TeleMedia Strategy
The Bleeding Edge of Disruption

You know times must be tough when the magazine for the UK media announces it is to close. Recently, the UK Press Gazette announced that after 43 years it is to cease producing a hard copy magazine and will become an online channel only - bringing the curtain down on the only B2B title for the nation’s journalism profession.

This surely must be a sign of the times when the only magazine written by trained journalists for trained journalists shuts its doors, blaming a “declining market” for its demise.

But are online platforms now giving publishers an easy escape route - a lifeboat that saves more holes than souls as it plugs the gap of rising costs and declining return? The web is becoming the accused assassin of traditional publishing companies as their owners “make their excuses and leave”.

The economics provide a ‘no-win, no-fee’ solution as profit margins are exponentially increased - gone are the erratically variable costs of print, paper and distribution and stripped out are the costs of design and marketing - who needs subscriptions and a loyal readership base when a popular online site’s vac section generates revenue for next-to-nothing?

Surely it can’t be true that the most profitable media houses will be the companies that invest in a decent content management system and stay one step ahead to tweet away on the latest communication platform.

But look behind the closure and the departure of the UKPG and look at how the traditional media is scrabbling and scrambling for a sustainable way to exist profitably - and online really does appear the only lifeboat turning to the sound of the whistles.  Despite now being a decade old, the online trend appears to be still emerging - link relevant content with relevant audiences for relevant advertisers.

In the US, Time Magazine has taken up the apparent demise of print journalism with a cover story and recent report predicting the potential demise of eight to 10 of the most endangered papers in the US.

More content is now consumed online than radio, television and print combined - the Web is where the consumer’s content needs are provided first and foremost.   To effectively monetize content, the first step is connecting that content with relevant audiences - getting content linked to targeted audiences,  people interested in that content, via Web 1.0 (search) methods or more sophisticated Web 2.0 social interaction. 

Then publishers can embrace a more sophisticated approach to integrating targeted and effective advertising linked to relevant content. Running bank loan adverts against health content and drug promotions within financial stories is still largely the random online advertising placement schemes seen today on the majority of traditional media sites.

Those who engage in successful partnerships with advertisers to help them get beyond simple visibility metrics to real consumer engagements that result in sales or related conversions, will emerge from this latest transition and succeed where the likes of the once-mighty UK Press Gazette have failed.

By Paul Morrissey,

Paul Morrissey is highly seasoned telecommunications business technology professional with over 26 years of senior experience in the international telecommunications environment. Mr. Morrissey has funded and sold numerous companies over the past fifteen years in the Data/Telecommunications environment including but not limited to Data Centres, and Technology Managed Services businesses. Over past five years has worked closely with many of the new carries both in the wireless and wire-line environments and with the UK MOD in developing a data centre centric hosted secure systems approach for operations within the MOD UK estates. Mr Morrissey also conducts high level strategy engineering/business consulting engagements for client on private basis.

 Mr. Morrissey is also Chairman for Tubedale Films Ltd an independent film production company base in the UK which he runs with his brother David Morrissey as well as Stagereel Limited a Digital TV Production company based in the UK. In these roles he is instrumental to the development, delivery and storage of Media content in the Hosted Service environment. Mr Morrissey was a founder and CEO of the Data Centre business Digital Haven plc, a European second tier Data Centre company between 1999 and 2002. Awarded a Fellowship of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in 1998 he is a member of the Project Management Institute and a Microsoft Certified Professional.

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