Who's watching Games:
Gramps and gran
Other shorts: Robbery suspects crash LA Times printing plant
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 26, 2010
Who's watching these Games: Gramps and Gran
Grandma and grandpa must like their curling--NBC’s strong ratings for the Vancouver Winter Olympics have apparently been driven by older viewers. Olympics ratings among viewers 55 and older are 82 percent higher than the national average, according to Nielsen. The grandkids aren't nearly as into it; ratings among teens are 57 percent lower than the national average, while their parents are slightly less indifferent. Ratings among viewers 18-49 are 20 percent lower than the average. Overall the Olympics have averaged 24.9 million total viewers through the first 13 days of competition, up about 20 percent from 20.7 million at the same point during the Turin Games in 2006. Minorities seem to share teens' indifference toward the Games. Ratings among Hispanic and African-American viewers are each 74 percent below the national average, while ratings among Asian Americans are 15 percent below the average. Viewership has been highest in the West Central area of the country, with ratings in that region 24 percent higher than the national average, with ratings in the Southwest 28 percent lower than the average.
Robbery suspects crash LA Times printing plant
The Los Angeles Times had a really good excuse for why the paper was delivered late to some subscribers on Wednesday morning. Its printing plant got caught up in a robbery caper that led to four men's arrest in the wee hours of the morning. Around 12:10 a.m. on Wednesday, police officers spotted a group of six people near the location of where one of the two robberies was reported in East Los Angeles. Sheriff's deputies pursued the group by car down the Santa Ana and San Bernadino freeways until the suspects' vehicle exited onto Mateo Street and crashed into a fence at the Times' main printing plant on Lemon Street. They then made a break for it through the plant, where employees were busy assembling and packing the morning's paper for distribution. At the request of authorities, the Times evacuated the building, though the printing press continued to run. Police searched each truck leaving the plant to deliver papers, finally discovering the suspects. Two women who were with them were questioned and released. It's unclear just how much the pursuit delayed the paper, but one Times blog had a picture of the suspects' smashed-up car online yesterday.
Univision CEO: Radio down due to PPM boycott
Things continue to get nasty between Arbitron and the minority groups who oppose its Portable People Meter. Yesterday leading Spanish-language broadcaster Univision blamed part of Univision Radio's 16 percent fourth-quarter revenue slide on its refusal to subscribe to or encode the PPM in markets where it has become currency, meaning some stations are not receiving any ratings. During a conference call with analysts, Univision CEO Joe Uva declared, "Arbitron’s sample methodology and panel maintenance and recruitment is inherently biased against minorities, including Hispanics and African-Americans." Uva criticized Arbitron's recruiting methods and said, "We know that in order for this to fix itself we have to take some pain here, and we’re prepared to take that pain to get it fixed, because once it is fixed and is accredited by the MRC [Media Rating Council] it’ll reflect an upside to this business." Minority groups and Arbitron have been at odds over the rollout for years for many of the reasons Uva detailed.
Student auctions body to raise money for Haiti
Body advertising has been done enough that it's not even really news any more, but how about a body lottery? Stefan Pretty, a civil engineering student at Glasgow University in Scotland, is aiming to raise £25,000 for Haiti by promising his body as a human billboard. For £1.25, businesses or individuals can enter a drawing, with the winner getting their name or logo tattooed across Pretty's shoulder. Interested parties can enter on his web site YourNameOnMe.com, which says Pretty has raised a grand total of £57 so far. Pretty plans to end the contest on March 1, 2011, and if he’s raised his goal of £25,000 he’ll fly the winner to Scotland to witness the tattooing (provided the flight is less than £500). Pretty says that if 100,000 people enter the contest, £72,298 will go to charity after covering web site, marketing and other expenses.
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