Weekly Spots

POSTED: March 26, 2012

(White Plains, NY) March 26, 2012 – According to Arbitron, New Orleans, LA is the 47th largest radio market according to Arbitron with a population of 1,193,300. In the aftermath of the hurricane Katrina, the population dropped so low, that New Orleans was listed as the 57th market. It’s good to see the Big Easy back.

• La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.

• In the early 20th century, New Orleans’ most significant development was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood. Before this improvement, urban development was largely limited to higher ground along natural river levees and bayous.

• When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, the city's federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in American history. 80% of the city flooded. Tens of thousands of residents who had remained in the city made their way to what were called “shelters of last resort” - the Louisiana Superdome and the Morial Convention Center were two of them. Over 1,500 people died in Louisiana during the Katrina hurricane.

• Annually, tourism in New Orleans can be as much as a $5.5 billion industry and accounts for 40 percent of New Orleans' tax revenues. Tourism employs as many as 85,000 people, making it New Orleans' top industry.

• Universities of New Orleans include: Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, the University of New Orleans, Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans and Xavier University of Louisiana.

• The influence of Jazz can be felt everywhere. Some of the great names in music were from New Orleans: Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Harry Connick, Jr., the Marsalis family, which includes Branford, Ellis, Jason, and Wynton, Dr. John Rebennack and the talented Neville Brothers.

• Professional sports in the crescent city has the one time champions of the NFL the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA, the New Orleans VooDoo of the AFL, and the New Orleans Zephyrs (baseball) of the PCL.

NEW ORLEANS SPOT TEN

The #1 radio advertiser in New Orleans last week was THE HOME DEPOT with 472 spots. Coming in #2 was GEICO with 433 commercials, while NCAA BASKETBALL leaps from #15 to #3 with 314 ads. CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT stays steady at #4 and rolled 307 spots and ROOMS TO GO moved into #5 running with 299 spots. LOWE’S was #6 with 293 spots, while CHARTER BUNDLE (Cable, Phone, Internet) was #7 airing 279 announcements. DISNEY ON ICE skated into #8 with 263 spots and CHARTER HIGH SPEED INTERNET logged in at #9 with 244 spots Soaring from #90 to #10 was COCA-COLA ZERO 238 spots.

VOCATIONAL & TRAINING SCHOOLS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In the category of Vocational Training Schools, C.R. ENGLAND TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL parks at #1 with 719 spots nationwide. PC PROSCHOOLS sets up at #2 with 528 ads, while AVIATION INSTITUTE OF MAINTENANCE lands at #3 airing 493 spots. PIMA MEDICAL INSTITUTE takes #4 with 466 commercials and NEW HORIZONS COMPUTER LEARNING CENTERS connect at #5 with 437 spots. LINCOLN TECHNICAL INSTITUTE was solid at #6 with 384 ads, while ITT TECHNICAL INSTITUTE was #7 running 341 commercials. GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING was #8 with 309 spots and BEAUTY SCHOOLS OF AMERICA was #9 with 308 ads. FOUNTAINHEAD COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY took #10 with their 267 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

With the early good weather, more and more folks are getting into the backyard sooner and THE HOME DEPOT is ready coming in #1 again with 46,913 spots nationally. GEICO stayed at #2 with 37,686 spots, while SAM’S CLUB made its move into #3 last week clearing 25,280 spots. MCDONALD’S moved from #3 to #4 airing 23,993 commercials, while HONDA DEALER ASSOCIATION climbs to #5 with 20,948 spots. OF NOTE: There were more than 90,000 spots run by automobile dealer associations last week in the top 100 list.

Posted: March 26, 2012

United Healthcare started as Charter Med Incorporated in 1974 by a group of physicians and other health care professionals who want to expand health coverage options for consumers.

In 1977, United HealthCare Corporation was created to reorganize the company and became the parent company of Charter Med Incorporated. United HealthCare introduced such health care innovations as pharmacy/drug formularies, hospital admission pre-certification processes, physician office software to manage and control costs, mental health/chemical dependency intermediaries (behavioral health) and an insurance wrap as one feature on top of traditional HMO products.

By 1979 United HealthCare Corporation introduced the first network-based health plan for seniors and participates in the earliest experiments with offering private-market alternatives for Medicare. The company took the leap in 1984 and became a publicly traded company, specializing in technology and service systems for health care.

In 1995 they acquired The MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.65 billion. MetraHealth was formed by combining the group health care operations of The Travelers Insurance Company and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

In 2002, UnitedHealth Group acquired AmeriChoice to serve the most vulnerable populations in public programs. Later that year, UnitedHealthcare merged its legacy Medicaid business into AmeriChoice, with its strong management and holistic approach to serving this market.

According to their website, in 2010 Health care related financial account assets held by OptumHealth Financial Services (a division of UnitedHealthcare) reach more than $1 billion; consumer accounts grew to more than 2.2 million. Individuals served by consumer-driven health plans increase to 3.4 million people in the same year.

