Disney to purchase TV assets in India

Walt Disney said Tuesday that it would buy an Indian maker of television programs and a children's channel for $44.5 million as it vies competes against Time Warner for local advertising revenue.

Walt Disney said it would buy 14.9 percent of UTV Software Communications for $14 million and pay $30.5 million for Hungama, a Hindi-language channel that is owned by UTV.

The acquisitions, the biggest in the Indian media industry, require regulatory approvals.
Walt Disney is expanding in India as economic growth spurs spending by consumers. Time Warner runs the Cartoon Network channel, while Walt Disney runs the Toon Disney and the Disney Channel in India.

More wines nose their way into TV shows and movies

Product placement subtly boosts profile

Next time your favorite leading man pours a pinot or syrah, take note. You may be looking at a product placement.

Whether it's as a background set decoration or a starring role in a white tablecloth dinner, winemakers are increasingly finding ways to send viewers an advertising message on a bottle.

"Product placement is here, and it's here to stay," says Jenny Turnbull, a Los Angeles agent who has made getting screen time for California wines a key part of her business.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE ONLINE

TV ads on the cheap for small biz

If you can't get Paris Hilton, this do-it-yourself commercial tool helps your business put quality ads on TV.

Just because you're a small fry doesn't mean you can't compete with the big fish.
Findley's meat market in suburban Atlanta had always relied on newspaper ads, direct mailings and quick radio spots to reach consumers. But after discovering Spot Runner's do-it-yourself commercial tool for small businesses, the butcher shop ran a commercial on local cable TV ahead of Easter and again before Mother's Day. (Click here to watch the commercial.)

The commercials cost Findley's $349 and $499 and the shop spent about $2,100 in March and $1,100 in May to air the spots on ESPN, Food TV, Fox News Channel and Fox Sports.
"We found out that it was very affordable and they help you work with a small budget," said Findley's owner Dolores Barr.

READ THE ARTICLE AT CNNMONEY.COM

Latino marketing goes mainstream

Prime-time ads break new ground by recognizing the rise of Hispanic consumers

Think back for a moment to this year's Super Bowl -- to one commercial that wasn't racy or provocative. In fact, the lack of controversy surrounding this ad is precisely why many advertisers and marketers are still talking about it.

The spot in question promoted a new Toyota Camry Hybrid and featured a father cruising on sun-dappled byways, his son strapped in the back seat. Typical car ad, right? Only the father was a Latino with a discernible accent. Their conversation played on the word hybrid: the son represented a blend of US and Hispanic cultures, the car represented a blend of fuels.

A touching idea, but five years ago, advertising executives say, it would have been unthinkable to blatantly target Hispanics in a mainstream, general market venue such as the Super Bowl. In just 30 seconds, Toyota leapt past two sticking points in corporate marketing departments across the country. The automaker rejected the prevailing wisdom that the only way to connect with Hispanics is in Spanish and through Spanish TV, radio, or print media. Toyota also discredited concerns that prime-time advertising aimed at Hispanics would rankle a non-Hispanic audience; the carmaker says it never heard from any disgruntled viewers.

The Toyota ad ``is a milestone in our industry, to say the least," says Alex Lopez Negrete, former chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies and chief executive of Lopez Negrete Communications in Houston.

READ THE ARTICLE ONLINE

Minority groups carving big niche in media market

When La Vision, a daily Hispanic newspaper based in Norcross, began publishing five years ago, it printed 1,000 copies a week.

Now it prints 60,000 a week, and owner Victoria Chacon projects it will begin distributing 100,000 copies by the end of the year. The exponential growth of La Vision reflects the explosion of ethnic media in Gwinnett County and the Atlanta area. “There’s a newspaper that pops up every month,” said Frank Vera, general sales manager for two Doraville radio stations.

That may be hyperbole, but there’s some truth to that statement. Gwinnett is home to several Hispanic newspapers and radio stations, as well as a Korean television channel. On top of that, numerous Chinese and Korean newspapers and other Hispanic media outlets are distributed and broadcast throughout the county.

READ THE ARTICLE ONLINE

Nielsen's bid to restore faith in TV ads

New electronic ratings from the television-viewing measurement firm could help save ad-supported TV.

By Susanna Hamner, Business 2.0 Magazine writer-reporter

June 27 2006: 2:47 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Nielsen's famous TV ratings are getting a serious shakeup - one that people in the advertising industry say is long overdue.

While Nielsen has already made partial moves to the electronic measurement of TV audiences in the largest television markets, in smaller cities - which make up more than half of the U.S. population - it still depends on household-survey participants to fill in handwritten diaries. But that old system is finally on its way out, thanks to challengers in the TV-ratings business and the threat that the TV-advertising industry faces from online ads.

"It's incredible that one company has so much power," says Derek Robson, co-managing director of advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. "Nielsen's ratings system has been viewed with a bit of skepticism for a long time, and there hasn't been anything out there to compete with it."

READ THE ARTICLE AT BUSINESS 2.0

You can star in a Jessica Simpson video!

I've posted a number of articles about 'user generated content' and am a real believer that this trend will grow. Seeing the power of MySpace.com and other online communities and being aware of this growing trend, it still amazes me to see the way that marketers are using it.

Take a look at what users (consumers) are being asked to do for a new Jessica Simpson video.

CLICK HERE

It's very cool.

Mitch

Canada a mosaic of tastes - Marketers cash in on the differences

Rogers' cellphone unit leads the pack

Stefan Atton is the first to admit Canada's beer sellers face a challenging future.

Not only are aging core customers drinking less, or switching to wine or spirits, but the fastest-growing segments of the population — Asians and blacks — aren't big on beer, according to extensive targeted polling conducted by Solutions Research Group Inc., which produced a report examining diversity in Canada.

Only 12 per cent of South Asian respondents, 14 per cent of Chinese and 16 per cent of blacks — a category that includes African and Caribbean respondents — said they drank a beer at home in the prior week, compared with 27 per cent for the general population.

READ THE ARTICLE

Cellphone Company Makes A Call: Korean Americans

Firm Targets Tech-Savvy Population

When Helio LLC wanted to market a new $250 ultra-high-tech cellphone this year, it targeted three distinct groups: spoiled teens, tech geeks and Korean Americans.

Korean Americans make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, but U.S. telecommunications firms take note of them because their kin across the Pacific are among the most tech-savvy people on the planet.

READ THE ARTICLE AT THE WASHINGTON POST

Check It Out: New Network To Sell TV Ad Time Via Online 'Shopping Cart'

FRANK MAGGIO HAS SPENT MUCH of the past year trying to shake up the way TV audiences are measured. Now he wants to change how TV advertising is bought and sold. In a move that is likely to win favor from advertisers seeking to develop an open market structure for buying media, Maggio this week will unveil a new system for buying TV ad time on his new ReacTV channel that utilizes an approach akin to Amazon.com.

"Authorized buyers would see every ad unit that's available and can click on it and buying and put it in a shopping cart," Maggio tells MediaDailyNews. When enough TV ad inventory is selected to meet an advertiser's gross rating point goals, Maggio says buyers will simply proceed to the system's checkout area, where the buy will be implemented.

READ THE ARTICLE AT MEDIAPOST.COM