So That’s What Happens When You Depend on Third Parties
March 27th, 2008 | by Brad King |In 2006, newspapers were patting themselves on the back for partnering with Google and Yahoo (I believe) to help sell advertising in both print and online.
At the time, I was winding up my time at Technology Review; however, I was adamant that we not look into similar deals for magazines. It made no sense, outsourcing our advertising sales with large technology companies that were looking to increase traffic on its network to sell ads.
By giving up our content — even if it was for the good of our bottom line — was an awful mistake because it turned over our revenues to the very people we were supposed to be competing.
Of course, the problem was newspapers didn’t realize they were competing with the likes of Google and Yahoo. They thought they were competing with each other. And television. And radio.
Wrong.
So now the folks at Editor and Publisher are musing about the fallout of a potential Microsoft-Yahoo deal. After all, the large newspaper conglomerates are forming alliances to create a large advertising network to sell across. They are depending on third-parties to find ways to create big value for their wares.
If Microsoft steps in, it may not be the worst thing in the world since they rolled our their media planning software that would compliment Yahoo’s network. However, Microsoft has a long history of enjoying ownership, even thought their recent moves have been to open up technology.
With access to scads of localized content, there’s no telling what type of competing services might come out of a Microsoft-Yahoo led advertising network. And frankly, the newspapers’ content would differentiate the joint company from competitors such as Google and AOL.
But Microsoft and the newspaper industry have a history. “It’s been hard to walk away from Microsoft meetings without the sense your pocket has just been picked, or its hand is still in it as you depart town,” Ken Doctor, the former vice president of Knight Ridder Digital, wrote Feb. 3 on his blog, “Content Bridges.” Microsoft once tried to muscle in on newspapers’ local franchises with events-listings sites branded “Sidewalk.” Newspapers beat back that challenge, but CEO Steve Ballmer has mused recently that maybe Microsoft walked away too soon from the concept.
All of this would have a moot point, though, had newspapers collectively decided to invest in what was clearly the future. And I’m not talking about 15 years ago. I’m talking about the last five years. Too many people saw the dotcom bubble “burst,” without realizing that the only bust that happened was the ridiculous technologies.
Our world was forever changed between 1998-2002. We live in a digital age. The bust was financial. The boom was — and is — technological innovation.