In their 2011 annual report they claim revenues of $8.35 million with losses of $-7.52 million, but also say that they had sales growth in 2011 of 118.8%. They have 80,000 employees.

On Local Cable, United Healthcare ran 55.9% of all their media, which totaled 257,075 spots in the last 12 months. Their biggest month was October when they ran 42,355 spots.

On Radio United Healthcare ran 94,947 ads in the last 12 months. Their big push was September when they ran 18,441 spots.

On Broadcast TV, the insurance giant ran 107,976 spots in the last 12 months. The hottest month was November when they cleared 15,571 spots.

POSTED: March 26, 2012

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) is a Japanese multinational corporation known for the manufacturing of automobiles and motorcycles. In October 1946, Soichiro Honda established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Two years later, the company was founded upon the engineering of Honda’s first motorcycle, the Honda Cub.

On June 11, 1959, American Honda Motor Company was established in Los Angeles, California as the first overseas subsidiary. By 1964, Honda Motor Company was the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles.

By the late 1960s, Honda began to diversify into making cars and trucks as well as power equipment. In 1969, American Honda began selling its first automobile, the Honda N600; however major success came later in 1973 with the introduction of the Honda Civic. Because of the oil crisis of the late 1970s, Japanese compact cars, especially the Civic, found a worldwide market with sales reaching the 1 million mark in 1976.

Also in 1976, the Honda Accord model was introduced and by 1982, the Accord was manufactured in the U.S and found popularity with middle-class Americans who wanted high-quality, reliable, and affordable cars. With the success of the Accord, Honda developed their luxury brand, Acura, in 1986.

Between the years of 1990-1992, the Honda Accord became the most popular, best-selling car in the United States. By the end of the last century, the Honda Insight was launched as America’s first gasoline electric hybrid automobile with an EPA rating of 70 miles per gallon.

Today, Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world, the fourth largest in the United States, and the second largest Japanese car manufacturer, surpassing Nissan in 2001.

Honda reported 2011 revenues of $107.479 billion with net income $6.423 billion, which represented a 4.2% 2011 growth in sales. They have 179,060 employees.

Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) is also a multinational automaker whose headquarters are in Japan. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father's loom and weaving company to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA.

Following WWII, Toyota began focusing on the small car market to avoid competition with American car manufacturers and their first small car prototype was made in 1947. In 1950, company executives Eiji Yoyoda and Shoichi Saito, visited the United States and the Ford Motor Company factories to learn the latest automobile technology. Following this trip, Toyota introduced the first four-wheel drive Land Cruiser in 1951 as well as the Toyopet Crown, Toyopet Master and Crown in 1955. Two years later, the Crown prototype was exported to the U.S. and Toyota Motor Sales, USA was formed.

In 1966, the Toyota Corolla went on sale in Japan and quickly became Japan’s most popular family car and led the market for compact cars.

By the 1980s, Toyota had surpassed the United States in their combined automobile production and ranked only second to General Motors in total number of cars produced.

In 1984, Toyota entered into a joint manufacturing venture with General Motors called New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc (NUMMI) and by 1988, Toyota Motor Management, USA, Inc. began production of Toyota models. One year later, Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus, was launched in the U.S.

After gaining success with their compact and mid size cars, Toyota began to branch out to producing larger, more luxury vehicles in the 1990s. In October 1997, Toyota launched their first hybrid car, the Toyota Prius.

By March 1998, demand was already exceeding supply and the Prius is now the top selling hybrid vehicle in America. At decades end, Toyota had produced 100 million vehicles domestically.

By 2000, Toyota’s total world-wide production exceeded 5 million vehicles. In 2002, Toyota began to produce a new brand of cars called Scion that was targeted to Generation Y in the North American Market.

In Toyota’s most recent history, the company was subject to international media scrutiny as well as U.S. Government investigation regarding problems with unintended acceleration and sticking accelerator pedals. The company issued recalls of approximately 9 million vehicles and cost Toyota $16.375 million in penalties.

Fiscal year (March to March) 2011 annual report shows Toyota Motor Company creating net revenues of $228.247 billion. They have 317,716 employees. Toyota’s financial services division made a net profit of $286.8 billion.

Of note, both companies were greatly affected by the earthquake and tsunami of last year. With many parts factories shut down for long periods, both companies dedicated their year back to more pressing domestic challenges at home. But as you can see, both companies are strong advertisers on American media.

On Local Cable, Toyota is out spending Honda. Toyota ran 595,472 spots, while Honda ran 229,267 ads in the last 12 months. Toyota’s biggest month was November with 67,161 spots and Honda ran hottest in October with 34,006 spots.

On Radio, Toyota ran 527,714 spots against Honda’s 243,894 spots in the last 12 months. Toyota’s hottest month was January 2012 with 63,239 spots, while Honda’s biggest month was last March 2011 with 51,655 spots.

On Broadcast TV, Toyota leads again with 690,564 spots in the last 12 months, while Honda ran 484,923 spots. Toyota’s biggest month was December 2011 with 76,740 spots and Honda ran hottest last month January 2012 with 58,214 spots.

Posted: March 26, 2012

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