names of the decade were “Heroes” (referring to 9/11 responders, not the NBC show), “Bin Laden,” “Ground Zero,” “Dubya” and “The Clintons.”
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