It's been talked about for a while - that someone would snap up iVillage (here's the whole iVillage history from PaidContent). And, NBC seems to be an interesting choice to go after iVillage, but also makes sense to fit into its television networks (Bravo and USA), to work within the network to promote and crosspromote within the iVillage network, which includes blogs and the old skool (which still works wonders) message boards.While I am not in the demographic, the community does not have the feel of other communities recently snapped up, like MySpace, About.com and others. But, 14MM users (stat from Robert Ricci) is no small network to mock.
It's an interesting position for PR people - there are message boards to tread lightly in, the articles themselves on the site, the potential for cross-pitching with TV shows (when we find out how the site will be integrated) and blogs to pitch and send product out to.
Now, if NBCU buys ClubMom, they'll have that market locked up tight...
Jeremy - when can i interview you for the book I'm writing, "Life After the Press Release"?
ReplyDeleteRobb, if you have the time and space, just ping me. If you want to get new voices, by all means, go for those voices.
ReplyDeleteCasey, first, yes, these conglomerates can get too big and heavy, which we saw with Viacom splitting itself up (going the opposite way, though, of others). Or, they are trying to be everything to everyone, but that does give both PR and advertisers a better opportunity to work with one entity and get messaging out there.
As for the current Web 2.0 / community / tech explosion slowing down, it's likely that that will happen. Will these sites have been overvalued and companies overpaid? Quite possible - but it still is about the active members, which can be quite high, which still brings value. How high a value is debatable.