All Things D
Former Yahoo SVP of sales Wayne Powers is joining Advance's PARADE Publications as president and group publisher, in charge of the magazine that appears with many Sunday newspapers. "This is
another one that falls in the “not a surprise” bucket, since
Powers was brought in from Time Inc. by Mayer’s predecessor Ross Levinsohn, and most people in the company expect her to
build her own team," writes Peter Kafka.
New York Times
NBC has won the bidding war to air a still-untitled, pilot-less sitcom starring TV icon Michael J. Fox in fall of 2013, making a 22-episode commitment to the show. Fox will play a NYC-based father of three “dealing with family, career and challenges — including Parkinson’s — all loosely drawn from Fox’s real life,” according to NBC.
Adweek
Most of Condé Nast's overseas editions are doing well, from Russian Vogue (which "claims to be the country’s best-read fashion title") to the Italian Vanity Fair, with "the international division account[ing] for nearly half of Condé Nast’s total revenue," writes Lucia Moses in this detailed, thorough survey of some of the major titles and markets. One exception: a weekly German version of Vanity Fair, begun in 2007, was shuttered two years later. Condé's international division may have some lessons for its domestic cousins, with a publishing model different from that of the U.S. -- heavy focus on newsstand …
Deadline.com
In January ABC will move "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to the prime 11:35 p.m. spot, facing long-time late-night kings David Letterman and Jay Leno, while "Nightline" will move to 12:35. Kimmel's show formerly started at 12 a.m. The network made the scheduling switch because the Kimmel show "was the only late-night broadcast talk show to increase its viewership this past season, its most-watched in 5 years," writes Nellie Andreeva. "It also has younger audience than its broadcast competitors Leno and Letterman as well as the show it will replace, 'Nightline,' making it appealing to broadcast advertisers."
Paid Content
Only one in 10 TV viewers using a second screen browse the Web for info about what they're watching -- "which could suggest there is greater opportunity in second screens’ social dimension than in commerce and adjunct information," writes Robert Andrews. These stats come from Deloitte’s UK study of 2,000 people -- and the British accent is clearly evident in this post: "Twenty-four percent of viewers use a second device screen whilst watching TV," writes Andrews. And "nearly half of 16-to-24-year-old [second-screeners] use communication tools like email and social networks."
Deadline.com
Twenty staffers lost their jobs at NBC's "The Tonight Show," and host Jay Leno took what some said was a "tremendous" pay cut to help prevent more layoffs. This was probably the most high-profile pink-slipped event "in a string of layoffs and budget-trimming at NBC," writes Nellie Andreeva. "Insiders say that virtually every department of the network has been affected by the wave of company-wide cost-cutting, which started in January."
New York Times
Condé Nast invested in digital ad company Flite in a move to "provide more creative and customized options for advertisers online," writes Tanzine Vega. The publisher now owns about 11% of Flite, which "provides cloud-based advertising technology that allows marketers to change the text and images of digital ads in real time."
Poynter
The Village Voice's recent firing of three staffers led to several pieces on its future -- and the future of alt-weeklies as a whole -- which Andrew Beaujon analyzes. "The Village Voice is not dead yet, contrary to reports," is the headline of his post, which looks at a piece by a former Voice staffer beamoaning the tiny staff left (an account contradicted when Beaujon directly contacts the paper's editor), along with reports that audiences for alt-weeklies are aging. Meanwhile, "David Carr writes that 'The version of the Voice that was the "the voice of a city" has not existed …
Gigaom
It's been a bumpy ride lately at Hulu, with CEO Jason Kilar possibly jumping ship "after a buyout of co-owner Providence Equity Partners," and things could get even bumpier: "Hulu’s co-owners News Corp. and Disney don’t seem to see eye-to-eye on key issues," according to Janko Roettgers. For one, News Corp. believes in providing next-day access only to Hulu TV subscribers and those who can prove they subscribe to certain pay TV systems, while Disney does not.
Folio
In its latest iPhone app, Rodale's Men's Health has "reimagined" its mobile version "specifically for the small screen" with "greater interactivity and navigation," writes Bill Mickey. Sean Bumgarner, Rodale's interactive design director, believes that reading a mag on an iPhone is "not a lean-back experience like the iPad. They need a quick flash and dive in and out of the content," as the experience "tends to mimic the flipping and browsing habits readers have with the print magazine."