Variety: “Content synergies aside, deal reflects NBC U’s desire to reap a greater share of the online ad market, a segment that is growing quickly at the expense of network and cable TV. ‘The thing about the Internet is it’s highly targeted, and people don’t seek out the content unless it has relevance to them,’ said Stacey Lynn Koerner, prexy of Interpublic Media’s recently launched consumer experience practice.”
NYT (via IHT) : “The company plans to promote iVillage on its broadcast programs and make programming from NBC Universal available on iVillage. This is a potentially awkward development because much of the NBC News content is also linked with MSNBC.com, a Web site it owns jointly with Microsoft.”
WSJ (sub.req.): “The deal highlights an effort over the past year by big media companies to expand their presence on the Web, at a time of slowing growth in traditional media.”
Jordan Rohan, analyst, RBC (via Forbes): “We believe that iVillage shareholders should feel fortunate to have received this multiple today, as most of the large traditional media companies have focused their attention elsewhere.”
Youssef Squali, analyst, Jefferies (via AP): “The acquisition demonstrates once again the attractiveness of the content group to prospective buyers. … We expect to see more deals in 2006, driven in part by the need of traditional media companies … to play catch up online.”
Nigel Coe, analyst, Deutsche Bank (via AP): “What GE/NBC is buying here is digital capability and a portal that has strong synergy with its core female viewership.”
Jeff Jarvis: “In the latest old media/new media mashup, NBC buys a content site with lots of forums and horoscope traffic at a high price. This feels more like a mini (and much less harmful) version of Time Warner and AOL: trying to buy the online strategy you missed out on. Or what am I missing?”
TheStreet.com: “NBC also gets something else from the deal, something its fairly disjointed web operations need: iVillage Internet competencies.”
Merrill Brown, MMB Media LLC: “Seems like a very reasonable deal. Whether it’s the ‘centerpiece’ of a digital strategy is another matter. NBC has many opportunities and current assets to develop on the web.”
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