An article in the FT this AM indicates News Corp's Rupert Murdoch will sue the BBC. The story indicates he thinks it won't go so far as court,
“They know the law. They will adapt.”
Like all media companies that sell their content using a combination of advertising and consumer revenues he bemoans the difficult competition these days for revenue in a consumer market that has seen traditional distribution channels become secondary. He acknowledges change in how audiences are aggregated but he also blames most profit oriented woes upon what he calls product theft.
When you think about it though, we've heard this tune before and if it sounds different this time it is only because Mr. Murdoch's voice and reputation stands out more than record label CEO's blaming file sharing kids for all their problems. Still, for many decades the record labels enjoyed a technological edge that forced people (young and old) to buy over and over again the same recorded material if they wanted clear sound. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the debt piled up in a decade+ of mergers is choking the entire media industry. At the same time technology enabled deflation is making many of these mergers feel pointless as profit forecasts go unmet. It's not the recession.
Technology has the power to change things and history shows us this clearly. Technology is not enough however. It takes social momentum using that technology and the difference between the two is not subtle. It takes crowds of people experimenting, trying, failing, and trying ten more times to come up with what we like to call 'best practices'. In an era when technology is enabling Choice we must expect change to be the norm. If this is the case then businesses serving people must be as adaptable.
If Mr. Murdoch relies upon the market to change because he cannot then he will become a dinosaur no matter how large or how much he paid for the Wall Street Journal last year.
Asked how he reacted to the challenge of Google and others for newspapers such as his to remove their
newspapers from search results, Mr Murdoch said that once they had in place the
means to charge for news, “I think we will”.
The same FT article points out how he is thinking of removing his content from search results on Google's platform as if another company is the cause of his problems. (quote above)
Here's the crux of the issue, the meaning of what I call the era of Choice (we are in now), and the message of this blog: Think of Google as Henry Ford thought of his Model T. We are only just beginning the era of Choice and it was Google that figured out how to mass produce first even if Yahoo was first to market. Up till now Google's main product is useful, works fairly well, and though it comes in mostly black, it is considering other colors (real time search versus query only). Eventually many competitors will emerge as innovation flourishes. It will...many times over.
It will because this is the era of Choice and what is driving the world of content right now is what the consumer wants. This is the first time this dynamic has ever existed in the marketplace for content. That may seem somehow wrong if you are in the business of selling content but up till now the market for content has been very one-sided in favor of 'if you build it they will come' because they have limited other choices. All of that changed and it is not Google's fault...nor will it change back, ever. As a matter of fact, either Mr. Murdoch's company will adapt or they will perish in the wave of new competition (new supply)that is descending upon media consumers now.
The business model for media must change because of changes in how people use content....not because evil search engines are helping others to steal their products. From a generational perspective, the aging leaders of media companies are not likely to be who will solve these challenges. This is not a business issue nor is it a shot at older leaders. It is a social issue and it is about how we share is changing. It's not about the difference between songs, current events, movies, or books. It is about ideas and their usefulness in a social setting.
The next generation of media entrepreneurs will allow for change in how content is used. They will not leverage their company on any one idea that is not derived from their customers. They will not leverage their company up buying assets in anticipation of government regulation that will hold us back now that the expansive digital universe is available. Think of the digital universe as a frontier we are just beginning to settle. Land is cheap. Content is currently the primary product moved across this resource. Future media companies will base strategic decisions on a marketplace that provides real time metrics. Anything less is just not good enough because change is the new normal. Journalism will not die; don't be fooled by these alarmist claims. Journalism will change as it separates from the business of selling content. Eventually, more kinds of businesses will develop but for now the business of content is the business that must adapt.
You can't sue to stop the most dominant social trend of our time no matter how contrary it seems to your business model. It should be celebrated and it can be if you reorder the pieces. The answer is not as exciting as a trip to Mars but it is what will get us there. It is not quite like a "warp speed" engine but so far the precursor to the answer has made distance on earth almost irrelevant. From a social standpoint, the era of endless fat media profits is over because it was socially inefficient. That is why the change is happening. Like it or not, crowds have both memory and a sense of purpose (even where individuals are indecisive) So, Mr. Murdoch, pulling your content from Google instead of trying to innovate how your content is monetized is only demonstrating frustration. News corp is better positioned than most to benefit if only you look forward, not back.
The Guardian takes a swipe at Mr. Murdoch too
