Ad Revenue

For the second time in less than three years, NBC's ratings woes have led to the unceremonious dumping of a prominent on-air host, this time "Today's" Ann Curry. On Thursday, the 55-year-old newswoman tearfully said goodbye to viewers with her co-host Matt Lauer, who will remain on the show, at her side. "For all of you who saw me as a groundbreaker, I'm sorry I couldn't carry the ball over the finish line, but, man, I did try," Curry said in a wavering voice as she marked her last day atop TV's No. 1 morning news show.

Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game console will launch interactive ads on TV this fall in a bid to steal more business away from television networks. The tech giant has signed Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile to its offering, called NUads, which will debut this fall. People who use the Xbox to watch video via apps from Microsoft partners -- including ESPN, TMZ, NBC News and the UFC -- will see the new ad formats. In their first iteration, the NUads will let users vote in response to questions asked in the ads. Toyota's spots, for instance, will ask users what other devices they would like to see "reinvented" the way the company has "reinvented" some of its auto models.

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc., looking to boost its status on Wall Street after its botched initial public offering, is rolling out a public relations campaign to combat doubts about its revenue prospects. The social network is touting new research that it says busts the myth that advertising on the site doesn't work, part of a new effort to silence naysayers and convince marketers that they are getting their money's worth. "Facebook is trying to do a better job of telling its story," said David Berkowitz, vice president of emerging media at digital marketing agency 360i.

The cancellation and hefty write-down of HBO's"Luck" and the closure of a TV channel in India put a damper on an otherwise solid first quarter forTime Warner Inc. The New York media giant reported a profit of $583 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $653 million for the same period in 2011, an 11% drop. Revenue was up 4% to $7 billion. "We're off to a great start to the year, and we're benefiting from strong momentum for our content across our businesses," Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO — The rapid growth of Facebook Inc. showed signs of slowing in the first quarter, potentially cooling investors' fervor just weeks before the company's hotly anticipated initial public stock offering. Facebook generated $1.06 billion in sales, the second quarter in a row sales topped $1 billion. That represented a 45% jump from a year earlier but a 6% decline compared with the fourth quarter. The financial performance, the company's most anemic since at least 2010, fell below analysts' expectations.

Facebook, on the verge of the largest initial public stock offering in Silicon Valley history, generated more than $1 billion in sales in the first quarter, a jump of 45%, but its first-quarter net income slipped year over year. Its net income dropped 12% to $233 million from $205 million as expenses soared, the social networking giant said in a regulatory filing Monday. Facebook's first-quarter revenue also declined 6% from the fourth quarter. Facebook blamed the decline on seasonal patterns.

Troubled Yahoo Inc. had a bit of good news Tuesday, reporting first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates despite revenue that was essentially flat. For the three months that ended March 31, Yahoo said profit rose 28% to $286 million, or 23 cents a share, from $223 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier. Income from operations decreased 11% to $169 million. Revenue, meanwhile, increased 1% to $1.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of 17 cents and revenue of $1.06 billion.

Troubled Yahoo Inc. had a bit of good news Tuesday, reporting first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates despite revenue that was essentially flat. For the three months ended March 31, the online search company said profit rose 28% to $286 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $223 million, or 17 cents, in the same year-earlier period. Income from operations decreased 11% to $169 million. Revenue, meanwhile, increased 1% to $1.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of 17 cents and revenue of $1.06 billion.

It's morning for America - "Good Morning America,"that is. In a shift that could remake morning TV, ABC'sa.m. extravaganza finally overthrew NBC's"Today" last week, ending its archrival's 16-year perch atop the weekly ratings. "GMA," hosted by George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts, drew an average of 5,147,000 total viewers last week, just 13,000 more than "Today," according to early data released Monday from Nielsen. While "GMA" has beaten "Today" before now on individual days, it hasn't done so in the weekly averages since 1996.

Will Facebook ads supply our friends with too much information? Consider the case of Nick Bergus, a writer, multimedia producer and instructor from Iowa City, Iowa, who can now add another line to his resume: personal lubricant pitchman. It all started when he favorited a tweet on Stellar (a service that aggregates “favorites” on social networks) that linked to a 55-gallon drum of Passion Natural water-based lubricant being sold on Amazon.com for $1,495. (For interested buyers, that's 46% off the list price for the kind of supply better suited to Mark Wahlberg's character in “Boogie Nights” than mere mortals)