Weekly Spots

POSTED: April 18, 2011

(White Plains, NY) April 18, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Los Angeles, California is the 2nd largest radio market with a population of 11,028,000.

• Los Angeles is known by many as simply “LA” or the “City of Angels”. It is a world center of business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, technology, and education. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. Los Angeles has been ranked the third richest city and fifth most powerful and influential city in the world, behind only New York City.

• Los Angeles was founded on September 4, 1781 by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and became part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.

• Los Angeles is often billed as the "Creative Capital of the World" due to the fact that one in every six of its residents works in a creative industry. It is home to Hollywood, globally recognized as the epicenter of the motion picture industry, and plays host to the Academy Awards as well as 54 film festivals each year. The city also boasts over 1,000 musical, theater, dance, and performing groups. There are also 841 museums and art galleries in Los Angeles County; more museums per capita than any other city in the world including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

• There are three public universities located in Los Angeles: California State University Los Angeles, California State University Northridge, and the University of California Los Angeles. Private Universities include University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount University, the American Film Institute Conservatory, and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

• Los Angeles is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, as well as the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins in the NCAA. The city is the largest in the U.S. without an NFL team. The city also has played host to the summer Olympic Games in 1932 and in 1984 as well as soccer's international World Cup in 1994.

While many famous people currently make Los Angeles their home, there are some notable people who are Los Angeles natives: actress, Angelina Jolie; actress, Drew Barrymore; President Ronald Regan; director, Spike Lee; rapper/musician, Snoop Dogg; and actor, Dustin Hoffman.

LOS ANGELES SPOT TEN

In LA last week, VERIZON was #1 on the radio with 1,271 spots. CHASE jumped from #12 to #3 with 1,193 ads, while ALBERTSONS was in at #4 airing 821 commercials. FORD LINCOLN MERCURY was #5 with 795 spots and MCDONALD’S was #6 with 716 announcements. AUTOZONE drove from #40 to #7 with 684 spots, while KAISER PERMANENTE was #8 running 669 spots. UNIVERSAL STUDIO THEME PARK was #9 with 602 spots and SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOYOTA DEALERS was #10 airing 595 spots.

HOME FURNISHINGS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In this category the #1 radio advertiser was THE DUMP with 2,287 spots. Sitting down at #2 was ASHLEY FURNITURE HOMESTORE with 1,852 spots, while BOB’S DISCOUNT FURNITURE landed at #3 with 1,354 ads. BLINDS.COM lowered from #3 to #4 with 1,061 commercials and GALLERY FURNITURE held steady at #5 airing 1,015 spots. HAYNES was #6 with 716 spots, while SLUMBERLAND came in #7 with 309 spots. GRAND FURNITURE made their entrance at #8 with 300 spots and THE ROOMPLACE was #9 with 292 spots. LENNY’S FURNITURE WAREHOUSE took #10 with 280 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

THE HOME DEPOT is not going to give up their crown of #1with 64,696 spots. GEICO stays in #2 with 35,975 spots, while WAL-MART is making its moves into #3 with 32,306 ads. MCDONLAD’S is #4 with 25,942 spots and VERIZON jumps #8 to #5 with 24,387 spots.

Posted: April 18, 2011

MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) was formed in 1994 by Roger Linquist and Malcolm Lorang as General Wireless, Inc. for the purpose of bidding on, acquiring and operating broadband PCS licenses. It is now a mobile phone service provider with the fifth largest mobile telecommunication network in the country.

In July 2004, MetroPCS Communications and MetroPCS completed a restructuring under which MetroPCS became a wholly-owned subsidiary of MetroPCS Communications. MetroPCS’ business constitutes substantially all of the business of MetroPCS Communications and the Company continues to conduct business under the MetroPCS brand. The company went public on April 7, 2007 at $23 per share.

MetroPCS is based out of Richardson, Texas and its regional coverage started out in the Miami, Atlanta, Sacramento and San Francisco metropolitan areas. The company’s coverage is consistently growing and is now available in northern Florida, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, San Diego, Seattle and Las Vegas, among other locales.

MetroPCS operates under the tagline “Wireless for All” providing predictability, reliability, and affordability for its customers. They market their service with the offer “unbeatable national rate plans for unlimited talk, text and web, with all-in pricing, additional taxes and regulatory fees included, no contracts, and no hidden surprises.”

