Articles of the Day
US Media Owners Substituting “Pennies for Dollars” Online? - Are new online business models just substituting “pennies for dollars” for media owners? That was the woeful conclusion of Mort Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and US News and World Report, according to the detailed minutes of a recent inquiry into media ownership by the UK House of Lord’s Communications Committee released Friday. In September, the committee visited the U.S. and the offices of its major media owners, regulators, and media groups looking at the state of newspapers, broadcasters, radio and online.
TV Networks’ Online Ad Inventory Unexpectedly Opens - Thanks to rising online viewership and the nature of broadband audience agreements with advertisers, the major TV networks have a lot more advertising to sell for their streaming programming, TVWeek reports. The situation highlights a major difference in the economics of TV and online advertising: On TV, if a show attracts more viewers than promised, advertisers essentially get “free” exposure on top of what they paid for, as deals cover specific episode dates and times. But online, a network can cease running an ad once it has delivered the number of viewers the advertiser has previously requested.
Who’s Who in B2B Publishing - From Media Business magazine, the always-interesting list of the top players in the B2B publishing industry in its latest November issue. It includes some of the execs we cover here regularly, including Neil Ashe, CEO, CNET (NSDQ: CNET) Networks; David Carey, Group president-publishing director, Conde Nast Business Media; Keith Fox, President, BusinessWeek; and our friend Rex Hammock, President, Hammock Publishing.
Diller Says IAC Will Invest As Much As $100 Million in China - IAC, (NSDQ: IACI) in the process of splitting into five groups, will invest as much as $100 million in China to build a new Internet business there and will bring in Ask.com, said Barry Diller, speaking to reporters in Beijing today. Details on what it will do there are unclear, and also not sure if Diller’s remarks were off the cuff. This Reuters story quotes him on it: “We certainly have enough capital to do damage..I think about $100 million,” he said. Diller said he would consider buying an existing company, but would prefer to establish a new business, perhaps by backing a Chinese entrepreneur.
AT&T to Acquire Ad Company Ingenio - AT&T said Monday it plans to acquire advertising company Ingenio and integrate its technology into the carrier’s online Yellow Pages and other services. The acquisition highlights growing interest in mobile advertising by wireless carriers and online companies alike.
WPP Buys 75 Percent Of Indian Online Ad Agency Quasar - WPP, the global ad agency holding company, is buying a 75 percent stake in Indian online media agency Quasar Media. This puts to rest the speculation that has been on for some time about WPP’s M&A goals in India. WPP CEO Martin Sorrell mentioned this on Friday, on the sidelines of the Morgan Stanley technology, media and telecoms conference, and the official announcement came out today.
