The future of media ?

Here is an insightful interview of Lady GaGa’s manager on the new way of doing business in the music industry.

Check out this article from TechCrunch.

Ideology 2.0: When Mao Meets The Silicon Valley

Marc Andreeson, a Silcon Valley guru, had these kind words for Old Media this week: “Burn down the boat” -

In this article from TechCrunch, Andreeson tells the print news media that they should stop their paper business right now (i.e: burn the boat) in their own interest; so they can focus on their future business model, which is online.

REALLY ???

So let me get this straight: although printed news is declining, it still represents most of this industry’s revenues. And now, it should be terminated ?

From a business perspective, this doesn’t make much sense. We all agree that the web will keep growing as a major platform for content. And we all agree that industries should never underestimate disruptive technologies. But arent’ we going a little overboard ?

Common business sense, and scholar research (see the excellent “Innovator’s Dilemma“), show how essential it is for companies to transition their business models so they don’t miss major disruptions (such as the web for print media), while drawing the most of their existing business. I.e: Don’t leave the boat too early if there is still money in it!

From an ideological perspective, this article makes much more sense. It is yet another case of the Silcon Valley wanting the world in general and the content industry in particular, to see the world turn the way they do. Not a week goes by without a murderous article in otherwise smart publications such as WIRED, where some web guru calls for “Free Content For All” and the death of mass media.

Why be so agressive ? Why be so ideological ?

Don’t listen to “net neutrality” and “don’t be evil” slogans. There is a war going on between new media and the old paid content industry. And as in most wars, ideology is a major weapon.

So next time you read that “old content providers are outdated and should listen to the Silicon Valley and the wave of the future”, ask yourself: “Is there a hidden agenda ?” “Am I reading WIRED, or the little red book”?

WIRED – THE TYRANNY OF COOL ?

Two weeks ago, my good friend Jorg sent me this article from WIRED called “Mad Men, Media, Marketing, and a fine mess”

I have to admit, i got really excited by its content at first. Think about it: no need for costly advertising anymore ! In the new viral internet world, good products speak for themselves and manage to attract a mass online audience with no ad spend. This is genius ! Why did we not think of this before ? And what the heck is going to happen to the old T.V media, with its costly, inefficient, and now unnecessary ad spaces ?

WAIT  A SECOND..The article is sexy..The writing is compelling..The journalist has a technology angle..Only one example (Monopoly) is used to create a universal theory (advertising is -almost- dead).. The whole thing is written in a way that is so cool that it makes you think you’re not if you even think about disagreeing. THAT’S IT ! Everything screams WIRED.

Although I love this magazine, i’m getting annoyed by the way it’s using its Silicon Valley mojo to create universal theories out of a couple of isolated examples. Let’s take this article for instance: in less than a page, it explains how old media and ad sales are doomed based on the success of an online MONOPOLY game.

MONOPOLY ? Are these guys kidding ? MONOPOLY wouldn’t exist without old media. The brand, the notoriety, the worldwide distribution..MONOPOLY is the best example of how a property was created through mass media advertising over the years. How can WIRED not even consider that the online game sells so well because of this brand building history that relies on hundreds of millions in ad spend.

Dear WIRED. Please don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t play messiah. Trend setting is good enough. Love. David

THE U.S. FALL T.V. SEASON … MEDIOCRE AT BEST

Friends and avid T.V. watchers, I have some sad news. Most of the new fall shows have been nothing short of a major disappointment.

FLASHFORWARD’s premiere was decent, but every new episode is a further step towards boredom & bad writing. The show’s ratings are not looking good either.

I was really looking forward to MELROSE PLACE. unfortunately, this new instalment is a pale copy of the original and looks like a dusty piece of furniture buried in a 1980s cave. The show’s future looks more than uncertain at this point.

V is also becoming a major disappointment. The series’ weakness is the same as flashforward’s : one-dimensional characters you can’t really root for, an action plot that’s too simple and moves too slowly and, surprisingly enough, not enough money on screen : how many times will we keep seeing those same 3 settings and 15 extras ?  The good news is ABC is taking actions and putting the show on “creative hiatus” .

Interestingly, V and FLASHFORWARD share the same traits : they were overhyped before they went to air and disappointed with weak character development. This was especially shocking for FLASHFORWARD which was hyped as the new LOST, which is the epitome of great character development. . How could we not be disappointed ?

Most of the ratings in this post come from my favorite ratings blog : TV BY THE NUMBERS – Thanks you !

COMING SOON TO A CLOUD NEAR YOU

On october 22nd, The Walt Disney company introduced Keychest, an initiative that could change the way media companies distribute content.

