A week ago I attended an event in New York City at which Comscore unveiled its new Validated GRP(TM) tool that rates the effectiveness of digital ads. Validated GRP takes the rating standards advertisers apply to TV advertising (Gross Rating Points) and establishes a similar metric that will apply to digital advertising. For advertisers, this is a metric to judge online campaign effectiveness–to make an apples to apples comparison between the effectiveness of TV and the effectiveness of online display and video ads.

In the development of its Validated GRP tool, Comscore conducted a  major study on the quality of campaign delivery  that allowed it to investigate discrepancies between expectations and reality when it comes to ad delivery. The full study, the results of which will be released in March, included twelve major brands with household names like Ford, Sprint, Kimberly Clark, and Kellogg’s.

To conduct the study, Comscore used the AdXPose technology it acquired earlier last year. The AdXPose team tipped us off in advance because we were already partnered with them. We got a sneak preview of the study’s highlights, which we are now free to share here.

In December 2011, Comscore measured 2,975 placements on 380,898 site domains — totaling over 1.7 million impressions, all delivered in iframes.

The conclusion? Something we, as an ad server and a advertising technology partner for publishers, have already observed: many ads are served, but not seen. That’s because web pages are no longer mostly short pages with static user experiences; they’re long pages with dynamic usage. Many use the increasingly popular “infinite scroll”. By the time an ad at the top of the page is served, the reader may have already scrolled by. Yet many ads further down may be very visible to the user. In Comscore’s own words:

“It’s not just an ‘above the fold versus below the fold’ issue. Sometimes people scroll down quickly to get to the content they want, and miss home page ads. In those cases, the action might be below the fold. Compelling ads can work in both places – but only if they’re visible.” Comscore found that 24% of ads above the fold were not visible.

While this is not great news for the advertisers who paid for those campaigns, It is great to see Comscore measure this for advertisers. And it’s why we developed the InView slider formats. Web pages, like the Huffington Post and Daily Mail are getting longer. And they are increasingly optimized for tablets where users are quick to scroll and therefore quick to skip past the top of the page to get to the content they want to read.

Comscore’s findings become very important, especially as online advertising moves from simple banner display ads to on-page video. And I believe it will move to great video ads for cars, cosmetics and movies etc right on the page. Right now, we’re selling the InView Slider ad unit with great confidence that it works for advertisers wherever you place it. It only appears if the reader is going to see it. The InView slider gives publishers a way to boost revenue, and gives advertisers a great way to guarantee to catch scrolling readers.

We’re also launching an in page video ad that will appear when the viewer is guaranteed to see it.

The InView slider has been quickly adopted by publishers since the summer because all the revenue for the publisher is additional and yet there’s no additional work involved.

We look forward to Comscore publicly presenting the full results of its study in March, and of course we are proud to be their partner in making advertising on the web as good as the best advertising on national TV.

About ZEDO

ZEDO, Inc. is a digital ad solutions company that offers products and services for a publisher’s premium, self service, and remnant inventory. Products include ad network optimization, innovative rich media formats for publishers’ direct sales teams, full featured ad serving, behavioral targeting data built into the ad server, an exchange-like platform for publishers to sell behavioral and DMA targeted inventory at high CPMs (see: www.zedoadnetwork.com), a self service platform to allow advertisers to buy directly from a publisher, outsourced ad ops and more. These products are integrated into one technology platform for publishers to choose from, or use seamlessly together. ZEDO has been in the internet advertising industry for over 10 years, and is the most successful independent ad server in the US. The company provides innovative solutions that boost revenues for Internet publishers. ZEDO is headquartered in San Francisco and has four development centers in Russia and India.

Reach out to ZEDO at http://www.zedo.com, or follow the company on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ZEDOadsolutions) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/zedoinc).

The study also found that TV ad breaks have an impact on casual games played on personal devices. Survey participants noted that they preferred games which didn’t take long to complete, or which were not time-dependent, so that they could fit their games activity into the ad breaks.

“Understanding when and how `focus shifts’ between the TV and personal devices occur is key to delivering a superior multi-screen user experience, as well as providing an opportunity to retain the attention of viewers on advertising,” concludes Park.

Note: This ethnographic study presents the findings of twelve in-home observations of individuals who actively engage with multiple personal devices within the home setting while watching TV. The observations and semi-structured interviews were carried out with consumers in the USA and UK in August 2011.

About Strategy Analytics

Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides timely and actionable market intelligence focused on opportunities and disruptive forces in the areas of Automotive Electronics and Entertainment, Broadband Connected Home, Mobile & Wireless Intelligent Systems and Virtual Worlds. Headquartered in Boston, MA, with offices in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, S. Korea and China, Strategy Analytics works with clients through annual multi-client services, management team workshops and custom consulting engagements. For more information, please visit http://www.strategyanalytics.com/

NEW YORK – TRA, Inc., which provides the industry’s premium solution for increasing the accountability of television advertising, announced the newest version of its patented business intelligence software solution, Media TRAnalytics® 3.0. The enhanced solution highlights StoryFinder™, an innovative feature that allows clients to quickly find and act on “stories” of which products and categories have the highest purchaser ratings in networks, local stations and programs.

With Media TRAnalytics® 3.0 and StoryFinder™, each segment of TRA’s client base will benefit in varied, but deeply useful ways. With a few simple clicks, advertisers and agencies will be able to instantly develop strategic lists of the media outlets that attract their core audiences, as well as those that attract competitors’ best prospects. Similarly, networks and stations will be able to immediately define which purchaser targets their network or station delivers most effectively, as well as the targets best delivered by competitors. StoryFinder™ allows users to quickly and effectively gain new, actionable insights to improve sales.

David Poltrack, Chief Research Officer and President of CBS Vision explained, “CBS has a long and successful history working with TRA to help us demonstrate to marketers the importance of advertising in the marketing plan and television as the centerpiece of the media plan. Now, with Media TRAnalytics® 3.0 and StoryFinder™, we’ll be able to position our product even more competitively, with deeper insights that will tell us exactly what kind of consumers our audiences are comprised of. For instance, one of the stories TRA has found for us is that ‘The Good Wife’ is highly rated among owners of high-end auto models. This type of actionable data is helping the TV industry shift from Demographic Rating Points to Purchaser Rating Points, and marketers can now make TV advertising investments that directly target viewers’ buying behaviors. To be able to step back and assess our media environment like this is going to be of great value to CBS.”

“We are pleased to announce StoryFinder™ as the next step in the evolution of Media TRAnalytics®,” said Mark Lieberman, Chairman and CEO of TRA. “With each enhancement we make to our service, we enable buyers and sellers to make smarter advertising decisions so that they can drive sales. TRA has helped the industry come a long way, and our clients are taking action and seeing positive results. In the two years since its launch we’ve released 10 updates to Media TRAnalytics® and now, with version 3.0, we continue to pioneer ground-breaking and innovative technologies to further our value to clients.”

Media TRAnalytics® is a web-based business intelligence software solution that matches second-by-second TV tuning data from set-top boxes in 1.7 million households with 57 million households of CPG purchasing data to create the industry’s largest such single-source database of 370,000 households. TRA also offers solutions in the categories of Pharmaceuticals, Automotive, Financial Services, Movies, Restaurants and Telecom. Since its official launch two years ago, broadcast and cable networks, advertisers, and media agencies have been using Media TRAnalytics® to identify The Right Audience™ in order to improve their return on media investment.

About TRA, Inc.

TRA, Inc. (www.traglobal.com) is a media marketing and analytics software company whose products help advertisers, agencies and television networks improve advertising targeting, accountability and return on media investment. TRA’s Media TRAnalytics® is a web-based platform that matches the TV advertising households actually receive with the products the same households actually buy, enabling TRA’s clients to find “The Right Audience” while providing an unmatched level of transparency, measurement, media planning/selling and improved ROI. Licensed users of Media TRAnalytics® include 4 of the top 10 advertisers, 40 of the top 100 brands, and 8 of the top 12 agencies and networks that represent $10 billion in advertising billings. TRA’s investors include Intel Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners, WPP and Arbitron. TRA is the recipient of the BeyeNETWORK’s 2009 Vision Award for Business Impact in Analytics. TRA is certified under ISO 27001, the information security management system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) designed to ensure security controls for protecting information assets. TRA owns U.S Patent No. 7,729,940, entitled “Analyzing Return on Investment of Advertising Campaigns by Matching Multiple Data Sources.”

NEW YORK & LONDON – TRA, Inc., an innovative media measurement and analytics software company, and NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, announced a partnership to market TV advertising accountability solutions.

TRA will integrate NDS Dynamic Audience Measurement data into TRA’s patented Media TRAnalytics® software to enable advanced reporting and analysis of return on investment for advertisers, agencies, networks and platform operators.

Based in New York, TRA’s existing suite of products enables improved advertising accountability and return on media investment by matching second-by-second measurement of TV tuning from set-top box data with actual purchasing behavior. The company’s innovative single-source software solution empowers networks and agencies to utilize purchasing behavior so that advertisers are able to identify ideal programming environments and reach the right audience to drive product sales.

NDS Dynamic Audience Measurement provides accurate viewing data to leading pay-TV platforms around the world. It enables viewing data to be extracted from linear platforms as well as monitoring of time-shifted viewing and interactive usage – data currently unavailable through traditional TV measurement. With robust viewing data, NDS is able to provide a deep understanding of TV viewing behavior.

“With TRA’s solution, advertisers are able to reach more relevant audiences, networks are able to uncover hidden value in their programming, and agencies can deliver better media plans and increased ROI for their clients,” said Mark Lieberman, Chairman and CEO of TRA. “Now, by partnering with NDS, we have the ability to add another meaningful information stream to our already data-rich software. This will enable TRA to offer our clients an even more effective product, powered by more compelling data.”

“Measurement of subscriber viewing with NDS Dynamic provides a value added scenario for all in the value chain; enabling greater relevance for the viewer, greater return for the operator and more accurate segmentation for the advertiser, and now with TRA will enable the ultimate measurement for any advertising campaign – statistics on ROI” said Gideon Gilboa, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Advertising Solutions, NDS. “TRA have proven to have a solution that we feel will add great value to the market.”

About TRA, Inc.

TRA, Inc. (www.traglobal.com) is a media measurement and analytics software company whose products help advertisers, agencies and television networks improve advertising accountability and return on media investment. TRA’s Media TRAnalytics® is a web-based platform that matches the advertising households actually receive with the products the same households actually buy, enabling TRA’s clients to find “The Right Audience” while providing an unmatched level of transparency, measurement, media planning/selling and improved ROI. TRA’s investors include Intel Capital, Kodiak Venture Partners, WPP and Arbitron. TRA is the recipient of the BeyeNETWORK’s 2009 Vision Award for Business Impact in Analytics. TRA is certified under ISO 27001, the information security management system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) designed to ensure security controls for protecting information assets. TRA owns U.S Patent No. 7,729,940, entitled “Analyzing Return on Investment of Advertising Campaigns by Matching Multiple Data Sources.”

About NDS

NDS Group Ltd. creates the technologies and applications that enable pay-TV operators to securely deliver digital content to TV STBs (set-top boxes), DVRs (digital video recorders), PCs, mobiles and other multimedia devices. Over 75 of the world’s leading pay-TV platforms rely on NDS solutions to protect and enhance their businesses. VideoGuard® is the world’s market-leading conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) technology, currently deployed on 145 million active devices, and safeguarding pay-TV service revenues exceeding $50 billion. NDS middleware, including MediaHighway® which enables a host of advanced services for subscribers, has been deployed on 171 million devices. NDS DVR technology, centred around XTV™, leads the global industry with 35 million units deployed. (Deployment figures as of 31st December 2010).

Headquartered in the UK, NDS remains committed to investing in R&D with over 75% of its employees dedicated to pioneering work at development centres in China, Denmark, France, India, Israel, Korea, UK and US. NDS has also implemented a host of initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and helping digital TV subscribers reduce energy consumption.

NDS Group Ltd. is a private company owned by the Permira Funds and News Corporation. See www.nds.com for more information.

4A’s 2011
AUSTIN, Texas – Imagine carrying your favorite TV programs with you wherever you go, whether it’s to relieve the monotony of a long line at the supermarket or to enjoy a personal telecast in the bedroom while the rest of the family is watching the living room TV. The potential of more people watching more TV will appeal to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), which holds its annual meeting in Austin this week and hundreds of conference attendees will get their first view of the new broadcast TV technology now being rolled out by TV stations throughout the country.

Mobile Digital TV is familiar programs transmitted by local TV broadcast stations that utilize the same channel already bringing high-definition broadcasts and other programming to viewers. More than 60 TV stations around the country have already upgraded to offer the new services, including Austin’s KVUE – which is demonstrated Mobile DTV this week and its ability to serve as a local news resource.

Nationwide, local broadcasters are poised to offer a wide variety of viewers’ favorite shows and sporting events, along with real-time news, weather and traffic – an affordable “real TV on the go” experience. Broadcasters are now upgrading their transmission systems to offer a variety of Mobile DTV channels.

Mobile DTV Means Viewers Watch More TV

“Television can be much more than the traditional experience of engaging with your ‘big screen’ in the living room. To that end, we’re very excited about the potential that Mobile DTV broadcasts will bring to our viewers,” said Patti C. Smith, President and General Manager of KVUE-TV in Austin. “We know that our viewers will appreciate the convenience that Mobile DTV offers, meeting their needs for immediacy and transportability. Consequently, advertisers will also be interested in the potential for reaching far more viewers now that digital TV will be available anywhere a consumer travels in the viewing area.”

Mobile DTV’s potential isn’t limited to Austin. A number of broadcast TV stations in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, Texas – and dozens of other TV broadcasters throughout the country — have also started transmitting the new services.

“One of the most valuable services our member stations provide is the delivery of timely news and information to viewers. Now, if the weather turns bad, real-time reports can be with you wherever you go. Broadcasters throughout Texas are keenly interested in reaching new audiences outside the home, and Mobile DTV will deliver more viewers as new devices begin to reach the market,” said Ann Arnold, President of the Texas Association of Broadcasters.

A complete list of stations now transmitting in Mobile DTV is available on the web site of the Open Mobile Video Coalition of America’s broadcasters (OMVC), which represents more than 900 TV stations throughout the country. Just visit OMVC.org and click on the “Signal Map” tab to see the latest roster of Mobile DTV broadcasters.

