Who owns the media? You do...

Posted by Persona @ 10:10 AM

There is a LOT of change happening in the media at the moment. Probably as much as any time in history. The best part is, most of it is due to people power - it all means new opportunities to market.

One such significant change is the major mobile operators becoming media owners. Previously, the likes of Orange, Vodafone, O2 and T-Mobile were telecomms suppliers; cables & wireless stations that carried voice signals. Just like analogue land-lines before them, these lines also carry data and the emergence of 3G changes everything. The multiple billions of pounds spent on licensing for UK 3G operations shows that the networks are banking on it's future - and that future is very much interactive services. Suddenly, these telecomms giants are in prime place to offer advertising, sponsorship and user-driven content to marketers of all sizes and the change in culture within these companies will put them head to head with the likes of the BBC and Sky. There is also huge change in the newspaper world. The recent decision by Trinity Mirror group to sell off Northcliffe Publishing (Owner of Nottingham Evening Post etc) was seen by many as confirmation that things are changing; possibly for the worse as far as papers are concerned. Ultimately the widespread panic this caused resulted in the sale being withdrawn, with Trinity citing under valuation as the reason. In either case, the unstoppable rise and take up of citizen and online publishing is eating away the market share currently held by only the chosen few. The speed and flexibility in which a blog can be created and distributed is like nothing the traditional media has been able to offer. Podcasts are revolutionising how radio broadcasters plan and position their content and Personal Video Recorders are a real thorn in the side for advertisers and their agencies. Such monumental changes will inevitably provide as much as much good as they are currently fuelling the bad. Marketers in business now have more freedom to create communication lines with their audience; suppliers and customers alike. Media owners are now having to work hard to attract budgets in their favour and more is being asked on the ROI each media channel can provide. Changes in media ownership and the cause-and-effect that results from it are key indicators to the future of macro and micro level communication. It's our job as an agency to pay close attention to this and shape marketing strategy for our clients to suit the landscape. It would be negligent of us to presume too much and ignorant of us to side-step the future in favour of the now. Our client services programme gives access to this kind of thinking at no cost - if you're not working with us already, ask yourself if you get the same level of service from your digital/brand/media service suppliers. If not, it's worth having a chat with us to see how things could be different.