Media & Marketing: The TV critics have penned their reviews, the viewers have voted via their remote controls, but now the advertising community has delivered its verdict on the struggle between Pat Kenny and Eamon Dunphy for Friday night supremacy.
According to the largest advertising house, McConnells, the Late, Late Show remains king, but "did not escape unwounded" from last Fridays skirmish.
According to the agency's note there is plenty of bad news for RTÉ, with its share of viewing in the Friday night slot decreasing from 62.4 per cent to 41.5 per cent. In contrast TV3's share was up to 23 per cent from 4.5 per cent.
However, there will be some disappointment in TV3 that it failed to beat the Late, Late Show among the 15- to 34-year-old audience. The Late Late Show managed to attract 115,000 younger viewers versus 99,750 for Dunphy's show, says McConnells.
"In terms of the 35-plus audience, the Late, Late Show won the day comfortably."
McConnell's analyst Nuala Long said: "So while the Late, Late Show remains the bigger of the two programmes, having had 561,380 adult viewers compared to Dunphy's 320,360, it is clear that Eamon's presence on the airwaves has had some bearing on Kenny's viewership figures which were down by 85,493 on last year's first of season show. Whether Dunphy's efforts will continue to affect RTÉ's Late Late Show remains to be seen," she said.
Over at McCann Erickson there was a slightly flatter reaction to TV3's performance. Ms Martina Stenson, their media buyer said: "TV3 were very optimistic in their predictions of ratings for the show and all the advertisers are now aware that their spots actually achieved substantially less than the predictions.
"While all nine minutes of air-time allowed per hour on TV3 was sold there was a very obvious switching factor as you would expect with longer ad-breaks," she said
"On a positive note TV3 did manage to increase its viewership on Friday night from approximately 60,000 to 360,000 people," she added.
"Whilst it is a disappointing start, our prediction is that Dunphy's show will grow in popularity and find its niche among the younger adults (25-44) thereby making it more important to advertisers," she said.
QMP D'Arcy boost
The Dublin advertising agency Quinn McDonnell Pattison (QMP) D'Arcy managed to increase pre-tax profits for the year to June 2002 according to accounts lodged with the Companies Office.
While the company's staff costs rose in the period (from €2.1 million to € 2.5 million) it still managed to increase pre-tax profits to €290,000 from €220,000 for the similar period in 2001.
The company's profits carried forward were more than €500,000.
The largest shareholder remains Mr Conor Quinn, brother of the former Labour Party leader Mr Ruairí Quinn.
Rolling campaign
One of the most refreshing and clever campaigns has been running in recent days for Seven Seas Active 55 cod liver oil. Various parts of Dublin have been plastered with posters using Rolling Stones song titles and lyrics.
The stones played at the Point on Tuesday night and the campaign by Mindshare and DDFH&B cleverly built on the momentum running up to the concert.
The posters use a range of Rolling Stones song titles and lyrics - "not fade away", "its all over now", "get off my cloud" - to illustrate the power of cod liver oil for those heading into middle age.
The Seven Seas strapline used in all the ads - "being over 50 isn't what it used to be" - cleverly reflects what Jagger and Co have been saying in recent interviews - that even those with lined faces and greying hair have a right to stay up late playing loud music.
Big snapple
New York has a new name, the big snapple.
The Cadbury Schweppes-owned soft drink brand has signed a $166 million (€148 million) sponsorship deal with metropolitan authorities to make it the official drink of New York.
The brand beat off the challenge of Coke and PepsiCo. Part of the five-year deal involves Snapple spending $60 million promoting the city of New York to tourists.
It will also see Snapple providing the city with funds to invest in school playgrounds, sports and physical education programmes.
