Publications

March 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

The Huffington Post

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Toby E. Stuart and David Kiron

In Feb. 2010, management of the Huffington Post, a fast-growing but not-yet-profitable Internet newspaper that aggregates blog posts from unpaid contributors and excerpts of stories originally published by other news sites, faces a number of decisions about its growth... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Business Model; Cost vs Benefits; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

August 2007
Case

New York Magazine

By: Guhan Subramanian and David Chen

Describes the events surrounding the sale of New York Magazine to Bruce Wasserstein in 2003. Wasserstein's last-second cash bid of $55 million surprised other potential buyers and allowed him to win ownership of the magazine. View Details

Keywords: Journals and Magazines; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Deal; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

November 1993 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Rudi Gassner and the Executive Committee of BMG International (A)

By: Linda Hill and Katherine Seger Weber

Explores the roles of CEO Rudi Gassner and the 9-person executive committee in leading BMG International. BMG International is the international music subsidiary of Bertlesmann, a German company that is the second-largest media conglomerate in the world. Describes a... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Decision Making; Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Business Subsidiaries; Business Conglomerates; Cost Management; Change Management; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

October 1990 (Revised March 1993)
Background Note

Note on Cable Television Regulation

By: Willis M. Emmons III

Examines the evolution of the U.S. cable television industry since its inception in the early 1950s. Particular emphasis is given to the roles played by technology, consumer demand, and regulation at both the local and federal level. Designed to facilitate a conceptual... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Demand and Consumers; Government Legislation; Business Growth and Maturation; Monopoly; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Find at Harvard

28 Aug 2013
News

Inside Comcast's $30 Billion TV Bet

Keywords: Broadcasting (except Internet); Broadcasting (except Internet); Broadcasting (except Internet)

17 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Broadband: Remaking the Advertising Industry

Historians have the wisdom granted by time. But for researchers trying to understand current events, especially in the helter-skelter Internet age, the world can change completely before the digital ink dries on the manuscript. That problem certainly confronts Stephen... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Media & Broadcasting; Media & Broadcasting; Media & Broadcasting

May 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Teaching Note

Reuters Greenhouse Fund TN

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Teaching Note for (9-301-012). View Details

Keywords: Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

18 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Advertisers Get Serious About Playing With Their Brands

many Facebook friends as possible. "Coke was proud to say it had more followers than any other brand," Deighton says. "But that lost favor." Next, online marketers deemphasized treating social media as a broadcast medium and instead... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising

09 Jun 2023
Blog Post

Actions Organizations Can Take to Communicate Their Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

ERGs demonstrate an organization’s commitment to ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging. Also, in the absence of demographic data — for example, data on sexual orientation — an established ERG broadcasts to potential employees that... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

03 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 3, 2009

would intrude ever more deeply and more precisely into consumer lives than broadcast media had been able to. Instead, the transformation is unfolding on a model of consumer empowerment, in which consumers use digital media to communicate... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Linking the Globe: The Role of Media and Communications

If proof was needed that change is afoot in the worldwide media industry, it came in the form of late alterations to a panel on the subject at the HBS Global Alumni Conference. CEOs Jean-Marie Messier of France's Vivendi and Thomas Middlehof of Germany's Bertelsmann... View Details

Keywords: by Kenneth Liss; Media & Broadcasting; Media & Broadcasting; Media & Broadcasting; Media & Broadcasting

January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
Teaching Note

Universal During COVID: The Future of Theatrical Windows

By: Hong Luo, Henry McGee and Carol Lin

The COVID-19 pandemic brought enormous disruption to the movie industry, closing theaters indefinitely by mid-March 2020, halting television and film production, and throwing theatrical release schedules into disarray. Shell had assumed the CEO position at NBC... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Leadership; Decisions; Strategy; Negotiation; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

February 2021
Teaching Plan

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to the case “Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?” HBS 820-098. The case explores the tension between two different financing and expansion plans for a startup, and explores issues related to business model pivots and industry... View Details

December 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Super Bowl Storytelling

By: Shelle Santana and Jill Avery

The one day a year when consumers not only tolerate but actually eagerly anticipate ads is during the NFL's Super Bowl. In sharp contrast to their behavior on the other 364 days of the year, consumers watch an average of 89 commercials per Super Bowl game for an... View Details

Keywords: Television Advertising; Entertainment; Brand Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Media; Cost vs Benefits; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; North America

May 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

RCA: Color Television and the Department of Justice (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Gregory Dieterich

This case examines the early history of the color television receiver market and the global consequences of an historic 1958 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that opened RCA's patents to licensing by domestic competitors royalty-free. This externality... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Patents; Rights; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Business History; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; Japan

September 2013
Case

Vogue: Defining the Culture of Fashion

By: Anita Elberse, Joseph Ferrer, Elizabeth Gough and Victoria Katsarou

In March 2013, Susan Plagemann, vice president and publisher of Vogue—widely regarded as the world's most influential fashion magazine, and publishing conglomerate Condé Nast's marquee title—is seeking answers to two questions. First, how she can best approach the... View Details

Keywords: Creative Industries; Fashion; Publishing; Digital Technology; Entertainment; Product Portfolio Management; Magazines; Journals and Magazines; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Resource Allocation; Creativity; Media; Advertising; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

February 2013
Case

YouTube Channels

By: Sunil Gupta and Dharmishta Rood

In December 2011 YouTube launched a website redesign that made Channels the central focus of the site. This redesign was the company's first foray into a strategy designed to foster long-form user engagement. YouTube invested $100 million in 100 Channels, often created... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Internet and the Web; Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

March 2005
Teaching Note

Must Zee TV (TN)

By: Bharat N. Anand

Teaching Note to (9-700-122). View Details

Keywords: Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

February 2004 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Finding a Response: Pixar and a Coy Story

Pixar, Inc. is the subject of an article that suggests its share price is currently overvalued. The article is picked up in summary by several wire services. Pixar's management must determine the appropriate public response. Its choices range from ignoring the article,... View Details

Keywords: Media; Animation Entertainment; Decision Making; Film Entertainment; Communication Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry