The Afternoon Report, November 13, 2008

This information, called The Afternoon Report, is provided by a daily email blast from the publicity firm of Boneau Bryan-Brown, which maintains this blog.


Broadway ticket sales bounce back after dismal week
TicketNews – by Carol-Ann Rudy
“Broadway proved its resilience once again, bouncing back this week from a low the previous reporting period. This week's box offices ticket sales totaled $17,125,791 compared to last week's $15,656,656. The same week last season saw gross receipts of only $11,070,673. Overall, the season to date has shined with this current season totals of $423,228,950 while last season saw ticket sales of $410,292,971. – Speaking of Shrek, a new Broadway production marketing tool makes its appearance in the form of a social networking website. According to BroadwayWorld, fairy tale characters will populate the pages, allowing young Shrek fans to interact with the characters. It remains to be seen if it will have a significant effect on ticket sales. Coming up soon will a musical about Betty Boop, the cartoon character created by Max Fleischer. A shocker in the 30s, the producers plan to open at a Nederlander Theatre in the 2010-2011 season. The book is by Oscar Williams and Sally Robinson, and music by Canadian David Foster with more details still to come.”
I was not familiar with this website before I saw this article. Interesting.


Social Networks Steal Time From TV, but There’s Hope
Advertising Age – by Mike Vorhaus
“We've found that more than a third -- 38% -- of all 12-to-64-year-olds online in the U.S. indicate that they regularly use social networks. And it's not just the younger population using them. A third of women ages 35 to 44, for example, reported that they regularly use the sites. – With all this time being spent on social-networking sites, it isn't surprising that many believe they are reducing other activities. Specifically, we asked people if they believed they were watching less TV since they started using social-networking sites. Over 25% of those using social-networking sites indicated that their TV viewing is being cannibalized. – While this might seem like bad news for networks, as advertisers trying to reach this group may increasingly turn their attention from traditional media to social networks, it also represents an opportunity to tie the two together. For example, companies such as CBS are integrating community features into their online video players, and Joost is counting on social-networking strategies, such as tapping into Facebook for some social video-sharing tools.”
I wonder if, with all this social networking, we aren't spending less time socializing.


Facebook App Lets Ads Battle for Supremacy
Advertising Age – posted by Ken Wheaton
“In its simplest form Ad Battle, a collaboration between Buddy Media and Atmosphere BBDO's Jason Culbertson, is sort of like “Hot or Not,” but with ads. Watch two spots or look at two print ads, then decide which is better. You're told if you voted with the majority or not and then you move on to two new ads. Anyone who's wasted a half hour on “Hot or Not” or any similar website knows how ridiculously addictive this can be. But the fun doesn't stop there. You can upload your own contenders and see how the ads you choose fare against those uploaded by others. You can see where this would get interesting for marketers and agencies. I'd call it something similar to consumer ad testing, but I suspect most of the people playing along at the moment are people in the industry -- like the folks in the "I'm in advertising ... Hell yeah!" Facebook group.”
Um, yeah, okay.

Sphere: Related Content