NBC's answer to MySpace?

It's far from another bubble, but one can't help but get a sense of deja vu after recent Internet acquisitions by media conglomerates. We were struck in particular by the similarities between NBC Universal's $600 million purchase of iVillage and the network's deal in 1999 to create NBCi with e-commerce company Xoom.com and Web portal Snap.com, a product of CNET at the time.

Both then and now, NBC's strategy seems to be more of a reaction to competition than anything else. Seven years ago, the network was responding to online expansion by Disney's ABC and other TV players; today, it appears to be responding to such moves as News Corp.'s purchase of MySpace.com.

iVillage is a fine company with a lot going for it, but it's unclear why NBC wants to buy it, other than simply for traffic and some vague plan to make it a video hub. We hope that Bob Wright, the NBC chief executive responsible for both moves, has learned a few things from his earlier experience.

Blog community response:

"You can spin it all you want, but the announcement in which NBC is acquiring iVillage.com is a much better example of PR spin than anything else. This is PR, where fantasy and facts are often confused and where media and people could care less. If NBC goes through with this deal, they deserve what they get."
--Rob Frankel

"Watching (and being involved with) digital media strategy for some big media players, this deal seems fascinating. Does NBC think they've done the equivalent of buying MySpace, only for female adults with credit cards?"
--Susan Mernit's Blog

"Comparing iVillage multiples to MySpace multiples and concluding it's cheap is like comparing New York Times Company multiples to Google multiples and concluding the same thing."
--felixsalmon.com