“We’re very excited to be working with the TVB, the not-for-profit trade association of America’s commercial broadcast television industry, to reach out to America’s advertising community this week during the 4A’s conference in Austin. Advertisers will want to find out more about the new services and new devices that are just now reaching retail stores,” said Anne Schelle, Executive Director of the OMVC.

More than two dozen new products are slated for introduction this year for reception of the new Mobile DTV signals, including a new line of RCA portable TV sets that is being introduced this week through online sales. Mobile DTV reception is planned in tablet devices, USB receivers for computers, portable DVD players, and a variety of in-car receivers that can supplement an existing “infotainment” system in a car or van for backseat viewing. Among the devices demonstrated for advertising professionals this week are:

- Prototype netbook computers from Dell that are specially-equipped with circuitry and antennae to receive over-the-air Mobile DTV;
- Sample mobile phones from LG Electronics and Samsung mobile that feature integrated Mobile DTV circuitry;
- New RCA portable TV sets that receive both Mobile DTV and standard digital TV broadcasts in an affordable package;
- Mobile DTV on the iPad and iPhone, with new devices from Valups and Cydle
- A variety of computer USB receivers from manufacturers DTVinteractive, Pixtree, and Hauppauge Computer Works that can turn a laptop or desktop computer into a Mobile DTV device.

Showcase Results Peg High Interest in Mobile DTV

From May through October 2010, OMVC conducted a Consumer Showcase of Mobile DTV technology with nearly 350 consumers getting “hands on” opportunities to use Mobile DTV on prototype cell phones, netbooks, and a new DVD player equipped with Mobile DTV capability. The results were tabulated by market research firms Rentrak (which provided comprehensive Audience Measurement services) and Harris Interactive (which provided Qualitative Research services.)

More than 22,000 comments about the service posted to an online community exclusively for the use of Showcase participants. Among the findings:

Strong Consumer Interest: The majority of Showcase participants maintained a high level of excitement about Mobile DTV throughout the duration of the Showcase and were interested in continuing to receive the service going forward. While free over-the-air service was a major positive with viewers, nearly half also said they would be at least “somewhat likely” to subscribe to premium services for a monthly fee.

Live, Local News Ranks Highly: Showcase participants found themselves tuning into their battery-powered Mobile DTV devices when storms knocked out power to their home TVs or when breaking news unfolded while they were on-the-go. Local stations were considered essential to the Mobile DTV viewing experience, but participants also liked having a variety of programming. Data from Rentrak shows more than 30 different program genres were viewed on the 23 available channels.

Daytime is Primetime: Unlike traditional TV viewing, which is tethered to the living room TV, Mobile DTV viewing tends to peak during the weekday afternoon when consumers can watch their favorite programs while on a break from work or while waiting in line at the supermarket.

Mobile DTV Means More TV: Showcase research suggests that Mobile DTV will result in a net gain in overall TV consumption. 94% of viewers reported watching more or the same amount of TV as before. The average daily viewer spent 50 minutes watching Mobile DTV and tuned in more than twice during the day. In fact, over a quarter of the people watching on a typical day spent more than an hour viewing their Mobile DTV device.

ABOUT THE OPEN MOBILE VIDEO COALITION

Representing over 900 TV stations across the country, the Open Mobile Video Coalition is a voluntary association of television broadcasters whose mission is to accelerate the development of mobile digital television in the United States. The OMVC is composed of 36 members that own and operate over 500 commercial television stations, as well as the Association of Public Television Stations, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service, which represent an additional 360 public television stations. Membership in the OMVC is open to all U.S.-based television broadcasters. For more information, please visit: www.OMVC.org

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – YuMe, Inc (www.yume.com), the leading video advertising technology company, announced the results of two complimentary studies proving the increasing power of online video for ad campaigns. Taken together, these studies offer a compelling picture of the mainstreaming of the online video audience and how brands can effectively and easily reach more viewers.

In a study of viewers across the YuMe video ad network, Frank N. Magid Associates (www.magid.com) found that not only had use grown substantially over the last 12 months with 66% of respondents reporting increases in usage, but also that the growth would continue at a rapid pace in the coming year. In addition, YuMe’s audience perceived the quality of online video content to be on par with television and cited they could find more exclusive content online than on TV.

As brands consider how to effectively expand their reach and utilize online video, the case study conducted using Nielsen TV/Internet Data Fusion, explores what happens when brands reallocate just 5%, 10%, or 15% of traditional broadcast budgets to YuMe’s network. The results demonstrate that while marketers can reach the majority of their audience through TV, they can improve both the efficacy and efficiency of their television campaigns by adding an online video component.

“Online video is the fastest growing segment of online advertising but it’s a confusing topic for many marketers and brand managers,” said Scot McLernon, Chief Revenue Officer, YuMe. “We worked with both of these esteemed research companies to provide data that would help dispel the confusion around how to weave a cross-platform online video campaign into existing campaigns and future projects.”

A high level summary of the Magid data based on a survey of YuMe’s audience shows how viewing habits, attitudes and audience makeup are changing.

Online Video’s Explosive Growth Will Continue: More than 66% of respondents surveyed on YuMe’s network said they watch more online video now than they did 12 months ago and 48% expect they will continue to watch more in 2011.
Online Video Has Gone Mainstream: Consumers who are watching more online video compared to 12 months ago skew older, female and higher educated.
Online Video Content is on Par with TV: Viewers’ perception of the quality of video content online has improved and 50% of respondents felt they could find more exclusive content online than on TV.
Watching Online Video Is a Daily Routine: 49% of respondents said they watch online video daily, with 7 hours being the mean time spent per week.
Short-form Content Reigns Supreme Online: 70% of respondents said they watch program clips that are shorter than 5 minutes in length.
Scheduled TV Programs are Less Relevant: 60% of viewers watch online video because they can watch it whenever they want.
Online Viewers are More Engaged with Ads: Multi-tasking is more pervasive when watching television ads than when watching online video ads: 58% of respondents said they do things around the house when ads come on TV versus 26% for ads online.
Heavy Online Video Viewers Can’t Be Reached Only with TV: Heavy online video viewers are reducing their television viewing yet they are increasing their online video viewing which indicates it will be even more difficult to reach these viewers via television in the future.

“Reaching heavy users of online video is very important for marketers,” said Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors at Frank N. Magid Associates. “The YuMe network is clearly an excellent opportunity for advertisers and marketers to advertise to a broad population, including consumers who are relatively light viewers of TV.”

YuMe examined, utilizing Nielsen data, what would happen when a TV budget was partially re-allocated to online video on YuMe’s video ad network. Using an actual budget from January of 2010 for a consumer packaged goods brand, the share-shift study found that a reallocation increased audience reach without increasing cost.

Across the three main demographics targeted by the brand, (Women 18-54, Women 25-34, Men 25-34), the analysis found that as dollars were reallocated from TV to YuMe’s video advertising network, the brand increased its overall reach and gained access to viewers they would not have reached with TV alone. Key results achieved include the following:

- Total campaign reach increased with no additional spend
- Frequency greatly increased with the shift to online, rocketing the percentage of people who saw the ad 3 or more and 6 or more times in all scenarios
- Multi-platform exposure and performance increased dramatically as shift occurred
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) decreased significantly across all ad spend reallocation levels (5%, 10%, 15%)

For more on these studies and to download a copy of YuMe’s whitepapers “Online Video and Television Viewing Attitudes and Behaviors” and “Share-shift Analysis – TV + Online Video: The Best of Both Worlds” visit http://www.yume.com/content/insights-papers.

About YuMe

YuMe is a video advertising technology company that makes professional video profitable for publishers and effective for advertisers. Its robust ACE™ technology powers both its premium ad network and its industry-leading advertising management solutions, ACE for Publishers and ACE for Advertisers. YuMe’s premium ad network aggregates the best video content, representing hundreds of premium publishers. As a result, YuMe gives publishers and advertisers unprecedented reach, brand safety, contextual relevance, controlled syndication, and consistent delivery across all digital media platforms–Web, downloads, mobile, and IPTV. YuMe is a privately held company headquartered in Redwood City, CA and backed by Accel Partners, BV Capital, DAG Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Intel Capital. For more information, visit www.yume.com, follow @yumevideo on twitter (www.twitter.com/yumevideo), or become a fan of YuMe on Facebook at www.facebook.com/yumevideo.

The deal, the first of its kind on a national level, will allow SMG to be the first agency network to provide its clients with the ability to address highly relevant advertising messages, including the right to be the first to identify the audiences that best fit their clients’ needs for addressability. The agency will also serve as an advisor to DIRECTV to help enhance and refine the service, a role SMG has played for many early trials.

“This is a glimpse into our industry’s future. Up until now, we’ve only been able to test the power of addressability in local markets. We proved its value beyond a shadow of doubt, but hadn’t yet conquered scale until now,” said Laura Desmond, CEO of SMG, whose clients include some of the world’s most influential marketers including Procter and Gamble, Coca-Cola, and General Motors. “As a result of this partnership with DIRECTV, we can now invest our clients’ dollars in addressable messaging at the national level. We believe this is the tipping point, an entirely new marketplace is being created and shaped that will increase marketing effectiveness.”

According to Tracey Scheppach, SVP/Innovations Director at SMGx, “At SMG, we’ve run the numbers and feel confident that the creation of a viable national addressable platform can infuse $10 billion in incremental revenue into the television marketplace as its appeal is universal and has the ability to bring a whole new class of marketers to the medium. It’s taken years of hard work to get this far, but we’ve got light at the end of the tunnel and we’re ready to put our money on the table.”

“This partnership with SMG will create a whole new revenue stream for DIRECTV and ensure that our viewers are being served up with ads that are relevant to their lifestyles,” said Bob Riordan, senior vice president, DIRECTV Advertising Sales. “It’s a win for DIRECTV, advertisers, and our viewers.”

As part of the advertising deal brokered by SMGx, the trading and innovation arm of SMG, media agency’s clients will be able to segment their ads on a national level to selected consumers based on multiple factors including geography and customer segmentations, as well as third-party sources and the marketers’ consumer databases.

The consulting segment of the SMG/DIRECTV relationship begins immediately, with the addressable ad technology set to begin testing in 2011. After testing is complete, DIRECTV will deploy household addressable advertising capability to the nearly 10 million customers expected to have DVRs, with 25 of the top-rated cable networks.

ABOUT DIRECTV

DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is the world’s most popular video service delivering state-of-the-art technology, unmatched programming, the most comprehensive sports packages available and industry leading customer service to its 27.6 million customers in the U.S. and Latin America. In the U.S., DIRECTV offers its 19.1 million customers access to over 160 HD channels and Dolby-Digital® 5.1 theater-quality sound (when available), access to exclusive sports programming such as NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, award winning technology like its DIRECTV® DVR Scheduler and higher customer satisfaction than the leading cable companies for ten years running. DIRECTV Latin America, through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin American countries, leads the pay-TV category in technology, programming and service, delivering an unrivaled digital television experience to 8.5 million customers. DIRECTV sports and entertainment properties include three Regional Sports Networks (Northwest, Rocky Mountain and Pittsburgh) as well as a 65 percent interest in Game Show Network. For the most up-to-date information on DIRECTV, please call 1-800-DIRECTV or visit directv.com.

ABOUT STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP

Starcom MediaVest Group is the Human Experience Company. Our dream is to grow our clients’ business by transforming human behavior through uplifting, meaningful human experience. These brand ‘experiences’ are brought to life by distinct, strategic point-of-views — Truth and Design and Space for Ideas — created and owned by SMG’s two global agency brands: MediaVest and Starcom, respectively. Ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world, Starcom MediaVest Group (www.smvgroup.com) encompasses an integrated network of human experience strategists, investment specialists, content creators and digital experts. With nearly 6,000 employees in 110 offices worldwide, SMG partners with the world’s leading companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods, Mars, Inc., P&G, Samsung, Walmart, among others. In 2010, SMG was the #1 ranked Global Media Agency (AdAge) and “Media Agency of the Decade” by Adweek. SMG is part of Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris: FR0000130577], the world’s third largest communications group. Publicis Groupe is also ranked as the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group and is the first global network in digital and healthcare communications. Publicis Groupe launched VivaKi (www.vivaki.com) to leverage the combined scale of the autonomous operations of Digitas, Denuo, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia to develop new services, tools, and next generation digital platforms. Web site: www.publicisgroupe.com.

The Ad-of-the-Week designates the highest scoring new ad of the week by Ace Score, a patent-pending measure of advertising creative effectiveness.

“The Windows Phone 7 is a new entrant in a fast-changing and fiercely competitive market dominated by Android, Apple, and RIM. Effective creative is critical to brands attempting to establish themselves, as well as brands that are attempting to defend their positions,” commented Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix.

The table below shows smartphone percent of subscribers compared to Ace Score average by vendor.

1 comScore Reports October 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
2 Ace Metrix 12/17/2010
3 Microsoft subscriber % prior to Windows Phone 7 launch

Using a mix of humor, real people and an Xbox avatar that joins the real world, Microsoft has created an ad high in “Likeability”, “Attention” and “Change”, all Ace Score components, that appeals equally to men and women.

Younger respondents rated the ad higher than older respondents, Ace Score 651 vs. 608, and caught on right away that the boyfriend/avatar was associated with Xbox.

According to Daboll, “We have proven that high Ace Scores drive sales and this is evident in the mobile category. Android and iPhone Ace Scores have dominated the category for the past several months, and their share changes reflect that. It is interesting that Microsoft, being the new entrant in the category with Windows Phone 7, has launched with competitive Ace Scores.”

As respondents put it, “It made me laugh with a great dovetailing of Microsoft products” and “Since the Windows phone is a new product and has a lot of competition, it was smart to make the ad appealing.”

To view the ad, please click here: http://www.acemetrix.com/events/ad-of-the-week.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix is the industry authority in measuring and understanding the impact of advertising creative. Through patent-pending Ace ScoreTM measurement technology, Ace Metrix collects and measures the consumer impact of every nationally breaking TV ad in near real-time. Through its Creative Lifecycle ManagementTM suite of products, Ace Metrix provides actionable creative analysis, from ideation through real-time in-market performance optimization, to many of the world’s leading advertisers and agencies. Ace Metrix works with leading advertisers including Big Lots, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., ConAgra, Nissan North America and others. For more information please see www.acemetrix.com.

