Viacom’s Nickelodeon and Sony Music are betting big that 15-year-old “iCarly” star Miranda Cosgrove will be the next “tween” media goldmine, stepping into the shoes of Duff (she of the “Lizzie McGuire” series, multiple films, and music releases) earlier in the decade, and current golden goose Miley Cyrus, aka “Hannah Montana.”

The challenge is significant if Nickelodeon can steal some tween thunder from Walt Disney, which is home to both the Lizzie McGuire and Hannah Montana franchises, and the future home to a show by hot boy band The Jonas Brothers .

The time may be right, given the negative buzz Cyrus got from sexually provocative pictures. That said Cyrus has a new album coming out in July, and she may easily bounce back into the public’s good graces.

Nickelodeon and Sony Music will launch tomorrow the soundtrack to “iCarly” — a show in which Cosgrove’s teenage character produces Webcasts from her attic — hoping to spark Cosgrove’s career as a recording artist. She’s got help — talent development executive Jay Landis, who helped launch the music endeavors of Duff and others at Disney.

Disney, meanwhile, is already readying its next star - Demi Lovato of the network’s upcoming Jonas Brothers movie “Camp Rock.”

(New York Post)

Keep an eye on:

• The average share of Americans listening to radio has shrunk about 14 percent over the past ten years, led by the flight of teens, and oddly enough, college graduates. (New York Times )
• Warner Music has pulled its catalog out of Last.fm’s “on demand” free streaming service. According to the New York Times the issue is money. (Silicon Alley Insider)
• Veteran rockers AC/DC are set to become the next major band to sell a new album only through Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a move that highlights the growing music-industry clout of Wal-Mart. (WSJ)

(Photo: Nick.com)

Like everyone else, advertising executives have watched the economy, falter a development that could threatens to crimp marketing spending. By and large, admen say, spending had held steady, with some weakness in financial services and other areas.

But Madison Avenue is hardly in the clear — just look at the mounting troubles in the auto industry, which has banked on SUV sales, as evidenced by General Motors’ announcement earlier this week about plant closures and job cuts.

Keep in mind, automotive was the single largest ad spender last year, so the industry’s troubles are hugely significant for advertisers. The second largest spending category? Retail.

That’s why the sales data released by retailers on Thursday should come as good news for ad giant like Omnicom, WPP and, particularly, IPG.

(Remember, IPG’s Martin agency has the Wal-Mart account, and the world’s biggest retailer and huge advertiser posted a 3.9 percent rise in same-store sales. Consumers seem to be taking seriously the slogan “Save money. Live better.”)

For sure, it’s just one month of sales in one category. But if you’re an advertising agency in this economic environment, you’ll take the good news where you can get it.

Keep an eye on:

• HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide Chief Executive Jane Friedman is resigning, parent company News Corp said on Wednesday, making her the second book publishing executive to quit in recent weeks as financial pressures weigh on the industry. (Reuters)
• The upcoming Triple Crown bid by Big Brown has turned into a payday for the Walt Disney Co’s ABC and ESPN networks, as advertisers line up to buy ads on programming leading up to the Belmont Stakes. (Reuters)
• Paramount Pictures said its main studio will absorb the marketing, distribution and physical production departments at its specialty label, Paramount Vantage. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg and National Executive Director Doug Allen want to convince dual card-holders to oppose ratification of the prime-time TV deal recently agreed to by American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the studios and networks. (ADWEEK)

(Photo: Reuters)

When not sifting through YouTube for the latest reason to send take-down notices, Viacom employees have been spending time watching one YouTube video of former MTV Networks President Michael Wolf pitching for a new job. Wolf resigned in Jan. 2007 during a management shake-up.

Whether he’s filming this video resume from Beirut or East Hampton is not immediately clear, one former colleague at 1515 Broadway quips.

Summer’s not yet in full swing, but the studio already has two big hits, “Iron Man,” which has banked nearly $500 million worldwide and now “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which brought in more than $300 million this weekend, Reuters reports.

