Tag Archives: entertainment

Pro Wrestling Just Got Really Real…

Forget kayfabe … pro wrestling is real. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask ESPN. The world’s leader in sports coverage just added weekly WWE segments to its programming. The “wrestling” highlights might aggravate sports purists, but the networks involved – ESPN and WWE – don’t care in the least. They need the help. ESPN has struggled financially of late. As with every other set time news delivery product, ESPN’s flagship programs like SportsCenter are constantly scooped by social media. Consider the recent news Read More + Read More +

Caitlyn: Marketing Ploy or Honesty?

By now everyone knows that Bruce Jenner, well, is no longer Bruce Jenner. She has become quite simply Caitlyn. The news has taken the world by storm. Bruce, once the embodiment of masculinity and deemed “the world’s greatest athlete” is now a woman. Almost immediately many have asked about the real reason behind Caitlyn’s transformation? It seems unfathomable that anyone would go to those lengths just to gain attention or to promote their show. But there is growing speculation surrounding Caitlyn that may never completely Read More + Read More +

Can hockey and basketball gain some ground?

It’s no secret that professional football and baseball reign supreme in American sports. After that, NCAA football engenders the most fan loyalty – and cash. As far as pro sports go, each year, the NBA and NHL battle it out for which professional sports league will be Number Three With a Bullet. This year, more than any in recent memory, both leagues have a chance to gain even more ground than that. Read More +

Hostess Nails Viral Marketing

It was a joke all along, and most of the Internet fell for it. Recently, Hostess released a meme on social media celebrating the beginning of baseball season. In the meme, a Hostess cupcake was decorated to look like a baseball. The inscription read: “touchdown.” As expected, social media went nuts. Countless denizens of the web could not resist pointing out that “touchdown” is a football term, not a baseball term. Others argued that it was so obvious the caption had to be a joke. Read More + Read More +

ABC and Yahoo are Friends with Benefits

These days almost every media company is looking for a way to blend traditional and new media content providers. The problem, says Ronn Torossian, is that some competitive companies don’t have the luxury of both. This has led to some interesting corporate partnerships and strategic cases of strange media bedfellows. The latest pair of media brands to renew their vows? ABC News and Yahoo. Read More +

Nick goes Mobile, but are Customers Ready?

Perhaps sensing the changing consumer winds, Nickelodeon has become the latest major cable network to launch a direct-to-consumers paid cable channel. At this point, there are not too many other details to report, but parent company Viacom is expected to announce the launch and offer more details after meeting with advertisers in February. According to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, the new service will be, “aimed at the mobile market” and “attractive for parents and children.” Some market watchers have called this one more defection from Read More +

What is the Return on Investment for a Superbowl Commercial?

The amount of viewers of the Superbowl makes the Superbowl the most expensive place to advertise. For 30 seconds of air time, a company can pay $3.8 million to place an ad where the over 100 million people watching the game will see it. Does such an expensive advertising spot pay off? Advertisement Quality A large part of the success of any advertisement depends on the ad itself. There are good advertisements and bad ones all over television, not just during the Superbowl. $3.8 million Read More +

Sony, the Hack and Secrets Revealed

When Sony Co-Chairman Amy Pascal first heard about the hack that brought the massive entertainment and electronics company to the front page of nearly every news outlet in the world, she wasted little time in responding. Coworkers and colleagues were warned of a potential avalanche of embarrassing emails and other communication known to be critical of Sony clients and partner businesses. The time for plugging the dike was over. Damage control was the primary concern. Any bruised egos would need to be mollified, and any Read More +

Biased Officials a Problem for the NCAA

Breaking news on the football front. Those refs you hate really might be biased. At least, that’s the news coming out of the NCAA…and, as Ronn Torossian reports, that news should be ample cause for concern for college sports’ most golden goose. A recently published study presents what it calls the first empirical evidence that “something other than rule infractions” influences referees employed by the largest and most influential athletic conferences. According to the study, conducted by professors at Miami of Ohio and Florida State Read More +