- More than Doubles the Number of Spots Outlining the Strength and Value of Local Television Advertising and Provides Stations With Tool Kits to Create Targeted Hyper-Local Promotional Messages

IRVING, Texas – Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) announced that based on a year of success, it is expanding its Company-wide informational and educational campaign, “101 Reasons TV Advertising Works.” The expansion more than doubles the number of spots available to its stations and provides them with full promotional tool kits to create custom, hyper-local targeted promotional messages featuring testimonials from clients describing the value they have garnered from local television advertising. The expanded on-air initiative reflects Nexstar’s commitment to developing innovative methods of highlighting the advantages and value of local television and its role as the most effective advertising medium for local businesses.

Originally launched in October 2009, Nexstar’s “101 Reasons TV Advertising Works” campaign included 39 corporate-produced, easily customizable promotional spots for the Company’s owned or managed television stations in 34 markets. Since introducing the campaign, Nexstar has generated consistent increases in new-to-television local direct billings and reported a 9.6% total increase in gross local revenues for the nine months ended June 30, 2010. In expanding the “101 Reasons TV Advertising Works” campaign, Nexstar is adding 42 spots which complement existing station on-air promotional platforms to inform and educate advertisers on local television as the most persuasive and influential medium with the highest consumer reach, and most time spent by consumers. Each of the 81 now available five-to-thirty-second spots are fully customizable so every Nexstar station can ensure that advertisers receive specific data that best showcases the strengths and value of local television advertising relative to other forms of media.

Perry A. Sook, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., commented, “The success of our ‘101 Reasons TV Advertising Works’ campaign speaks for itself. Our stations are more effective than ever before in illustrating the benefits of local television as the advertising platform that consistently delivers the best results. Rolled out just a year ago, our forward thinking campaign clearly brings forth the compelling results and value of local television advertising. In doing so, we helped hundreds of local businesses offset the impact of the challenging economic climate by demonstrating how local television was the most effective method for companies to connect with local customers.”

According to research sourced by The Television Bureau of Advertising, television consistently reaches the most consumers with daily household viewing times across all demographics again attaining record levels at 8 hours and 21 minutes in 2009. Television advertising also continues to rank by wide margins as the most influential medium and the most persuasive medium (85.7% and 78.1%, respectively) based on surveys with adults 18+.

Mr. Sook concluded, “The initial success of this program has been impressive and our station personnel have taken an active role in expanding this initiative with 17 of the 42 new spots based on concepts submitted by our local stations. We’ve also taken the 2010 ‘101 Reasons’ campaign to the next level by providing stations with a full promotional tool kit with various wildlines complemented by the look of the main campaign. Stations can use this collateral material to create locally generated client testimonials showcasing the reasons television advertising works with their clients and we expect that these locally generated testimonials will complement the main campaign with an emphasis on hyper-localism.”

For more information about the “101 Reasons TV Advertising Works” campaign or for a complete list of all 81 vignettes, please visit www.nexstar.tv.

About Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.

Nexstar Broadcasting Group currently owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 62 television stations in 34 markets in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, New York, Rhode Island, Utah and Florida. These stations are affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV and The CW and reach approximately 13 million viewers or approximately 11.5% of all U.S. television households.

“This market segment of mostly business travelers and high-end wage earners is a difficult-to-reach niche ad group. We have them captured so to speak, each watching TV an average of three to four hours a day. There has never been a better opportunity to generate revenue from a previously un-tapped advertising demographic,” states J. Michael Heil, CEO of Ad Systems Communications, Inc.

About Web TV-Guide

Web TV-Guide is an Internet data-retrieving server that downloads channel content and aligns data to any specific channel lineup. Web TV-Guide allows satellite, cable, and private television distribution services the ability to run streaming video or commercial content from a file format. This greatly enhances the TV audience’s viewing experience and allows Ad Systems to provide highly targeted advertising spots to national and regional advertisers.

About Ad Systems Communications, Inc.

Ad Systems Communications, Inc. is a digital media and video communications services Company which provides quality advertising inventory for all the major cable TV networks such as ESPN, MTV, DISCOVERY, CNN, LIFETIME, A&E, FOX NEWS and TNT by deploying its patent-pending insertion and streaming media technology into the cable, satellite and IP television markets. The company derives revenue from this inventory by selling it to advertisers to insert both long- and short-form video commercials into highly targeted markets.

For more information, visit: http://www.adsystemscatv.com/.

“This agreement comes as an opportunity to kick off ADSY’s revenue expansion plan in the Kentucky and Ohio market. This contract initially adds fourteen new systems and zip codes. It brings to Ad Systems needed additional subscribers in the Lexington, Kentucky DMA and enables the company to continue building the local and regional ad Revenue as well as National,” stated Tony Lenzi, VP Ad Sales

J. Michael Heil C.E.O. stated, “The Midwest Market is critical to our future revenue growth because we are heavily vested with existing systems. We have just completed the first two systems from Crystal Broadband adding to an already existing base in Kentucky. The revenue for the company is dependent on the number of Cable TV subscribers, and this expansion adds a significant number.”

Ad Systems Communications, Inc. is a digital media and video communications services Company which provides quality advertising inventory for all the major cable TV networks such as ESPN, MTV, DISCOVERY, CNN, LIFETIME, A&E, FOX NEWS and TNT by deploying its patent pending insertion and streaming media technology into the cable, satellite and IP television markets. The company derives revenue from this inventory by selling it to advertisers to insert both long and short form video commercials into highly targeted markets.

For more information, visit: http://www.adsystemscatv.com/.

“The rally in ad spending that has emerged from last year’s collapse continued at a steady pace through the second quarter, even as softening economic data on retail sales, spending and employment began to raise concerns about the outlook for consumer activity,” said Jon Swallen, SVP Research at Kantar Media. “Early figures from the third quarter indicate the advertising expansion is still maintaining its momentum and that is an encouraging sign for the industry.”

Measured Ad Spending By Media

Television media led the first half rebound. Spot TV expenditures jumped 25.1 percent, fueled by robust demand from auto and retail marketers and a cyclical upturn in political advertising. Spanish Language TV spending rose 14.6 percent, with gains driven by the World Cup event in June. Cable TV (+ 8.8 percent) and Network TV (+7.2 percent) benefited from selling more ad time and increased spending across a broad range of retail and consumer package goods categories.

Free Standing Inserts (FSIs) posted the second largest growth rate among the major media sectors. Expenditures rose 7.6 percent as CPG marketers aggressively targeted value-conscious consumers with couponing programs.

Within the Radio sector, results were divergent. Spending in National Spot Radio increased 16.8 percent while Local Radio was up 4.2 percent as telecom and financial service marketers shifted budgets into these segments. Network Radio registered a small decline of -0.4 percent. All radio types saw growth rates ease slightly during the second quarter.

Consumer Magazine expenditures bottomed out in March and the ensuing rebound in page counts helped push half-year spending to a 1.5 percent increase. Sunday Magazines (+13.1 percent) continued to reap additional money from prescription drug makers and home improvement retailers.

National Newspaper spending jumped 7.1 percent, primarily from gains at the Wall Street Journal. However, Local Newspaper spending was down 4.6 percent compared to last year and has now suffered declines for 19 consecutive quarters.

Percent Change in Measured Ad Spending1

MEDIA SECTOR

Media Type
(Sectors and types listed in rank order of H1 spending)
Jan-June
2010 vs. 2009
TELEVISION MEDIA        10.0%
– Network TV         7.2%
– Cable TV2         8.8%
– Spot TV3         25.1%
– Spanish Language TV4         14.6%
– Syndication – National         -11.7%
MAGAZINE MEDIA5        1.6%
– Consumer Magazines         1.5%
– B-to-B Magazines         -4.2%
– Sunday Magazines         13.1%
– Local Magazines         -3.5%
– Spanish Language Magazines         4.8%
NEWSPAPER MEDIA6        -3.0%
– Local Newspapers         -4.6%
– National Newspapers         7.1%
– Spanish Language Newspapers         2.8%
INTERNET (display ads only)        5.3%
RADIO MEDIA        6.3%
– Local Radio7         4.2%
– National Spot Radio         16.8%
– Network Radio         -0.4%
OUTDOOR        2.8%
FSIs8        7.6%
TOTAL        5.7%
Source: Kantar Media

1. Figures are based on the Kantar Media Stradegy™ multimedia ad expenditure database across all measured media, including: Network TV (6 networks); Spot TV (125 DMAs); Cable TV (71 networks); Syndication TV; Hispanic Network TV (4 networks); Consumer Magazines (226 publications);,Sunday Magazines (7 publications); Local Magazines (27 publications); Hispanic Magazines (16 publications); Business-to-Business Magazines (313 publications); Local Newspapers (147 publications); National Newspapers (3 publications); Hispanic Newspapers (49 publications); Network Radio (5 networks); Spot Radio; Local Radio (32 markets); Internet; and Outdoor. Figures do not include public service announcement (PSA) data.

2. Cable TV figures do not include Hispanic cable networks.

3. Spot TV figures do not include Hispanic stations.

4. Spanish Language TV includes 4 Hispanic broadcast networks, 4 Hispanic cable network and 71 local Hispanic TV stations.

5. Magazine media includes Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data and reflect print editions of publications.

6. Newspaper media figures reflect print editions of publications.

7. Local Radio includes expenditures for 32 markets in the U.S.

8. FSI data represents distribution costs only.

Measured Ad Spending by Advertiser

Expenditures for the ten largest advertisers increased 11.5 percent to $8.35 billion in the first six months of 2010. Among the Top 100 advertisers, a diversified group representing nearly one-half of the measured ad economy, spending was up 9.7 percent to $29.32 billion. The long-tail of small advertisers – defined as those outside the Top 1000 and a segment which accounts for more than one-fifth of all ad expenditures – lagged behind with just a 1.4 percent gain in their aggregate media investments. The skewed distribution illustrates the dependency of the current advertising recovery on large advertisers.

Procter & Gamble easily held onto its position as the largest advertiser and spent $1,501.2 million, a 31.1 percent increase versus a year ago. The company boosted marketing support for nearly all of its largest brands.

AT&T took the second spot in the rankings with expenditures rising 14.1 percent to $1,108.2 million. Much of the increase was due to a large TV ad buy in February’s Winter Olympics, while the second quarter was characterized by significant advertising reductions for core wireless products. Rival Verizon Communications slashed its half-year budgets by 12.3 percent, to $1,020.2 million.

The Top 10 included three auto manufacturers, the most from that sector in more than three years. General Motors had the largest growth rate as the company lifted spending 45.6 percent, to $1,043.0 million. Toyota Motor, seeking to rehabilitate its image after recalling millions of vehicles for safety hazards, raised its ad budgets by 23.3 percent, to $527.7 million. Ford Motor, which has recently been gaining market share, accelerated its expenditures by a comparatively modest 12.2 percent, to $524.1 million.

Top Ten Advertisers: January-June 20101

Rank          Company
Jan – Jun 2010
($Millions)

Jan – Jun 2009
($Millions)
% Change
1         Procter & Gamble Co         $1,501.2         $1,145.2         31.1%
2         AT&T Inc         $1,108.2         $970.8         14.1%
3         General Motors Corp         $1,043.0         $716.3         45.6%
4         Verizon Communications Inc         $1,020.2         $1,163.2         -12.3%
5         Johnson & Johnson         $708.9         $798.8         -11.2%
6         News Corp         $700.9         $662.5         5.8%
7         Pfizer Inc         $649.4         $558.5         16.3%
8         Time Warner Inc         $571.1         $579.7         -1.5%
9         Toyota Motor Corp         $527.7         $427.9         23.3%
10         Ford Motor Co         $524.1         $467.0         12.2%
TOTAL2        $8,354.6        $7,489.8        11.5%
Source: Kantar Media

1. Figures do not include FSI, House Ads or PSA activity.

2. The sum of the individual companies may differ from the Total shown due to rounding.

Measured Ad Spending by Category

Expenditures for the ten largest advertising categories rose 7.3 percent in the first six months of 2010 and totaled $36.04 billion.

Automotive was the premier category among the Top Ten on both dollar volume and growth rate as spending surged 23.4 percent to $6,062.7 million amidst an improved environment for vehicle sales. Within the category, manufacturers and dealers had comparable rates of increase.

Telecom was the second largest category with half-year expenditures up 2.8 percent to $4,383.6 million. However, spending rates fell during the second quarter as leading wireless and satellite TV marketers pulled back.

Financial Services advertising jumped 11.3 percent, to $3,818.0 million. Results were helped by vigorous competition among credit card issuers and a marketing revival for consumer loan products. These offset lingering sluggishness in the retail banking segment.

Packaged goods categories continued to see higher advertising support as marketers adapted their strategies to evolving changes in consumer shopping behavior. Expenditures for Food & Candy were up 9.5 percent to $3,299.4 million, and spending for Personal Care Products increased 11.8 percent to $2,962.3 million.

Top Ten Advertising Categories: January-June 20101

Rank          Category
Jan – Jun 2010
($Millions)

Jan – Jun 2009
($Millions)
% Change
1         Automotive         $6,062.7         $4,913.4         23.4%

(Manufacturers)
$3,907.4        $3,134.1        24.7%

(Dealers)
$2,155.3        $1,779.3        21.1%
2         Telecom         $4,383.6         $4,266.3         2.8%
3         Local Services         $3,926.2         $3,719.7         5.5%
4         Financial Services         $3,818.0         $3,430.4         11.3%
5         Miscellaneous Retail2         $3,385.2         $3,092.6         9.5%
6         Food & Candy         $3,299.4         $3,011.8         9.5%
7         Direct Response         $3,108.5         $3,245.6         -4.2%
8         Personal Care Pdts         $2,962.3         $2,650.6         11.8%
9         Restaurants         $2,889.6         $2,863.0         0.9%
10         Travel & Tourism         $2,201.0         $2,388.7         -7.9%
TOTAL3        $36,036.5        $33,582.3        7.3%
Source: Kantar Media

1. Figures do not include FSI or PSA activity.

2. Miscellaneous Retail does not include these retail segments: Department Stores, Home Furnishing/Building Supply Stores.

3. The sum of the individual categories may differ from the total due to rounding.

Branded Entertainment

Kantar Media continuously monitors Branded Entertainment within network prime time and late night programming. The tracking identifies Brand Appearances and measures their duration and attributes. Given the short length of many Brand Appearances, duration is a more relevant metric than a count of occurrences for quantifying and comparing the gross amount of brand activity that viewers are potentially exposed to in the program versus the commercial breaks.

In the second quarter of 2010, an average hour of monitored prime time network programming contained nine minutes, thirty one seconds (9:31) of in-show Brand Appearances and 14:19 of network commercial messages. The combined total of 23:50 of marketing content represents 40 percent of a prime-time hour.

