…no one’s going to actually die if they don’t see the latest episode of “30 Rock.” And within media, as the magazine publishers in the room were well aware, mushrooming options mean you’ve got to serve consumers or lose them. It’s no sure thing that a young person’s going to watch “The Amazing Race” instead of visiting Facebook. “Content is discretionary, so you better focus on convenience,”…
via MediaWorks.
2 Comments
I certainly agree with the notion that protectionism rarely works in a competitive marketplace. But I also remain skeptical that the transition to a paid content model is going to happen easily — even if content providers do invest in quality (I’m skeptical on that point too, but that’s another issue).
There remains the scenario that the majority of people will simply default to the best content available for free. If their favorite show, news feed, porn site, whatever suddenly sprouts a price tag, they’ll just find an alternate free substitute. As more content becomes paid, a sure way for a new market entrant to gain visibility would be to offer content for free. Hence you could argue there will always be an adequate supply of acceptable-quality free content to amuse most people.
There will always be a group of people who will value some content so much that they will be willing to pay for it. The big question is whether there are enough of those people to sustain a thriving marketplace for paid content? The idea of offering convenience makes sense, but creating a multitude of options isn’t free either. More viewing options will translate into lower margins. If the universe of people willing to pay for content is fairly small to begin with, and you have to slice the product a multitude of ways to satisfy each customer, I smell a death spiral. The cost of addressing the market opportunity could be so high that content providers won’t have sufficient revenue to invest in the quality content needed to fuel market growth.
More and more, I’m thinking this new “golden age of media” isn’t going to be kind to large media conglomerates. We may see a market evolution more like the music industry where independent production becomes more desirable, and profitable, than being aligned with a large corporation. In that scenario online content becomes more of a marketing vehicle than a profit center.
Really as simple as know your target audience.
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