Whenever something new and unusual comes along in business, it is easy to claim that it is an industry changing event. The of Borat is already spawning such talk. One thread of the discussion centers on whether Hollywood will now turn to “mocumentaries” or TV to movie crossovers. A second thread is whether the success […]
I think the money quote from last Thursday’s widely discussed article on steep cost cutting at NBC Universal came from Bob Wright: “As we reprioritize ourselves toward digital, we’ve got to be as efficient in our current business as possible.” The reality is that analog is under pressure due to continuing moderate viewership declines, alternative […]
Yesterday, Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Fine lowered her 2006 and 2007 forecasts for U.S. advertising. Lauren has been ahead of the curve this year with below consensus forecasts for advertising growth so this is a call worth paying attention to, particularly for 2007. Based upon Merrill’s forecast for nominal GDP growth of 4.5% and real […]
Yahoo! (YHOO) guides down and its shares trade off 12%. On the same day, Viacom (VIA, VIA.b), Time Warner (TWX), Disney (DIS) and CBS (CBS) all trade higher. Yahoo! says that advertising in economically sensitive industries including automotive and finance showed a sudden weakening. These two advertising categories are important for traditional media companies. At […]
I subscribe to a blog written by Bob Lefsetz. Bob writes about the music business and has done so for more than 20 years. His posts often touch on the business of music and many spread to other media content industries. Last week, Bob wrote about Snakes On A Plane as it relates to the […]
Here are some further thoughts on the Cruise-Paramount split (Part 1). This post takes to look at Tom Cruise as a business by comparing the profitability of his two most recent films. Cruise’s last film prior to Mission: Impossible 3, (MI3) was War of the Worlds (WOTW) which grossed $594 million worldwide. MI3 grossed $393 […]
Given all the publicty created by the split between Tom Cruise and Paramount, I thought I’d offer some impressons from the perpsective of the stock market. The following post is my first impressions, while a second post due to go up later this week provides greater detail on the economics of Tom Cruise as a […]
I have been bearish on stocks with heavy exposure to the cable networks business due to concerns that growth was slowing dramatically while the industry was accorded a significant premium valuation. Last Thursday’s positive surprise from Viacom (VIA) and stronger-than-expected July revenue report from E.W. Scripps (SSP) is a strong challenge to my thesis, so […]
So far, the results of the upfront selling season for network TV advertising have been slow. The upfront occurs every May and June when the broadcast and cable networks introduce their lineups and cut deals with advertisers for advertising over the new TV season that follows in the fall. FOX Ahead of Other Broadcast Networks […]
Can you name a single big success on the internet that was built off an already established brand? I suppose news sites like MSNBC.com, CNN.com, and NYTimes.com might qualify but even there the younger demographics that are driving the net are increasingly getting their news from blogs or links in the communities they call home. […]
Office
20 N 3rd Street
Bayfield, WI 54814
Mail
PO Box 1165
Bayfield, WI 54814
tim@northlakecapital.com
847-226-9713
