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NBC Slow to Integrate iVillage

A year after its $600 million acquisition of women’s portal iVillage, NBC Universal has been slow to integrate the site with its other properties, despite having announced that the site would become the centerpiece of its digital strategy, writes Ad Age (via MarketingVox).

Not rolling out Web 2.0 features quickly enough, including blogging and social networking, has been a notable shortcoming; it faces a growing onslaught from women’s publishing giants such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Meredith, CondeNet and Hearst, some of which iVillage has relied on for content.

Traffic numbers in the year since NBC acquired iVillage have been stagnant. iVillage should have benefited from the syndicated TV show “iVillage Live,” which launched on Dec. 4 and is carried by the NBC-owned and -operated stations. But traffic to the site actually decreased to 13.5 million unique users in December from 14.4 million in November.

TNS Media Intelligence reports that iVillage ad revenue was $40.9 million in 2006, whereas NBC Universal has said it aims to reel in around $1 billion in digital revenue by 2009.