ABC is looking to face off against Nieslen with their new "Advertising Value Index," which takes a lot of criteria (income, employment, etc.) and marketing objectives, which spits it back out as a list of shows that a viewer is likely to watch. Then, it comes up with a single index number per network to be used in comparison to other networks. ABC will essentially, be recommending where advertisers should place their dollars.

How often do you think that ABC will say, score 174 against CBS whose score might be something like, 157? How can buyers actually trust the ABC system. It's a bit biased. Adweek has Mike Shaw, President of Sales at the network, admitting that ABC comes out better than the other networks, both cumulatively and when compared to each of the other broadcast networks individually.

Yeah, so it's like Nielsen's own metric system, but useless and tilted, owned by ABC and with a slimmed down operating system. They're calling it "evolutionary, not revolutionary." Lets just call it what it really is shall we? B.S. Bullshit. Dirty diaper. Crap. Poop. Insert your own word here.

For all you guys who have to sit through television networks pushing you the hard sell described as "the upfronts," you're in luck. Things are a changin'.

The lavish parties are out according to Stuart Elliott of the Times. The networks are getting savvy and ordering fewer pilots, changing the schueduling to a 52 week program, broadening the presentations beyond what will be on TV, to include programming in new media like the Internet and mobile devices. Looks like everyone on every side of the advertising business (networks, web portals, media agencies) are changing the way they play the game. General market agencies need to get on the ball and follow suit.

Gail Ettinger, executive vice president and director for national broadcast at KSL Media, nicely wraps up what everyone in this business needs to get a grip on:

"The networks are selling in a 360-degree fashion because that's the way people live these days. They have to be better content providers because advertisers are looking for something better... there's nothing about the media landscape that's traditional anymore."

Sidenote: 90210 is coming back to TV via craptasic network CW. Jennie Garth, who played Kelly Taylor in the original, has joined the cast. No shit.

When Hulu shook its way into beta, we said that:

"They’ve got very deep pockets. We give them an ‘A’ for effort. If broadcasters don’t attempt to get a handle on this whole internet thing, they’re going to be very, very sorry indeed."

Despite the ridiculous name, we've been using Hulu since it was created in October (after NBC bailed on Apple's iTunes) and have to say, "bravo" to the whole team. We've watched new programs (Lipstick Jungle - skip it), vintage shows (Charlie's Angels - love it) and some canceled favorites (Arrested Development - fabulous), too. Christ. We cued up The Breakfast Club last night when we couldn't sleep.

Now, Hulu is making its way to the general public. The NBC Universal/News Corp. joint online video venture, will launch with new partnerships with Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate and a larger film slate. They've also hooked up with Michael Eisner's production studio Vuguru; the Onion News Network; the NBA; and the NHL and the NCAA. Still missing from the list of providers are Sumner Redstone-controlled companies Viacom Inc and CBS Corp.

Meanwhile, Hulu's content has been seen by more than 5 million viewers and the site's player has been embedded over 50,000 times across 5,000 sites. Almost eighty-percent of its entire video library is viewed every seven days. Not bad for being a content, beta site that offers engagement, not participation. Like we said before, YouTube killer? Puhleeze. Hulu is a different animal.

While we love Hulu and applaud CEO Jason Kilar (pictured above) for getting the big bad networks off their asses and into the game, we still have some issues. As Ars Technica pointed out this morning:

- Videos are only available for streaming over the Web, no downloading available and yes, we think you should be able to own it with advertising attached, only. The problem with this is that users would more than likely cut out the ads and pass it around. Technology needs to figure out how to lock these ads in place.

- The site is US only with IPs from outside the country denied access. Silly.

- You can't take the videos with you to other devices (mobile, video game player, etc.) for on the go watching. How can you watch these programs on your flight from LA to NY?

- "NBC's bold attempt to get into the distribution game itself eliminates truly useful downloads for consumers who want to pay. By pulling its online content from iTunes Store and restricting it to NBC's own site, consumers lose an important choice in the way they enjoy their favorite shows."

- And the way ads are often played, repeatedly in the same program, needs to get tackled, as well.

Nonetheless, we would call Hulu a successful first push to handle consumer needs for on-demand content. Worth checking out if you haven't yet.

Ad data processor Donovan Data Systems and Publicis' Starcom Mediavest are going to war. CEO Michael Donovan (pictured below) runs one of Madison Avenue's biggest operating system for media buys. Publicis Groupe Media was a big client of Donovan's. In an attempt to keep the Starcom MediaVest unit as a client, Donovan flew to Chicago to make his bid to CEO Jack Klues.

