By Jeanine PoggiAdvertising AgeNetflix is adamant that its streaming service will not cannibalize the cable industry, but Nickelodeon’s recent ratings decline may provide the first suggestion that at least one subset of viewers is at risk of abandoning live TV.While Nick parent Viacom has blamed Nielsen for at least some of Nickelodeon’s apparent ratings drop, the decline also coincides with new high-water marks for Netflix streaming. Netflix subscribers watched more than 2 billion hours of movies and TV shows through its streaming service in the fourth quarter of 2011, more than in any previous quarter, the company said early last month.This statistic suggests that Netflix subscribers are averaging an hour of streaming content daily, according to Janney Capital Market analyst Tony Wible."While this can’t be proven yet, it seems more than coincidental that this 2 billion stat comes during the same quarter as Viacom’s disastrous Nickelodeon ratings," Mr. Wible said. "This could mean Viacom sold too much of its content to Netflix or isn’t charging enough."Netflix and Nickelodeon don’t think there’s a connection. Netflix notes that it has worked with many cable networks without pressuring ratings. "By way of example, Netflix has had the Starz catalog since 2008 and Starz subscribers grew during that time," a Netflix spokesperson said.Nickelodeon remains positive on its partnership with Netflix. Netflix subscribers streamed no more Nickelodeon content during the fourth quarter than in the summer, when the network’s ratings were stable, according to one person at Nickelodeon.Netflix has been showing increased interest in viewers under 12 years old, however, introducing a "Just for Kids" channel to its website in August and extending it to the Nintendo Wii in October and Apple TV in December. The section features family-friendly content organized based on favorite characters, viewer age and other easy-to-navigate subgroups.Neflix declined to say how much of the fourth quarter’s 2 billion hours of streaming came from children’s programming. When "Just for Kids" was released, Netflix said that nearly half of its users in the United States and Canada had streamed two or more movies or shows intended for children during the previous 90 days.Nickelodeon isn’t alone in its ratings concerns, with some pressure being felt at other children’s cable networks, including the Cartoon Network and Disney XD. But other networks’ declines aren’t as pronounced.Their content offerings on Netflix, and other streaming services like Hulu, also aren’t as robust, according to Mr. Wible.In May, Viacom increased the amount of its content available on Netflix, giving subscribers access to Nickelodeon favorites such as "Yo Gabba Gabba" and more episodes of "Spongebob SquarePants," "iCarly," "True Jackson, VP" and "Dora the Explorer."Nickelodeon also attracts a slightly younger demographic than the Disney Channel, its biggest competitor, whose ratings have remained steady. Nielsen puts Nickelodeon’s target audience at 2- through 11-year-olds, compared to Disney’s 6- through 14-year-olds.Young children often demand to watch the same show — or even the same episode — over and over, as Netflix pointed out when it introduced "Just for Kids." That may be making it easier for parents to satisfy young children’s demands with on-demand services.If kids are indeed seeing more streaming video and less live TV, that could be worrisome for the traditional model. What happens as those kids grow up?Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings has been vocal about being a "complementary" service to cable, saying on a conference call last week that the company has no plans to bid on the rights for current seasons of TV shows. Instead Mr. Hastings said it is positioning itself as better suited for "catch-up television." "We would rather be additive to cable, not competitive," he said.Cable networks, however, aren’t entirely at ease. Starz subscribers may have increased during the time that Netflix has offered the channel’s content, but Netflix is also now losing Starz content — reportedly because it refused the network’s demand to put Starz content on a premium tier costing subscribers extra.Ultimately, Netflix’s two billion-streaming-hours milestone could have content providers scratching their heads."We think that Netflix has underestimated the resolve of content owners to seek a fair price for their content, and by advertising the 93 hours per subscriber of streaming consumption during the quarter, we believe Netflix has sealed its fate," Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a research note last week.It remains hard to say with certainty whether or how much Nickelodeon ratings are being affected by Netflix. Some observers dispute any connection."We do not believe Nick content availability of Netflix is the culprit," Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang wrote in a research note in December, pointing out that Netflix increased the relevant offerings most dramatically in February 2011, long before the Nickelodeon ratings drop. "Rather, it appears that declines in overall viewership in the people 2-11 demo and ratings share shift to Disney Channel are the main reasons," he wrote.Children are seeing more digital video, but they’re still watching just as much TV as before, said Jack MacKenzie, president at Magid Generational Strategies, a research-based consulting firm. "Kids know mom’s phone or Dad’s tablet is a potential TV show," he said. But Mr. Mackenzie believes these streaming outlets aren’t replacements, but augment the TV viewing experience. "Kids are just watching more," he said.But Needham analyst Laura Martin said it’s important for content providers to continue to evaluate conditions. It’s possible that Netflix can’t pay enough to make up for the risk to live viewers and associated ad revenue, she said.Even if Netflix users aren’t streaming any more Nickelodeon content now than they did before the network’s ratings fell, Mr. Wible added, perhaps some viewers’ turn away from TV is lagging their adoption of streaming."We may see the same level of streaming, but could be seeing it finally displace TV demand were it was not in the past — people are more comfortable without the TV element now," Mr. Wible said. "Lastly, the streaming of Nick needs to be looked at with all the other kids fare on the Netflix service that could be gaining share of time on the site at the expense of TV. It’s too early to know the real story, but it is hard to explain why the Nick ratings are down otherwise."
