A year ago this week in 2007 Prime was thought to have finally caught the NBN dogs tail missing out on its first head to head battle with the leading rated station by 0.5. Fast forward a year and the ratings tell a much different story with NBN the clear overall leader. However Prime does have 5 of the Top Ten rating shows - and Packed To The Rafters a definite winner.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt was radio president. Kennedy was the first television president. Reagan the first movie-star president. Will Barack Obama be America’s first web president?

The 2008 US Presidential Election will be a referendum on many things - the war in Iraq, the Bush years and now the economy - but it can also be viewed as a referendum on old versus new media.

While the 72 year old, admitted technophobe McCain is the default old-world media candidate, Obama has been the new media superstar, embracing web 2.0 technology and techniques with aplomb.

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Ariana Huffington (of Huffington Post fame) Shares 4 Secrets Of Creating A Successful Blog

Photon Grows Despite Downturn - LISTED marketing group Photon says its earnings have grown 20 per cent in the September quarter despite the slump in global economic markets and reports advertisers are beginning to cut spending.

ConsMedia may dilute stake in Nine owner PBL - CONSOLIDATED Media Holdings has given its strongest indication it is willing to dilute its stake in the debt-ridden Nine Network owner, PBL Media, rather than pump in extra money to support the private equity joint venture.

Yahoo to cut at least 1400 jobs globally - YAHOO reported its third-quarter net income tumbled 64 per cent as the company lowered its year revenue guidance and said it would reduce its global work force by at least 10 per cent.

Newcastle TV ratings week 42, 2008

Just when Prime thought it was within striking distance, they have had a bad week and lost ground on NBN again. SC TEN even clawed back some audience against Prime last week despite the Seven affiliate hving 4 programs in the Top 10.

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In last Tuesday’s episode of Packed To The Rafters, the mother (Rebecca Gibney) refused to watch a Channel Seven show, City Homicide. Her opinion was apparently shared by 200,000 mainland capital viewers, who deserted CH on Monday for Nine’s new season of CSI.

Not that CH’s slippage to 1.4 million worried Seven, which still had nine of the ten most watched programs of the week (topped by Rafters and Find My Family ). Its major disappointment would have been the 1.2 million for the US version of Kath and Kim, which drew 700,000 less than our own hotties last year. On its second Sunday, KKUSA dropped to 729,000, which is an invitation to the axeman. And that was with Kevin Rudd as a lead-in, drawing 1.1 million to a Seven news special.

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Seth Godin is an International thought leader, blogger and author who has helped redefine marketing over the last decade. Seth’s posts are some of the first I read each week amongst the dozens of feeds I have streaming in. One of his recent posts, subtly plugging his new book Tribes, explains the typical marketing cycle and how social media may have finally broken the cycle.

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Ten’s earnings dive spurs concerns about advertising - THERE are growing fears that the global economic crisis is significantly affecting corporate spending on advertising.

Foxtel subscriptions increase despite tough times - FOXTEL said yesterday the company had recorded “continuing growth” in subscriptions for the September quarter.

Obama Wins! … Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year - Just weeks before he demonstrates whether his campaign’s blend of grass-roots appeal and big media-budget know-how has converted the American electorate, Sen. Barack Obama has shown he’s already won over the nation’s brand builders. He’s been named Advertising Age’s marketer of the year for 2008.

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For somebody who claims he wants his Newcastle radio stations to break the KO/NX dominance, Supernetwork owner Bill Caralis sure has a funny way of showing it.

Rumours have been circulating for weeks that 2HD program director Kev Kellaway had been stood aside from his role. At first I didn’t really believe it and had been too busy to dig around to find out more. But today it was confirmed that Kellaway was no longer calling the shots on air at 2HD.

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Zappos.com

Zappos.com is an online shoe retailer that has taken the internet by storm. Mixing e-commerce with outrageously good service, Zappos have grown to become the world’s biggest online shoe store.

Based in Henderson, Nevada, USA, the company warehouse is located in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, along with an outlet store. In addition, Zappos has two outlets stores in Las Vegas, Nevada and Henderson, Nevada.

Founded in 1999, Zappos did “almost nothing” in sales for 1999, but grossed over $800 million in merchandise sales in 2007, and is projecting over $1 billion in 2008.

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Newcastle TV ratings week 41, 2008 (revised 14/10/08 due to incorrect data being sent)

We might see a repeat of last year’s end of season ratings race as Prime continues to creep closer to NBN.

Last week Prime snuck within 2.6 point of NBN with SC Ten a very distant third. Prime had 6 of the top ten programs in Newcastle, while NBN had the other 4.

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