New strategies in media world

Boy, talk about Internet time. A couple of hours after I read a recent paper on strategies for media companies in the world of user-generated content and open distribution, one of the predictions starts to play out. If you're interested in media business models, you have some assigned reading for the weekend.

"Navigating the media divide" (PDF), arrived via Paul Gillin in the morning feedstorm yesterday. This paper from the IBM Institute for Business Value looks at the strategic challenges that new content sources and distribution channels pose for companies in the existing content and distribution businesses. In addition to useful background and strategy suggestions, the paper includes a series of questions that should be helpful for starting internal discussions.

Here's a key excerpt on their predicted strategies for media incumbents:

Content owners will be increasingly interested in new open distribution channels that lead to greater licensing volume and potential disintermediation. Media distributors will want to incorporate community content experiences to strengthen subscriber loyalty, lower content acquisition cost and combat competition from new platform aggregator entrants.
Within hours of reading the paper (and forwarding it to some friends in media), I found myself reading about content owners pursuing "new open distribution channels." TechCrunch had the confirmation that News Corp. and NBC Universal are planning a competitor (as yet unnamed) to YouTube. Whether this venture succeeds or not, it confirms the expectation that content companies will look to benefit from the new distribution channels.

If you're in or near a media business, get the IBM paper and read it this weekend. It raises serious issues that companies will have to consider, as well as some strategy ideas that may form the core of future success.


About Nathan Gilliatt

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  • Voracious learner and explorer. Analyst tracking technologies and markets in intelligence, analytics and social media. Advisor to buyers, sellers and investors. Writing my next book.
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