»
Despite reports to the contrary, NBC Universal is not for sale, said chief Jeff Zucker during a conversation hosted by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.
GE’s chief executive Jeff Immelt has been “very clear on this,” Zucker added (via Forbes). Zucker acknowledged a media story that said that GE would consider selling NBCU after the summer Olympics, but he said such a decision wouldn’t make sense; the 18 months following the games would likely be better than the months prior to the game because of the presidential election, the Super Bowl (NBC’s first in more than a decade) and another Olympics 12 months later, he said.
Zucker also talked about NBC’s digital strategy, which he called his “biggest nightmare,” saying that if somebody doesn’t figure out the economic model of digital, “those dollars will turn to pennies.” He touched on Hulu.com, saying that Hulu is a superstore, whereas NBC.com is a specialty shop.
As for taking away its business from Apple’s iTunes, Zucker said that Jobs’ company has “destroyed the music business in terms of pricing” and is threatening to do the same to video. Because Apple refused to allow NBCU to raise its price for one of its shows to $2.99, it was an easy decision to drop the deal.
Finally, Zucker talked about The Tonight Show: Conan O’Brien will definitely take over the show in 2009, he said. A deal for current host Jay Leno’s exit was made three years ago when NBCU was trying to keep Late Night’s O’Brien from decamping to a competitor, writes the Associated Press. Leno has said he is comfortable with his planned departure, an article earlier this month in the Los Angeles Times stated that the comedian has grown reluctant to retire has host of the top-rated late-night program.
Though off-air online and experiential advertising grew modestly as a part of the overall radio revenue pie, and election-related political ads increased in Q3, total radio ad revenues were down 9% to $4.97 billion for Q3 and down 10% for…
Glamour magazine is running its photo of Britney Spears not only on the cover of the U.S. edition, but on the covers in seven other countries, as well.
Britney will grace Russia, Sweden and Greece’s editions of Glamour, among others.…
Titan Worldwide has signed a five-year deal with the Delaware River Port Authority to manage out-of-home advertising for the Port Authority Transit corp.
The contract covers advertising on PATCO’s rail service and stations between Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, writes …
Publicis has acquired full-service agency W&K Communications, continuing its Asia expansion that began several years ago.
W&K will be pulled under the umbrella of Publicis’s Burnett agency network, and will be renamed Leo Burnett Beijing Advertising, writes Adweek.
Other recent Publicis…
With only four weeks separating Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, Cyber Monday One (December 1) and Cyber Monday Two (December 
may command a greater share of online sales than they have in years past - thus increasing the importance…
Top American non-luxury auto brands received higher ratings and less negative comments from online consumers than competing Japanese brands, according to an analysis of consumer opinions collected from automotive review websites by Biz360, MarketingCharts reports.
The research, which aggregated a year’s…
