NBC's Zucker May Nix Upfront Party

Others Also Consider Canceling the Show -- or at Least Toning It Down

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- To put on a show or not to put on a show? For the big broadcast networks, that is the question. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has gained notice in recent days for press reports that quote him suggesting that NBC is mulling the end of its lavish upfront presentation to advertisers and the media. Instead, the thinking goes, it would be better to meet with advertisers in smaller groups and eschew the costly spectacle. FULL ARTICLE

Who Wants to Be Humiliated?

Media Reviews for Media People: 'Moment of Truth'

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- At last! Someone has finally figured out how to bring the sick thrills that are so much a part of daytime fare like "Jerry Springer" and graft them on to the feel-good circus atmosphere of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Leave it to Fox to take unsuspecting game-show contestants and make them really pay for the money they fight to win. FULL ARTICLE

Pitchfork Sure Is Cutting Edge, and That's the Problem

Media Reviews for Media People: Dobrow Puzzles His Way Through

This here internet place may have proved a boon for the distribution and "legal" sharing of songs, but it has been the worst thing imaginable for the art of music criticism. Let's face it: Everybody holds several indisputably stupid opinions about music -- like my contention that Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham is one of the three greatest guitar players who has ever lived -- and the internet allows us to proclaim them loudly, taste and common sense be damned. Sharing, in the public domain as in interpersonal relationships, is bad. FULL ARTICLE

White House Takes New Tack in Drug War

Super Bowl Spot Cautions Against Prescription Drug Abuse by Teens

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- The White House drug office will use its first Super Bowl spot in four years to caution that the biggest teen drug danger could be the legal medicines stored in parents' medicine chests. FULL ARTICLE

Why Bridgestone Has Three Ads for Two Bowl Slots

First Spots in Big Game Feature Richard Simmons, Alice Cooper

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- Bridgestone Firestone North America was so impressed with three ideas pitched by its agency, the Richards Group, for the Super Bowl that it produced all three, even though it had bought only two 30-second slots during the game. FULL ARTICLE

In the U.K., Changing a TV Ad in a Snap

CREAM IDEA OF THE WEEK: ITV Allows Airline to Update Price Info

Bmibaby Airlines used a graphic overlay to its TV ads that allowed it to target by region the most up-to-the-minute prices for some of its most popular flights. FULL ARTICLE

What You Should Have Read, Jan. 24, 2008

Murdoch: WSJ.com Won't Go Free Murdoch: WSJ.com Won't Go Free
The Wall Street Journal reports that its own website, WSJ.com, will keep a significant portion of its content behind its paid-subscription wall, according to News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Speculation that News Corp. would make WSJ.com a completely free site had been rife in recent months, as Mr. Murdoch had signaled he was contemplating lifting the subscription wall. "We are going to greatly expand and improve the free part of the Wall Street Journal online, but there will still be a strong offering" for subscribers, Mr. Murdoch said. "The really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive." FULL ARTICLE