I think the end-game for “media” is clear, actually.

Media has fragmented, and audience attention has fragmented, both into a million niches.

The business model for “media” is shifting all of the profits to companies than can connect niche audiences with the niche content they crave.

Because in a world drowning in content and starving for attention, this is what people want most.

New winners are emerging to re-stitch these niches together, and give us what we crave: media platforms.

Media platforms provide content discovery, enable conversations around content and employ relevance filters/algorithms/curators that make it easy for niche audiences to find the niche content they care about, when they want it.

And they are WINNING.

Netflix and Amazon Prime are examples of a personal media platform for professional video content. The help me filter-out the crap shows I don’t want to watch, then let me watch the good stuff when I want to. They are WINNING.

Flipboard & Facebook Instant Articles are examples of a social media platform for the written word (also music and short form video). I’m a car nut, and I’m into a dozen tech niches. I’ve cancelled almost every subscription to every magazine / newspaper I used to read, because today I get almost everything I want through Flipboard — plus, I can chat with others like me, right in the app. I get exposed to lots of popular/entertainment/news media on Facebook. They are WINNING.

The traditional media conglomerate model — that thing so many people keep trying to turn around — is simply dead, long term.

Especially in digital. For example, Yahoo.

Content producers can thrive in this new model! But we all need to learn how to create different types of content in our niche: free gateway content to attract FREE subscribers, and a buffet of super-targeted paid content (training, info products, newsletter subscriptions, books, whatever) that solves important problems for a small percentage of our FREE niche subscribers.

The key to making serious money in a world dominated by personal/social media platforms is to grab attention with your free content, then convert that attention over time into sales, on a very small/per-product scale. Not an annual all-you-can eat subscription. Because no one wants that anymore!

I make my living today as a content creator and marketer, and my sole-proprietor business is extremely profitable and growing really fast. Plus, I love what I do. It’s fun, challenging, I help thousands of people solve problems every month, and it’s a bit technical at times. Which I like.

That’s pretty much it, I think.

It’ll all be over in 10 years.