Shavick calls OutTV a ‘fixer-upper’
OutTV’s new owner, Shavick Entertainment president James Shavick, says of his latest venture: ‘We realize it will be a labour of love (and that) this is a fixer-upper. But our company has good cash flow and we’re very intrigued by the challenges ahead.’
The Vancouver-based prodco purchased controlling interest in the troubled gay and lesbian digichannel and its sibling, Hard On PrideVision, for an undisclosed sum on July 7th, and Shavick says he plans to air gay-themed film and TV content made by his production company, among others. ‘In order for a channel of this sort to be successful, it has to be a destination where people will want to stop,’ he says.
The deal requires approval from the CRTC and comes just three years after the channel, originally called PrideVision, was sold for $2.6 million by the Headline Media Group to broadcaster Bill Craig. In 2004, it was rebranded as OutTV. The channel had conflicts with Shaw Communications, and in January sought bankruptcy protection following a dispute with the western cable company over satellite feeds.
If approved, the deal will leave Shavick with 52% of the company shares, while Toronto-based Pink Triangle Press – which publishes gay and lesbian newspapers in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa – will increase its ownership to 38% from 21%. The remaining 10% is owned by channel founder John Levy.
A version of this story appears in the August 7th issue of Playback.
Major interactive players attempting to set click standards
Formulating standard click measurement guidelines is the mandate of an industry-wide working group assembled by the New York-based Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Rating Council (MRC). On board so far are Ask.com, Google, LookSmart, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo!
The idea is to come up with a detailed definition of what constitutes a valid online click, and also to outline an industry-driven auditing and certification recommendation for search engines, ad networks, third-party ad servers and any other company that counts clicks as part of its performance-based marketing.
A full copy of IAB’s previous metric rules, Global Measurement Ad Impression Guidelines, can be found at www.iab.net/standards/measurement.asp.
Lucy Ricardo would have loved it
Purple people – OK, purple to the knees in freshly stomped grape juice – is the main feature of a literally colourful new campaign to promote both Vintage Hotels and Ontario’s wine region. Dreamed up by Dentsu Canada, the initiative includes billboards, cinema advertising, print, radio and promotions. It kicks off on August 11th, when a gaggle of, ‘purple feet people’ clad in Vintage Hotels robes, will parade to the unveiling of the company’s new billboard at Yonge & Sheppard in Toronto.
Earlier this year, Dentsu came up with both a new name for the hotel chain – switching from Vintage Inns Collection – and a new umbrella logo, plus individual logos for its Prince of Wales, Queen’s Landing and Pillar and Post hotels, all in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: sports, events, entertainment – dailies take centre stage
Advertisers in this category have consistently invested roughly 60% to 64% of their dollars in dailies over the past four years. In second place, TV gets about one-quarter of the spending, while other media divvy up the remainder. Live theatre and concerts, sporting events and movie theatres are the biggest spenders in this growing category.
Annual National Advertising Spend, Q3 – Sports, events, entertainment
Animal Planet to air untold Hurricane Katrina story
Animal Planet Heroes: Hurricane Rescues tells the mostly overlooked story of how so many critters – abandoned in the crisis surrounding Hurricane Katrina – were eventually rescued by volunteers from the Humane Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Set to air Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. PT., the first anniversary of the disaster, the touching one-hour special features the heroic struggle to save more than 50,000 animals, plus the emotional reunions of pets and their owners.
Canoe taps Adam, Simpson and Bulgin for sales
Canoe, a leading Canadian supplier of news, photos and data, has added three pros to its Toronto sales department. Paula Adam – most recently GM and national director of sales operations for Kaboose, and a former advertising director for Rogers Consumer Publishing websites – is now Canoe’s sales director. Kirk Simpson, formerly director of interactive business development for St. Joseph Media, is now account manager of strategic alliances at Canoe. And Renee Bulgin, previously an account manager for Rogers Consumer Publishing websites, and a web account manager at Engage Media, will now manage web accounts for Canoe.
PMB Factoid
Climate Controlled in Household: Indexed by Region
Study says LGBT demo is more receptive to targeted marketing
Gays and lesbians are most likely to buy products from marketers addressing the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) community in their advertising according to Out On The Street, the latest syndicated study from Toronto-based Solutions Research Group (srgnet.com).
Ken LeClair, SRG’s director research development, says the findings confirm a very attractive target for marketers: ‘The LGBT population is in the higher income bracket. About 20% of our sample had household income of $100,000 or more compared with about 13% of the population overall. About 23% had a $40,000 or less income, versus a 30% average nationally. There is also definitely an education skew. Over 50% are university educated versus 34% nationally.’
SRG hit the pavement during Toronto’s Pride festivities in late June to question attendees about their attitudes towards marketing, sponsorship, media preferences, and use of selected products and services. The study examines the characteristics and spending of attendees from both within and outside the GTA and looks at lesbians separately and as part of the larger gay market.
Out On The Street survey respondents showed a tendency to be early adopters of new products and services with a higher penetration of cellphone ownership, texting and Internet use at home.
