Nielsen IAG: Viewers more likely to recall Games ads
For advertisers with spots in the Olympics, it pays to tie into the Games, quite literally. New Nielsen IAG research released by NBC this week finds that Olympic-themed creative generated stronger brand message and likeability messaging than non-themed ads. Ad likeability scores for Olympic advertising generally were almost three times better than those of other primetime programs. Message recall for Olympic ads was 50 percent higher than those for the Academy Awards, and double the average primetime program. And brand recall for Olympic ads was roughly 130 percent better than other primetime programs. NBC has sold more than $1 billion in ads for these Games, including $25 million worth in the past two weeks. More than 100 companies have advertised in the Olympics.
Alpha's Brownridge switches from CEO to chairman
Three years after a retirement that didn’t stick, Kent Brownridge is cutting back his work schedule again. The longtime Wenner Media executive, who had served as Alpha Media Group’s chief executive officer since last year, is giving up his position to become chairman of the group. Alpha bought several magazines from Dennis Publishing last year, including Maxim and Blender, and it quickly folded Stuff to concentrate on the other publications. Brownridge will be succeeded by Alpha president Glenn Rosenbloom and chief financial officer/chief operating officer Stephen Duggan, who will become co-CEOs. Brownridge tells Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici that he’s stepping down essentially to reduce his workload, saying “This has taken a lot of effort energy and everything else.” But don’t think Brownridge is retiring again. He left Wenner in 2005 and returned to the magazine business because retirement, “doesn't work for me. I wish it did.”
Gaga over googoo: French ban TV aimed at babies
TV viewership by young children has long been a controversial topic in the U.S. Now the French are eliminating the debate almost entirely. The High Audiovisual Council, the nation’s top broadcast authority, yesterday banned the airing of TV shows aimed at kids ages 3 and under. The council cited a risk of developmental problems, following French minister for culture and communication Christine Albanel’s rant against channels aimed at babies earlier this summer. Recently launched foreign cable TV channels BabyFirstTV and Baby TV stirred up some controversy when they debuted, leading to Albanel’s denunciation. While such programming will be banned on broadcast, on cable it must be accompanied by a warning message to parents. “Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens,” reads the ruling.
Study: Workers surfing Olympics site during lunch
It may be bad news for employers, but plenty of people are checking out Olympics-themed web sites during work hours. One consolation: At least many of them are doing so on their lunch breaks. Between Aug. 11 and Aug. 15, the most recent work week, NBCOlympics.com’s daily audience peaked during the 12 p.m. hour on four of five days, including 1.14 million unique visitors during the noon hour on Friday, Aug. 15, according to Nielsen Online. Yahoo’s Olympics site continues to be the most-visited overall, averaging 4.73 million unique visitors per day through Monday. NBCOlympics.com is a close second with an average of 4.27 million daily visitors, followed by AOL Olympics (1.32 million visitors), Sports Illustrated Olympics (704,000 visitors) and ESPN Olympics (676,000 visitors). Besides attracting good numbers of viewers on NBC and NBC Universal’s related cable networks, NBCOlympics.com’s video section averaged almost 1.5 million unique visitors per day between Aug. 11 and Aug. 15, with a peak of 2.03 million visitors on Monday of that week.
Media prematurely reports Congresswoman's death
A number of news organizations reported yesterday at 1:49 p.m. that U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, an Ohio Democrat, had died. Problem was, at that point she was still alive. The Associated Press, CNN and The Washington Post were among those who picked up on the erroneous report, which originated with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The latter’s report remained on its web site for about 15 minutes before being removed. Tubbs Jones suffered a brain aneurysm Tuesday evening and was in critical condition yesterday. She still had brain function when the report was posted, however. The Plain Dealer, while apologizing for the error, said that it had been told by several sources that Jones was brain dead, which is equivalent to death in Ohio. Tubbs Jones did pass away around 6 p.m. last night.