Unscripted reality programming had an average of 16:39 per hour of Brand Appearances as compared to just 5:16 per hour for scripted programs such as sitcoms and dramas. Late night network talk shows had an average of 13:55 per hour. The combined load of Brand Appearances and network ad messages in these late night shows was 29:38 per hour, or 49 percent of total content time.

Brand Appearances vs. Advertising: Q2 2010
(minutes:seconds per hour)

Brand Appearances

Network Ad Messages1
TOTAL
PRIME TIME NETWORK         9:31         14:19         23:50
Unscripted Programs        16:39        14:47        31:26
Scripted Programs        5:16        14:03        19:19

LATE NITE NETWORK
(Kimmel, O’Brien, Letterman)
13:55         15:43         29:38
Source: Kantar Media

1 Figures include network advertisements, station promotions and PSAs. Local commercial time is excluded.

The top five brands ranked by total amount of Brand Appearance time were Coca-Cola, 24 Hour Fitness Center, Yamaha Music Equipment, Chef Revival, and Starter.

About Kantar Media

Established in more than 50 countries, Kantar Media helps clients master the world’s multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, cinema, mobile, social media, and outdoor worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors – Intelligence, Audiences, TGI and Custom. Kantar Media companies also include Compete, Cymfony and SRDS. Drawing upon the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insight to more than 22,000 customers worldwide.

NEW YORK – DIRECTV, the world’s most popular video service, and Google announced a strategic partnership in which Google will become the sales representative for a broad selection of advertising inventory on several cable networks carried on DIRECTV.

As a result of this partnership with DIRECTV national satellite inventory on Bloomberg, Fox Business, Centric, Fuel, G4, Current, Ovation, Fit, Sleuth, Chiller and TV Guide will be available through the Google TV Ads system across all dayparts, including primetime. Google TV Ads customers will now be able to reach up to 30 million satellite households through both DIRECTV and existing partnerships.

“We are delighted to partner with Google and embark on this initiative together,” said Bob Riordan, Senior Vice President, DIRECTV Advertising Sales. “Google TV Ads is an excellent advertising tool and will be a tremendous complement to DIRECTV’s existing suite of innovative assets.”

DIRECTV reaches 18.7 million TV households, which will allow Google TV Ads advertisers to reach a wide variety of engaged TV viewers, depending on the needs of any given ad campaign.

ABOUT DIRECTV

DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is the world’s most popular video service delivering state-of-the-art technology, unmatched programming, the most comprehensive sports packages available and industry leading customer service to its more than 25.6 million customers in the U.S. and Latin America. In the U.S., DIRECTV offers its 18.7 million customers more than 130 HD channels and Dolby-Digital® 5.1 theater-quality sound (when available), access to exclusive sports programming such as NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, award winning technology like its DIRECTV® DVR Scheduler and higher customer satisfaction than the leading cable companies for nine years running. DIRECTV Latin America, through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin American countries, leads the pay-TV category in technology, programming and service, delivering an unrivaled digital television experience to 7 million customers. DIRECTV sports and entertainment properties include three Regional Sports Networks (Northwest, Rocky Mountain and Pittsburgh) as well as a 65 percent interest in Game Show Network. For the most up-to-date information on DIRECTV, please call 1-800-DIRECTV or visit directv.com.

LOS ANGELES – Ace Metrix™, the industry standard in television advertising analytics, announced that Jack Flanagan, most recently executive vice president with comScore, Inc., has joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer. Flanagan, with extensive sales, management and international experience, will be headquartered in New York City and assumes responsibility for driving sales and revenue growth for Ace Metrix.

“Jack is a world-class sales leader who will scale our sales organization and revenue engine to lead the rapid growth we are experiencing,” said Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix. “Jack’s experience in areas critical to Ace Metrix, media, syndicated data and software sales, will prove invaluable to us and to our customer and prospect base of global brand advertisers.”

“Ace Metrix brings an innovative approach to advertising analytics, combining the science of measurement with the practicality of delivering the right information at the right time in the right way. Over the past 14 years I’ve gained extensive experience in building and managing digital media businesses and I’m ecstatic about joining the Ace Metrix team at this important point in the company’s development,” said Flanagan.

Flanagan joins Ace Metrix from comScore, Inc., where he most recently served as executive vice president with responsibility for the Media Metrix division across North America, Latin America and Europe. In this role, Flanagan managed a multi-million dollar business and managed over 70 sales and client service personnel serving over 1000 clients. Among other achievements, Flanagan achieved and exceeded sales goals for an unprecedented 16 consecutive quarters and helped to increase renewal rates to an all time high of over 90%.

Prior to comScore, Flanagan served as vice president of sales at Jupiter Media Metrix where he directed all sales efforts and managed key client relationships for the company during its formative years. Previously, Flanagan was a marketing manager at BPA International, a global industry resource for audience data and media knowledge.

Flanagan graduated from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing Major.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix delivers actionable analytics and competitive intelligence through the first syndicated software service measuring television advertising creative effectiveness. Featuring the patent-pending Ace Score, Ace Metrix is delivered through a SaaS delivery model to the desktops of national advertisers and agency executives. With Ace Metrix, advertisers and brand managers can make adjustments to creative and media schedules in near real-time resulting in savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ace Metrix works with leading national advertisers including Big Lots, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., Microsoft, Nintendo, Nissan North America and others. For more information please see www.acemetrix.com.

LOS ANGELES – Ace Metrix, the industry standard in television advertising analytics, announced the Ace Metrix Quarterly Top 10 for the second quarter ending June 30, 2010. The winning ad, called “Wash Away” for P&G Dawn Ultra dishwashing liquid, scored an Ace Score of 699 out of a possible 950, with 734 for persuasion and 653 for watchability. The winning score is based on analysis from the ads’ run date of April 7, 13 days before the explosion of the Deep Water Horizon oil rig setting off the Gulf Oil spill. In further analysis conducted by Ace Metrix on June 25, the ad scored 35 points higher for an Ace Score of 734. The extreme jump in Ace Score demonstrates the heightened consumer awareness brought about by the Gulf Oil spill and consumers overall concern about environmental impact of the spill.

In the ad retest key elements of the Persuasion score showed dramatic increases: likeability jumped by 40 points, relevance jumped by 60 points and desire jumped by 58 points, demonstrating the impact external events can have on the overall persuasiveness of television advertising. At the same time, the watchability scored remained almost constant between the two tests validating the consistency of the Ace Metrix methodology.

“For many products that are perceived as commodities, impactful creative that taps into what consumers find meaningful elevates the product and the brand to a whole new level. In the Dawn Ultra spot, Dawn soap achieves a quiet heroic status by gently cleaning oil-soaked animals. The ad demonstrates the positive reaction consumers have to cause-related marketing when it is skillfully executed and interwoven with a product’s intrinsic features,” said Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix.

The Dawn Ultra ad is even more noteworthy for making a mark in a product category, household detergent that typically does not feature high-scoring creative. A typical ad in the category achieves an Ace Score of 526, as compared to Dawn’s score of 699. While resonating strongly across all demographic groups, the Dawn ad was particularly impactful with young people.

The 30 second spot, created by Dawn’s agency Publicis Groupe’s Kaplan Thaler Group, New York, also highlights a $1 per bottle donation to various wildlife groups, and is part of a larger ongoing cause-related marketing effort by Dawn started over 20 years ago after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Quarterly Ads Resonate with Women

For the Ace Metrix Quarterly Top 10 women rated all the ads higher than men. The highest performing ad among women was the Starbucks “The Big Picture” ad, which ranked sixth with an Ace Score of 681. The highest performing ad among men was Activision’s “Call of Duty: Black Opps” ad, scoring a 693 Ace Score among males and a 630 Ace Score overall.

The Apple iPhone “Face Time” ad, breaking late in the quarter on June 27th, ranked second with an Ace Score of 696. Also showing the power of new products, the “Orange Complains About Being a Pretzel” ad for Mars M&M’s, introducing the new pretzel M&M’s, ranked third with an Ace Score of 690. Other top ads included Wonka brand “Oompa Loompa Sings” scoring 687 and Samsung’s Refrigerator “Designed with Everyone in Mind” scoring 685.

The complete Ace Metrix Quarterly Top 10 for the quarter ending June 30, 2010 is as follows:

More About The Ace Metrix Quarterly Top 10

The Ace Score Quarterly Top 10 is a quarterly ranking of the Top 10 nationally-breaking television ads with the best creative effectiveness as measured by the Ace Score.

The Ace Score is a patent-pending measurement of creative effectiveness based on measures of persuasion and watchability, and delivered by the on-demand Ace Metrix service. The persuasion rating is based on the interactivity of six data elements, desire, relevance, likeability, attention, information and change, automatically captured and analyzed for each ad. Watchability measures the engagement that a person has with the ad.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix delivers actionable analytics and competitive intelligence through the first syndicated software service measuring television advertising creative effectiveness. Featuring the patent-pending Ace Score, Ace Metrix is delivered through a SaaS delivery model to the desktops of national advertisers and agency executives. With Ace Metrix, advertisers and brand managers can make adjustments to creative and media schedules in near real-time resulting in savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ace Metrix works with leading national advertisers including Big Lots, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., Microsoft, Nintendo, Nissan North America and others. For more information please see www.acemetrix.com.

Note: Ace Metrix and Ace Score are trademarks of Ace Metrix. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Held in conjunction with the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) DVS/Working Group 5 and Canoe Ventures LLC, the weeklong interop sought to further the capability to deliver new and compelling forms of advertising on cable.

Companies that participated in the interop include Alcatel-Lucent, Alticast, ARRIS, Avail-TVN, BigBand Networks, BlackArrow, FourthWall Media, Nielsen, OpenTV, SeaChange, Sigma Systems, Softel, Strategy and Technology (S&T), Texscan, This Technology, and UniSoft.

Collectively, these companies brought many capabilities to the interop, including ad campaign managers, ad decision servers, ad managers, content information systems, placement opportunity systems, subscriber information service, content marking systems, ad splicers, Enhanced TV (ETV) streamers, EBIF™ user agents, and ETV applications implementing the CableLabs Stewardship and Fulfillment Interface (SaFI) specification.

“Software and hardware developers are continuing to show significant advances in bringing emerging advanced advertising standards to ‘life’ through open, interoperable systems that give the cable operators flexibility in new product deployment,” said Paul Woidke, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Advertising for OpenTV, and Chairman of DVS/Working Group 5, the SCTE committee that is working on advanced advertising. “All of us in the development community appreciate the efforts of CableLabs to provide the environment and resources in which these tools can be tested and proven through our joint efforts.”

“The widespread adoption and implementation of these standards such as SCTE 130 as well as the SaFI specifications are critical for Canoe’s market deployments,” said Arthur Orduña, CTO of Canoe Ventures. “We applaud both the participating companies and our good partner, CableLabs, for yet another successful interop, which we are proud to have co-sponsored.”

The primary focus of this interop was to prove interoperability of the SCTE 130 interfaces. It was a true working interop where new integration relationships were formed. In addition to ad insertion into linear channels, the participants demonstrated inserting addressable advertising into VOD content as well as dynamic ETV application insertion.

Another goal of the interop was to develop profiles for SCTE 130 and the CableLabs Stewardship and Fulfillment Interfaces (SaFI). “A new feature in this interop was our first use of an SCTE 130 emulator tool,” said Don Dulchinos, Senior Vice President of Advertising and Interactive Services. “The tool will help us define recommended practices for SCTE 130 equipment, establish a roadmap toward better compliance testing, and ultimately help MSOs assemble scalable solutions for ad insertion,” he added.

“We are extremely encouraged to see the progress toward interoperability, not only in the VOD space but also in the linear space for advanced advertising,” said Terri L. Swartz, Director of Advertising Technology at Cox Communications, who attended the open house event held Thursday during the interop.

CableLabs’ interoperability events provide vendors with an informal, laboratory setting in which they have the opportunity to test their latest products within CableLabs’ headends and testing environment, determine compliance with industry specifications and the ability of their products to interoperate with other devices in an end-to-end system. Information on all CableLabs activities focused on advanced advertising technology, along with information on industry standards, may be found at www.advancedadvertising.tv. Vendors working on advanced advertising technology and formats should contact Sheila Keller, s.keller@cablelabs.com, Vendor Relations Program Coordinator at CableLabs, for information on how to participate in future interops.

The SCTE standards program provides an ANSI-accredited forum for the development of technical specifications supporting the cable telecommunications industry. “Working Group 5″ of the SCTE Digital Video Subcommittee focuses on the development of advertising related digital cable television standards. SCTE Standards information is available at its web site: www.scte.org.

Canoe Ventures LLC is a company founded by the nation’s leading cable operators including Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems Corporation, Charter Communications, Inc., Comcast Corporation, Cox Communications Inc., and Time Warner Cable. Based in New York City, the company is focused on making cable’s advanced advertising solutions easier to buy, use and measure—www.canoe-ventures.com.

Founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry, Cable Television Laboratories is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org, www.ebif.tv and www.tru2way.com.

NEW YORK – DIRECTV, the world’s largest satellite television service, and NCC Media, the fast-growing advertising sales company that represents America’s cable operators and works with advertisers in every US market, have announced the formation of a groundbreaking partnership that will have a wide-ranging impact on the TV advertising industry. The new agreement will allow for one-stop access to locally place ads on a wide selection of networks in the vast majority of multichannel satellite and cable homes through NCC.

The arrangement brings DIRECTV to the spot advertising market for the first time, augments NCC Media’s portfolio of offerings to marketers, and creates a golden opportunity for DIRECTV and the cable MSO’s to grow ad revenues together. DIRECTV’s newly developed targeted ad system will be integrated with existing local market cable advertising platforms, called ‘interconnects’, greatly increasing an ad’s coverage in 25 select markets.

DIRECTV’s unique addressable technology enables zone-targeted ads to be stored within DVR enabled set top boxes, allowing for the insertion of ads in local breaks across multiple cable networks. Testing efforts are underway and the platform will be operational in the second half of 2011.

“This is a powerful and exciting partnership combining DIRECTV’s technological prowess in delivering nationally targeted advanced television services with NCC’s experienced leadership in spot sales,” says Bob Riordan, Senior Vice President, DIRECTV Advertising Sales.

