Media

Going social is no longer an experiment for marketers; it is a reality. There is no question that companies and brands are investing real dollars in social network marketing. However, paid advertising in social networks—banners, text ads and search advertising, as well as the more targeted advertising being deployed by Facebook and MySpace—is only a fraction of the spending.

Journal Register Company announced the appointment of John Paton as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Paton joins the Company from impreMedia LLC, where he has been Chairman, Chief Executive and President of the U.S. Hispanic media company that he co-founded in 2003. Former Univision Television Group COO – Mike Wortsman will be the interim CEO of Impremedia until a replacement for Mr. Paton is identified.

ESPN and Tecate, cerveza con carácter, announced the renewal of their boxing sponsorship agreement that aligns the company with ESPN’s Spanish and English-language boxing content on TV, online and on radio; highlighted by the title sponsorship of the Tecate Friday Night Fights Studio within weekly Friday Night Fights telecasts on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

Two-thirds of cell phone owners and owners of PDA devices will replace them within the next two years, according to a poll just completed by ICR/International Communications Research, a full-service custom research company in Media, PA.

TNS released results of its annual Global Telecoms and Insight Study. The study was comprised of over 24,000 consumers in 35 markets. GTI 2010 is designed to offer a strategic framework that informs brand strategy, product development and channel planning throughout the mobile technology industry. Download report here.

Eastlan Ratings has joined with Bustos Media and Radio Campesina, in launching an initiative to work collaboratively in the design of a new radio ratings product focused exclusively on the understanding the impact of Hispanic radio listeners.

An oft-cited fear of brands is that online consumers will post negative comments about them, especially on social media where opinions can be broadcast far and wide. In their “Social Media and Online PR Report,” Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia explored ways marketers can combat brand bashing.

Worldwide data from Trendstream and Lightspeed Research sheds light on the user-generated content activities of Internet users around the world.

In the US, a mature Internet market, managing a social network profile was the top online user-generated content activity, participated in by 44.2% of Web users. This was followed closely by uploading photos. Uploading video, blogging and microblogging were significantly less popular.