Media Companies (and Executives) on the Hot Seat in 2015
DEC. 28, 2014
While it’s great news that the economy is (slowly) coming back, it’s important to remember that a rising tide does not necessarily lift all boats. That is especially true in the media industry, where a bad stretch of advertising and extensive challenges to existing business models have clobbered many legacy outfits.
Now that the economic cycle is no longer creating such stiff headwinds, though, excuses will be tough to come by. Next year will not only be a period of continued disruption, but a reckoning as well.
Certain new realities are beyond argument: Clutter is up — more ads, more channels, more content — advertising rates continue to drop, and audiences are programming their own universe in text, video and audio. Consumers don’t want to watch commercials, are fleeing networks, hate reruns, are increasingly bored by reality programming, shun print products and, oh, by the way, don’t want to pay much for content either.
Yikes.
Advertising is the fuel that runs media companies. I think that through modern technology, advertisers are now able to more accurately discern how effective the placement of commercials/advertising is. In the past, it was all down to ratings/site traffic. Now, even busy websites don’t necessarily translate to higher sales as a result of ad placements.