“Combining DIRECTV’s ad impressions with those of our cable market interconnects will deliver a tremendous advantage to advertisers – greater local reach and penetration against targeted consumers in the best programming on television,” said NCC Media President & CEO Greg Schaefer. “And this powerful ad platform will be made available to advertisers via NCC’s sales force in 16 offices across the country – and to regional and local marketers via the local interconnect sales teams of Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable.”

The operation will be serviced by NCC’s vaunted E-business applications, which will seamlessly integrate the new DIRECTV subscribers into the buying and stewardship systems used by virtually every US ad agency. This integration means there will be no additional effort needed for media planners and buyers to place local ads in satellite homes via NCC or their local cable interconnect partners.

The partnership between NCC Media and DIRECTV has its roots in a proven, successful collaboration between the two organizations in the sale of advertising in regional sports networks. This working relationship has given NCC Media hands-on experience with DIRECTV’s engineering, operations and sales departments, and this ability will be fully utilized going forward.

ABOUT DIRECTV

DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is the world’s most popular video service delivering state-of-the-art technology, unmatched programming, the most comprehensive sports packages available and industry leading customer service to its more than 25.6 million customers in the U.S. and Latin America. In the U.S., DIRECTV offers its 18.6 million customers more than 130 HD channels and Dolby-Digital® 5.1 theater-quality sound (when available), access to exclusive sports programming such as NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, award winning technology like its DIRECTV® DVR Scheduler and higher customer satisfaction than the leading cable companies for nine years running. DIRECTV Latin America, through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin American countries, leads the pay-TV category in technology, programming and service, delivering an unrivaled digital television experience to 7 million customers. DIRECTV sports and entertainment properties include three Regional Sports Networks (Northwest, Rocky Mountain and Pittsburgh) as well as a 65 percent interest in Game Show Network. For the most up-to-date information on DIRECTV, please call 1-800-DIRECTV or visit directv.com.

ABOUT NCC MEDIA

NCC Media is the ad sales, marketing and technology organization that represents cable operators in every U.S. market. NCC Media meets marketers’ needs to target consumer prospects efficiently and effectively in the communities where they live. Jointly owned by three of the nation’s largest MSOs – Comcast Cable, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable – NCC Media is constantly evolving to maintain its status as the industry’s most effective multi-platform sales organization. Consistent innovation and growth makes NCC Media your best partner in building the media plan of tomorrow, and today.

NCTA’s The Cable Show 2010
LOS ANGELES – Mixed Signals, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, has added significant new capabilities to its Sentry® product that enable it to monitor enhanced television (ETV) and advanced advertising applications based on the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF). Cable television operators and programmers are increasingly looking to these EBIF-enabled applications to generate new revenues and to enhance viewer interactivity with the content. This drives the need for comprehensive monitoring to ensure that these applications are being accomplished properly.

“The revenue potential of EBIF is substantial for cable operators, programmers and advertisers alike, but realizing this potential involves complex interactions between video streams, ads, triggers and associated data that must be performed precisely and on a large scale,” said Eric Conley, CEO of Mixed Signals. “This effort is non-trivial with many potential points of failure, but Sentry’s advanced EBIF monitoring capabilities provide the insight necessary for a successful deployment of EBIF-based ETV and advanced advertising applications.”

For EBIF-based applications to work properly, triggers must be embedded into program streams and when these triggers are activated (by viewers) the additional data must be delivered to set-top boxes. Determining if all these steps are performed correctly across an entire channel line-up is not possible by simply measuring packet loss alone or using other first-generation approaches for ensuring quality of experience (QoE).

Sentry’s advanced detection capabilities, coupled with its constant 24×7 operation and scalability to simultaneously monitor hundreds of programs, ads and EBIF-widgets make it the ideal solution for the performance monitoring of EBIF-based applications.

Complementing its advanced detection capabilities are Sentry’s extensive reporting features, which allow video service providers to identify issues and trends over time. Sentry catalogs all the key transactions and interactions it monitors for up to 60 days so service providers can analyze performance issues at a very high level or closely examine a particular element.

Mixed Signals will be demonstrating its new EBIF monitoring capabilities in the CableNET pavilion at The Cable Show in Los Angeles, May 11-13, 2010.

About Sentry

Mixed Signals’ award-winning Sentry is a comprehensive and scalable monitoring solution that uniquely enables video service providers to better manage their networks to deliver services with optimum quality and to reduce their operational expenses. Sentry identifies anomalies in the network at the IP and MPEG layers, as well as in QoE, identifying hundreds of issues, including video freeze, video black and the loss of audio, which represent the bulk of trouble calls from subscribers. Sentry’s single rack unit (RU) appliance ensures easy deployment in even the smallest hubs and its ability to be remotely managed eliminates the need for technicians to service Sentrys installed in remote locations.

Sentry is in widespread use with top tier video service providers, including the top nine U.S. cable operators, three of the top five Canadian cable operators and other providers all over the globe.

Complementing its sales success, Sentry’s advanced capabilities and market-leading performance have been recognized with seven industry awards.

About Mixed Signals

Mixed Signals’ industry-leading digital content monitoring solutions enable video service providers to proactively identify, diagnose and repair picture and audio quality errors that degrade the television viewing experience. Proven in deployments worldwide – including nine of the 10 largest U.S. cable television operators – Mixed Signals’ solutions utilize deep packet inspection techniques and other advanced monitoring capabilities to detect errors that competitive products often miss. In addition to ensuring the best possible quality of experience (QoE) for their subscribers, Mixed Signals’ solutions enable video service providers to increase uptime and reduce their operational expenses by eliminating the traditional labor-intensive and time-consuming process for troubleshooting video and audio errors.

ST. LOUIS – Scottrade, the online investing firm that has attracted do-it-yourself investors through its trademark $7 online stock trades and commercials featuring its founder and CEO flying a purple helicopter, is announcing an updated branding approach and new advertising campaign that launches nationwide today.

The new branding and integrated campaign includes an updated logo, a new tagline that encourages people to “Get Invested” by taking control and new print and national television broadcast creative designed to appeal to the empowered, independent investor. The campaign will also be showcased through online advertising and social media.

“As Scottrade celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2010, we continue to see investors gain confidence to take control of their own investments,” said Scottrade founder and CEO Rodger Riney. “Especially during the past year, we’ve experienced a momentum shift – a significant number of new accounts coming to Scottrade from other firms – both online and full service. That’s why our low commissions, plus the tools and education self-directed investors need to make their own decisions, are the central themes of our new advertising.”

Scottrade’s campaign will continue to emphasize the value provided by its $7 online stock trades. It also reinforces the firm’s other advantages, including extensive educational materials, robust tools and resources, first-class customer service and face-to-face customer interaction through its nearly 450 branch offices.

“In the wake of the recent economic upset, there is a trend toward consumer empowerment that extends to the financial industry,” said Chris Moloney, Scottrade’s chief marketing officer and executive director of customer intelligence. “We are seeing consumers taking control of their finances, including their investments. Our updated branding and advertising approach helps us tap into this consumer trend as it gains momentum, as well as broaden our placements to reach more potential customers.”

With the new campaign, Scottrade is broadening its advertising strategy and media mix by building an advertising presence beyond the financial and news media to capture a new and broader audience. In addition to sports, Scottrade has extended its focus into lifestyle, entertainment and leisure media placements in both television and print media.

Television Advertising

The new television advertising creative is called “Don’t Go,” and the firm has produced eight new commercials. The ads feature a new character named Chad A. Ridgeway who will be recurring in Scottrade’s television campaign and whose actions and attitudes serve as a humorous example of what Scottrade is not. “Chad” represents the antithesis of a Scottrade associate. The character is never where he’s supposed to be or working on what he should be working on; instead he’s on a yacht, playing squash, eating at a fancy restaurant or riding in a limousine – not paying attention to his customers.

“Typically, conservative is the rule in financial advertising,” Moloney said. “However, our recent research shows that many self-directed investors manage their own finances because they find it enjoyable. We’ve played into that sense of fun with our new creative. The ads strike a nice balance to spark interest through humor and yet still allow our message to resonate.”

As with the company’s previous television creative, Riney appears in the ads to reinforce the company’s commitment to providing outstanding value, trading resources and customer service.

“People have seen me as ‘the guy in the helicopter’ for three years now and it is time for a change,” Riney said. “I’m glad to still be talking directly to investors through these new ads to demonstrate that they can make their own investing decisions and that Scottrade has their best interests in mind.”

The television spots were created by Boston-based advertising firm Gearon Hoffman, which has created and produced a number of television campaigns for Scottrade, and directed by Rob Pritts, who has also directed commercials for brands such as Bud Light, Holiday Inn, American Express and Snickers. Scottrade recruited advertising industry veteran and former Anheuser-Busch Chief Creative Officer Bob Lachky to consult as senior creative advisor.

The “Don’t Go” commercials will premiere tonight during the Bowl Championship Series game on ABC. They will also appear prominently during the upcoming NFL playoffs as well as on USA, Travel, A&E, ESPN and Discovery, among others.

Print Advertising

Scottrade will also launch its new print advertising campaign later this month. Called “Eyes,” the ads are an extension of a campaign Scottrade began in 2009 that highlights the focus and thoughtfulness investors draw from when making their own investing decisions. A second print campaign premiering in February called “Portraits” conveys the emotions people feel when they invest, such as excitement, empowerment, intensity and confidence. Some of the publications that will feature Scottrade’s new print ads include Travel and Leisure, Architectural Digest, Wired, Wine Spectator and BusinessWeek.

Online Advertising

Scottrade is one of the largest online advertisers in the U.S., and the firm’s emphasis on online advertising will continue throughout this campaign. More than 15 variations of the television commercials will be available exclusively online as video pre-roll advertising – 15-to 20-second ads that appear before a video segment online. Scottrade anticipates more than 50 million video views on Yahoo! and MSN.com alone.

Social Media

Scottrade will also feature the “Don’t Go” commercials prominently in social media. The firm’s Facebook, Twitter (@Scottrade) and YouTube pages will showcase the commercials as well as other unique content that will support the new campaign. Chad A. Ridgeway is also on Twitter (@TheChadRidgeway).

To learn more about the campaign or watch the full commercials and several online-only variations of the ads, visit Scottrade on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About Scottrade

As a leading online investing firm, Scottrade offers a full line of investment products, online trading services and market research tools to help investors take control of their financial future. Scottrade is dedicated to personalized customer service and value, providing customers the convenience of buying many stocks online at just $7 per trade and the support of the largest branch network among online investment firms, with more than 425 nationwide branch offices. Scottrade is also one of FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America. For more information, visit www.scottrade.com.

About Gearon Hoffman

Gearon Hoffman is a Boston-based integrated marketing and advertising firm with more than $100 million in annualized billing. The company serves a diverse group of national and regional clients in a range of industries, including financial services, alcoholic beverages, health care, specialty retail, and hospitality. Agency President and Chief Creative Officer Bob Hoffman served as the creative director and copywriter for the Scottrade campaign, collaborating with agency partner and creative director Dick Davis on art direction and agency producer David Lombardi. Additional creative credits: Backyard Productions (production company), Spotwelders (editing), Crit Harmon (music), Humarock Productions (music).

Ad Spending by Media

Internet display (+7.0 percent) and FSIs (+3.9 percent) were the only media types with spending increases for the nine month period. Online growth was propelled by telecom, travel and auto advertisers. FSIs benefitted from CPG companies expanding their couponing efforts as consumers became more value-conscious.

Among Television media, Cable TV networks continued to translate audience gains into a larger share of ad revenue. Year-to-date Cable TV expenditures slipped by just 2.9 percent, a much stronger performance than the TV sector as a whole. Network TV, now faced with comparisons against the 2008 Summer Olympics bonanza, saw year-to-date spending fall 11.5 percent and Q3 spending tumble 25.1 percent. Spot TV expenditures (-27.5 percent) remained depressed due to persistent weakness in auto and retail activity as well as cyclical reductions in political advertising.

Magazines (-19.7 percent), Newspapers (-22.8 percent) and Radio (-22.8 percent) severely lagged the overall ad market during the January-September period. Third quarter losses for each of these broad media groupings were less severe compared to the first half of the year and this could be construed as a positive indicator. However, these media are also into their second year of steep declines so Q3 comparisons are against the relatively low levels of year-ago spending.

Overall, local media ad spending was down 23.7 percent through September while national media dropped 10.1 percent.

Source: TNS Media Intelligence

1. Figures are based on the TNS Media Intelligence Stradegy™ multimedia ad expenditure database across all TNS MI measured media, including: Network TV; Spot TV (122 DMAs); Cable TV (71 networks); Syndication TV; Hispanic Network TV (4 networks); Consumer Magazines (231 publications); Sunday Magazines (7 publications); Local Magazines (22 publications); Hispanic Magazines (14 publications); Business-to-Business Magazines (278 publications); Local Newspapers (143 publications); National Newspapers (3 publications); Hispanic Newspapers (47 publications); Network Radio (5 networks); National Spot Radio; Local Radio (32 markets); Internet; and Outdoor. Figures do not include public service announcement (PSA) data.
2. Cable TV figures do not include Hispanic cable networks
3. Spot TV figures do not include Hispanic stations
4. Spanish Language TV includes 4 Hispanic broadcast networks, 4 Hispanic cable networks and 71 local Hispanic TV stations.
5. Magazine media includes Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data and reflect print editions of publications.
6. Newspaper media figures reflect print editions of publications.
7. Local Radio includes expenditures for 32 markets in the U.S.
8. FSI data represents distribution costs only.

Ad Spending by Advertiser

The top 10 advertisers in the first nine months of 2009 spent a combined total of $11,757.6 million, a 5.9 percent decrease from last year. Across the top 100 companies, a more diversified group of marketers representing almost one-half of total ad expenditures, spending fell by 7.9 percent. Among the top 100 companies, 67 reduced their ad budgets and only 33 increased spending.

Procter & Gamble was the largest advertiser with $1,941.1 million in expenditures for the January-September period, a 15.9 percent decline versus a year ago.

Wireless telecom providers occupied three of the top ten positions and took different paths to arrive there. Verizon Communications spent $1,692.1 million, down 5.8 percent from last year. AT&T spent $1,339.4 million, 6.1 percent less than a year ago. Both advertisers cut Q3 ad expenditures by over 20 percent and this erased their spending increases from the first half of the year. Sprint Nextel, after slashing ad budgets in 2008, continued its aggressive marketing efforts and spent $912.8 million, a gain of 51.1 percent and the largest rate of increase among the top ten companies.

