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News brands
- Colin Morrison - 27 July 2019
Has The Athletic woken up Fleet Street?
Most daily newspapers (with the notable exception of the New York Times) just can’t bring themselves to unbundle their digital content, even though the warnings are getting louder. The UK’s quality national daily newspapers have chosen not to recognise that their digital services under-value a wide range of their best journalism by bundling it with…
Events
- Colin Morrison - 26 July 2019
Is this how Informa can get Reed Exhibitions?
The UK-based Informa Plc last year became the world’s largest trade show organiser with its £4bn acquisition of UBM. This week, it reported like-for-like operating profit increases of 8% in the first six months of 2019. Investors were cheered by the successful integration of UBM (give or take some wobbles with the former Advanstar fashion…
Magazines, News brands
- Colin Morrison - 20 July 2019
Can newspapers and magazines save each other?
Sixteen years after Apple’s iTunes store first enabled users to buy the song they wanted and not the whole album, magazine and newspaper publishers have not learned the lessons. Most continue to offer the same ‘package’ in digital as in print. They just don’t want to do anything that risks accelerating the decline of still-profitable print….
Latest MediaDeals
How The Guardian did it. What’s next?
News. Just three years ago, The Guardian was deep in crisis. After helping to make the one-time regional UK daily an international Pulitzer-winning brand with electrifying scoops on tabloid phone hacking, WikiLeaks, and Edward Snowden, longtime editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger had quit. His amazing 20 years at the helm were suddenly buried by an avalanche of stories about…
FT buys into Business of Fashion
B2B. The Financial Times has bought a minority stake in The Business of Fashion, the digital media start-up for the fashion industry. The FT is leading the digital media brand’s Series B funding round, alongside existing backers including Index Ventures, Felix Capital, and luxury product firm LVMH. It declined to disclose the size of the stake…
Viacom-CBS and more to come…
Sound + Vision. CBS and Viacom, which split in 2006, have agreed to a merger. Both US TV companies are controlled by the Redstone family through its National Amusements holding company. The deal values Viacom at $12bn and the combined entity at $30bn. “My father once said ‘content is king’, and never has that been more…
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Denzil Rankine, Executive Chairman, AMR International
“There are commentators who understand media, and commentators who understand business. Colin Morrison gets both, and that’s why he’s my ‘go to’ blogger. In uncertain times, we need people with level heads and clear vision.”
Richard Desmond, Chairman, Northern & Shell Plc
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Reed Phillips, Managing Partner, Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips
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Ian Whittaker, Head of European Media Research, Liberum Capital
“Flashes & Flames is the most inspiring media blog I ever read. It’s a mix of inspiring insights and deep analysis provided by one of the most brilliant experts. It’s a must-read in our fast moving media industry.”
Arnaud de Puyfontaine, President/CEO, Vivendi SA
“As a growing media business, Flashes & Flames is my number one, go-to source for analysis and insight into what is happening in this crazy and exciting media landscape. It’s reliable, current and inspirational – a real service to the media industry.”
Ian McAuliffe, CEO, Think Publishing Ltd
“Flashes & Flames is packed with deep analysis and is one of my very few must-reads about our industry.”
Neil Thackray, Co-founder AgriBriefing Ltd
“Colin Morrison uses his authoritative and entertaining voice to critique the media industry. He is an insightful and entertaining mind in a wobbly industry, and Flashes & Flames serves as a forceful watchdog.”
Folio magazine
“Thank goodness for Flashes & Flames which has a wealth of detail and anecdote that I just don’t find elsewhere. There are hundreds of blogs giving opinions about what the media should be doing to survive. Flashes & Flames is one of the rare ones that actually tells you the story about what the media is doing.”
David Sillito, Media Correspondent, BBC News
“Recommended reading for anyone in the media business.”
James Hewes, President, FIPP global media network
“Colin Morrison really knows his way round the media landscape. Both what happened and what might happen. His ideas and insights are fascinating.”
Roger Parry, Chairman, YouGov, and MSQ Partners
“A welcome read in a world all too often awash with snippets and soundbites.”
Daryl Rayner, Managing Director, Exact Editions
“Flashes & Flames is required reading for everyone who’s interested in the business of media. Well-researched and packed with useful facts and clever observations, it’s an invaluable source of insight in a dynamic and changing media environment.”
Mike Soutar, Co-founder, Stylist Media Ltd
“Flashes & Flames is an invaluable resource – providing unparalleled insight into what’s going on behind the scenes in media as well as what might be around the corner. Colin Morrison’s unique knowledge of the media landscape makes this site a must-read.”
Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO, Future Plc
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Highlights from Flashes & Flames
Who said print media was dead?
Let’s get it straight: newspapers and magazines will not be killed off by online media. But there will certainly be some deaths. Many titles will eventually close, many more will have to accept much lower levels of profitability, but some traditional publishers will be able to create substantial digital businesses, quite different from their existing…
Gina Rinehart may soon be world’s richest person – and is into media
Australians frequently refer to their nation’s “two speed” economy, which emphasises the commodities boom that has kept recession away for 20 years and counting. It also helps to explain the rising importance of the mining economies of Western Australia and Queensland in a country long dominated by the ‘old’ south eastern cities of Sydney and Melbourne,…
