While I’ve been busy typing away about the promise of micro marketing and social media, mass media – the ideas and entertainment at the center of our culture and economy – has been in a tailspin of irrevocable change.
The crumbling empire
In the last year, we’ve seen a number of incredible publications shuttered. Watched online video tools evolve to the point that any savvy teenager can create her own television network on her desktop. Seen ad budgets cut by 30% across the board and experienced our personal ad avoidance strategies boom.
Layoffs in the tens of thousands. News bureaus closing around the world. Entire publications – from Domino to the Rocky Mountain News – shut down. Others – like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Christian Science Monitor – giving up the printed page and going web-only. Meaty prime time programming replaced by cheap reality shows. Even the Once-Evil-Empire Clear Channel has been hobbled by a commercial paper rating that’s just north of “junk.”
Defining the post-advertising era
This isn’t the future. It’s the media crisis that’s happening right now. Things are changing. And there’s no consensus about what the next era will look like.
To me, this is the start of the post-advertising era. The dot-bomb of the 21st century. The time when content creators, advertisers and even consumers will struggle to find a new model for how we create, fund and find quality entertainment content and trusted sources of news and information. It's a massive realignment. And, one that we cannot see the end of today.
In the next three posts, I’ll take a look at the crisis from the point of view of each of the key players:
The crumbling empire
In the last year, we’ve seen a number of incredible publications shuttered. Watched online video tools evolve to the point that any savvy teenager can create her own television network on her desktop. Seen ad budgets cut by 30% across the board and experienced our personal ad avoidance strategies boom.
Layoffs in the tens of thousands. News bureaus closing around the world. Entire publications – from Domino to the Rocky Mountain News – shut down. Others – like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Christian Science Monitor – giving up the printed page and going web-only. Meaty prime time programming replaced by cheap reality shows. Even the Once-Evil-Empire Clear Channel has been hobbled by a commercial paper rating that’s just north of “junk.”
Defining the post-advertising era
This isn’t the future. It’s the media crisis that’s happening right now. Things are changing. And there’s no consensus about what the next era will look like.
To me, this is the start of the post-advertising era. The dot-bomb of the 21st century. The time when content creators, advertisers and even consumers will struggle to find a new model for how we create, fund and find quality entertainment content and trusted sources of news and information. It's a massive realignment. And, one that we cannot see the end of today.
In the next three posts, I’ll take a look at the crisis from the point of view of each of the key players:
- The publishers and creators
- The advertisers
- The consumers
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