Pfizer was the only other top advertiser to raise its spending, finishing the period at $896.6 million, up 11.9 percent. While the acquisition of Wyeth helped pushed Pfizer into the top tier, the spending gains were primarily attributable to its own portfolio of prescription drugs, particularly Lipitor and Caduet.

General Motors was the lone automotive advertiser to make the top ten list, even as it reduced media budgets by 15.5 percent during the first nine months, to $1,352.6 million. Emerging from bankruptcy in July, GM quickly ramped up marketing activities and hiked its Q3 expenditures by 4.2 percent.

Source: TNS Media Intelligence

1. Figures do not include FSI, House Ads or PSA activity
2. The sum of the individual companies may differ from the Total shown due to rounding

Ad Spending by Category

The top ten advertising categories in January-September 2009 spent a total of $50,952.3 million, down 14.1 percent from a year ago. Automotive was the leading category at $7,491.9 million, a drop of 30.8 percent and proportionately in line with the decline in new vehicle sales. Dealer spending fell more severely than manufacturers. Automotive expenditures have now declined for seventeen consecutive quarters.

Ongoing competition among wireless phone companies and TV service providers propped up Telecom spending, which finished the period at $6,190.3 million, a gain of 0.4 percent. The only other leading category with an increase was Pharmaceuticals, up 0.6 percent to $3,483.6 million.

Financial services advertising plunged 23.7 percent to $5,673.1 million, the largest rate of decline among the top ten. Online stock brokerages and investment advisors, chasing a rising stock market, showed some tentative signs of an advertising revival in the third quarter. However, retail banks and credit card companies continued to be extremely cautious with their marketing budgets.

Local advertising categories continued to sputter as seen in the results for Local Services and Amusements (down 15.0 percent, to $5,609.9 million) and Miscellaneous Retail (off 17.4 percent, to $4,751.0 million). The latter includes all retail segments except department stores (where spending fell just 5.1 percent) and home furnishing/building supply stores (down 20.4 percent).

Source: TNS Media Intelligence

1. Figures do not include FSI or PSA activity.
2. Miscellaneous Retail does not include these retail segments: Department Stores, Home Furnishing/Building Supply Stores
3. The sum of the individual categories may differ from the total due to rounding.

Branded Entertainment

TNS Media Intelligence continuously monitors Branded Entertainment within network prime time and late night programming. The tracking identifies Brand Appearances and measures their duration and attributes. Given the short length of many Brand Appearances, duration is a more relevant metric than a count of occurrences for quantifying and comparing the gross amount of brand activity that viewers are potentially exposed to in the program versus in the commercial breaks.

In the third quarter of 2009, an average hour of monitored prime time network programming contained 11 minutes, 46 seconds (11:46) of in-show Brand Appearances, a 31 percent increase from a year ago. In addition, there was 14:07 per hour of network commercial messages. The combined total of 25:53 of marketing content represents 43 percent of a prime-time hour.

Unscripted reality programming had an average of 15:04 per hour of Brand Appearances as compared to just 5:33 per hour for scripted programs such as sitcoms and dramas. Late night network talk shows averaged 11:18 per hour. The combined load of Brand Appearances and network ad messages in these programs reached 26:23 per hour, or 44 percent of total programming time.

Source: TNS Media Intelligence

1 Figures include network advertisements, station promotions and PSAs. Local commercial time is excluded.

About TNS Media

Established in more than 30 countries, TNS Media explores all media – print, radio, TV, Internet, social media, cinema and outdoor worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full range of insights, analyses and audience measurement services.

TNS Media combines the deepest expertise in the industry to provide media and marketing intelligence including advertising expenditure monitoring, advertising creation monitoring, audience measurement, market influence analytics, online consumer behavior tracking, news monitoring, sports sponsorship evaluation and more. The TNS Media companies track more than 3 million brands and provide vital market intelligence to 16,000 customers around the world. For further information, please visit www.tnsmediagroup.com

About Kantar

Kantar is one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.

For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com

ACTON, Mass. & LONDON – SeaChange International (NASDAQ: SEAC) announced it has begun rollout of its dynamic VOD advertising technology for Virgin Media, the UK’s leading on-demand cable television operator. SeaChange AdPulse On Demand software is being deployed over the national SeaChange Axiom on Demand footprint serving 3.7 million digital cable homes, beginning with 300,000 homes from this month.

Thirty second pre-roll and post-roll ads from leading brands including L’Oreal, Sony Ericsson, Kellogg’s and Microsoft will appear around on-demand content from LIVING, Virgin1 and Bravo. Program and ad matching decisions will occur dynamically, enabling on-the-fly placements into individual VOD streams: hair care ads shown before Britain’s Next Top Model, or a supermarket campaign after Restaurant in our Living Room for example.

SeaChange’s London-based content management subsidiary On Demand Group is aggregating programming for the service and providing ingest, publishing, Q/A and scheduling services. With its business management, marketing and content management capabilities, On Demand Group was pivotal in helping Virgin Media to establish an on-demand segment that today brings in over 66 million views monthly.

“On-demand’s attraction set in and gained audiences long ago. Now we’ll begin to see highly relevant, value added advertising play its vital role in expanding content quality and volume, as well as bringing in new revenue streams,” said Simon McGrath, Chief Marketing Officer, SeaChange.

Virgin Media concluded a trial earlier this year with SeaChange and On Demand Group, revealing a positive viewer reaction to on-demand advertising. Over half, 54%, of Virgin Media’s triallists were positive about advertising when watching on-demand content from commercial providers. 65% preferred to see ads beforehand, with ads lasting 30 seconds the most popular format. Respondents also favored ads relevant to the program being watched.

Cindy Rose, executive director of TV at Virgin Media, said: “With over 66 million views of on-demand content each month, there is a clear opportunity for on-demand television to deliver relevant and effective ads to a growing audience. We saw a positive viewer response when we trialed dynamic advertising earlier this year and our customers welcomed campaigns that worked within the context of the program they’d chosen to watch.”

AdPulse at Work

Virgin Media’s rollout takes advantage of its SeaChange Axiom On Demand open content delivery platform, working in conjunction with SeaChange AdPulse On Demand software. Prior to the first deployments of SeaChange AdPulse in 2006, on-demand television advertising was limited to stitching ads directly into program assets for their entire run, ultimately requiring advertisers to submit ads that ran for at least several weeks.

AdPulse breaks new ground and delivers revenues with on-the-fly, real time insertion of pre- and post-roll ads into on-demand program streams, including on-demand video games and DVDs. Making ads independent of the shows in which they run allows each to be trafficked separately, at long last reducing lead times for ad copy and enabling ad rotation, targeting and message refresh throughout a campaign. AdPulse further elevates targeting capabilities through insertion of ads into internal program breaks within on-demand streams.

About Virgin Media

With almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK’s first quad-play provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile.

The company is one of the largest residential broadband providers in the UK, using a unique fibre optic cable network to deliver next generation ultrafast internet access of up to 50Mb to just over half of all homes. Combined with a high speed ADSL service and mobile broadband products, Virgin Media is able to offer broadband internet access to virtually the entire country.

Virgin Media has the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer. It is the second largest provider of pay TV, was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.

The company operates the most popular virtual mobile network in the UK which, when launched, was the world’s first such mobile phone service. It is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the country.

Virgin Media also owns Virgin Media Television (VMtv) which runs seven entertainment channels, including Virgin1, LIVING, Bravo and Challenge. VMtv is a 50 per cent joint partner with BBC Worldwide in UKTV, which consists of ten channels including Dave, G.O.L.D., Watch and Alibi.

Virgin Media Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market and the London Stock Exchange (VMED). For more information, go to www.virginmedia.com.

SeaChange Serves Europe

SeaChange International is a leading provider of software applications, services and integrated solutions for video-on-demand (VOD), digital advertising, and content acquisition monetization and management. Its powerful open VOD and advertising software and scaleable hardware enable cable and telco operators, as well as broadcasters, to provide new on-demand services and to gain greater efficiencies in advertising and content delivery. With its Emmy Award-winning and patented technology, thousands of SeaChange deployments are helping broadband, broadcast and satellite television companies to streamline operations, expand services and increase revenues. Headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts, SeaChange has product development, support and sales facilities in the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere around Europe and the world. SeaChange companies in Europe include On Demand Group and digital television software provider eventIS. Visit www.schange.com.

Based in London and serving cable, telco and mobile operators globally, On Demand Group uniquely combines its unparalleled stable of studio relationships and extensive regional content rights portfolio with comprehensive retail marketing and business development capabilities to create some of the world’s largest and most successful video-on-demand services. The Company specializes in content lifecycle management, from acquisition through full monetization, today enabling the highest quality video-on-demand services across millions of TVs, phones and broadband connections. Visit www.ondemand.co.uk.

LOS ANGELES – Ace Metrix, the leader in on-demand advertising intelligence, announced the Ace Score™ Quarterly Creative Top 10, a quarterly ranking of the Top 10 television ads with the best creative effectiveness as measured by the Ace Score. The Ace Score is a patent-pending measurement of creative effectiveness based on measures of persuasion and watchability, and delivered by the on-demand Ace Metrix service.

“Messy Hands”, an ad for Delta Faucets, a division of Masco Corporation, took the top spot for the quarter ending September 30, 2009, with an Ace Score of 705 out of a possible 900, 758 for persuasion and 628 for watchability.

Delta Faucets is the largest U.S. manufacturer of residential and commercial faucets. “Messy Hands” features a montage of hands being washed with an artful, gleaming faucet. The ad scored particularly high with women, age 36-49.

Second place for the quarter went to Southwest Airlines and its “Bags Fly Free” ad with a total Ace Score of 664, 720 persuasion and 626 watchability. This ad, promoting Southwest’s free baggage policy, scored highest with women over 50.

The complete Ace Score Quarterly Creative Top 10 for the quarter ending September 30, 2009 is as follows:

Ace Score           Persuasion           Watchability           Brand           Ad           Air Date
705           758           628           Delta Faucets           “Messy Hands”           7/13/2009
664           720           626           Southwest Airlines           “Bags Fly Free”           9/5/2009
656           693           642           Samsung           “People Take Photos”           9/16/2009
640           687           624           AT&T Wireless Service           “Two iPhones Work Together”           8/3/2009
639           656           658           Evian           “Roller Babies”           7/7/2009
638           679           632           Nintendo Wii Sports Resort           “Motion to Reality”           8/5/2009
635           687           623           LG Refrigerator           “Is it a Refrigerator or Something Better”           7/27/2009
635           674           639           AT&T           “Man Find’s Girl’s Lost Dog”           9/15/2009

632           695           610           P&G Febreze Home Collection           “Authentic Scents Without Fire”           8/31/2009
632           679           621           Sears           “Trust in Your Hands”           9/13/2009

“Our research shows the Ace Score to be a very reliable measure of creative effectiveness,” said JuYoung Lee, co-founder and chief scientist at Ace Metrix. “These companies with top 10 scores for the quarter are demonstrating superior ability to deliver an ad that is effective in reaching targeted customers with a persuasive message.”

The Ace Score is powered by innovative, patent-pending algorithms and proven methodology. The persuasion rating is based on the interactivity of six data elements, desire, relevance, likeability, attention, information and change, automatically captured and analyzed for each ad. Watchability measures the engagement that a person has with the ad.

Ace Metrix is an on-demand service that delivers timely, actionable advertising analytics including invaluable competitive insights. Ace Metrix measures breaking television ads, syndicates the Ace Scores through the Ace Metrix service and also offers custom Ace PreTest™ for campaigns in development.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix, funded by leading venture capital firms Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Palomar Ventures, is revolutionizing the measurement of television advertising. Ace Metrix delivers actionable competitive intelligence with the first online, on-demand service measuring television effectiveness in real-time. Featuring the patent-pending Ace Score, Ace Metrix is delivered through a SaaS delivery model to the desktops of national advertisers and agency executives. With insights from Ace Metrix, advertisers can make adjustments to creative and media schedules resulting in savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ace Metrix customers include CBS, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., Deutsch, Inc, Microsoft and Nissan North America.

For more information please see www.acemetrix.com.

NEW YORK – The Television Bureau of Advertising (“TVB”) announced that Steve J. Lanzano, 50, has been named President, effective January 1, 2010. Mr. Lanzano will assume the position from Christopher Rohrs, who served as the President of TVB for ten years and announced plans earlier this year to leave his role at TVB in 2009.

Mr. Lanzano brings twenty-eight years of advertising experience to his new role at the TVB. As President, Mr. Lanzano will be responsible for outlining the value of local television spot advertising and positioning television’s key strengths and advantages to advertisers, brands and senior-level agency managers.

Frank Comerford, Chairman of the Board of the TVB Executive Committee, commented, “The TVB Board and members are extraordinarily grateful to Chris Rohrs for his years of tireless service in advocating for local television and wish him every success in his future endeavors.

Local television broadcasting is at an inflection point today given the simultaneous convergence, consolidation and development of media platforms and channels. This environment is creating both challenges and new opportunities for television broadcasters. With his background deeply rooted in the advertising industry and nearly three decades of success, we are pleased to have attracted an executive of Steve’s caliber as the President of the TVB as we are confident he is uniquely qualified to lead the TVB and its members to further position local television as the dominant, most effective medium for advertisers and agencies.”

Mr. Lanzano serves as the Chief Operating Officer at MPG US, where he is responsible for overseeing all client accounts and helps lead strategic and operational duties for MPG’s marketing service professionals across the country. With five and a half years at MPG, Mr. Lanzano is responsible for accounts across all US offices including Reckitt Benckiser, Volvo, Sears, ExxonMobil, and CBS Films.

Prior to MPG, Mr. Lanzano joined Mediaedge:cia/North America in 1998 and rose through the ranks to Chief Executive Officer, North America where he was responsible for multiple offices in the U.S. and Canada, multiple billions in media billings, and more than 500 employees who provided services for clients including AT&T, Colgate, Dr. Pepper/7Up, Kraft General Foods, Mattel, Showtime and Sony. Mr. Lanzano was also a founder of MEC’s TheDigitalEdge Internet/ITV and Interactive unit, which brought together online planning and buying, media convergence (interactive advertising) and technology systems for a myriad blue chip clients including Ericsson, MetLife and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Comerford added, “We look forward to the benefit of Steve’s contributions as his unparalleled perspectives on the advertising and agency industries, leadership skills and proven track record of forging strong results-oriented relationships with brands and agencies will prove to be invaluable assets to the TVB, while also presenting new opportunities for growth for the television industry.”

