Handheld story-sharing the next user-gen trend?
Take a look around any busy subway or streetcar, and chances are you’ll see one person reading a book and another looking at a mobile screen. Wattpad is betting both types can find something interesting from its new story-sharing service.
SRC on La Job; TVA gets real
Montreal: As Quebec’s networks roll out their winter schedules this month, Radio-Canada continues its fight to attract viewers with a host of new programs, while TVA takes few risks.
Baby Squad hits Canadian moms
Baby brand marketers should take note of the British parenting show set to premiere on Discovery Health Channel next month. But don’t just see it as another advertising opportunity. See it as a case study in brand integration, starting with creation.
Virgin puts incentive into user-generated mobile content
Virgin Mobile is getting into the user-generated content arena by giving customers the power to express themselves on Studio V. And there’s a built-in incentive for making content that’s good enough to go viral.
Canada unlikely to follow US lead in TV audience measurement
For the US, a day is going to be defined as 27 hours by Nielsen Media Research. But north of the border – as discussed at yesterday’s CARF workshop – we’re sticking with the status quo until a better, strictly Canuck-tailored solution is worked out.
American Idol starts off on a high note
The brand has earned its moniker as the juggernaut of television south of the border, and CTV has started the sixth season’s Tuesday and Wednesday night double sweep with a record-breaking premiere.
Figure skating fans finally get to judge
Figure skating can be a controversial sport, like any, when it comes down to the tough calls. For the first time this year, viewers at home can go online and vote for their favourites from the 2007 BMO Canadian Championship. And the best of the best, according to fans, gets shown during the final broadcast.
Gesca Digital joins Torstar-owned Olive network
Torstar Digital’s Olive Canada Network is now a truly national and bilingual service for Canada’s online advertisers. The company partnered with Gesca Digital’s French language websites – bumping its national reach up to 60% of online Canadians.
Is Google about to revolutionize billboards?
Tech writers down south are speculating that amping up billboard advertising – the same way it changed online ads – is the ultimate aim of Google’s recent patent application for a new kind of digital advertising display – touting products that are in stock at stores located just minutes away from any given consumer. But Google isn’t saying much yet.
Bell Spirit of the Game builds Olympic buzz
TSN and Bell Canada are putting the spotlight on amateur sports, giving the small guys and up-and-comers a chance to showcase their dedication on TV. The marketing deal includes naming rights and multi-platform perks, and it only makes sense to build the buzz for 2010.
Can watching people write books work as reality TV?
BookTelevision’s foray into reality, The 3-Day Novel Contest: The Series, is turning a 72-hour novel-writing contest into an eight-parter, set to air on three CHUM channels next month. But can the pursuit of literary greatness really draw many viewers? CTV’s Giller Prize awards did it last November, reeling in an average audience of 351,000 with 1.3 million people tuning in to see at least part of the glitzy gala.
‘Bandwidth Boomers’ outnumber younger online users
Assumption: MySpace and its ilk belong primarily, if not exclusively, to the young. Fact, according to a study by Leger Marketing: Over-30 codgers are more than holding their own in this sphere.
Corus Radio promotes Giacomelli
Victor Giacomelli was responsible for the Smirnoff Ice/Triple Black Edge promotion for Corus Radio Toronto in 2002. It earned him a Samurai Award, the company’s highest recognition for an employee. He also led major sponsorship events for 102.1 The Edge – such as NikeRunTO and the CASBY Music Awards – and picked up innovation awards from both the station and Cossette Media. Now Giacomelli gets the two treasured letters: V and P.
Sponsorship opportunities to unfold for On The Lot
Call it Hollywood’s answer to YouTube, or American Idol for digital video buffs. On The Lot, backed by Stephen Spielberg and reality series vet Mark Burnett, is set to give 16 filmmakers the chance to win a $1 million development deal with DreamWorks. But the competition has already begun at the online home of the contest…
Torstar plans to boost its ethnic reach
Already publisher of the Canadian version of Chinese-language daily Sing Tao and Sway, a weekly geared to Toronto’s African- and Caribbean-Canadian communities, the Toronto Star is now leveraging the success of a magazine geared to all the 250,000 immigrants who arrive here annually – plus planning a Toronto edition.
