Category Archives: Media & Culture

Retirement: Relic of the Industrial Age

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“Funny thing about getting older. Time goes faster. When you’re young you do time on the bunny slope, easing along at a slow and careful pace. Then as you grow up and become an adult, you go over to the intermediate slope, making the most of time rushing by. Not quite finally, as your dotage approaches, you move over to the black diamond slope, and you carreen downward to Certain Death. … I’m enjoying work now more than ever, running life’s slalom like a wacko skier in a Warren Miller movie. The certainty of death doesn’t bother me. If anything, it motivates me. But the word “retirement” creeps me out. It’s a relic of the Industrial Age I’ve devoted my life to ending.” — Doc Searls

Every time the idea of “retirement” comes up, I’m the only one in the room who hopes to work until the day I die. It’s comforting to know there are others out there.

Who do you resemble?

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This genealogy website compares the facial characteristics of an uploaded photo to those of celebrity photos in their database. My best match (61%) was Jean Chretien, the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. I look less like Paul Newman (44%) and bear a similar resemblance to Barbara Streisand and George W. Bush (42%). Thanks to Jeff who is the spitting image of Jack Ruby, Steven Spielberg and Christina Aguilera.

Media Maturity

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Jon Fine (BusinessWeek online) on mature media:

“You can’t imagine letting people leave comments about you for everyone to see. You can’t imagine rank amateurs’ content being more attractive than that produced by a Mature Medium. (You silently scream: “It took me decades to get where I am!”) You can’t see that News Corp. and Suzuki have calculated — zenlike — that the only way to maintain control is to give it up. That they realize media go both ways now. That they can’t hide behind their accustomed walls. To do so may protect your flank, but at the risk of closing yourself off to the Next Big Thing.”

I am making a concerted effort to not talk about “all of this,” because it is simply impossible to grok what’s happening if you are not participating in it. Non-bloggers can’t see the attraction, let alone the implications. Those who aren’t listening to podcasts, can’t understand why anyone would or how it might impact their business. Like they say in the hospital movies, “I’m afraid all we can do now is try to keep him comfortable.”

S&P: Bumpy road for media companies

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According to this Business Week story, Standard & Poor’s sees a bumpy road ahead for media companies:

S&P expects radio advertising to grow only in the low-single-digit percentages in 2006. Radio ad demand is under pressure from competing media such as the iPod and satellite radio, as well as from excess commercial loads. … Even with lethargic revenue growth, radio broadcasters generate significant free cash flow.

S&P expects that online ad growth in 2006 will exceed 20%, reflecting the continued strength of both search and brand advertising. Marketers appear to be gaining confidence in the Internet’s ability to reach consumers. For example, Yahoo! indicated that its brand-marketing revenue from the top 200 U.S. brand advertisers grew more than 45% in second-quarter 2005, and Ford Motor has allocated about 15% of its marketing budget to online initiatives. Furthermore, some marketers have begun to incorporate search advertising as part of their overall branding campaigns, which could spur more online-ad spending.

 

Even assuming that growth decelerates somewhat, Internet advertising is likely to exceed magazine advertising in 2006. Spending on Internet ads could potentially surpass spending on radio in 2008, assuming 1% to 2% growth in radio ad spending and a minimal contribution from satellite radio.

Hmmm.