AWNY’s “Transformers Media Models in Flux” breakfast at USA Today on October 6th, 2009 drew a crowd of over 50 men and women to hear the panel of experts debate what the future media model will be. Moderated by Reed Phillips, Managing Partner DeSilva+Phillips, LLC, the panel consisted of Eric Hippeau, Chief Executive Officer, The Huffington Post ,Paul Rossi, EVP/Managing Director, The Economist, and David Carr, Media Columnist for The New York Times.
Phillips began the discussion, observing that a lot of content is being generated online today by the young teen audience. And, he said he sees a growing trend online that people spend more time producing content than consuming content--which could eventually have profound implications. Carr agreed, remarking that he is so busy writing articles and pushing new information out that he has very little time to consume information himself.
Today’s youth are gravitating away from traditional media – newspapers, radio, - so advertisers and the media need to find new ways to reach them. While content used to be passive, i.e.: ads in a newspaper, audio spots on the radio--today’s content must be interactive; it has to grab its audience in order to be successful. To that end, Hippeau noted that the Huffington Post makes huge efforts to be sure its content is easily consumed and engaging. In a digital world pass alongs are a MUST!
Moving to the more traditional media on the panel, The Economist’s said many boomers still read print and a significant amount of “20-somethings” read The Economis,t too. The Economist and The New York Times base success on the number of ad pages sold in their publications. They also look to the consumer for revenue (subscriptions)-- a traditional backbone for a large number of print publications and, in the recent past, quite a few online pubs as well. At the end of the day, it is about the brand--brands that have a clear idea of what they are about will survive these years of stress and pressure.
Reed asked panelists if business and editorial work together in their companies?
Huffington Post is totally transparent, Hippeau noted--advertising and editorial work hand in hand all the time. At The NY Times advertising and the editorial team don’t together, yet, Carr observed, his boss does keep tabs on how well his columns are received by advertisers…so it’s not totally ignored.
Research done by The Economist shows that readers consume online content in a manner similar to the way they approach the print publication. They click to the cover first and surf the contents page. They’ve found the #2 and #3 purchase along with The Economist at the airport is a bottle of water and US Weekly.
Questions from the audience:
How is PR changing?
With so many different social media sites, many journalists are online and easy to contact--but that does not mean it’s okay to contact them via their Facebook account about business. In fact it’s not good business practice to contact anyone on Facebook or Twitter regarding anything related to business matters. It’s acceptable to follow people on Twitter or friend them on Facebook for casual purposes but nothing else.
Do media “personalities” create a cult?
Media personalities make people aware of a brand. There is immediacy with Twitter, but you need to be careful with what you put out there especially when representing a large brand as it can be misconstrued.
Social media is being where your customers are. Online users should not only create content to stay part of ‘the know’ but also consume content. While traditional media seems to be going away, research shows there is still a need for it – we all love to have our news magazines and gossip reads when boarding a plane, yet when we get off that plane most us are grabbing our Blackberrys to update our Facebook status.
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