Maggie's Farm

Just a view from the top...

Ratings and viewers ARE good for revenue. Bad news, and news in general? Nope. Not even a little.

Many media companies are struggling right now, even larger ones. Very little money is being spent. No spending by consumers = no advertising. The 'common wisdom' is to increase your advertising during slow periods, it helps when upturns come (well documented effects of this are available at more places than just media companies, where EVERY day is a good day to spend). The reality is now is when you drive your point home for very little cost (prices for airtime have declined substantially).

But one of my favorite stories of this type was the Anita Hill hearings for Clarence Thomas. All 3 networks were covering it. After a while, they decided it was taking so long they pooled resources and only one network aired it each day. Why? No advertising. But it didn't stop the NYTimes from running an op/ed piece talking about how the high ratings were driving revenues and profits to the big TV nets.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. The same thing is happening now. Networks are struggling to shift budgets from drama/comedy to news just to save a few bucks...

The media DID create this - but they weren't thinking about how it was going to impact them in the short term.

Where was their thought process?

Small outlets are dying. Small publishers, small stations - they are getting slaughtered. After this is over, there will be MORE consolidation of the media landscape. Because the landscape will be littered with skeletons of formerly viable smaller firms that are now simply bankrupt.

Look for Apple to start making big moves into content.