It didn't go so well with Donovan calling out Klues on Starcom secrets. He even produced some sort of written evidence, which affidavits refer to as a "highly confidential document." You better believe Publicis wants to keep this under wraps as the document is supposedly a business plan of SMG'spotential joint venture and co-market a new data processing system that would be a tough competitor for Donovan. MediaBank has been making this new system. This is like Watergate, folks. These are plans, which Donovan should not have his hands on. It would put Publicis media unit at huge disadvantage if were leaked considering it contains the unit's finances. [Please! Someone leak it to us! We love the brawl. We want front row seats!] Publicis has spent the last 10 months trying to make sure it never sees the light of day.

Mediapost has this timeline of events:

DDS Vs. SMG Timeline

2000: Starcom shutters highly regarded, but expensive in-house data processing system, begins using DDS.

2004: SMG signs a three-year contract with DDS.

2005: SMG offers to renegotiate its contract with DDS trough 2007 and extend a new contract through 2012. Offer would form a "partnership" in which it would help develop a new, state-of-the-art digital media system in exchange for some preferential terms/treatment. DDS declines. SMG says it will pursue an alternative resource for its digital solution.

July 2006: DDS receives a call from MediaBank to make a presentation on its systems.

August 2006: DDS executive James Biskupic presents to MediaBank.

November 2006: Nancy Oppasser hired to work on project to design a new media data processing system for MediaBank. December 17, 2006: Oppasser expresses her ethical concerns about access to proprietary DDS information.

December 18, 2006: Oppasser is fired.

February 2007: Oppasser shares her concerns with DDS.

May 14, 2007: Michael Donovan flies to Chicago to meet with Publicis Media Group CEO Jack Klues and CFO Frank Voris. Shocks them by revealing "confidential" document.

June 2007: MediaBank acquires Datatech. SMG begins the process of transitioning from DDS to Datatech.

October 2007: SMG begins hiring "temporary help" to aid in the transition, claims more than $1 million in incremental, temporary labor costs to manage the process. Begins processing its media transactions on parallel systems: DDS and Datatech.

Dec. 20, 2007: Judge denies SMG's motion for a temporary restraining order that would require DDS to continue processing buys for SMG's clients.

Dec. 31, 2007: Donovan pulls plug on SMG systems (except for Canada, the U.K. and GM Planworks).

January 2007: Publicis Groupe Media Executive Director of Digital Development Nick Pahade leaves agency to join GSI Commerce after leading the team that developed the MediaBank system for SMG.

Feb. 15, 2008: Wall Street Journal breaks "Ad Heavyweights Battle Over Software" story.

March 5, 2008: DDS unveils iDesk, MediaBank pitches OX at American Association of Advertising Agencies' Media Conference and Trade Show in Orlando.

Google isn't out to ruin media buying firms, but instead, help them do their jobs better. That's it. They're not trying to run the biz... or so thy insist. Google President-Advertising and Commerce, North America, Tim Armstrong made that sentiment pretty clear during his address at the 4A's on Thursday. Mediapost described his speech as an:

"unveiling [of] what Armstrong referred to as Google's "top secret strategy" for helping agencies transform the way they plan, buy and manage media - not just online, but across all their media options - Armstrong show a new "dashboard" approach it has developed for agencies for managing buys across media."

This new dashboard enable buyers to manage mixes of offline with their online display and search advertising, and aggregate all the assoicated data. Google has had a helping hand in designing this dashboard via former Interpublic Chairman David Bell.

Do you feel better now?

Digital. The conversation continues.

AdWeak is reporting today about the shift in media buying to focus on digital and the upcoming American Association of Advertising Agencies' media conference, "Digital Changes Everything."

"A lot more decisions are starting with the media strategy as opposed to starting with the messaging," said Antony Young, president of Optimedia U.S. "Digital has put a big fat wedge in the way we have to approach communication in campaigns."

Meanwhile, March 11th is the 4th Annual “Verge – Ogilvy Digital Summit." The one day event, which someone from Agency Spy will be live blogging, features journalists, analysts, technologists, marketers, publishers, content creators and key Ogilvy leaders and clients, presenting engaging and provoking information all things digital. This year the roster includes:

George Bodenheimer, President ESPN and ABC Sports
Kevin Liles, EVP, Warner Music Group
Ben Silverman, Co-Chairman NBC Entertainment & NBC Universal Television Studio
Shelly Lazarus, Chairman & CEO Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Martin Nisenholtz, SVP Digital Operations, The New York Times Company
Scott Kurnit, Chairman, Kurnit Inc, Founder, About.com
Mark Kvamme, Partner, Sequoia Capital
Laura Klauberg, VP, Global Media, Unilever
John Battelle, Founder & Chairman, Federated Media
Nick Denton, Publisher, Gawker Meida

What's going on with Irwin Gotlieb these days? The man, or should we say, "The King Of Advertising", is all over the press lately. Just two week after his splashy CNN Money piece, The King has made it big in Business Week with an article titled, "An Ad Man Tests His Limits." However, these inches are not so flattering. Drop the King moniker. Gotlieb is described as a "media buyer," which he hates. The piece goes on to talk about Irwin's new money making scheme, the practice known in the industry as a rebate or "volume override." It's a money making model that has been banned in France since 1993 and is now under scrutiny in Germany. Here's how it works:

"A media-buying agency approaches a TV network or magazine publisher and offers to buy a large number of ads. In exchange, the network or publisher pays the media buyer a percentage of the total advertising tab. The media company may write a check, give away free ad spots, or agree to buy something from the agency—a research study, say. Sometimes media buyers share the proceeds with clients. Sometimes they don't.

