Although technologies have been changing the business of media for as long as it has existed, recent trends associated with the exponential growth of the Internet are challenging and transforming the industry.
A recent gathering of media executives in New York City attending a panel discussion on television network scheduling illustrates the astonishing disconnect between old and new media. For network schedulers, the Internet capacity to capture audiences in the same way television has, seemed all but ignored. What the schedulers seemed to care about most was maintaining market shares through ratings. The Internet, for the schedulers, appears to be little more than a way to promote network product.
At the same time, there are others in the industry, some who grew up with only new media, a little more forward thinking. There are three primary areas that have caught the attention of old media. The first area that everyone seems to recognize is that digital technologies are faster, cheaper, and easier to use. Second, digital technology increasingly creates user-generation content, mostly in the way of social networking outlets. Finally, old media is slowly and seemingly desperately looking for ways to monetize new media assets.
For example, AOL, who came online early in the game only to see its proprietary system fall on hard times with the rise of the likes of Yahoo and Google, has invested heavily in adopting to new models of attracting audiences in order to increase revenue streams. By appealing to a younger audience with its own music online music streams, AOL now understands how the convergence of old and new media models is essential to the survival of the company.
New media changes not only how content is delivered but also the very idea notion of what “mass” means to the industry. As industry analyst Jack Meyers observes, digital technologies have moved the industry away from the age of mass media to the relationship age.
Social networking sites such as Second Life, MySpace, LinkeIn, Facebook, Bebo, and others are concerned with maintaining and developing relationships tied directly to an individual’s tastes, values and preferences. Still old traditional players in the industry hold fast to the economic models of a faceless mass. What the old players are now beginning to realize is how communication processes are changing with the growth of the Internet. What old media failed to grasp, up until recently, that pressures for commoditization must be weighted against the need for creating equity value for the consumer.
People make emotional connections with the things they consume. What is to come, or is already on the way, is media that is more responsive and immersive for the user. Relating in real time through chats, instants messaging, web conferencing, SMS, AIM, Skype or Webex is changing connectivity, and in turn, antecedent communication models.