Follow the money
People are increasingly turning to the Internet for news and entertainment. And, even more significant, people are now both consumers and producers of news and entertainment.
In today's New York Times story "Troubling '07 Forecast for the Old-Line Media but Not for the Online," a report from Fitch Ratings states, "The trend that will continue to affect the media universe in 2007 is the ongoing shift in advertising dollars from traditional media to nontraditional media, most notably the Internet...ad spending continues to follow consumer patterns." In an unrelated story, the Times yesterday reported on a deal between Reuters and Yahoo. Anyone can now upload photos and video to a site called You Witness News. Reuters' editors will then pick some of the photos to accompany their stories. In essence, everyone is now a potential stringer for Reuters. Here's another example of how things are changing, this one is from the Washington Post - sick of losing readers and revenue to the Internet, the newspaper chain Gannett is shifting its focus from papers to the Internet. They've created "mojos" - mobile journalists who are responsible for providing a steady stream of fresh news and content.
What does all this mean for your business? You need to recognize that what is taking place is not an aberration. As the Fitch report says, ad spending follows consumer patterns. Follow the money. Your customers are moving online - you need to be there too. This includes blogs, podcasts and video. The longer you cling to the old way of doing things the further back you'll be. Don't worry about getting things perfect. As the executive editor of the Fort Meyers News-Press told the Post, "We're trying alot of things. Some will work; others won't." That's the spirit!
Posted by John Moran on December 5, 2006 at 8:40 AM
