IAG has done a study of over 1,000 “hybrid” ads, which closely merge advertising with content to combat ad-skipping. The ads generated 30% higher brand recall than traditional ads. The study found that Jay Leno’s recent live-to-air ad for Garmin doubled that company’s usual viewer recall numbers, and CW’s “content wraps” were among the highest-scoring hybrid formulas.
THE RIAA has won its much-publicized lawsuit against a woman accused of uploading 24 songs to users on Kazaa. The jury found the defendant liable for over $9,000 per song, for a total penalty of $222,000. More importantly, the case may have set a new precedent by ruling that simply making songs available for download is form of copyright infringement.
ANDERSON ANALYTICS has released the results of its third annual fall brand survey of college students. Facebook has replaced MySpace as the most popular website amongst the demographic, and overall social-networking is twice as popular with young women than it is with young men. Apple was cited as the second overall best brand, and the iPod was the most popular MP3 player. The group also likes Verizon, Harry Potter, Grey’s Anatomy, Snickers, The New York Yankees, Taco Bell and Coca-Cola.
MICROSOFT announced updated sales figures for Halo 3, its wildly-successful video game. Halo 3’s first-week worldwide sales totaled $300 million. Previously, Microsoft had announced that first-day dales totaled $170 million. The game also helped double sales of the Xbox consoles for the week.