Media Economics are Hosed, Well Not That Media
March 27th, 2008 | by Brad King |The traditional media is in serious financial trouble. Classified advertising is gone (and it’s not coming back). Local advertising is still doing okay, but advertising spending has level off throughout the last two years. I’m sure that’s only going to get better as we sink into a recession.
It’s dire straits — and not the cool band.
Sales, profits and circulation all are down sharply, as newspapers say they long ago abandoned the prospect of trying to stop the bleeding. Some now say they cuts are so deep, they have to “amputate” portions of their business to stay alive. Meanwhile, they’re trying to embrace new media, but can’t do so effectively because of constrained resources.
Meanwhile, more people are online — and more people are accessing information via the mobile Web. We are an increasingly untethered society, and the aspects that keep us bound to one place (even the desktop) are of lesser value to us.
In other words…
…the real money is helping people un-tether their data, take it with them and access it whenever they want. You know, like with technology. At least, that’s what the Washington Post is reporting today.
Wait, nevermind. Let’s go right to the source at PQ Media, which says this in its press release:
Spending on alternative media jumped 22.0 percent to $73.43 billion in 2007 and is expected to continue its rapid ascension in 2008 despite a slowing economy, as brand marketers scramble to stay in step with a rapidly changing media landscape, according to research released today by PQ Media, the leading provider of media econometrics.
In other words, business in new media is good. Although it’s a bit ironic, if you re-read the initial quote in the WP, newspapers are struggling to actually spend money to bolster their technology divisions in order to capitalize on the growth area.
Even as I type this, my head is nearing an explosion. This is not new. The Web has been around since 1993, so 15 years later its stunning that publishers, editors and sales reps are just now realizing that they need to have a plan in place — and technology systems that can deliver those plans. This is not something that can be thrown together overnight.
Or if it is, it will look eerily like America Online in 1996. FAIL!
This morning, I received two instant messages from new media folks around the country — one in Detroit, one in Boston — who thanked me for the blog. This happens more than I care to admit because it means two things: new media types are routinely shuffled off to the side in the companies at the very time they should be elevated to upper management and traditional media types are still looking to other traditional types to help them figure this out.
The blind leading the blind off the edge of the cliff.
