The
old line media is struggling with all things digital. Free content
surrounds them, declines in advertising revenue and amateur journalist
stealing readers from the professional journalist employed by the big
media.
Debates about free vs. paid content are everywhere. Rupert Murdock
is trying to block WSJ content from Google. All the major media players
are trying to make their content “social”. It seems as though everyone
is running around trying to adjust old models to marry new models. Well
maybe not everyone.
Business Week Gets Bought and John Byrne Wants to Compete
Silicon Alley Insider reported Ex-Business Week Boss Byrne: I’m Launching A New Company To Kill Business Week.
John Byrne stepped down as the head of Business Week’s online
operations just a week ago, and he’s already talking about his next
venture on his blog.
It takes dead aim at old media companies like Business Week:
From John’s Blog we read: What makes you so sure you or anyone else can succeed at this game?
I have three fundamental beliefs that inform my thinking: 1)
Print advertising will never come back. There are just too many options
for advertisers today and too much pressure on rates. Sadly, success in
print will be measured in single-digit declines, forever. 2) Online
advertising will never offset those declines nor save print. There’s
far too much competition online and far too much available inventory;
and 3) Users will not pay for content, unless they’re convinced it has
immediate and tangible value. Very little journalism meets that
standard today. Do we really need 57 versions of a story on Bernie
Madoff pleading guilty?
If you agree with these absolutes, they can liberate your
thinking about what’s going to happen next in media. Why? Because they
tell you that nothing less than radical transformation is needed to
survive and to thrive in the analog space. And there’s precious little
revolutionary thinking among the traditionalists. That’s why newcomers
have great advantage at this time of transition. The great management
guru Peter Drucker said it best: “The problem in our lives is not the absence of knowing what to do, but the absence of doing it.” I’m going to do it.
Do You Believe Him?
I had the opportunity to meet John while at Business Week and engage
in a discussion about all things digital. I’ve met lot of business
leaders and smart people in my life and you can always tell which ones
have the depth of thinking, the sincerity of heart and the willingness
to lead. My impression of John Byrne is that he is indeed one of those
rare people that after meeting them your mind and heart say “follow this guy because he is an impressive human being and with lots of relationship capital.”
That being said I suggest we watch what John’s new venture
will do and if my first impression are right he will do what is
unexpected and unusual. Which is exactly what the media business needs
right now to survive.
While some won’t survive, John is likely to be one of the few that leads the industry into business as unusual.