The company saw record net subscriber additions of approximately 692,000, resulting in a 10% increase in total subscribers from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2010. In the past year, MetroPCS had total revenue of $4.06 billion and $1.93 million in net income. They currently have 8.1 million subscribers and more than 3,500 employees.

In the last 12 months, MetroPCS ran 17,216 spots on Local Cable. Their biggest month was February with 4,363 spots.

73% of all the spots MetroPCS ran on all three media were run on radio. The total in the last 12 months was 211,806 spots. The biggest month was November with 21,820 ads.

On Broadcast TV, MetroPCS ran 60,426 spots with the biggest blast taking place last month in March with 6,545 spots.

POSTED: April 18, 2011

Yoplait is a brand of yogurt produced by the two French companies, SODIAAL and PAI Partners. Back in 1964, 100,000 farmers merged their regional dairy co-ops to sell nationally. A year later, two in particular, “Yola” and “Coplait,” came together to form Yoplait.

Yoplait can be credited for the introduction of the throw-away yogurt packaging that we are familiar with today. They also introduced the first fruit yogurt to France in 1967. In 1969, the first Yoplait franchise was allowed in Switzerland and the company is now present in 70 countries around the world.

Here in the United States, Yoplait yogurt is distributed by General Mills after signing a franchise agreement in 1977. Under the Yoplait label, General Mills also markets Trix Yogurt, based on the flavors of their breakfast cereal of the same name, and Go-Gurt, where various flavors are packaged in plastic tubes for spoon-less eating; these brands are targeted to children. A pro-biotic line of yogurt which features ingredients to aid digestion and fitness is marketed under the brand name Yo-Plus.

According to the Yoplait website, more than 17,600 Yoplait products are consumed every minute worldwide. Yoplait is the world’s second ranking brand in ultra-fresh products, with about 2,500 currently on the market. They have 1,300 employees in France and 1,500 throughout Europe.

Dannon is a wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe Danone whose origins date back to the 1920s and Spanish businessman, Isaac Carasso. Carasso’s son, Daniel, came to the United States in 1942 with Joe Metzger, a Swiss-born Spanish businessman, and Metzger's son Juan. They purchased a small yogurt factory in New York City and continued production using the family formula but changing the name from Danone to Dannon.

One of the company’s major developments came in 1947 with its introduction of the fruit-on-the-bottom variety which featured yogurt with a layer of strawberry preserves on the bottom. This satisfied the American public’s taste for a sweeter, less tart blend and was key in the acceptance of yogurt as a popular product. They also pioneered a low-fat yogurt for the weight- conscious customer as well as wax cup containers, replacing expensive, re-usable jars. By the 1980’s, Dannon had success with frozen yogurt as well as a pre-mixed variety called Melange.

In 1959 the company was acquired by Chicago-based Beatrice Foods Co. for between $3 million and $3.5 million in stock. Metzger continued to head its Dannon yogurt subsidiary and became its chairman of the board in 1965. In 1981, Dannon was acquired from Beatrice by BSN-Gervais-Danone, now known as Groupe Danone. Dannon's corporate headquarters moved from New York City to White Plains, NY in the 1980s and to Tarrytown, NY in 1994.

Today, Dannon is the nation’s leading producer of yogurt and the world’s best-selling brand. They feature over 100 different types of flavors, styles, and sizes of fresh dairy products. Some well known yogurt varieties include Dannon Light, Blended, Sprinkl’ins, Danimals, Double Delights, and Activia. They currently have over 1,300 employees.

On Cable, Yoplait ran 173,727 spots in the last 12 months, while Dannon ran 246,821 ads. Yoplait ran about 70% of the ads that Dannon ran with Yoplait biggest splash in October with 33,642 spots. Dannon’s biggest month was August with 32,423 spots.

On Radio both players barely lifted the lid on this media. Yoplait ran only 2,867 spots in the last 12 month, while Dannon was even thinner with 1,816 spots.

On TV, Yoplait led with 326,607 spots to Dannon’s 256,745 ads. Looks like Yoplait spend biggest in January with 38,028, while Dannon’s biggest month was July with 37,827 spots.

Posted: April 18, 2011

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