TORONTO – In about 30 minutes, Omnicom Canada CEO Fred Forster put a good scare into a room of broadcasters and ad folks Monday afternoon when describing the impending near future for the TV advertising business.
In a speech to the Broadcast Executives Society lunch Forster, the head of Omnicom in Canada (Omnicom is a $14.5 billion global ad agency) painted a picture of how Big Data is taking over the media buying world, rendering the old metrics of CPMs (cost per thousand) and GRPs (gross ratings points) useless to agencies and their clients
“GRPs and the currency we see today…
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TORONTO – What could be a better place to roll out a Big Brother Canada Slop Truck than in Hogtown? The truck leverages two iconic Big Brother elements – slop and Big Brother personality Dan Gheesling (winner of season 10 and runner up in season 14). With Gheesling on board, the Slop Truck is touring around Toronto stopping at various high traffic locations to hand out samples of slop and giveaways to fans.
The truck is part of Slice’s biggest marketing campaign for a single series in the network’s history leading up to the Big…
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OTTAWA – Telesat is blaming an insurance claim for a $210 million drop in annual profit as reported in its quarterly and full year financials. Revenues for 2012 were $846 million, a 5% increase over the $809 million it recorded in 2011, but net income was only $27 million compared to $237 million in 2011, a decrease of $210 million.
“The 2012 net income was lower than 2011 due in part to the recognition in 2011 of a $135 million gain from insurance proceeds received in connection with an insurance claim filed for the failure…
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MONTREAL – On Thursday, the Vidéotron announced the launch of Illico Club Unlimited, an online video subscription service that will have the largest collection of French-language movies, television series and other programming available in Canada.
The service, which launches on Saturday, will cost $9.99 a month, a bit higher than the $8 a month that Netflix Canada charges. It will be available to everyone in Quebec and Ontario, regardless of whether they live in an area served by Vidéotron or subscribe to a Vidéotron service. This may expand to other provinces as well. Quebecor executives say they have secured rights…
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TORONTO – Viewers tuning in to Global today will notice a new look designed to reflect the networks' top-rated programming and news lineup in a “big, bold and dynamic environment.”
"Global's identity refresh is part of the larger re-positioning of the Shaw Communications portfolio of brands designed to ensure our relevancy to both our customers and viewers across the country," said Jason Keown, Senior Director of Marketing, Global Entertainment. "Our creative is both fast and dynamic with a vibrant colour palette that unifies our entertainment and news brands across all platforms."
Global Entertainment introduces four…
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TORONTO – The future of cable is IP, and the CEO of Rogers says the company plans to take a similar leadership role in advancing its IP network offerings for customers that it did in introducing smartphones.
“Everyone is going IP, that is the future of cable,” said Rogers president and CEO Nadir Mohamed who also announced he will retire in January 2014, but will continue to lead the company through 2013. He was speaking at a media call this morning in Toronto. Late yesterday the company released its fourth quarter results of 2012 which beat…
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OTTAWA – Responding to the growing use of mobile devices, the Greater Toronto Area beginning March 25, 2013 will be getting two new area codes says the Telecommunications Alliance (Bell, Rogers, Telus and Vidéotron). In Toronto, the 437 area code will be added to the 416/647 area codes. In the 905/289 region, the 365 area code will be introduced.
The new 437 and 365 area codes will provide additional telephone numbers with no impact on existing telephone numbers says the alliance. The new area codes will coexist with the current ones and will come…
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TORONTO – Content company Blue Ant Media has appointed Sam Linton to Executive in Charge of Production. Linton comes with over 24 years of broadcast experience in production and programming and will be working out of the company’s head office in Toronto.
The company owns specialty channels Travel+Escape, Bite TV and AUX TV along with four premium, commercial-free channels Oasis HD, HIFI, eqhd, radX and their companion websites.
“Original Content is very important to Blue Ant Media and we couldn’t be happier to have Sam join us to help lead the development of our…
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TORONTO – With the addition of Astral Media and Cineplex Entertainment, the Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX), now reaches more than 20 Million unique Canadians monthly. They join founding partners CBC/Radio-Canada, Shaw Media, Rogers Media as well as Corus, V and Télé-Québec in the initiative.
The online, real-time bidding exchange service provides advertisers and agencies with access to premium digital inventory. Nationally CPAX says it offers an efficient and cost-effective means of reaching targeted audiences with premium inventory across leading Canadian brands in both English and French, a reach that now exceeds more than 20…
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IT SEEMS OBVIOUS NOW that the federal government’s attempt at building more competition into the Canadian wireless market has been a failure.
With the benefit of hindsight, looking back at how the Canadian wireless market has evolved since the 2008 advanced wireless spectrum auction, I keep wondering: “what did the federal government think was going to happen?” Back then, in an ill-advised attempt to foster more competition to the burgeoning wireless market in Canada, the federal government offered any Canadian-led wireless newcomer a leg-up in that auction, setting aside spectrum that was just for newbies willing to gamble on becoming…
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