Never a Dull Moment in Media

The rapid changes undoing media fundamentals 

If anyone doubts that media is undergoing a rapid transformation, this week’s announcement that Matt Bai is decamping for Yahoo and that Brian Stelter is leaving the Gray Lady for CNN should put those doubts to rest.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, New York Times set the standard for journalism and as a journalist, it was where you aspired to work. Just few years ago, it would be unfathomable to think that anyone would leave the New York Times for a digital entity. After all, many digital first writers start out aiming and hoping to get to the New York Times.

Well, times have changed. Matt Bai, who is well known for his political reporting, will be joining the recently strengthened content organization at Yahoo. And Matt is not alone. David Pogue, the former NYT tech reviewer, recently made the same move as did Megan Liberman, who left NYT to be editor-in-chief of Yahoo News.

Stelter’s move is a little less surprising, given that CNN still carries quite a bit of clout, especially in broadcast. But it is still notable given that he is leaving an organization perceived by many to be higher on the journalism totem pole.

The other big news in media this week — yet another example of media’s transformative change — is Vox Media’s acquisition of Curbed which includes Curbed.com, Eater and Racked. The acquisition is notable for both its price tag — reported $20M-$30M — and because it is big step toward consolidation in the digital only media space.

Trends

This week’s changes point to important trends in the evolving media landscape, including the rise of digital publishers; the prevalence and importance of multi-media storytelling and continued consolidation.

As digital publishers continue to grow in stature (and as resources in traditional media continue to shrink), talented and established journalists — who are still in high demand — will be pulled into the digital realm, and correspondingly, the reporting these digital organizations produce will continue to increase in quality, becoming on par, if not surpassing, with reporting produced by traditional media outlets. Traditional media likes to think that it is better than digital brands; that they have higher standards, that they produce better content, that they just know better. But just a few years ago, the Huffington Post won its first Pulitzer, leaving many regional newspapers, who mocked its existence, prize-less.

Look for this trend to continue with digital first — and digital only — publications producing groundbreaking reporting.

The second trend this week’s news highlights is the rise of multi-media storytelling. The web has changed storytelling from just the written word to a multi-media experience. Over the last couple of years, newspapers have been clamoring for more online video, both licensing more and creating it in house (also in part due to higher CPMs for pre-roll). Journalists that are brands — Stelter, Bai (and Nate Silver)– will choose organization which give them opportunities to exercise their brands across multiple channels and which excel not just in writing but also with online video, social, offline events and even broadcast all of which help tell their stories and further build their brands. According to CNN’s press release, Stelter will be building “”multiplatform, global media beat for CNN.””

And third, as online media matures, there will also be continued consolidation. Matthew Ingram raises interesting questions about whether we need big digital media company a la Time Inc and Conde Nast in the digital age (http://paidcontent.org/2013/11/11/rebuilding-mass-media-do-we-really-want-or-need-a-digital-version-of-the-old-time-inc/). But industry trends and frankly, human psychology, indicate the industry will continue to consolidate over the next few years.

As Matthew points out, the advertising and revenue economic structures favor bigger organizations, which offer scale. Also, over the last few years, plethora of new media organizations has mushroomed. As these organizations struggle to find their way, it is inevitable that they will join forces with other organizations that will share costs and amplify results. Finally, running a big company is held in higher regard than running something smaller, and niche. A bigger media company gives publishers more clout not just with advertisers but also in getting their stories embedded into national dialogues. In essence, the bigger the publication, the harder it is to ignore it. The combination of all these factors will drive more and more consolidations.

So yes, never a dull moment in media. What other changes do you think the next few months will bring?