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It looks as though the ad recession may finally be hitting NBC. NBCU posted a 3 percent revenue and profit growth in the first quarter - far less than the 10 percent revenue and 5 to 10 percent profit increases GE had predicted in January.
Local ad sales slipped 11 percent in the quarter, and NBC said that the economy was even weakening its internet ad sales, which were up just 5 percent for the quarter.
Though GE says NBC will post 10 percent revenue and 5 percent profit increases in Q2, there’s no reason to believe it will be able to do so, writes the Silicon Alley Insider.
CBS is expected to turn in an even worse quarter than NBC, according to Goldman Sachs, which is predicting the network to slip 3 percent in revenue.
CBS is facing challenges in all its businesses, especially in prime time where the network - which had no big hit this year - is likely about to lose its “most watched” title. CBS slipped in prime time this year, starting the season with a 10 percent decline in its total audience and a 15 percent drop among viewers 18 to 49. The writers strike steepened the losses, leaving CBS with 20 percent fewer viewers, The New York Times writes.
In addition to prime time, CBS’s news division is struggling, and reports have it that Katie Couric may be departing sooner rather than later.
Analyst Jessica Reif Cohen of Merrill Lynch praises CBS chief executive Les Moonves, saying, “Les wants to win. It’s difficult to envision him leading a company that is showing no growth or declining growth. He’s very aggressive, he’s very smart and I just don’t see him standing still.”
Hyper-conservative Rush Limbaugh - heard weekly by nearly 20 million listeners on about 600 radio stations nationwide - renewed his contract with Premiere Radio Networks and Clear Channel Radio, continuing syndication of The Rush Limbaugh Show.
The deal also includes…
WSJ.com’s traffic soared an impressive 94 percent in June compared to the same month last year, according to the company’s internal traffic numbers.
Total page views ballooned 45 percent, to 150 million, compared to the same month last year, writes Mediaweek.…
Kozy Shack, maker of rice and chocolate pudding, is sponsoring the New York Mets, with tubs of the pudding being sold individually at Shea Stadium as well as being included in children’s meals. And the snacks are selling so well…
Though U.K. advertiser investment committed for 2008 is staying put, discretionary spending is becoming shorter-term, at or slightly short of budget; still, WPP’s GroupM forecasts 4 percent growth in 2008 and 3 percent in 2009 for the U.K., thanks to internet…
Email is the most popular form of direct response marketing, with 35 percent of companies using it - compared to 25 percent that use traditional direct mail - according to a new survey conducted by Direct Partners (via Adweek).
The survey…
Without spam protection, the average web user can expect to get 70 spam messages each day, according to a survey by McAfee, the BBC reports (via MarketingVOX).
For the McAfee spam test, 50 people worldwide were asked to web-surf without a spam…