The rebates are controversial because they present a potential conflict of interest: Media buyers could be tempted to place ads not where they make sense for a client but where the rebates are the fattest."

Irwin shrugs this all off and is planning to move forward beginning with Kinetic, GroupM's outdoor ad buying unit. Gotlieb and Kinetic CEO Steve Ridley have already starting offering their clients this new business model. In exchange for a large purchase, Kinetic will sell the outdoor companies "tools and services" designed to help them prove their marketing efficacy to advertisers.

He told Business Week that once he enough deals under his belt, he'll then tell clients how the rebates work (balls!) and refers to the payments as an "intelligent application of scale" and says "they represent a minor part of a plan to derive new sources of income in an increasingly competitive world."

Everyone better mob up, like right now. Irwin is a Don of Madison Avenue. GroupM earned just over $400 million in revenues. He is not a man who takes the word "no" lightly. And catch his end piece to this article:

"In five to seven years, he predicts, he may not represent advertisers at all. He will be an arbitrageur, buying ads in bulk, slicing them up for niche audiences, and reselling them at a premium. "Then," says Gotlieb, "we don't have to be transparent."

We're speechless. The man has some big fricking nuts. He's out, in major media, talking about his new scam with full confidence that everyone is going to fall in line. Dammnit! They probably will.

What do you guys think about this?

The writer's strike continues, but talks have resumed. Yay! Meanwhile, advertisers should definitely be looking at other platforms to get their message across. Yet, according to the NY Times, not many plan on doing that. They're going to stick it out with TV - the mass marketer's sometimes disappointing, but still relevant best friend.However, MediaVest is looking to shake up their ad spend. Donna Speciale, MediaVest's president, told Adage that: "The bottom line is that the ratings erosion hasn't stopped. We are really looking to take a proactive approach and say, 'You know what? We can't keep our money in TV."

The company is planning on moving a $100M out of TV and onto the big screen through National CineMedia (14,000 screens) and Screenvision, (15,500)Okay, but what? Bravo to Mediavest for changing up the game, but cinema? Consider the following:

- In the absence of new programming due to the writer's strike, the internet is an entertainment alternative many will consider according to a Burst Media survey. Two-fifths of respondents (39.6%) expect to use the internet more for entertainment purposes if their favorite TV shows are shown only in reruns. And those speculations are proving to be true. According to new figures from Nielsen Online some online video sites have doubled their audience since the strike began. So, why not move ad dollars, like half of that $100M, online?

- The number of young adults going out to the movies has decreased from 13% in 1998 to just 3% in 2008 [source]. Yeah, downloading anyone? Rentals?

- The video game industry is kicking the motion picture's bloated butt. Total sales were $18.85 billion, with $9.5 of that spent on games and $9.35 on consoles. Gawd bless the Wii, which has brought gaming to a critical peak. The entire motion picture box office was $9.66 billion, which is a slight increase from 2006, but come on... There are other avenues. Anyone recall that whole Burger King game thing?

- One last thing... If our film begins at 9 pm and we get to our seats at 830 pm, then fine - show us ads. At, 9 pm to 9 15 pm, why is it we're watching ads for say, a car followed by the Marines, followed by something else? That's when your captive audience is ready to turn on you. Not only on the cinema, but the advertisers too. We're not the only ones:

Steve L. replies to a post on the Movieblog:
This is one of my biggest pet peeves about going to the theaters, and I don’t enjoy plopping down my money to see a freaking car commercial when a trailer should be running to promote another movie I might want to see.

There are some folks who are in support of pre-roll advertising. However, the comments on such pieces always fall into consumer rants against the sloppy pratice of ads after the start time:

Eaglewing replies to a post on Cinemablend: Around here, we get 20 minutes of TV commercials for showing up early to get a decent seat, then the start time comes and we get another 10 commercial minutes plus 15 minutes of trailers and then the Dolby Digital ad and studio logo before we ever even get to the movie. By that time, you've blown past the butter zone of your $10 popcorn and half your $5 pop is gone too and the movie hasn't even started! Hence, I don't go to theatres anymore.

- Also, you can see rebuttals to the recent Aribtron study, which said that consumers don't mind ads before films. Sure... Right...