doubledown-media

cityfile · 10/20/09 03:18PM

• It's Tuesday, which means fresh job cuts at Condé Nast have been revealed. In addition to the dozen Glamour staffers laid off yesterday, Style.com will cut Candy Pratts Price. And 200+ more layoffs could be ahead. [WWD, NYP, FWD]
• Maybe Condé Nast's fancy iPhone application, which was announced today, will stem the red ink? Maybe not. But it certainly can't hurt either. [AdAge]
BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Steve Adler says he will step down once the sale of the magazine to Bloomberg LP is completed in about a month. [BW]
• Sarah Palin will be Oprah's guest on November 16 as the former governor embarks on her book tour. Many of her fans aren't happy, unsurprisingly. [CT]
• The search for a Good Morning America co-host continues at ABC News. The front-runner at the moment seems to be George Stephanopoulos. [LAT]
Malcolm Gladwell says journalists shouldn't go to journalism school. [Time]
Harvey Weinstein's book publishing company is giving up its independence. It will be combined with Perseus Books starting December 1. [WSJ]

Cable Ratings Go Up, Newspaper Ad Sales Go Down

cityfile · 08/28/09 01:04PM

• The average person consumed 32.2 hours of TV each week this summer. It's a new record. And it's all thanks to the quality programming that cable channels have been putting on the air the last few months, obviously. [NYP]
• The bad news for newspapers is getting worse: Ad sales dropped by 29% during the second quarter, which means newspapers have $2.8 billion less in their (already empty) pockets than they had at this time last year. [AP]
• Related: Please take the time this weekend to read the massive story about Hurricane Katrina in the New York Times Sunday magazine. It cost the paper and ProPublica a record-setting $400,000 to produce. [CJR]
• Because Nightline feels left out of the war between Conan and Letterman, the show is launching a campaign to remind you that it still exists. [AdAge]

Jerry's New Show, Cutback at T, Oscar Ad Spending

cityfile · 02/26/09 01:07PM

Jerry Seinfeld has a new project in the works for NBC. The Marriage Ref will feature celebs "judging couples in the midst of marital disputes." [THR]
• The Times is scaling back the number of issues it publishes of T. [NYP]
• The Gray Lady does say it has enough cash to last through '09, though. [E&P]
• Denver's Rocky Mountain News is shutting down on Friday. [AP]
• Fox has renewed The Simpsons for two more seasons. [Variety]
• ABC collected $72 million for the 26 minutes of ad time it sold during the Oscars. Overall, ad spending fell by 10 percent this year, though. [TVW, NYT]
• Doubledown Media, which ceased operations recently, is bankrupt. [MM]
• You can now download CBS shows to your iPhone. Enjoy. [NYT]

Doubledown Goes Down, CBS Now Arranging Marriages

cityfile · 02/03/09 12:10PM

• Doubledown Media, the publisher of magazines like Trader, Cigar Report, and Dealmaker, and other titles aimed at the Wall Street set has shut down. [Folio]
• Those Pepsi ads that resembled a "MacGruber" skit from SNL? It was part of a deal between the soft drink company and Lorne Michaels, naturally. [NYT]
• The final Nielsen numbers are in: 95.4 million tuned in on Sunday. [MW]
Bob Costas is leaving HBO to join the MLB Network. [THR]
• There's a boycott of CNBC today for some reason. [Jossip]
• HBO has acquired the rights to Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean's forthcoming book about "the meltdown and the reason it happened." [Variety]
.• CBS has ordered up a new show from the producers of Top Chef "that puts lovelorn singles into arranged marriages." We love it already. [THR]

Martha Sells, Kristol Departs, Ad Pages Fall

cityfile · 01/26/09 12:05PM

Martha Stewart has sold a third of her shares in her eponymous media company. But she's still as anal as ever around the office. [NYP, Gawker]
• Bill Kristol's New York Times column has come to an end. [NYT]
• Fashion and beauty magazines will see a 22 percent decline in advertising pages during the first three months of the year. [WWD]
• Doubledown Media, the publisher of Trader, is reportedly up for sale. [NYP]
• Conde Nast is reorganizing its web division. [MW]
• Moody's has downgraded New York Times Co. debt to junk status. [NYP]
• A long Q&A between Lesley Stahl and Rachel Maddow. [Wow]
• Sundance ended yesterday without a big sale. [NYT]
• Once again, Paul Blart: Mall Cop was No. 1 at the box office. [THR]

Gives 'Trader' New Meaning, Doesn't It?

cityfile · 12/17/08 03:05PM

How bleak is the situation at Doubledown Media, the company that publishes Trader? Try this on for size: "Two Doubledown employees recently took a box of Gevril watches to Manhattan's diamond district to have them appraised. Doubledown received the watches as barter payments for ad pages, and in the past has used them as sales incentives or giveaways." [Portfolio]

Murdoch's Loss, 60 Minutes Gain, Nate Silver's Book

cityfile · 11/14/08 10:37AM

♦ Peter Chernin, Rupert Murdoch's right-hand at News Corp., may be planning to depart the company in the near future. [LAT]
60 Minutes has snagged the first interview with Barack Obama. [THR]
WWD has a roundup of how magazines will fare overall in 2008. Most of the news is depressing, yes, but there are a couple of bright spots: Elle and Men's Journal reported 3 percent increases in ad pages. [WWD]
♦ You knew this one was coming: Political statistics star Nate Silver is reportedly shopping a pair of books to publishers. [NYO]

Brokaw Plays Diplomat, TV Guide Channel Up For Sale

cityfile · 09/30/08 12:47PM

♦ The TV Guide Channel is for sale if you happen to be looking for junky media properties to purchase this afternnon. [Variety]
♦ What's Tom Brokaw been up to? It seems he's been playing peacemaker with the McCain campaign on behalf of NBC News. [NYT]
♦ There are 336 magazines devoted to food and cooking, believe it or not. [WSJ]
♦ How People snagged its exclusive with Clay Aiken. [Jossip]
♦ Follow the money: Doubledown Media, which owns Trader, is launching a second title in Dubai. [WWD]
♦ Just three days after Ogilvy & Mather won the account for Wachovia, the bank went bust. [NYT]
♦ Some 52 million Americans watched the debate last Friday; ABC led the pack with 11.04 million viewers. [TV Week]

Must The Rich And Their Magazines Suffer?

Hamilton Nolan · 03/24/08 10:09AM

The question weighing on the mind of the print media at large is, "In what month will I be getting laid off?" But in the luxury print media sector, the question is more like, "Will our readers be buying more, or fewer, private planes this year? And when should I buy mine?" As hard as it is for crusading journalism school grads to admit, magazines targeting upscale readers—a polite term for "rich Wall Street bastards"—will naturally attract more premium advertising, and are usually better positioned to ride out any crazy economic fluctuations than other magazines whose readers are quicker to go broke. Or are they?