Weekly Spots

POSTED: April 23, 2012

(White Plains, NY) April 23, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Des Moines, IA is the 73rd largest radio market with a population of 663,900.

• Incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, the city owes its name to the Des Moines River. The fort was built where the Des Moines and the Raccoon Rivers merge, and they wanted to call it Fort Raccoon, however the US War Department told them to name it Fort Des Moines. They could have been Raccoon, Iowa.

• Des Moines is an important city in presidential politics because as the capital of Iowa, it is home to the Iowa Caucus. The Iowa Caucus has been the first major electoral event in nominating the President of the United States since 1972. This year, statistically, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum garnered 25% of the vote, but Santorum was eventually declared the winner. He has since suspended his campaign.

• Des Moines also has gained national recognition as a major insurance center (the third largest in the world) with nearly 60 life, health, and casualty insurance companies.

• The City's climate-controlled skywalk system serves as an important link to parking garages, hotels, restaurants, stores, and businesses. Skywalks make up more blocks per capita in Des Moines than in any other city in the U.S.

• Famous People from Des Moines and Iowa: legendary baseball player Cap Anson; legendary TV host Johnny Carson was born in Corning, Iowa; scout and hunter “Buffalo Bill” Cody; wrestler Dan Gable; 31st President Herbert Hoover; band leader Glenn Miller; and movie star John Wayne.

DES MOINES SPOT TEN

In Des Moines last week, the #1 radio advertiser was THE HOME DEPOT with 747 spots. GEICO slotted into #2 with 349 spots, while REGIONALHELPWANTED.COM came in #3 airing 337 announcements. CHARLES GABUS FORD found #4 with 293 spots and JEEP (Stew Hansen Auto Group) was #5 with 281 commercials. THE PALM ITALIAN CAFÉ took #6 with 271 spots, while GET MOTIVATED! (Seminars) jumped from #12 to #7 with 266 ads. Walking into #8 was WAL-MART with 263 spots and US CELLULAR landed at #9 running 250 spots. CHEVROLET DEALER ASSOCIATION was #10 with 234 spots.

LOTTERY SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

With the many lotteries in America, we always have a winner! At #1 last week, it’s the CALIFORNIA LOTTERY with 2,197 spots. Coming in #2 was the FLORIDA LOTTERY with 2,109 spots, while the TEXAS LOTTERY soared from #36 to #3 with 1,188 announcements. The MICHIGAN LOTTERY was #4 with 955 ads and the POWERBALL (National) was #5 with 832 spots. The NEW YORK LOTTERY (Hey you never know) was #6 airing 685 commercials, while the GEORGIA LOTTERY was lucky #7 with 612 spots. OHIO LOTTERY clocked in at #8 with 589 spots and the 10X CASH game took #9 with 519 spots. The ILLIONOIS LOTTERY landed on #10 running 356 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Still on top, THE HOME DEPOT maintains #1 with a grand total of 69,839 spots ran last week. GEICO was #2 again with 38,508 ads, while MCDONALD’S was lovin’ it at #3 airing 27,431 commercials. WAL-MART moves from #26 to #4 with a burst of 23,491 spots. And coming in #5 was AUTOZONE with 18,068 spots.

Posted: April 23, 2012

L'Oréal, one of the largest companies in France, is the world's largest manufacturer of high-quality cosmetics and perfumes. The most notable L’Oréal brand names are Garnier, L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, Redken, Matrix, Lancôme, Biotherm, Helena Rubenstein, Kiehl’s, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Cacharel, Viktor & Rolf, Diesel and YSL Beaute.

Its total sales are billions ahead of those of its closest competitor, Unilever, and more than double those of Revlon and Shiseido. It boasts a world-wide distribution network as well as the industry's highest research-and-development budget and the largest cosmetology laboratory in the world.

L'Oréal's story begins in turn-of-the-century Paris, at a time when women of the demi-monde dyed their hair, their choice restricted to fiery red or coal black. In 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young chemist, began to concoct the first synthetic hair dyes by night in his kitchen and sell them to hair salons in the morning under the brand name Auréole. His strategy was successful; within two years he established the Société Françoise des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux, which soon afterward became L'Oréal.

In 1912, the company extended its sales to Austria, Holland and Italy and by 1920 its products were available in a total of 17 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the Soviet Union, and in the Far East.

In 1933, Schueller commissioned famous artists of the time to design posters and also launched his own women's magazine, Votre Beauté. Dop, the first mass-market shampoo, was promoted through children's hair-lathering competitions at the highly popular French circuses and by 1938 L'Oréal was advertising its hair products with radio jingles.

