TiVo: Go Daddy has most-watched spot of game
No one wanted to admit to enjoying Go Daddy’s annual breast-focused raunchy Super Bowl ads, as evidenced by their low scores in various postgame ad polls. But TiVo doesn’t lie – quite a few people liked the ads, or at least found them worthy of a repeat airing. The digital video recorder company found, in a survey of 30,000 households, that Go Daddy had the most-watched of the Super Bowl. The Danica Patrick “Enhancement” ad, one of two Go Daddy spots, aired during the fourth quarter, when the Pittsburgh Steelers-Arizona Cardinals game was extremely tight and the audience peaked. It was the first time the domain-name seller had cracked TiVo’s most-replayed ads. Bud Light’s “Summer to Winter” was second, followed by Careerbuilder.com’s “It May Be Time” and Doritos’ “Crystal Ball.” “Transformers,” at No. 5, became the first trailer since 2003’s “Bruce Almighty” and “Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle” to make the list. Eight of the top 10 spots aired during the second half.

Study: Cinema + TV ads conversion > just TV ads
Spending on in-theater advertising has soared in recent years, and a new study suggests that it’s even more effective when paired with a TV ad campaign. Research conducted by Integrated Media Measurement for the Cinema Advertising Council finds that combined television and cinema ad campaigns almost doubled conversion rates compared to television alone. Of those exposed to a TV-only ad, 10.1 percent tuned into a show’s debut, compared to 22.7 percent who were exposed to TV and cinema ads. That was roughly the same ratio for any TV show airing, with 24.7 percent tuning in after seeing a TV-only ad compared to 49.5 percent for TV and cinema ads. The study also found that cinema advertising is more effective at reaching traditional media ad avoiders, who make up 28 percent of frequent moviegoers.

Programming notes: TNT renews ‘Leverage’
TNT is gaining more “Leverage” in 2009. The cable network has picked up a 15-episode second season of the Timothy Hutton drama, and the season is expected to kick off sometime this year. “Leverage” has averaged 3.2 million total viewers since it premiered Dec. 7, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, in other programming, ABC Family is canceling “Kyle XY” when season three ends on March 16, although the network has picked up three new series: “Perfect 10,” a drama set in the world of gymnastics; “10 Things I Hate About You,” based on the movie; and “Ruby and the Rockits,” a comedy starring David Cassidy. ABC Family has also picked up new seasons of “Greek” and “Lincoln Heights.” On broadcast, CW plans to bring back “Reaper” on March 3, a couple weeks earlier than originally planned. The show will air at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays following “90210.” And CBS has picked up three new pilots: “A Marriage,” a relationship drama from the creators of “thirtysomething;” “House Rules,” a political drama created by “Grey’s Anatomy” producer Mark Gordon; and “The Fish Tank,” about a teenage boy who finds himself home alone for five days a week.

Job search and coupon sites soar online
The effects of the poor economy were evident on the internet last year, where categories like job search and coupons were among the top gainers at year’s end. That’s according to comScore’s 2008 year in review, released yesterday. The job search category was the top-gaining of the year, rising 51 percent to 19 million in December alone. Coupons, meanwhile, soared 46 percent to 31.6 million visitors. Politics predictably saw a big boost as well, up 43 percent over the previous December to 12 million. The report also found that Americans are spending more time watching online videos. Online video viewing accounted for 12.5 percent of time on the web during November, 8.5 percent more than the previous year. And ads continue to be a major part of the online experience. The average person viewed more than 2,000 per month last year, for a total of 4.5 trillion seen by American internet users in 2008.

Farewell, Doubledown: Wall Street-focused publisher closes
It’s a bad time to publish magazines focused on Wall Street, where the economic meltdown continues to reverberate. Unable to find a buyer after reportedly putting itself on the block late last month, Doubledown Media, the publisher of Trader, Dealmaker and other titles, is shutting down. President Randall Lane told employees of the decision yesterday, blaming “the media depression, the Wall Street implosion and the credit slowdown,” according to a memo obtained by Folio. The company had already taken drastic steps to cut costs, including laying off roughly a third of its staff and cutting its publication schedule back to quarterly. In December, Doubledown said that some of its publications would be producing electronic-only issues.