Business

As Americans buy products, seek information, plan their social lives, and make personal and business decisions, the lines between media channels in the 21st century have become increasingly blurred, according to the third annual U.S. Media Myths & Realities survey.

While the tremors of the global financial crisis in mid-2008 impacted almost every industry and every region, overall global advertising markets held strong to record 2.9 percent growth in the quarter from July to September 2008 (Q3), in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, according to Nielsen’s global advertising trends report, Global AdView Pulse.

A new quarterly research report introduced by Centris provides insight into how economic conditions may affect a company’s revenue derived from TV, Internet and media services. The study reveals that although a significant number of households in the United States are unlikely to reduce their consumption of communication and media services as a result of economic conditions, there is still a potential impact on provider revenue.

Legendary Puertorican actor and producer Tommy Muñiz passes at the age of 85.

Mr. Muñiz impacted the media scene both in Puerto Rico and the US Hispanic Market.

Mexican- born actor Ricardo Montalban has died at the age of 88.

Ricardo, along with many of our US Hispanic Industry pioneers, helped build awareness about Hispanic in the US and our advertising Industry.

Americans and Latinos a like enjoyed his acting abilities and he will be missed.

Credit markets freeze. Financial institutions implode. Economic benchmarks plummet. Consumer spending plunges. Unemployment skyrockets. Bail out plans are unveiled. Global markets fall like dominoes and consumers tighten their hold on wallets. What are a retailer and manufacturer to do? Read on for strategies on how to manage the economic downturn.

As I listened to last Fall’s Big Three congressional hearings, which revived talk about a possible GM-Chrysler merger, call me crazy but I wondered whether we should also be talking about a merger between Univision and Telemundo.

There certainly would be some who would fret about a merger, on the grounds that it might imply that the Hispanic market is shrinking (when we know it’s actually booming), but I think the entire marketplace–viewers and advertisers–would actually benefit. There would certainly be cases of redundancy, requiring some elimination of positions, but in the end I think we’d see a much more robust, more potent Hispanic media empire that would be better poised to confront a rapidly evolving market. For I honestly believe that when we eventually come out of this economic nightmare, we will see that certain CHANGED consumer behaviors have become PERMANENT. We ALL need to be prepared for that.

Published by Manny Gonzalez. To view El Blog CLICK above.

HispanicAd.com spent some quality time with Fernando Rodriguez – CEO of Terra USA and asked about the new re-launch.

According to Arbitron in this week’s investor call, they admitted that the legal fees to overcome the problems with the PPM in Q4 2008 cost between $4 to $6 million dollars to resolve the legal challenges to the PPM system by the NY Attorney General (AG) and the NJ Attorney General (AG). This does not include the minuscule amount of about $400K being paid to cover the legal fees of interested parties defending the minority broadcasters and agency interest. By Gene Bryan. To view El Blog CLICK on link above.

For many, the question is when they will start using digital.

Small businesses in the US will not cut spending on most forms of online advertising in 2009, judging by a survey conducted in December 2008 by Ad-ology Research. A higher percentage of respondents said they planned to spend “about the same” in 2009 than planned to change their spending.