Media empire of one, by Tony Kelly
Are the owners of major media companies keeping their content providers, sorry journos, happily fettered by protecting them from their real potential?
I wanted to keep the discussion on the future of content going following some intelligent comment on Friday's post about a possible take over of the Fairfax group by rural press. W this is absolutely the case (see W’s comment on Friday’s blog). The big media companies are still the owners of a phenomenal amount of content in their own right and they do still employ some of the country's most prolific journalists, but a lot of journos are starting to get a scent of the new, new economy. If journalists can get their heads around how people are making money this time around and not just leave it up to the sales teams, media strategists or those writing about online business, they can become their own enterprises.
For instance if you can create a blog with a decent following and then learn how to optimise it to make it really interesting to Google, it is possible (and i know this from a real example) to make upwards of 100k US a year and apart from a few well fed veterans on some of the nationals this would seem a pretty attractive salary to most scribes.
However it doesn't have to be a case of f*** you i'm going out on my own. The really smart media companies will deal their journos in and get them excited by this, and, god forbid, profit share them in on the action. Ie say you write a really good blog or produce a great podcast what if you got a cut of the money your company makes on Adsense from this particular part of their content offering? it's just one thought.
If you haven’t watched the epic video yet you really ought to. It is hypothetical big media doomsday scenario, utterly brilliant and its end game is that NY Times and presumable most other major newspaper and media brands close down. In the end, by 2012, you subscribe only to individual editors to get your info as everyone is plugged into a global communications matrix.
Is this the future? Bottom line is exciting rather than scary and you can either get involved, get smart or get out of the way . BTW we haven’t forgotten the RSS feed it’s on the way possibly by week's end thanks for being patient.
Media Man Australia's reply...
Many folks are already building their own "media empires".
At the risk of being censored here (but real examples are required), check out Crikey Media, Craig's List, Margot Kingston's Web Diary (recently went out on her own), AutoBabes, Hottest On TV (http://www.hottestontv.com.au ), BangITUp.com, and my own Media Man Australia website (and blog). Again, sorry about the name drops / plugs, but real examples are required. You will note that all are Google - friendly, and even more powerful, they are also journo, editor and programme director friendly. I had over a dozen "cold" enquiries last week between eds, journos, and potential partners. It's great to see B&T have also caught blog and new media fever.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
