New battles in 2010
6Dec09

Writing this blog has been an amazingly informative experience for me. What began as a small site dedicated to the media in and around the Hunter Valley (hence the actual reason for the name Media Hunter) quickly grew to tackle national media issues. Then, as the media landscape began changing rapidly with the convergence of digital technologies, I began musing on the implications for traditional media and marketing organisations.

Researching and writing Media Hunter helped me tap into a realisation that we are experiencing one of those rare revolutionary periods in history. Old powers are falling, new technologies are rising. And the changing media landscape has become one of the most important battle grounds of the 21st Century.

Understanding the nature of this change has been crucial. It has informed the direction of my business (which I have deliberately transformed from traditional media agency to new media thinking). It has helped me identify new business models and marketing strategies (Inbound Marketing) and create new services (NLYZR).

During this time I have seen the emergence of specialist media and marketing bloggers, such as Mumbrella, who have been able to provide a deeper coverage of the industry than I ever could.

My initial Newcastle (Hunter) centric content has been a rich source of traffic over the years. The local radio industry seems to generate plenty of passionate discussion and my frequent badgering of Bill Caralis and his disgracefully run Supernetwork has resulted in some of the most popular posts of all time.

But in 2010 these issues pale into insignificance against the backdrop of the titanic struggle taking place as traditional media attempts to tackle the new media landscape. Will Murdoch build paywalls for his content? Will Newscorp and other media stop having their sites indexed by Google and other search engines? How will all media address the opportunities and threats presented by Australia’s forthcoming National Broadband Network? Will social networks continue to drive the direction if the web?

The implications reach well beyond the battles of a handful of old media moguls and their young and newly powerful nemeses. It will affect how organisations, large and small, market themselves in the future.

As AdAge editor Jonah Bloom says in this excellent short video piece

the marketer has become the media owner…the job of the agency is going to morph into bringing their expertise to bear to help marketers build channels that connect them with potential customers and continually reward the customers who come back with new valuable information.

Already the smart marketers are realising that traditional media marketing is becoming less effective and that there are more efficient ways to engage and attract customers. Outbound marketing is meeting unprecedented resistance. Inbound marketing is the future. Businesses that adapt rapidly to this new paradigm will survive and thrive. Those who don’t could become as extinct as some of the newspapers they were advertising in 2 years ago.

So in 2010 Media Hunter will be focusing on new battles. I’ll occasionally update the Newcastle media scene, but its no longer a key part of this blog’s content. I’ll occasionally look at the national ratings figures, but only in the context of the bigger battles taking place as the old media titans attempt to shift their power into more modern arenas.

I believe that 2010 will be a landmark year in the new v old media transition. Some serious skirmishes will break out and significant deals struck. Because the battle for our attention is the biggest battle of all.

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