It’s Always About the Money
Here is the latest essay in my ongoing series of essays, Local Media in a Postmodern World. “It’s Always About the Money” takes another hard look at how trends in advertising and personal media are working around traditional media offerings to choke the money spigot and threaten the business that is mainstream media in our culture. It’s our own fault, because we cannot bring ourselves to actually compete in an arena with which we are unfamiliar.
Google’s announcement last week of a free ad manager for web publishers is just the latest evidence that the drain of ad revenues from local markets will continue to flow to outside pureplay companies. Data from Borrell Associates clearly demonstrates what’s happening, but local media companies are doing nothing to stop it. The Project for Excellence in Journalism’s fifth annual State of the News Media report is due to be released Monday, and it reportedly shows that despite huge growth in audience for legacy media offerings, advertisers aren’t following yet. This essay will help you understand why.
