This site is not a typical blog...I've used it to develop a topic and share the larger elements along the way. As the blog name indicates there is a large correlation with historic patterning as well as a working model behind what is here to break the subject down into useful chunks and to use this insight for media enterprises in the coming decade of the 10's.
And while there are always obstacles I have to push out of the way (slowing this down), the intention of all these posts is to sew them together, add depth and appropriate weighting, and then offer a useful (positive) way to see the incredible change in the next decade for the media business model.
So that's the big picture I will bring into focus when many topics discussed here are compiled and organized as a short book sometime this year.
Right now, however, the daily and monthly war that (old) media's enterprises are fighting down in the trenches is proving daunting as any ad-recession experienced in decades."This too shall pass" is not a mantra anyone should be counting on right now. Add in the longer view of how owners cashed out equity beginning in 1996 and left an industry leveraged to the hilt with expectations that were not realistic beyond the cyclical time frame, and you have a really big mess today in the business of media. And while everyone knows change is in the air, and that means innovation is a must, down in those trenches it is difficult to see the long term influences upon the competitive environment. So far, the view from most old media executive suites has only succeeded in managing existing gross margins by tightening cost structures. Sure, lots of grand experiments in "new media" have been attempted or bought but, none has yet figured out how to efficiently monetize the Internet user of content.
First things first.
As the title of this post suggests, there is a very direct way to get from here to there, only, so far there has not been enough cooperation among competitive enterprises or between companies and their customers. Why is it like that? There are a lot of reasons. Some are better discussed very broadly and some are more narrowly defined by vertical. Some recent posts here have discussed a few of the broader social dynamics. Broadcasting, seen as a social tool, deserves a lot of attention too and is where the next best step is defined for media. Digital companies have already been addressing better metrics but the nature of the problem is highlighted particularly well in old media businesses.
Decades of managed market excesses are very difficult to shake off overnight. No where is this fundamental truth more clear than in the business of broadcasting.
The FCC created a managed market for the limited spectrum of radio signals in 1934 with the admirable goal of managing a "limited" public resource. By the time Yahoo and Google entered the public consciousness 60+ years later the limited nature of the resource was completely removed no matter how much distinction some players still assign to how content is distributed. The digital environment is a new universe and is as unlimited as our imaginations will allow. It follows that any business model designed for a managed "limited" market will not be competitive in the new media universe.
The unprecedented nature of this change will not be contained. The Era of Choice as I've called it in previous posts is already well underway and managing it will not be possible with new regulation, though I expect the older generations to try earnestly (initially). So where does this leave us and why are better metrics the answer to the challenges all media enterprises face today?
