[Posted by Nick Thomas]
Analysts as a breed have a tendency to
create new buzz words and phrases, neologisms that capture emerging trends and
themes. But what we are now calling the media
meltdown — where traditional media business models based on scarcity and
control are fundamentally challenged by the new realities of digital media
consumption — is not some abstract economist notion.
For many of our clients, including media
companies that create and distribute content to users, the media meltdown is
already a painful reality. Users want more and more content for free, while advertisers
are struggling to engage fragmented audiences. The old business models aren’t working, and
the new ones aren’t yet in place.
But while the media meltdown equates to
pain for many companies, it is also creating opportunities for non-media
companies — including telcos, hardware manufacturers, and FMCG brands — to
increasingly use content directly to engage users. In other words, we are all
media companies now — and, as such, have to embrace new ways of thinking.
You can expect to hear more about the media
meltdown from me and my fellow Forrester analysts in the next couple of months.
We believe this is a seismic shift that has huge implications for marketers,
advertisers, content managers and product strategists across a whole range of
companies. We also believe we can help our clients negotiate this challenging
period.
Clients can read more about the media
meltdown and the opportunities it presents for brands in particular in my
latest report here.
I look forward to your feedback.
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