From Ad Age. Full story here.

Print Still Reigns, but More Retailers Turn to TV, Online Ads for Holidays

BDO Survey: Flat Holiday Budgets Mean a Little Less for Print as Marketers Spread Resources

By Natalie Zmuda
Published: November 29, 2010

"Retailers are investing their holiday advertising and marketing dollars across a widening set of platforms, as they emerge from the recession," said Steve Ferrara, partner-retail and consumer product practice at BDO USA. "The fact that only 20% cite a decrease in budgets signals that they have a bit more flexibility in how they stretch their advertising and marketing spend."

Many retailers are scrutinizing the budgets they do have and allocating more to TV. One-quarter of CMOs said they were spending most of their budget on broadcast this year, up from 13% a year ago. Best Buy is just one of the retailers increasing its presence on TV this holiday. The retailer, which said it would increase its TV spending by a low double-digit percentage, began running holiday spots on Dec. 1 this year. To free up funds for TV, the retailer pulled money away from inserts.

Most CMOs -- 42% -- said they allocate most of their holiday budget to print ads, down from 64% a year ago. And 27% said they'd be investing the bulk of their budget in online ads, including social-networking sites. That's up from just 18% last year.

Overall, social media is gaining traction among retailers, many of whom still needed to make major improvements to the strategies used last year. According to the survey, 75% of retailers are utilizing social media this year, up from 51% a year ago. Facebook is the clear winner there, with 92% of CMOs utilizing the site. More than 60% say they use Twitter, while just 20% use YouTube and only 8% use MySpace.

"Retail CMOs' sharpening and increasing focus on social-networking sites speaks to the growing popularity and effectiveness of this medium to reach consumers across demographics," said Mr. Ferrara. "The low-cost nature of social networking gives retailers more room to boost their broadcast media investment for the holiday season."

Still, social media is a relatively small part of retailers' overall budgets. The majority, 62%, said less than 10% of their marketing efforts would focus on social-networking sites, while just over 1% said 70% to 79% of their efforts would revolve around those sites.

 From YahooNews. Full story here

LIVONIA, Mich. – News Corp. subsidiary News America Marketing has agreed to pay rival Valassis Communications Inc. $500 million to settle antitrust charges.

Valassis, a marketing company that provides direct mail and coupons, said the deal settles lawsuits it filed in several states against News America Marketing. Among them is a jury decision in Michigan circuit court last July that awarded Valassis $300 million in damages. News America was appealing that ruling.

Valassis accused News America of threatening customers with price hikes for not offering exclusivity in marketing deals.

Meanwhile, News America argued that Valassis tried to force higher marketing rates by publicly announcing price changes.

In a statement Saturday, News Corp. said it did not want to risk presenting the case to a jury in Michigan federal court, where it was scheduled for trial Tuesday. Citing unspecified concerns over the venue in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said News Corp. decided "it was in the best interests of the company and its stockholders to agree to a settlement."

Valassis said the deal also includes a 10-year shared mail distribution agreement with News America.