iVillage: Wag the Dog

In what is being touted in some circles as a new interactive television service, the web site iVillage, which already has copious amounts of video, will be going along with live television a few days from now. iVillage is aimed at women, which means we men can go there and see what they're telling women about us.

Why wag the dog? Because this is content that was web first, "television" second. Most television shows have web sites (in fact, I wonder if there is any current TV show without a web site; I'd be surprised).

"The NBC Universal stations are banding together to produce a daytime series with female-skewing Web site iVillage.com, which NBC Universal acquired for $600 million in March, sources close to the production said.

"The project, called 'iVillage Live,' will be produced by the stations, not their corporate supplier of syndicated product, NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution.

Source: Television Week; 5/15/2006, Vol. 25 Issue 20, p1-34, 2p, 1c

According to Media Week, "If it succeeds, NBCU's plans to launch iVillage Live, the first national multiplatform interactive talk show, could change the business model for daytime TV and reinvigorate the sleepy daypart." MediaWeek; 11/13/2006, Vol. 16 Issue 41, p8.

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