Traditional media companies everywhere are in turmoil. Most are caught somewhere between maximising (as best they can) profits from declining media ‘channels’ – and investing in businesses that just might become the next big thing. Few are actually in denial about the darkening outlook for their legacy businesses, although their somewhat rosy views of the…
Will Abu Dhabi be a media capital – or end up in flames?
Abu Dhabi is a country on a mission. To become the oil state that built itself a real, future-proofed economy. To be the brightest star in global investment markets. To be the Switzerland of the Middle East. And to be a world star in media, sports and culture. In short, this home of as much…
Magazines in crisis: 3 ways they can still win
Sales and marketing people seldom let the mask slip. So, magazine industry people can keep up the smiles and pretend that the iPad or some other piece of magic is coming to their rescue. Or that they are in such control of their loyal readers that the return to former glories is but an innovation-click…
Is this ‘secret’ business the world’s smartest media company?
The plight of traditional newspaper businesses is depressing many people in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere. Journalists see their jobs at risk from the limitless supply of “free” always-on news and lean online ‘aggregators’. Investors face losses and the decline of historic, once so-powerful news brands. And proprietors, bloated by years of prestige, power and…
Is quiet Brit becoming the most influential person on Earth?
There’s a captivating, almost-magical web site where you can feel the passion and share the big ideas of brilliant and insightful people including many of the world’s leading thinkers and doers. The site is free and open to everyone. It’s called TED and, although that originally was an acronym for ‘Technology, Entertainment and Design’, the…
Who or what killed Britain’s best media company?
Seventeen years ago, The Independent described a British group as “one of the most admired media companies in the world”. It was a widely shared view of a business which had grown, in 50 years, from humble origins as a regional newspaper publisher to a £1bn turnover public company with fast-growth, vibrant operations in magazines, online…
Can daily newspapers survive?
The media is accustomed to calling ‘time’ on industries. How many (or how few) newspapers ever spoke out in support of ailing car, steelmaking or shipbuilding industries, under siege from low-cost manufacturing countries and newer technologies? Media pundits have frequently amplified the calls for long-established industries to ‘face facts’, ‘get real’, and ‘stand on their…
Stand by for (gulp) the post-Murdoch media world
It’s time to use the past tense. Rupert Murdoch was the original international media mogul. Before him, there were (quite distinctly) press barons, television tycoons, book publishers, and film studio moguls; separate industries, mainly in separate countries, with their own distinct traditions and leaders. But that was until Rupert Murdoch stormed across national and industry…
Is this the world’s most successful magazine?
What is the most successful magazine in the world? Is it Hearst’s feisty Cosmopolitan, published monthly in 58 countries and 34 languages? Or Conde Nast’s 120-year-old Vogue, the ultimate fashion statement in 19 countries? Or Time magazine, the first name in international news weeklies since 1923 ? Or could it be an altogether more surprising success: a…
Harry Potter keeps changing things
The book publishing and retailing business is in turmoil. Nothing new about that. But look at the momentous things, happening in the UK right now, that will transform the industry at speed: In October, J.K.Rowling is launching Pottermore.com to publish Harry Potter ebooks. The author, who 14 years ago kick-started a worldwide boom in book…