The tally marked the second-highest U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend opening in history, despite some mixed reviews for the film starring Harrison Ford as the eponymous archeologist.

Paramount’s success could extend over the coming weeks with the release of “Kung Fu Panda.” But the Wall Street Journal points out that because major studios are laying off risk in many movie projects, they are also limiting the amount of money the can take in. Such is the case with both “Iron Man” and “Kung Fu Panda.”

The Wall Street Journal quotes Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield on the subject. “Would I prefer that Paramount own all these films the way they did with Transformers, sure,” he tells the paper. “But there is definitely revenue coming in for all three films and they’re all very profitable for the studio. And if these films don’t do well, they are low risk for the studio.”

Keep an eye on:

• Nearly 25 million homes have at least one TV set that will stop working when the U.S. switches to digital over-the-air television in nine months. (New York Times)
• Facebook could turn its Facebook Platform into an open source project as soon as the week, multiple sources tell TechCrunch.
• How did the CBS-CNET deal come about? PaidContent takes a look, after digging through a filing with the SEC. Here’s what it says: “CBS first offered $10.50 a share on April 2nd, which at that time was about 40 percent premium on the share price. CNET rejected it, then the price went up in increments: from $10.75 per share to $11.25 per share, to the final price of $11.50 per share.”

(Photo: Reuters)

In the meantime we can assume that Viacom’s octogenarian executive chairman is rockin’ today after the media conglomerate said its first quarter profit rose 33 percent on strong sales of the “Rock Band” video game and higher advertising revenue at MTV Networks. Revenue rose 15 percent to $3.1 billion, beating analysts’ estimate of $3 billion.

It gets even better in the Viacom executive suite, at least for today — its film “Iron Man” kicks off the summer blockbuster season to positive reviews, including that of tough Wall Street Journal reviewer Joe Morgenstern who said it had “exhilarating” action and “scintillating” comedy.

Industry gurus suggest the opening box-office take could top $100 million. Ka-ching! (It cost $135 milion to make.)

The good news does not negate lingering issues at Viacom, namely the resiliency of its cable networks in an advertising environment that is challenging at best. Also, everyone wants to know more about the new premium cable/VOD enterprise being built by Viacom, MGM and Lionsgate.

Or, what about the risk of collapsing the distribution window so that Apple’s iTunes sells movies on a DVD’s release date?

I just want to know: would Redstone rather jam to David Bowie or Blue Oyster Cult?

(Reuters)

Keep an eye on:

• Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer says the company poised to detail its next moves on Yahoo (Reuters)
• A night after Tuesday’s much-discussed on-air blunder by “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul, the results show of the talent show lost 1.2 million viewers from the previous week. (Hollywood Reporter)
• Is Microsoft working on a Blu-ray player for the Xbox 360? (Engadget)

(Photos: Sumner Redstone and wife Paula Fortunato, Reuters; www.rockband.com)

The company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that its pending $20 billion buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners may not close, saying it wanted to caution the markets not to hope for an easy resolution.
    
The deal was supposed to close by March 31, but six banks who agreed to finance it have since balked as debt markets deteriorate. As far as Clear Channel is concerned, all the other closing conditions have been met.
(Reuters)

Keep an eye on:

• Tom Cruise dined at a Beverly Hills hot spot with Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, who severed the actor’s long-running partnership with the company’s Paramount Pictures in 2006. Cruise is widely thought to want to renew the “Mission: Impossible” series, which Paramount has the rights to.
  (WSJ)
• WiMax could prove a bigger risk than its worth for top U.S. cable companies, especially as they plunk down cash in a tough economy for an unproven technology.
  (Reuters)
• David Marash, the most prominent American anchor on Al Jazeera English, has quit the 24-hour international news channel, citing an increased level of editorial control exercised by the channel’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
  (NYTimes)

(Photo: Reuters)