town fall : despite the drama surrounding donald trump going into sunday<u+2019>s presidential debate, ratings for the town hall were far below the record viewership of the candidates<u+2019> first face-off last month. about 66.5 million people tuned in to watch the second debate at washington university in st. louis, which came on the heels of revelations of mr. trump<u+2019>s lewd remarks about groping women in a 2005 video, cmo today reports. that<u+2019>s compared to 84 million who tuned in for the first debate on sept. 26. viewership for the second debate was more on par with the second debate from 2012, which generated an audience of 65.6 million. sunday<u+2019>s debate went head to head with <u+201c>sunday night football<u+201d> and each side may have taken a hit. despite featuring a strong matchup--the green bay packers versus the new york giants--the nbc football telecast pulled in 16.6 million viewers, 26% fewer than last season<u+2019>s average audience. that could support the league<u+2019>s argument that interest in the election has hurt the nfl<u+2019>s ratings. dropped call : samsung shares tumbled 8%, the biggest one-day decline in eight years, after the company said it would permanently cease production of its recalled galaxy note 7 smartphone , the wall street journal reports. beyond the immediate financial consequences, the samsung brand could take a lasting hit from the ordeal. the company rushed to replace the 2.5 million devices it recalled last month because of inflammable lithium-ion batteries, but there were reports of incidents with the replacements, too, leading major carriers to stop distributing note 7s. along the way, samsung took heat for confusing communication with consumers and regulators and failing to coordinate with u.s. safety authorities. all of that could leave an impression on consumers as samsung battles the likes of apple and huawei in the global smartphone market. <u+201c>in my however many years in the market i have not seen a recall like this,<u+201d> verizon chief executive lowell mcadam said monday. <u+201c>this is a real black eye for them, but at the end of the day they will recover.<u+201d> digital expat : magazine publisher cond<u+00e9> nast is getting more serious about its digital advertising efforts, if its latest hire is any indication. the company known for titles such as vogue, vanity fair and the new yorker has hired aol ad sales head jim norton in the newly created position of chief business officer and president of revenue, reports wsj. <u+201c>my goal is revenue growth,<u+201d> said bob sauerberg, ceo of cond<u+00e9> nast. <u+201c>jim norton has access to new advertisers who need to know us better, and he<u+2019>s a digital native.<u+201d> the hire is part of a bigger shakeup, including the departures of cond<u+00e9> nast marketing chief and president edward menicheschi and chief administrative officer jill bright , reports women<u+2019>s wear daily. as recode notes, the change comes as aol-parent verizon is trying to integrate yahoo , which it acquired for $4.8 billion, and deal with complications stemming from the internet company<u+2019>s recently-disclosed data breach. chasing ad dollars : vox media is set to launch meridian, a new standalone travel website funded by chase sapphire reserve , in the latest example of a brand tapping a publisher to create and distribute its content instead of a conventional agency, cmo today reports. the publisher will be charged with creating and distributing content on meridian.net, a site that will feature travel articles, photos and videos aimed at an affluent audience, as well as producing content for facebook and instagram. the site will focus on a different destination each month, starting with japan. branded content now accounts for two-thirds of vox<u+2019>s revenue, and it<u+2019>s a growing revenue stream across the entire media sphere as more publishers like buzzfeed, vice media and bloomberg media blow up the ad services structure and produce content on behalf of marketers for their own publications, as well as for other outlets. mgm and mark burnett, producer of reality show <u+201c>the apprentice,<u+201d> issued a statement saying they don<u+2019>t have plans, nor legal rights, to release unaired footage in which donald trump is behaving badly towards women. [ variety ] after donald trump described his lewd comments in a 2005 video as <u+201c>locker-room talk,<u+201d> a number of professional athletes are taking issue with that comparison, according to their tweets. [ buzzfeed ] verizon<u+2019>s ceo said the company has no plans to walk away from its pending deal with yahoo, which recently revealed a massive security breach. however, he left the door open to the companies renegotiating the $4.8 billion price tag. [ wsj ] ipg mediabrands<u+2019> magna global predicts that programmatic ad-buying will grow 27% this year to account for about $18.7 billion in ad spending. [ mediapost ] esquire is relaunching spy magazine as a digital pop-up focused on the twists and turns of the 2016 presidential campaign<u+2019>s final stretch. [ cmo today ] twitter<u+2019>s shares plunged 12% monday as odds of a sale dimmed. [ wsj ] cbs ceo leslie moonves will seek autonomy from the redstone family if the network completes a deal with viacom. [ reuters ] the future of crackle<u+2019>s <u+201c>comedians in cars getting coffee<u+201d> is up in the air as jerry seinfeld<u+2019>s contract expires. mr. seinfeld is in talks with the likes of netflix and hulu. [ new york times ] follow us on twitter: @wsjcmo , @digitalshields , @vranicawsj , @jackmarshall , @perlberg , @alexbruell , @srabil , @asharma subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox, at http://on.wsj.com/cmotodaysignup .
cmo today: debate audience falls, but dings nfl - wsj
alexandra bruell