With keychest, viewers will be able to by a movie  on any digital platform (download store, mobile-phone provider, or on-demand cable for example). And from that point on, watch this content again on any other digital medium at no extra cost. In essence, one will “own” the right to watch the movie he purchased on any platform.

Variety sees in the keychest intitiative a way for Disney to reduce distribution costs Vs producing actual dvds, and increase the uptake of digital downloads.

This makes obvious financial sense. But don’t forget that Disney is not only the best-run entertainment company in the world, but also one of the few media groups with a long-term vista, a true industrial strategy.  And this is what we are seeing here.

Keychest is very smart in that  it preserves the Disney brand (premium entertainment, fantastic packaging & product experience, select points of sale) while moving it to pure digital distribution (which usually is more about volume than brand image).

To date, Disney is the only media company that has been able to strategize its digital distribution in such a clear, comprehensive manner without compromising its brand value.

Could consumer reject keychest and see it as a glorified DRM ? The Itunes store‘s success proved that customers are willing ro accept content protection if it comes with great ease of use and a perfect user experience.

So what will make or break Keychest will probably be the convenience of disney’s online distribution. More to come soon …

Old Media and Marketing Myopia

Check out this fascinating article from the Harvard Business Review called “Marketing Myopia”

Although it does not adress specifically the media industry, it DOES deal with formerly growing industries that are now losing pace and slowly dying.

Every major industry grows, peaks, and eventually dies. And there is no reason why T.V and mass media would have a different fate.

What’s more, every major industry has the same sense of exceptionalism that we do have in the media world: who has never heard beofre “People will always want to watch T.V or go to the movies, because it’s a community experience” . “People will always need to be entertained”  ”Entertainment is different“.

Well, remember 15 years ago when Kodak said people would always want to take their pictures on films so they could be shot on paper ? Today, Kodak is nowhere near the giant it used to be decades ago.And this will happen again and again to industries who don’t fundamentally question their business model and more importantly what their clients want- Including Media.

My favorite quote in this article is “The History of every dead and dying industry shows a self-deceiving cycle of bountiful expansion and undetected decay”

But it’s never too late, right ?

RUPERT WILL MAKE YOU PAY !

Rupert Murdoch & the Fox corporation are going all out about charging you for their news content online. But that’s not all, they even want to prevent google from indexing them !

In an era of “FREE”, most commentators deem this initiative a battle that was lost many years ago. But was it ?

When newspapers tried to charge for content in early 2000′s, the internet was a fairly new media for most users, and online payment was still regarded as complicated or risky. Fast Forward to 2009 : over 60% of the western world has access to DSL at home, and most of them are regularly making online payments thanks to the Apple Store and others.

What does it mean for Television ? Should we stop giving away free episodes online on catchup sites ?

Something’s definitely in the air : rumors say Hulu is prepping a pay service to be launched in the next few months while Apple is considering an unlimited T.V package on itunes for $30  per month.

So, friends, is this the beginning of a beautiful new world order for television, music and movie producers ? A media heaven where  content would finally become valued again, and where youtube would go back to showing cat home videos ?  More soon…

ONLINE DATING RULES E-COMMERCE

 

While the entertainment industry is still fighting to find a perennial business model online, the dating industry has long enjoyed a successful business model on the web.  Here is a short interview of my friend Fabrice who runs the French operations of Be2.com, one of the largest matchmaking sites. This is in French.

 

Fabrice’s interview points out  ”People are willing to pay for online dating” –  How can we translate this into the T.V. business ?

 

T.V. HEAVEN IS ON ABC

Flash Forward, Cougar Town, Modern Family and now V starting this week. What’s not to like on ABC ?

CONTENT IS BAD FOR YOU

IT’S HERE ! IT’S AMONG US !

IT’S A WORD THAT LOOMS OVER  THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY !

IT’S … CONTENT !

What’s so terrible about it  ?

After all “Content” is so convenient. Think about it: one simple word standing for anything that displays on a computer screen, from news to movie showtimes, from television shows to flight schedules. All of this is content !

And this is exactly where the problem lies..

In the excellent What Would Google Do,  Jeff Jarvis states “Google comodifies everything”. This is precisely what the word content does: it’s a subtle way to say that every piece of intellectual property (a home video, a $1bn movie, or a new t.v episode) can be boiled down to a kilobyte.  And kilobytes are equal in value, right ?

In the eyes of a tech company, every item that displays on a screen is a stream of data (“Content”). It makes sense.  Nothing malicious. The Silicon Valley is an engineer-driven culture, and this is how the world looks through their eyes. But how did this culture spilled over to our industry ?

Entertainment is not about generating vast amounts of seamless data, it’s about creating unique stories.

By agreeing to use the word “content”, we unwittingly chose to see our world of stories through the glasses of the engineer.

What do you think ?