Steve Lanzano added, “I am excited to join the TVB executive team and to work with Board members, TVB members and constituents to underscore our unwavering commitment to local television and the incomparable advantages it holds over other forms of media. I look forward to leveraging the strong relationships I have made over the course of my career, developing new and rewarding opportunities for local television and ultimately positioning television in the direction towards its inevitable rebound. We’ll also advance Chris Rohrs’ successful work in making the calls to sell television as an advertising medium; further developing the industry’s e-Media and online initiatives and opportunities, including TVB ePort; and serving as a valuable resource for members and customers.”

About The Television Bureau of Advertising

The Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) is the not-for-profit trade association of America’s broadcast television industry. Its members include television broadcast groups, advertising sales reps, syndicators, international broadcasters, associate members and over 600 individual television stations. TVB promotes the benefits of local broadcast television platforms to the advertising community and in doing so works to develop advertising dollars for U.S. Spot Television. TVB provides a diverse variety of tools and resources to support its Members and to help advertisers make the best use of local television.

SAN FRANCISCO – OpenTV Corp. (NASDAQ:OPTV), a leading software and technology provider of advanced digital television and advanced advertising solutions, will showcase OpenTV Eclipse®, the company’s entry-level campaign management solution, at the IBC show in Amsterdam, Sept. 11-15, 2009, Hall 1, Stand C81.

Specifically designed for operators with less than 200 channels, OpenTV Eclipse® provides a campaign management solution for operators in markets such as Europe, Asia and Latin America wishing to develop their ad insertion operations. It allows service providers in those regions to maximize the value of their advertising business by streamlining the workflow of linear ad campaigns, including delivery and reporting processes. As previously announced in May 2009, OpenTV Eclipse is also part of the “Ad in a Box” solution jointly proposed by ARRIS and OpenTV which provides an end-to-end Digital Program Insertion (DPI) advertising system for the European market.

“Advertising management is becoming an increasingly vital component to the success of advertising campaigns worldwide,” said Paul Woidke, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Advertising for OpenTV. “The concepts of ad insertion and campaign management are gaining momentum in Europe and other regions, and with a proven solution like Eclipse, OpenTV can help service providers around the world grow their advertising business by making it more valuable, more efficient and easier to manage.”

Visitors to the OpenTV booth will be able to gain a better understanding of linear ad sales operations and how OpenTV Eclipse makes it easier for operators to manage their advertising insertion campaigns. By accommodating essential traffic & billing needs, OpenTV Eclipse provides the fundamental features required to quickly get an ad sales team operational. The solution delivers key features, processes and workflows for customer management, copy management, program/network management, inventory allocation, orders, schedule, verification, month-end processing, billing and reporting in order to provide a basic but solid foundation for ad insertion teams. Finally, OpenTV Eclipse is engineered to enable a smooth migration to the OpenTV EclipsePlus™ solution as the complexity and traffic volume of advertising campaigns increase.

The first international deployment of OpenTV Eclipse is expected to occur in Europe later this year.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced digital television solutions dedicated to creating and delivering compelling viewing experiences to consumers of digital content worldwide. The company’s software has been integrated in more than 133 million devices around the world and enables advanced program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, interactive and addressable advertising and a variety of enhanced television applications. OpenTV’s campaign management solutions currently provide advertising services to more than 34 million cable subscribers across the United States representing more than 55 percent of the subscriber base of the top ten MSOs. For more information, please visit www.opentv.com.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – One of the main purposes of advertising is to help consumers decide what products and services they should buy or use. With so many different types of advertising being used today the question becomes what types are considered most helpful, that is they help people decide what products or services to actually purchase and which ones are most likely to be ignored or disregarded?

These are some of the results of a new AdweekMedia/The Harris Poll® of 2,521 adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive® between June 4 and 8, 2009.

What Ads Are Most Helpful?

Over one-third of Americans (37%) say that television ads are most helpful in making their purchase decision while 17% say newspaper ads are most helpful and 14% say the same about Internet search engine ads. Radio ads (3%) and Internet banner ads (1%) are not considered helpful by many people. Over one-quarter of Americans (28%), however, say that none of these types of advertisements are helpful to them in the purchase decision making process.

Half of people aged 18-34 (50%) say television ads are most helpful while three in ten (31%) of those aged 55 and older say they find newspaper ads to be most helpful. There is also a slight regional difference. Two in five Southerners (40%) say they find television ads most helpful, while only one-third (33%) of Midwesterners feel the same.

What Ads do People Ignore?

Almost half of Americans (46%) say they tend to ignore Internet banner ads. Much further down the list are Internet search engine ads (17% of people ignore), television ads (13%), radio ads (9%), and newspaper ads (6%). One in ten Americans (9%) say they do not ignore any of these types of ads.

There are age and regional differences. Half of those aged 35-44 (50%) and 51% of Midwesterners say they ignore Internet banner ads compared to 43% of 18-34 year olds as well as Easterners and Southerners. One in five Americans 18-34 years old (20%) say they ignore Internet search engine ads while 20% of those aged 55 and older say they ignore television ads.

So What?

While advertisers scramble to create their ad campaigns, one thing they need to remember is that, even if viewership may be down and even with the increased use of digital video recorders so people can fast forward through commercials, television ads are the most helpful to consumers. Also, while an Internet strategy is essential for a comprehensive ad campaign, Internet banner ads are not considered helpful by few and are ignored the most. People are more likely to ignore ads on their computers but are more likely to pay attention to those on their television.

Methodology

This AdweekMedia/The Harris Poll® was conducted online within the United States June 4 and 8, 2009 among 2,521 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at www.harrisinteractive.com.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The Harris Poll® #72, July 1, 2009

By Regina A. Corso, Director, The Harris Poll

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

About AdweekMedia

AdweekMedia encompasses the publications, websites, digital products and events produced by Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek. Through this dynamic media network, each brand keeps the agency, marketing and media communities competitive and connected by delivering the latest news and expert analysis most relevant to their specific needs.

AdweekMedia is part of Nielsen Business Media, which is a unit of The Nielsen Company. Nielsen Business Media is a leading market-focused provider of integrated information and sales and marketing solutions, helping businesses go to market more effectively and efficiently. For more see www.adweek.com.

LONDON – NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, has teamed up with Pontis to integrate its Marketing Delivery Platform™ (MDP) with the NDS Unified Headend™. The integrated solution will enable digital pay-TV operators to up-sell and cross-sell services to their subscribers more effectively by giving them the ability to create real-time, personalised offers, promotions and content recommendations on both linear and VOD channels. The solution will help operators to improve the customer experience and raise ARPU by delivering relevant, contextual offers and recommendations to subscribers.

The award-winning NDS Unified Headend integrates conditional access (CA), Digital Rights Management (DRM) and third-party applications, allowing operators to deliver secure broadcast and on-demand services to a variety of devices – including set-top boxes (STBs), mobile phones, PCs, portable media players (PMPs) and digital video recorders (DVRs) – using a common infrastructure.

The Pontis Marketing Delivery Platform is a comprehensive system for automating the creation and delivery of targeted offers and recommendations across TV, mobile and fixed-line platforms.

Nigel Smith, NDS Chief Marketing Officer, said: “Technology that helps to improve the customer experience can be a key differentiator for service providers as they strive to reduce churn and raise ARPU. By integrating Pontis’ Marketing Delivery Platform with the NDS Unified Headend, we are providing pay-TV operators with an effective mechanism for developing personalised and contextual offers, promotions and content recommendations to subscribers on a multiplicity of networks and devices.”

Alon Werber, Pontis VP Marketing & Business Development, added: “The integrated solution allows operators’ marketing managers to cross-sell, promote and make recommendations that are relevant to customers and are based on real-time information. For example, households that frequently order children’s films using VOD, could be automatically offered an upgrade, perhaps with a special discount, to a premium kids’ TV channel just before the start of the summer vacation period.”

NDS and Pontis will be showing ‘proof of concept’ scenarios at the NDS booth at IBC 2009 September 11-15. The two companies will jointly market the solution to pay-TV operators.

About NDS
NDS Group Ltd. creates the technologies and applications that enable pay-TV operators to securely deliver digital content to TV STBs (set-top boxes), DVRs (digital video recorders), PCs, mobiles and other multimedia devices. Over 70 of the world’s leading pay-TV platforms rely on NDS solutions to protect and enhance their businesses. VideoGuard® is the world’s market-leading conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) technology, currently deployed on 104 million active devices, and safeguarding pay-TV service revenues exceeding $40 billion. NDS middleware, including MediaHighway® which enables a host of advanced services for subscribers, has been deployed on 115 million devices. NDS DVR technology, centred around XTV™, leads the global industry with 19 million units deployed. (Deployment figures as of 31st March 2009).

Headquartered in the UK, NDS remains committed to investing in R&D with over 75% of its employees dedicated to pioneering work at development centres in China, Denmark, France, India, Israel, Korea, UK and US. NDS has also implemented a host of initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and helping digital TV subscribers reduce energy consumption.

NDS Group Ltd. is a private company owned by the Permira Funds and News Corporation. See www.nds.com for more information.

Read about the latest developments at NDS and in the pay-TV industry in World Vision.

Click here for the NDS RSS feed.

About Pontis
Pontis is the creator of the world’s first Marketing Delivery Platform™ (MDP) designed to enable communication service providers to maximise the marketing relevance for each customer through the dynamic adaptation of the product offer and purchase experience.

Using the Pontis MDP, marketers can package, re-price, cross sell and recommend services across lines of business using a large variety of best practice Business Templates™.

Giving communication service providers the ability to mix and match highly relevant offers based on real time user behaviour and triggers significantly enhances all aspects of customer relationship management and has been proven to deliver double digit improvements in ARPU, accelerate service adoption and to reduce churn.

The Pontis MDP is deployed in many tier 1 TV and mobile operators across the world. To find more about Pontis visit www.pontis.com.

SAN FRANCISCO & SUNNYVALE, Calif. – RGB Networks, the leader in network video processing, and OpenTV (Nasdaq:OPTV), a leading software and technology provider of advanced digital television solutions, have developed a joint demonstration that shows how cable television operators can use the companies’ advanced, standards-based advertising capabilities to generate new ad revenues from their video-on-demand (VOD) services and traditional linear programming.

Using the combined OpenTV-RGB solution – which is comprised of RGB’s Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) and OpenTV’s campaign management solution – operators can digitally overlay video, graphics or text onto ads or directly within programs. Based on the SCTE 35 and SCTE 130 standards, RGB’s overlay capability combined with OpenTV’s real-time insertion and campaign management solution gives cable operators several advanced advertising options. The first is to “localize” national ads by adding locally-relevant information. For example, individual cable systems can add in real time the addresses and other promotional information for local restaurant franchises to a single, nationally broadcast ad. Operators can also use overlays as ads themselves, which can be added to live or on-demand programming. Because these ads appear within actual programs, they cannot be skipped and do not interrupt program viewing. Additionally, overlays can be used as “triggers” for interactive or telescoping ads.

“The advertising opportunity for cable operators is already substantial, and with the new generation of advanced advertising capabilities that we’re offering with OpenTV, cable operators will have the tools they need to dramatically grow their advertising revenues,” said Jeff Tyre, Director, Product Marketing for RGB Networks. “Combining ad insertion, digital overlay and extremely high stream processing density, our Broadcast Network Processor gives cable operators unprecedented abilities to easily and continually localize ads based on location, language and other factors to generate new ad revenues.”

”We are moving beyond the traditional 30-second spot and opening up new advertising possibilities for cable operators,” said Bruce Dilger, VP R&D and Chief Architect for Advanced Advertising at OpenTV. “The combination of OpenTV’s campaign management with RGB’s overlay technology demonstrates a new breed of advertising product that is inherently addressable and audience focused. It’s exciting to apply these new, flexible standards to achieve dynamic, localized ad insertions that enhance the viewer’s experience while expanding the opportunities for advertisers.”

Local advertising is a significant business, earning U.S. cable operators more than $4.3 billion in 2008. However, the extensive post-production work traditionally required to localize ads dramatically increases costs, limiting the number of advertisers. The proven digital overlay capability of the BNP can overcome this limitation, enabling carriers to easily localize ads in real time by overlaying text, graphics and even video directly onto ads to provide locally relevant or time-sensitive information. Working as an integrated solution with the BNP, OpenTV’s campaign management solution manages and provides the real-time ad decision rules based on selected ad type against the appropriate audience addressing criteria.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced digital television solutions dedicated to creating and delivering compelling viewing experiences to consumers of digital content worldwide. The company’s software has been integrated in more than 127 million devices around the world, and enables advanced program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, interactive and addressable advertising and a variety of enhanced television applications. OpenTV’s campaign management solutions, including Eclipse® and EclipsePlus™, currently provide advertising services to nearly 30 million cable subscribers across the United States representing more than 52 percent of the top ten MSOs’ subscriber base. For more information, please visit www.opentv.com.

About RGB Networks

RGB Networks delivers extremely high-density, flexible video processing solutions that enable video service providers to deliver highly targeted and personalized video content at considerably lower costs than conventional solutions. Based on its unique Video Intelligence Architecture™ (VIA), RGB’s VIA product family simplifies management and delivers scalable, multi-function capability in a single, programmable platform, allowing video service providers to leverage existing infrastructure, while building an advanced foundation to meet the needs of the rapidly growing market for personalized video services.

For more information about RGB Networks and its unique video processing solutions, please visit www.rgbnetworks.com.

DENVER – At a time when competitors are cutting back on spending and even canceling entire television campaigns, RE/MAX continues to lead the way in national television advertising among all real estate companies. First quarter 2009 results from Nielsen Media Research showed RE/MAX holding 99.9% of the national share of voice in television advertising, with an estimated 1.2 billion viewer impressions.

The 2009 ad campaign, which rolled out at the beginning of this year, tells viewers that today, more than ever before, professional real estate agents are an essential component of the home buying or selling process.

“We feel that our brand recognition is so high because of our extensive advertising campaign, which translates directly to the public choosing a RE/MAX Agent,” said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX International. “It’s important for consumers to understand that there are some great opportunities in the real estate market right now and RE/MAX Agents are the best trained to help them buy or sell their home.”

RE/MAX is still vigorously promoting its brand with a strategic mix of television, cable, radio, print and Internet advertising and has recently made the move into the social networking sphere in an effort to attract new audiences. RE/MAX continues to make media buys on a regional and local level as well as nationally.