In Depth
Brad Pitt is well aware that an Internet search of his name yields hundreds of millions of results – not all of them positive and many full-on ridiculous.
Heck, you can learn all about how he got Angelina Jolie pregnant, how he’s having an affair with Jennifer Aniston, and how he worried about Shiloh.
Most or all of which is untrue, of course … which brings us to this quote:
“On all the kids’ computers, we had our own names blocked,” the actor told Germany’s Bild in an interview. “They can’t Google their mom and dad.”
“I don’t want to make myself dependent on what other people think.”
Brad Pitt adds that he and Angelina Jolie aren’t exactly searching for themselves either, for good reason. “We don’t even notice all the noise,” he said.
The same could be said for his stance on aging. Despite being just two years away from the big 5-0, the Moneyball star says he enjoys getting older.
“I love becoming an older man. Your thoughts get clearer.”
Those thoughts may include a wedding in the works. The actor told The Hollywood Reporter – for real this time – that he would like to marry Angelina.
“It seems to mean more and more to our kids,” he added.
Just don’t expect them to find out via celeb gossip sites.
Michelle Duggar, who is pregnant with her 20th child, has made the understatement of all time, saying having that many kids probably isn’t for everyone.
Ya think?
With 18 of her 19 kids still at home, one on the way and two grandchildren, how does Michelle get any rest? “I am taking a power nap every day,” she says.
“And I’m eating a lot of protein and green vegetables and no caffeine, which is a new thing for me,” says the 45-year old star of 19 Kids and Counting.
Michelle and husband Jim Bob Duggar, 46, were believed to have stopped their baby making ways after daughter Josie’s life-threatening preeclampsia.
Not the case.
“I read up a lot on preeclampsia [while pregnant with Josie],” says Michelle, “It is a crazy, random thing. I have been getting counseled from a high-risk pregnancy doctor in Little Rock and taking good care of myself.”
The family’s frightening journey with Josie – born at only 25 weeks and weighing just over a pound in 2009 – was documented on 19 Kids and Counting.
The Duggars having 20 kids:
By the sound of it, the birth of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon‘s children was anything but normal. And we wouldn’t have it any other way! Ha!
In an interview on the Gayle King Show, Nick describes the birth as “a production”, during which he was “the production manager”.
With a camera in one hand and using the other to “play DJ”, the couple made sure the newborn children were welcomed into the world by the best music on Earth: Mariah Carey music! LOLz!
Nick explained the soundtrack of the entire birth by saying:
“My wife wanted to make sure when the babies came out that they came out, not only to a Mariah Carey song, but a live performance from Mariah Carey.”
No, she wasn’t able to belt out all of her hits in the midst of pushing two babies out, but apparently Nick played a recording of a concert at Madison Square Garden.
Watch the interview above to get the full story from Nick!
Do U think that sounds like they went a little overboard or was it cute?
Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton
By Andrew HamppAdvertising AgeThe reformulation of sugary, fatty and high-sodium foods aimed at kids that began in 2007 was supposed to be a wake-up call to the kids media marketplace. The changes to the products, resulting from years of watchdog-group scrutiny and FCC recommendations, sent shockwaves through the sales departments of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney as they scrambled to work with their partners to find new ways to market their products.Four years later, a lot of that ad money has come back — even as sales of some affected products have slowed.The kids’ upfront finished as much as 5% up last year, compared to 2009, at just under billion, on the strength of strong spending among toys, movie studios and renewed spending from packaged-food and quick-service restaurant advertisers. This year’s kids upfront is expected to increase another 3% to 5% based on early estimates from multiple executives. Driving that resurgence is a new focus on targeting parents vs. kids, and a commitment to marketing healthful products.As part of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, issued by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, 17 advertisers, from Burger King to Kraft to Mars, have pledged to improve the health content of their products and change their marketing strategies. Elaine Kolish, VP-director of the CFBAI, said advertisers were in 2007 required to promote healthy products in at least 50% of their media targeted to kids, but all the participating marketers ended up promoting those products in all their kids’ ad time. In January 2010 that became an official requirement. Additionally, Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Mars and Hershey’s have all committed to not advertising at all to children under 12.Food ads are certainly less frequent than non-food ads in an informal media study conducted by the CFBAI last spring. During a 38-hour review of kids’ programming, only 24% of all ads were for food-related products, the rest were for non-food products like games and movies, which were twice as prevalent."Our goal is not to reduce the number of ads to kids but to shift the content [of the ads]," Ms. Kolish said. "Companies have had to discontinue some products, reformulate others and innovate new products once budgets became effective. It’s led to reductions in calories, salt and trans fats."But ads for unhealthful foods haven’t disappeared entirely, said one kids’ cable sales executive."The loophole is they still advertise those brands, they just do it in different places," the executive said, noting that daytime broadcast programming has benefitted from such shifts. "High-sugar cereal, high-sodium lunches, those products’ budgets have only been redirected, not cut." The idea is to target moms — and the kids who might be watching with them.A kids’ media buyer cautioned that such shifts haven’t always made the most economic sense. "We’ve experimented with taking kids’ advertising and running it against moms. That was not particularly effective. The question was, ‘Can we do this inexpensively as opposed to making entirely separate creative to talk about kids’ products?’ And the answer to that was no," the buyer said.As parents have been identified as the new target, kids’ cable networks have added more prime-time programming that appeals to both kids and parents to avoid further ad-related scrutiny and capitalize on the high volume of co-viewing that occurs around the 8 p.m. hour. Nickelodeon recently expanded its Nick At Nite lineup to include an additional hour of family-friendly reruns and original series such as "Glenn Martin D.D.S." The programming block, sold separately from Nickelodeon, posted a 13.6% increase in revenue in 2010, according to Kantar Media, and saw a 40% bump in revenue among non-endemic advertisers.Cartoon Network’s college-targeted Adult Swim also added more prime-time hours, and saw a 9.2% bump in measured ad spending in 2010, according to Kantar. Discovery Communications and Hasbro’s The Hub launched last fall with prime-time reruns of shows like "Happy Days" and "The Wonder Years," and has found some early success in reaching packaged-food and gaming advertisers.Jim Perry, Nickelodeon’s exec VP-360 brand sales, told Ad Age last spring that movies and entertainment had replaced food as the network’s No. 2 ad category. And indeed, only two food clients made up its top 10 biggest spenders in 2010. General Mills was No. 1 with .18 million, an essentially flat change in spending from 2009, while Kellogg Co. was No. 7 with .67 million, down slightly from the previous year, according to Kantar Media. Nick At Nite, however, counts General Mills (No. 3), Kraft Foods (No. 4), Nestlé (No. 
and Hershey Co. (No. 10) among its top clients, with boosts in spending among many.Cartoon Network has also been adding more live-action and sports programming to its schedule to stay competitive in the ratings with its cable peers and capture a higher volume of dollars from the movie-studio, video-game and healthy-food marketers such shows attract. Its first awards show, the sports-themed Hall of Game, attracted marketing partners like Pepperidge Farm, Kids Foot Locker and Sears.One kids’ media buyer suggested the worst of the food-marketing cuts may be over. "They’re continuing to spend at or above the traditional levels. The things that are impacting them now aren’t so much kid advertising rules and restrictions. Those have not been a big problem for the past couple years now," the buyer said, noting that food companies such as Kellogg and General Mills have spent more time lobbying on their products’ behalf in Washington. "They’re trying to do a better job of promoting the positive aspects of their products to fend off any regulatory efforts that might be put in place."
In Depth
Khloe Kardashian — who recently renewed her vows with her husband Lamar Odom —really wants to start a family, but the other hand she is also afraid to have kids.
“I want kids, It look easy, but I don’t believe it. I’m scared of the epidural needle in my back!
“I’m scared of gaining weight and not being able to lose it after.
“Mason is so good, he never cries! I don’t think that could happen twice in the family!” She said according to Us Weekly magazine.
Khloe and Lamar actually have tried to get a baby, but still struggles to get pregnant.
“I thought I’d be pregnant by now, We’ve been working at it all year. Getting pregnant is much harder than we thought — but practicing making babies is amazing!” she told America’s Life & Style magazine.