Interesting Article

From the brain of Benjamin Rainey...

I subscribe to quite a few periodicals. One of my favorites is FORTUNE magazine. I find their analysis on Business, Finance, and Society very stimulating. Recently I read an article that I thought was really interesting. It is called The Player by Richard Siklos. It is about NBC's new hire Ben Silverman. Two comments stood out that I've been thinking about:

1. "This is how business gets done in the 21st century. Human relationships and digital communication." --Ben Silverman
2. "I'd rather be a more profitable No. 2 or 3 than a less profitable No. 1." -- Jeff Zucker

What do I think about these comments? Not sure. I think the first one is interesting because I think that he's right. And the better I get at both, the better I'll be in my job.

The second one is really interesting because the strategy NBC has taken this season is to have shows that are not very good. But raise more money because of product placement. It seems like all their shows are supported by some product (Heroes: Nissan, Worst Enemy: Chevy, Knight Rider: Ford). I'm not sure this is a long term solution for their problem.

One final word on this. I think that NBC and Fox were brilliant in their partnership with HULU.com where episodes are available.

--Ben