The new RE/MAX television campaign can be seen during popular prime-time network programming, newscasts, and on cable TV. All the spots have also been produced in Spanish, and are carried on prominent Spanish Language networks. For the last three years RE/MAX has produced its TV commercials in a High-Definition video format with 5.1 Surround Sound. All the RE/MAX TV spots direct viewers to the company web site, www.remax.com, which is consistently ranked among the most visited real estate web sites.

The 2009 RE/MAX ads can be viewed on the company’s YouTube page at www.youtube.com/remaxintl.

For more information on RE/MAX International visit: www.remax.com or www.joinremax.com

About RE/MAX International, Inc.

RE/MAX was co-founded by Dave and Gail Liniger in 1973. From a single office in Denver, Colorado, RE/MAX has grown to be a global network of nearly 100,000 Sales Associates in more than 70 countries. No one in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX. Today, all U.S. home listings in thousands of cities and towns can be found at www.remax.com.

RE/MAX is proud of its Premier Community Citizenship, which has raised tens of millions of dollars for deserving organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Children’s Miracle Network and The Sentinels of Freedom Foundation.

SAN FRANCISCO – OpenTV Corp. (NASDAQ:OPTV), a leading software and technology provider of advanced digital television solutions, announced that its next generation advertising campaign management product, OpenTV EclipsePlus, was selected by Time Warner Cable to manage the cable operator’s advertising sales operations across all of its regional operating centers (ROC) in the continental U.S. which represent more than 12.3 million subscribers, or 97 percent of the operator’s total subscriber base.

OpenTV EclipsePlus, which enables large cable advertising operations like Time Warner Cable to manage their multi-channel advertising campaigns more efficiently and with minimal resource requirements, has already been deployed in all four of Time Warner Cable’s ROCs which will serve more than 50 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland.

“Our initial deployments of EclipsePlus have been very successful,” said Joan Gillman, Executive Vice President, Time Warner Cable and President, Time Warner Cable Media Sales. “The product’s scalability and adaptability to large advertising operations is a key advantage for us and we look forward to continued success through our partnership with OpenTV.”

“Time Warner Cable runs some of the largest regional operating centers in the country and has shown great leadership and innovation in that domain,” said Ben Bennett, OpenTV’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are honored to serve their campaign management needs through a deal that demonstrates the value that EclipsePlus brings to cable operators nationwide. It is another major milestone of which we are very proud and we look forward to a strong and longstanding relationship with Time Warner Cable and in helping them achieve and surpass their campaign management goals.”

Commercially available since May 2008, OpenTV EclipsePlus is being broadly accepted and deployed by the MSO community as it meets the ever-evolving needs and increasing complexity of multi-channel cable spot buy operations. Through its advanced capabilities and scalability, OpenTV EclipsePlus can handle thousands of local and interconnect networks, schedule complicated channel environments and run multiple DMAs within a single database, thereby reducing manual workload and time spent running verification and billing reports on spot buys. Its electronic, real-time data exchange between the sales and inventory management systems, eliminates paper-based change orders, and features a dynamic scheduler that continuously analyzes current and upcoming schedules in order to optimize yields.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced digital television solutions dedicated to creating and delivering compelling viewing experiences to consumers of digital content worldwide. The company’s software has been integrated in more than 127 million devices around the world, and enables enhanced program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, enhanced television, interactive and addressable advertising and a variety of enhanced television applications. OpenTV’s campaign management solutions currently provide advertising services to nearly 30 million cable subscribers across the United States representing more than 52 percent of subscriber base of the top ten MSO’s. For more information, please visit www.opentv.com.

The study used McPheters & Company’s AdWorks™ methodology to provide comparable measures of ad effectiveness across multiple media, using 30-second TV ads, full-page 4-color magazine ads, and Internet banner ads in standard sizes. Additionally, eye-tracking software was used to determine whether – and under what circumstances – Internet ads were actually seen by respondents. The work was conducted in CBS Vision’s state-of-the-art Television City facilities at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Matched groups of respondents were recruited to spend 30 minutes with a single medium in a laboratory setting. They either watched a choice of sit-coms, read a magazine they selected, or surfed the Internet at will. At the end of the period, they filled out similar online surveys that asked whether they recalled seeing 4 ads which appeared in the medium they consumed; in order to establish the level of over-claiming, which is known to vary by medium, they were also asked whether they recalled seeing 4 ads that had not appeared. These results were then used to calculate net recall or ad absorption for each medium.

Among the major findings were:

* Within a half hour, magazines effectively delivered more than twice the number of ad impressions as TV and more than 6 times those delivered online
* Though TV doesn’t deliver as many ads per half hour as do magazines, net recall of TV ads was almost twice that of magazine ads; magazines in turn had ad recall almost three times that of Internet banner ads
* 85% of Internet ads served appeared on-screen and could be identified by brand
* Among web users, 63% of banner ads were not seen. Respondents’ eyes passed over 37% of the Internet ads and stopped on slightly less than a third
* For Internet ads, almost all net recall could be attributed to ads that were seen
* Internet video ads appeared much less frequently than banner ads, and their exposure skewed heavily towards young men. When they did appear they were twice as likely to be seen as banner ads.

When study results were used in combination with other information on probability of exposure, a full-page 4-color magazine ad was determined to have 83% of the value of a 30-second television commercial, while a typical Internet banner ad has 16% of the value.

According to Scott McDonald, Senior Vice-President of Research for Condé Nast, “Because different media deliver ad impressions at vastly different rates, this study provides clear evidence that time spent with a medium does not translate into value for advertisers. It also indicates that magazine advertising is undervalued relative to its effectiveness.” Dave Poltrack, Chief Research Officer for CBS and President of CBS Vision, said “As more and more advertisers try to figure out how to communicate their story across media platforms, this form of experimental research will become an increasingly critical element in pre-campaign planning.”

“Our findings indicate that we need to learn more about how to engage Internet users with advertising content,” said Rebecca McPheters, CEO of McPheters & Company. “We look forward to expanding this work to look more closely at other forms of Internet advertising, as well as other media – such as cable, newspapers and radio, and specific types of programming or content. While the sample sizes were not significantly robust to release results for individual ad categories, the study suggests that there are real differences in performance that are worthy of further exploration,” she added.

About McPheters & Company

McPheters & Company specializes in strategic planning and research for brands and for companies in media-related fields, including media owners, advertisers, and ad agencies. The company develops business strategies to enhance both long- and short-term profitability. Much of its work is focused on enhancing and documenting the advertising value produced by media brands.

This quarterly report combines Advertising Intelligence data and analyst commentary covering broadcasters’ advertising revenues, audience share performance and ad revenue prospects for 2009-2013. It was published on 25 March 2009 after all ‘top 8′ European have reported 2008Q4 results.

Highlights:

* Total advertising is forecast to be down everywhere in Western Europe’s Big Five markets in 2009, between -5.8% (Italy) and -11.2% (Spain)
* Television advertising in 2009 will do generally worse with falls between -6.9% (Italy) and -13% (Spain)
* The Q4 ad revenues reported by key European broadcasters showed several two-digit drop: -7% for TF1, -4.3% for Mediaset, -23.1% for Telecinco, -29.1% for Antena 3

Key Topics Covered:

* Western Europe’s Top 8 television companies: Antena 3, ITV, M6, Mediaset, ProSiebenSat.1, RTL, Telecinco, TF1
* 2008 audience performances and the rise of digital viewing
* 2008 advertising revenues by quarters, 2009Q1 forecasts
* 2009-2013 advertising revenues forecasts

List of Tables and Charts:

* For each company (8): audience share (2000-2008)
* For each company (8): advertising revenues (2000-2013)
* For each market (5): total television advertising revenues (2000-2013)

Companies Mentioned:

* M6
* TF1
* ProSiebenSat.1
* RTL
* Mediaset
* Antena 3 TV
* Telecino
* ITV

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/51348c/european_broadcast

ACTON, Mass. & PLANO, Texas – SeaChange International (NASDAQ: SEAC), the leading provider of video-on-demand (VOD), digital advertising and IPTV software, systems and services, and BIAP, a leading supplier of EBIF technology and products, including the EBIF Platform, AdWidgets™ and TVWidgets™, are pushing to bring to reality the wide deployment of interactive TV ads with the successful interoperability of their advertising systems. Using the SCTE 130 standard for addressable advertising, SeaChange’s Spot 5.0 ad management system is interfacing directly with BIAP’s AdAim Targeting Engine to ensure that cable set-top boxes tune to appropriate advertisements based upon predetermined demographic, geographic and other targeting information.

The interoperability of the SeaChange and BIAP systems gives cable operators an immediately deployable platform to build new business and generate revenues around targeted advertising. SeaChange’s Spot system is already one of the most widely deployed advertising platforms in the world, while BIAP’s AdAim Targeting Engine leverages ETV/EBIF standards that enable ad targeting using existing set-top boxes.

“SeaChange is aggressively working to help get cable operators up and running with advanced advertising by employing industry standards such as SCTE 130 and EBIF,” said Alan Hoff, vice president of product marketing, SeaChange. “Our work with BIAP is yet another example of SeaChange’s strong commitment building advertising platforms with which operators can make available to advertisers levels of targeting and reporting that have not yet been seen in linear television.”

“We are extremely excited to be in a partnership and working with SeaChange,” said Aaron Ye, BIAP CTO. “This partnership provides a solution to cable operators that enables them to leverage their existing infrastructure and proven technologies to bring more and more EBIF products – such as targeted and addressable advertising applications – into a growing number of cable homes. We, like SeaChange, believe in the power of open standards such as EBIF and SCTE-130, which will ultimately accelerate the deployment of these products and services.”

Deployed around the world, SeaChange AdPulse On Demand delivers revenues with on-the-fly, real-time insertion of ads anywhere within on-demand program streams, including on-demand video games and DVDs, taking full advantage of SCTE 35 descriptors. Making ads independent of the content in which they run allows each to be trafficked separately, at long last reducing lead times for ad copy and enabling ad rotation, targeting and message refresh throughout a campaign.

Available and deployed to many markets in the US since 2003, BIAP provides the cable industry with three turn-key products that allows them to quickly capitalize on EBIF and advanced Advertising. These include an EBIF Platform for Cisco/SA, Motorola and tru2way set-top boxes, Ad Widgets which is an EBIF and SCTE 130 standards-based end-to-end interactive advertising system, from campaign management to delivery to viewer measurement and TV Widgets which consists over 500 individual ETV application widgets such as news, weather, sports, my eBay, local search, and fantasy sports.

The companies’ advertising experts will be available to discuss new product advancements during the The Cable Show, April 1-3 in Washington, D.C. at SeaChange booth 825 and BIAP’s booth in the CableNET showcase.

About BIAP

BIAP (Broadband Interactive Applications) supplies the cable industry with an EBIF Platform for Cisco, Motorola and tru2way set-top boxes, AdWidgets, and TVWidgets. BIAP’s products have been in markets since 2003 and are currently available on 24 million set top boxes principally. BIAP has received numerous patents for its technology and many Emmy nominations for its interactive television applications. Corporate headquarters are in Plano, Texas, with research and development in Sterling, Virginia.

About SeaChange

SeaChange International is a leading provider of software applications, services and integrated solutions for video-on-demand (VOD), digital advertising, and content acquisition monetization and management. Its powerful open VOD and advertising software and scaleable hardware enable cable and telco operators, as well as broadcasters, to provide new on-demand services and to gain greater efficiencies in advertising and content delivery. With its Emmy Award-winning and patented technology, thousands of SeaChange deployments are helping broadband, broadcast and satellite television companies to streamline operations, expand services and increase revenues. Headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts, SeaChange has product development, support and sales offices around the world. Visit www.schange.com.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – BlackArrow, the provider of advanced advertising technology for new television platforms, announced Nick Troiano has joined BlackArrow as company president. Troiano augments the BlackArrow executive team with proven management and business expertise in the digital media, advertising and video technology industries. With Troiano’s extensive understanding of the video marketplace, he will play a key role in accelerating market adoption of BlackArrow’s advanced advertising technology. The company also announced that Keith Kryszczun is now serving as vice president, sales.

“This is an exciting time for BlackArrow, as our advanced advertising system is increasingly viewed as a ‘must-have’ technology for new TV platforms including, in the near-term, both dynamic VOD and Internet TV. The addition of two exceptionally talented professionals to our leadership and sales teams only serves to underscore this,” said Dean Denhart, CEO, BlackArrow. “As company president, Troiano melds critical business acumen with a proven track record of success and revenue expansion in the video industry.”

As president, Troiano will be responsible for all go-to-market and revenue activities including the company’s sales, business development and marketing activities. “As consumers continue to embrace new consumption paradigms for TV content, providing an integrated advertising solution for publishers, marketers, agencies and distributors has never been more important,” said Troiano. “I am extremely excited to join the BlackArrow team which has developed a unique solution for addressable advertising across new TV platforms – one that I believe will provide the foundation for the media industry’s evolution.”

Previously, Troiano was vice president of business development within the U.S. Partnership Group at Yahoo!, where he led a business development team responsible for cross-platform technology and ad sales partnerships with media customers. Prior to Yahoo!, Troiano was senior vice president of sales and business development for Maven Networks (acquired by Yahoo! in February 2008), where he was responsible for all worldwide revenue-generation programs and strategic partnerships. Prior to Maven, Troiano served as executive vice president of business development at ClearStory Systems, president of WebWare Corp (acquired by ClearStory) and was a principal at SCP Private Equity Partners, where he led investments in media and communications and served on the boards of a number of SCP’s portfolio companies. Troiano holds a B.A in Political Science from Davidson College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He will join the New York City office of BlackArrow.

As vice president of sales, Keith Kryszczun will focus on the sale of BlackArrow’s multiplatform advanced advertising solutions to content providers and premium digital video publishers. Prior to joining BlackArrow, Kryszczun was director of sales, video platforms, for Maven Networks (a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo! Inc.), and before Maven Networks, Kryszczun held various sales and operations positions at Oracle Corporation and Opsware Inc., a pioneering company in data center automation software that was acquired by Hewlett-Packard.

About BlackArrow, Inc.

BlackArrow is the independent provider of advanced advertising technology for new television platforms. The company’s multiplatform advertising system is designed specifically for video content distributed over any on-demand platform, enabling media companies and distributors to maximize advertising revenues, and enhancing advertisers’ ability to reach target audiences. BlackArrow is privately held, and backed by Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital (NASDAQ: INTC), Mayfield Fund and Polaris Venture Partners. The company has offices in New York City and San Mateo, Calif. http://www.blackarrow.tv

BlackArrow is a trademark of BlackArrow, Inc.