As L'Oréal entered the mid-1990s, the company found itself engaged in a battle with rivals Proctor & Gamble and Unilever for worldwide domination of the mass cosmetic and fragrance markets. L'Oréal seemed determined to remain the leader, hiking its advertising budget by as much as 50 percent for some products, and creating a whole new image for most of its color cosmetics.

This international giant makes more than $25 billion in revenues annually and has more than 65,000 employees.

On Local Cable, L'Oréal ran 1,292,483 spots in the last 12 months. Their biggest month was last August with 142,155 spots. As a matter of fact, 54.35% of all their spots were placed on Local Cable.

On the Radio, L'Oréal only ran 41,066 spots in the last 12 months, with their strong month being last May 2011 with 15,079 spots and their low month was December with only 7 spots nationally.

On Broadcast TV, L'Oréal ran 1,044,476 spots in the last 12 months with the biggest month being last August when they ran 108,769 spots.

POSTED: April 23, 2012

Time Warner Cable was formed in 1989 through the merger of Time Inc.'s cable television company, American Television and Communications Corp., and Warner Cable, a division of Warner Communications. After being a part of Time Warner, Inc for 20 years, Time Warner Cable is now no longer affiliated with them as of March 2009. Time Warner Cable operates in 28 states and is headquartered in the Time Warner building in New York City.

Like Comcast Xfinity, Time Warner has its own bundle of services that are offered to customers. Time Warner’s Triple Play offers Digital Cable, Road Runner High Speed Internet, as well as Digital Home Phone with unlimited nationwide calling.

In late 2005, Time Warner Cable and several other cable companies formed a venture with Sprint Nextel. This joint venture enables TWC customers to receive a full suite of products, linking in-home and out-of-home entertainment, information, and communications services. All of this was included in the new "Triple Play On The Go", similar to the Triple Play but an addition of new services through Sprint Nextel.

In the summer of 2006, Time Warner Cable and Comcast completed a deal to purchase nearly all of Adelphia Communications Corporation assets for $17 billion. Time Warner Cable gained 3.3 million of Adelphia's subscribers, a 29 percent increase, while Comcast took about 1.7 million subscribers in the buy-out.

As Comcast and Time Warner were working out the details of stock, they agreed to exchange subscribers to consolidate in certain markets. For example, in LA Time Warner gained the market, but in Philadelphia, Comcast took the market.

According to public records, Time Warner Cable had revenues of $19.675 billion with profits of $1.665 billion. They have 47,300 employees.

Comcast was originally formed as American Cable Systems in 1963 by Ralph J. Roberts, Daniel Aaron, and Julian A. Brodsky. They started with their first cable system in Tupelo, Mississippi. The company was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1969, under the new name Comcast Corporation. The name "Comcast" is a portmanteau of the words "Communication" and "Broadcast".

Fully - or partially - owned Comcast programming includes: Comcast Newsmakers, CN8, Comcast SportsNet, SportsNet New York, MLB Network, Comcast Sports Southeast/Charter Sports Southeast, E! Entertainment, Style Network, G4, Versus, The Golf Channel, AZN Television, and FEARnet. Comcast also has a variety network known as Comcast Network, available exclusively to Comcast and Cablevision subscribers.

Xfinity is the name for the re-branded triple play services in Comcast's largest markets, which include the company's digital cable, cable Internet access, and cable telephone services. Smaller markets currently retain the Comcast branding for all services until they have been upgraded to full digital services. The name changes for each of the triple play services are as follows: Comcast Digital Cable is now called "Xfinity TV", Comcast Digital Voice is now called "Xfinity Voice", and Comcast High Speed Internet is now called "Xfinity Internet". A major push involving the new Xfinity branding took place during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games coverage on NBC, which was in the early stages of a merger with Comcast. The joint venture with General Electric to form NBCUniversal was completed January 28, 2011. According to Comcast, the name Xfinity stands for infinite content choices and cross-platform features. Comcast Business Class services remain under the "Comcast" name.

Comcast delivered $4.16 billion profit in 2011, up more than 14% from 2010. They have 126,000 employees.

Of course two giants in Cable would advertise a bundle to sell their bundles. Time Warner Cable ran 1,448,499 spots against Comcast’s 1,677,281 ads. The biggest month for Time Warner was last month with 138,558 spots, while Comcast’s also ran hot last month with 158,414 ads.

On the Radio, Comcast is running faster than Time Warner. Comcast ran 682,908 spots in the last 12 months, while Time Warner ran 409,687 spots. Time Warner Cable ran hottest last month with 69,675 spots and Comcast ran the most radio ad last September with 55,198 spots.

On Broadcast TV, Time Warner was the winner in this face-off with 877,599 spots to Comcast’s 547,462 spots in the last 12 months. Comcast ran the most spots last month March 2012 with 57,470, while Time Warner opened the year hot in January with 82,377 ads.

Posted: April 23, 2012

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