A rising young media star
Media pundits have been adamant that to succeed in the new mediaverse, agencies require new ways of thinking. Curious as to who these new thinkers were, and what they were thinking, strategy and Media in Canada canvassed the industry, asking media shops to single out their top innovative and strategic recruits – one of which Media in Canada will profile in each issue over the coming weeks.
Caroline Moul,
Digital media strategist PHD IQ, Toronto
Age: 24
Background: Moul took the advertising program at Sheridan College and started at PHD four years ago, where one of her first duties was online optimization for the Intel campaign. Last year, about 90% of her time was devoted to working on online campaigns for about half of PHD’s clients. In January, the agency officially formed a specific unit for online and interactive strategies.
Claim to fame: Designed with the strategy ‘How does the Fit fit you?,’ the Honda Canada campaign featured Honda’s Fit model and showed how all the different things that happen in life fit into the Fit – with the car moving across the Yahoo homepage, its trunk opening and all the various channels that sit on the page’s menu bar popping out and going to their usual spots on the page.
Boomers embracing podcasting faster than under-24s
According to the first comprehensive national survey of podcasting in Canada, the baby boom generation is taking to podcasting at almost double the rate of users under 24. Prepared by Sequentia Communications and Caprica Interactive Marketing and released yesterday, the survey found that the term ‘podcast’ was familiar to fully 77% of those surveyed, and 67% said they were interested in downloading one.
‘Podcasting is moving away from early adopters and into the mainstream, and is no longer synonymous with young, tech-savvy men,’ says Sequentia president Jen Evans. Adds Caprica president Leesa Barnes: ‘Although Canadians rely on other sources of information, podcasts are quickly becoming integrated into their daily consumption of news and entertainment. This survey also shows that Canadians will become impatient with podcasts that fall below their standards. Content is indeed king and this old adage holds true to podcasts as well.’
The top 5 podcasts among those surveyed include TWIT/This Week in Technology (Canada), The Ricky Gervais Show (U.K.), Quirks and Quarks (Canada), Lost (U.S.) and CommandN (Canada). The report is downloadable from www.canadianpodcastlistenerssurvey.ca.
BBM TV Top 30 for July 24-30, 2006
News too grim, entertainment captures most top spots – BBM TV Top 30 for July 24-30, 2006
Maybe it’s because the news is too grim, maybe it’s just the prevailing summer mood, but entertainment shows nabbed five of the six top spots last week. For a list of the top 30 TV shows for the week of July 24-30, 2006, according to BBM, please click the links below:
CHUM partners with MobiTV to add four new channels
Four of CHUM’s music and entertainment channels have been added to the MobiTV Canada line-up. Aimed at mobile television viewers who are interested in compelling, bite-sized content such as music videos and entertainment news, the channels whose programming is going mobile are: MuchMusic, Star!: Canada, MuchVibe and MuchMoreRetro.
The addition of the CHUM properties for MobiTV Canada follows the launch of other key programming content earlier this summer: The Learning Channel, Toonworld TV Classics, FOX Sports, Comedy Time, MAXX Sports, MAXX LOOK and SPEED Channel were made available to viewers in May and June of this year. This now brings the total number of channels to 22, ranging from news, sports and weather to premier music and entertainment content, available on 16 handsets on the three major carriers in Canada.
CAB asks CRTC not to rubber-stamp Bell’s carriage of satellite radio
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has filed an intervention to Bell Canada’s application to the CRTC to carry satellite subscription radio. CAB stated that, while it ‘does not oppose the application by Bell in principle, the application raises a number of matters that need to be addressed by the Commission before authorizing the distribution of subscription radio services by Bell or by broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) in general.’
In particular, CAB noted that ‘this new method of distribution will change the underlying business plans of the satellite radio undertakings, and that if a BDU is to distribute these sorts of services, they must provide a majority of Canadian audio programming channels.’ CAB also expressed concern about the challenge to traditional radio programming.
Wild on Media appointed sales agent for E.B. Games in-store promotions
Toronto-based Wild on Media has become the Canadian sales agent for E.B. Games, a leading worldwide gaming retailer. The deal covers 261 retail stores across Canada and includes video gaming on in-store screens and other promotional opportunities such as sampling, couponing and bag printing. E.B. Games cites 66 million customer visits annually, 62% males 18-34.
Well known for its giant skymurals, Wild on Media recently concluded an ambitious project to promote the release of Superman Returns, for which helicopters towed 8,500 sq-ft banners over Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary during major festivals including Canada Day, the Toronto Grand Prix and the Calgary Stampede.
PMB releases annual medical media study
Aimed at providing advertisers, agencies and publishers with up-to-date information on the readership of major Canadian medical publications, the Print Measurement Bureau’s annual Medical Media Study (MMS 2006) was released this week. PMB used a national random sample of 3,000 physicians and examined more than 30 medical publications directed to GP’s and physicians in several medical specialties. For the first time, the publications include National Review of Medicine and Magazine Santé inc.
The complete study, which achieves an exceptionally high level response rate of over 45% among Canadian physicians, is available to PMB members.
