No Looking Back

The news continues to be bad for traditional media (TM). It started with CBS and continues with news of cutbacks for Media General, Gannett and worst of all Pappas who filed for bankruptcy.

Is it just me or is the struggle accelerating? Are the business metrics eroding faster and faster? I think so. To be sure there is no going back. And in some ways its a perfect storm for traditional media.

The economy has taken a hit in general, recession or not, consumers are feeling the pinch of lower home values and rising gas prices. Advertisers, the life blood of traditional media, typically pull back in a down economy and yet data indicates that they are finding more economical and effective campaigns available online. Mass Marketing just doesn't make as much sense as it used to for a growing number of advertisers. On the other hand, the economics of online platforms have also brought a lot of new advertisers into the mix, this is a good thing. Unless of course you have most of your eggs in a mass marketing basket - as newspapers and broadcasters do.

So broadcasters are still struggling to move forward into this new territory while hanging on to the old model with both hands. They're in a tough place. The cash flow is still there, the debt they have collectively accumulated makes it hard to invest in new initiatives - especially when no one really knows where to make that investment with any confidence. It takes guts to put your money on the table and roll the dice - even when there's solid examples and research to support the bet.

So who can blame TM for appearing to be deer caught in the headlights? To be sure there are a lot of success stories out there, and money is being made in new ways. There just needs to be more forward thinking and a very real aknowledgement that things will never be the same.

Its all very exciting if you can see it.

As I've said before - TM's core competence has been their local focus on news and information - and the unique content they create to serve their market. The web affords unprecedented tools to not only distribute that content - on demand - but perhaps more importantly a way to expand that coverage in new social and interactive ways. The local brand is under assault from outsiders and they are taking the local ad dollars out of state. Its territory that local media should take back at all costs. Who knows your market better? You or some guys from Stanford?

Go get it back and meet your market where they are - online and on the phone.

There's no looking back.