NBC’s Saturday night coverage of the Olympic Games drew an average of 31.3 million viewers, with over 40 million viewers watching the 11 p.m. half hour featuring Michael Phelps’ record-setting gold-medal victory, Daily Variety reports. Those numbers are an 18-year…
NBC, which scaled back the ratings guarantees it made to Olympics advertisers, is enjoying unexpectedly high ratings for The Games, the New York Times says. The event has drawn an average audience of about 30 million a night on NBC,…
Coca-Cola, General Electric and Visa have dominated the Olympic Games in terms advertising effectiveness, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing research from Nielsen’s IAG. Spots that went for an emotional hook were best remembered and most liked, putting Coca-Cola’s “Bird’s…
The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have different stories to tell about current contract negotiations, Deadline Hollywood Daily says. After SAG issued an e-mail update on recent talks, AMPTP issued statement saying that…
The FCC in September is expected to report its finding on whether TV airwaves can be shared with wireless gadgets that connect to the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reports. The fight over so-called white space is key because broadcasters…
General Motors Corp. won’t be advertising in this year’s Academy Awards telecast, leaving ABC without one of its biggest sponsors for the Oscar show in February, the Wall Street Journal says. Last year, the company spent $13.5 million for spots…
The final season of FX’s “The Shield,” which set edgy programming trends on basic cable and had difficulty garnering advertisers early on, will be sponsored by Budweiser, TelevisionWeek reports. The Anheuser-Busch brewing company will present the first three episodes of…
Next month, Seth MacFarlane, creator of Fox’s “The Family Guy,” will unveil an animated Web series called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” that will be distributed solely on the Web through Google, the New York Times says. MacFarlane will…
Food Network is looking to enter the competitive eating programming game with its tentatively titled series, “Eat the Clock,” the Hollywood Reporter says. In “Clock” contestants must race through various Los Angeles restaurants and stuff their faces with several gastro-intestinal…