Where are the UK’s New Media Moguls?
Is London getting left behind when it comes to media innovation?
London is rightly hailed as one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the world. Access to finance, to a highly educated workforce, to high speed broadband and, yes, to the rest of Europe allow London to sit near, if not at, the top table when it comes to offering an attractive base for tech startups of all shapes and sizes.
Wander down any Shoreditch sidestreet and you are as likely to find a shared startup ‘space’ as you are an independent, artisanal coffee shop. In 2016 it was estimated that more than 4000 startups occupied more than 70 co-working spaces, receiving support from one of the dozens of accelerators or funding from investors, all looking to transcend the Silicon Roundabout scene and join the hallowed ranks of the 12 London born unicorns.
Looking at the industry specific accelerators and incubators, it’s clear that London’s startup scene would happily disrupt many industries. Given their location it’s not surprising that fintech, insurtech and proptech are well represented. Musictech, edutech, adtech and retailtech all get a look in. And there’s even ‘boozetech’ with Diageo putting the cash down to distill novel alcohol startups.
Where, then, are the media innovators? Where’s the storytelling accelerator, the news incubator, the VC-backed mediatech fund? Where’s our matter.vc, our Betaworks, our Next Media Accelerator? Are the media startups even out there? If so, who’s going to tell them that ‘scale, harvest data, sell ads’ is a playbook with a limited shelf life?
For despite a grand tradition of media innovation and entrepreneurship and the ongoing celebration of the UK’s creative industries, when it comes to ‘mediatech’, there’s very little to get excited about. Thrills come from deals with Buzzfeed, invitations to a Vice party, a positive fluctuation in the terms of engagement with Google and Facebook ‘frenemies’.
And instead of lean young startups disrupting the media space, we seem to hope that the BBC and The Guardian innovate on behalf of the rest of us. In fact, the UK’s only media accelerator operates out of BBC Worldwide — not necessarily a bad thing, but unlikely to keep Medium or Vox awake at night. The Guardian — which once boasted the UK’s most progressive developers — has tightened its belt and is more inclined to seek partnerships that expand its reach, rather than explore radical new models.
The Brexit vote and US election have put a spotlight on media organisations like never before and the recent bump in subscriptions and donations are unlikely to reverse the years of declining print sales, print ad revenue and lack of revenue replacement through digital activity. Simultaneously our need for a vibrant, active and engaged media is more vital than ever. As the Washington Post assert in their new slogan, Democracy Dies in Darkness.
For a city that wants to maintain its role as a global capital and centre of innovation, a city with a long and rich tradition of media modernism, a city with a young, progressive and entrepreneurial bent, things seem a little too quiet on the London mediatech beat. This is both a worry and a shame.
I hope I’m wrong about this, and that right now, in the backstreets of Shoreditch, thoughtful investors, engaged strategists and inspired creatives are preparing to launch a wave of media startups that inform, educate and entertain anew, reinventing the telling, selling and distribution of stories along the way.
