Marketing budgets are finally showing signs of life as the economy rebounds

The difference between 18- to 49-year-olds and 25- to 54-year-olds is much more than just a few years. The conventional wisdom in the advertising and television industries is that 18-to-49 is the "money" demographic; that they're the viewers that advertisers want most to reach because they have disposable income and are not yet locked into product loyalty. They are also the hardest to reach, in that they -- particularly young men -- watch less television. For years, NBC -- thanks to "Friends" and other youthful comedies -- has owned the 18-to-49 demographic. But now CBS, which steadily has been eating away at NBC's lead among younger viewers, is making the case that slightly older viewers actually are more important to advertisers. Not surprisingly, CBS has long held the lead in the 25-to-54 age group.

Media shops handling the two biggest print advertisers--General Motors and Procter & Gamble--have quietly signed up to use controversial new magazine audience research that will tell them not just how many people read the magazines they plan and buy, but also what their emotional connections are with the titles and their content. The research is controversial because some of the biggest magazine publishing groups are concerned that the data may destabilize the dominant market positions their publications have enjoyed on the basis of the traditional magazine industry currency, Mediamark Research Inc.'s (MRI) audience estimates.

Howard Altman cleaned out his desk on Friday, May 14. He was fired by Publisher Paul Curci after a little over a year in the top editorial job and nearly a decade at the paper. Mike Newall reports in the rival PW-Philadelphia Weekly that some former staffers describe Altman as too disorganized, too wrapped up in his own reporting and weekly column to fulfill his leadership responsibilities, and too much of a news hound to appreciate the work of the arts staff. Others praised him as a hard-boiled reporter and an editor who nurtured reporters by not interfering with their writing voices.